Reclaiming Focus & Narrative Development

Overview

This month has been marked by a shift towards refocusing on game development tasks. The first few weeks were dedicated to setting up a website using Hugo, a static site generator, which provided an opportunity for introspective reflection in the About me pages. Concurrently, I’ve been exploring various narrative elements and character backgrounds, aiming to deepen the game’s immersion and complexity.

Highlights & Progress

• Website Development: Created a static website using Hugo for showcasing projects, sharing updates, and providing guides for small applications. The About me page was particularly challenging but rewarding as it forced self-reflection on personal feelings and studio origins.
• Narrative Exploration: Pondered various aspects of the game’s storyline, including introducing a cyclic element in the world, alternate characters like the Blanc family, and reflecting NPCs’ fears through enemy designs.

Reflections

• What worked well: Setting up the website provided an opportunity for personal reflection and establishing a professional online presence, while exploring narrative elements enriched the game’s potential.
• What didn’t work well: Balancing time between website development and actual game creation led to a slight delay in making progress on Blender assets, art, or coding.
• What surprised me: The enthusiasm from my employer about establishing a sole proprietorship or LLC for game development work.
• What changed in terms of approach or mindset: Recognizing the importance of focusing on core tasks and giving narrative elements equal attention to improve overall game quality.

Next Steps

• Game Development: Return to Blender to fine-tune the auto-pathing system, address edge cases, and polish it up before moving on to other tasks.
• Narrative Development: Continue exploring narrative elements further, connecting character backgrounds and storylines with the initial premise of the game.
• Website Completion: Finalize other pages such as a devlog with weekly or monthly updates, a working on now page for status checks, and a projects page to showcase the game along with AI enterprise assets and apps.
• Branding & Marketing: Determine visual identity and branding for “Watchlight Studio,” and research marketing strategies to monetize assets like the Echo app and other creations.
• Balancing Priorities: Establish a balanced work schedule to ensure equal focus on game development tasks, narrative elements, website completion, and work-related responsibilities.

Generated by Echo by Watchlight Studio — distilled from full transcription.