So the Dr. Lunatic engine is retired now. That puts me in the position of having to create something new from scratch. I did that with Costume Party. These are my goals going forward:
- No game over 6 months in total development time, with the average more like 2 or 3 (I know that will change someday, but for now...)
- Community!! Like Costume Party, I want every game to be tied directly into the Hamumu community and feature extensive user creations. Every game should be a platform for your creativity in some way. Hopefully in many ways.
- Trying different business models. Costume Party is unique in that it is truly a free game. You just pay money for an added element - you can still play every level for free. We'll see how that goes! Maybe it's the way I'll go, or maybe I'll try some others (I'm intrigued by the whole "buy in-game items" kind of thing, but it seems like that would require a pretty massive game to justify). As long as I can keep funding my lavish yakisoba-instead-of-ramen-sometimes lifestyle, I'd love to be giving away more free.
- Community input. Like with Happyponygate, only less doomed. Except in the necessary case of surprises (I do love to make surprises), I'd like to get fan input on everything. I don't want to be forced to obey the fans, as I am in this line of work entirely because I want to make what I want to make, but it's fun to
steal listen to your ideas.
- Tons of time spent on marketing and getting Hamumu known and out there. I still don't know anything about doing this, but I guess I'd better learn.
I also want to someday develop a toolchain for making 3D games. Truecolor doesn't work well for games like Dr. Lunatic, due to massive video memory requirements. It'll be a lot more possible in 3D, but that's a really big task I'm going to not think about at the moment. I fully intend to finish the Adventures Of Bouapha and Loonyland series, but I probably won't do another game in either series (except maybe a weird offshoot or two) until I find a great system for making 3D games in a simple way.
A Game A Week? I'm still thinking about that. Seems like January 1st would be the ideal time to start it, so that gives me two months to consider it. I can't express just how fun the idea sounds to me, but yes, it's very scary.
But until that happens or doesn't, let me tell you what I will be doing: Expansions! I've already got the first Costume Party expansion about half done. And in keeping with my formerly expressed Community Input goal, let me avoid keeping it a secret. It's the Winter Pack. But it'll have to stay sort of a secret until tomorrow, when I give you a bunch of details on what is in it!
