I'm really really happy with the progress I've been making on Wolfsong. I know it isn't going to be the kind of game that appeals to everyone. A lot of my players don't like SNES style rpgs, many of them follow be because of my adventure games or my point and click story games. So this is a bit of deviation from what is expected of me. That said, I'm overjoyed with how this game is turning out considering I've manage to build it with very little financial support. A lot of people have donated their time and hard work to the project though, and that means a lot. I won’t forget it. And to all the people who donated to me in the past, I’ve kept your numbers guys. You’ll be getting a copy of this bad boy first thing when it is done.
However some of my closest friends have expressed doubt in the project and even discouraged me to go on with it. Telling me it is a dead end, I’m wasting my time, or this isn’t the kind of work I’m known for and I shouldn’t be deviating. Some have told me it just flat out isn’t a very good game, and that hurts. But I’m trying to remedy that.
Truth is, I enjoy making games like this. I have never really done it before Relic. And even if it turns out that no one likes it, I still had fun making it. And I AM still having fun making it. I HOPE that my enthusiasm and hard work will shine through to those that do give the game a chance when it is done.
It is alarming to see how many hours I’ve put into the project already. I means, thousands and thousands of hours, and on top of that, the money I’ve put into it, and the time it took to earn that money. It’s staggering and I don’t like going back through my books and seeing it.
The game is about 25 to 30 percent finished. It isn’t too late to stop, but I feel like I’ve done too much already to quit. I’m having to take some contract work which will stop all progress on the game for about two months, once that contract is up I”ll be back and hopefully get it to that 50% mark.
A few people have suggested I do an early release or try the itch.io route. And maybe I should, I honestly don’t know. I know when I buy an early access game, I’m tired of it before it is actually ‘released’ and that seems very counter to a good launch. My kickstarter very much showed me that people aren’t THAT excited about the project though, that I’m making this game more for me than for anyone else I’m afraid. That isn’t a bad thing since I’m having fun doing it I’m not wasting my time even if it does fail horribly. -- If just a few players enjoy it, then it will still feel like a win to me anyway. ^_^
TheEnkian
I don't think early access is necessary if you haven't got anything too experimental to throw out and it's still quite buggy. It'd just feel like trying to push the game out early or that you're not trying to do proper testing for it before it's released. That's just my personal preference.
Seriously, you're overthinking this Kickstarter business. So many more projects fail to reach funding than actually manage to, they're just not ones you here about. There have been games that have also failed to reach a funding goal and have went ahead anyway and been good. Lack of big press probably didn't help much either which sometimes is out of your hands if the bigger names don't take an interest.
Anyway, it's definitely a genre that appeals to me and my past game releases should show that :P What I've seen from the project so far looks very nice and I'll definitely be making a purchase!
Hyptosis
Yeah, right? I agree, thanks for the feedback. In a perfect world honestly, if i could make a game, and players liked it, and I could just keep working on the same game and adding onto it i think i'd love that most. But that is a hard thing to devise. And there is SO MUCH good stuff for players to do with their time now. Thanks for the kind words man, really means a lot!