Month Review: Projects Be Projecting

It's been four weeks, so I figured I'd do a recap post, and maybe outline a bit of my thinking for the next month.

Obviously, the first week or so of the month was about getting set up. I got to open up Illustrator for the first time and bang out a logo. I created an Itch page and this blog. I set up a Bluesky account. And I found out that making an LLC is so much easier than it used to be. Now, I'm working on two big projects and a bunch of small ones.

The project I've posted about most is Running Late. It's a video game where you're trying to make it to a wedding on time in a spaceship that's falling apart. This won't be my first video game ever, but it will be my first complete video game project meant to be shared with others. The project is meant to teach me what I need to do to get a game from concept to completion.

In this first month I've built a spaceship with multiple working systems (oxygen and power). Along the way, I've fought shaders, built event architecture, designed feedback loops, sketched interfaces, and more. Next month, I plan to plug in the navigation system and engines and refine the core game loop.

The goal was to make enough content for 3-4 hours of playtime so I could feel okay listing it on Steam. I have no idea if I can hit that goal, but if playtime ends up shorter, I will put whatever I do end up with on Itch. Meanwhile, I'm having a blast learning how to create digital games. I expect to be working on Running Late for at least the next few months, possibly to the end of the year.

The other big project I'm working on is a traditional pencil-and-paper RPG titled Piece of Work. The game is a noir take on the dystopic future we seem to be rapidly hurtling towards, set in São Paulo in the year 2107. You play a Null, someone who has recently fallen through the cracks of society. You play to find out if you can carve out a space in a world that has no place for you.

The game has been in a drawer for many years—a never-published project I started with the same folks I made Becoming Heroes with. (If you're reading this, Kit/Austin/Allie, so many <3s.) I've dusted it off and reworked a ton of the text from those early days. I've reorganized the chapters, fleshed out the Crises mechanics, and figured out a system for retiring characters when they've reached their endgame. I'm currently working on the considerable setting material required. You'll hear more design notes about the game next month.

Lastly, I've managed to crank out a few small games in the last month - low cost reworks that enabled me to share some gems from my past with you all. Those games are Campfire Stories and Chocolatier, up on Itch right now. These are games I'd published on Patreon many years ago, but that were lost when I stopped pursuing self-publication. Now they're back, which feels really good.

I will make my next month review at the end of August, instead of the middle, which means it'll be a month-and-a-half review. Until then, I have several weeks of devlogs, field notes, and announcements to fill the space. In all, for a first month of existence, it feels like a monumental amount of output, and I'm thrilled with how much I've gotten done.