With NextFest done, I want to take a few moments to reflect on the data, my beliefs, and why I've even made this thing in the first place.
The first thing to know? WWHB is all about the story. To enjoy it, one has to have a love of reading, enjoying building up in your own head the story you want to shape and live. It lacks deep mechanics. Filler puzzles. In depth recipes and crafting. These have been done far better than I could manage in many other games.
As you can tell, I'm not writing this to sell you on my game. I'd rather you play the demo and see if you are one of the admittedly small demographic of people that really have enjoyed it. The demo? It takes about twenty minutes. Many bounce. But about 15% of you? Played it for over an hour and a half. A small handful played it more than I ever would have if I wasn't making it!
It is a game that has contradictions within the writing. A game about the recursion of time, of a funky place in a frontier of an unamed Empire where things just don't operate quite like they should. It's a game that never really gives clear answers. It's meant to encourage you to come up with your own truth of what it is and why, and I get that isn't for everyone.
But what still needs to be done over the next month is:
trimming some of the stories, especially the obituary. It's about 33% too long right now.
Making some of the more subtle mechanics noticeable.
Registering achievements with steam. They are all in the game, its just about the wiring.
Finishing the last three story arcs.
Reviewing the existing stories for about the 1000th time and surely changing my mind on some details probably were in draft 232. ;)
As for me, and this journey, it's the writing I enjoy. It's the story telling. And don't get me wrong - I love many types of games! Each type is great in its own way. And in the end, I'd rather make something that a few handfuls of people feel passionately about and most just don't care for it, than have something a large variety of people are lukewarm about.
Now to get back to the writing.