"If you want to wait for the real demo, I won't hold that against you. I'm aiming to get it out by early next year..."
Ah, so full of hope.
So yeah, it's almost March now. It's been a while! The good news is I'm not dead (yet) and progress has been made. Here's a short rundown of what's been going on and an update on timelines going forward.
What's been happening?
Let's go with the good news first:
The vast majority (~90%) of the art for the entire game (not just for the demo) is done.
I've implemented a couple of new features based on feedback from the proto-demo. (For the next build, not the live one)
I have a much better idea of what the upgrades will be, and most of them should be a lot more interesting than originally planned.
I've had better ideas about the storyline up to and beyond the demo end point.
I've even got a few seconds of a trailer put together!
The less good:
The art took a lot longer than I had planned for. This isn't an issue, necessarily, but it was easier for me to not work on the game because "I'm still waiting for the art".
Simply put, work's been a bitch. I've been fried so many weekends and couldn't focus well enough to make much real progress on the game.
I've not even started on replacing the music. The current track is serviceable, but I'd like a few custom pieces for the demo, ideally.
Timeline updates?
As before:
but I'll give it a stab anyway.
Update Steam page: End of April. I think this page looks awful, I'm honestly surprised it's managed to gather any wishlists, but I'm very grateful for those who have! As for the plan, I'll be revising the screenshots to show off the new art, revise the description to reflect the new changes to the whole plan, and maybe* even have a trailer.
Actual demo release: End of May. Now I'd like to do this with the Steam page update, and I will if I can, but I'm sure there will be unforeseen issues. If I could foresee them, they wouldn't be issues in the first place.
Full game release: Next Fest dependent. If I get a demo ready just before one of the Next Fests (and don't lose the will to live by that point), then I'll likely give it a month or two afterwards to act on any feedback from that. By the time the demo's ready, basically every system for the main game should be done - it'll just be a matter of getting some secret playtesters to check through it and act on feedback from them and the demo players. If the next Next Fest is "too far away" for my liking, I'll probably just give it a month for feedback opportunities before putting out the main game.
You've been talking about new art, so where is it?
Alright, as a reward for making it this far, I'll give you a sneak peek of the new Daisy.
So cute! I think the artist did a fantastic job.
Anyway, that's all for now. See ya when I see ya!