Every time the calendar reminder for an update comes around, I get into a loop; just a couple more features and changes, then it will be ready. Well, it’s a month later. Whoops! The occasional updates on Discord are good, but not a replacement for more formal news.

The Patchwork Ship on a Steam Deck

Having the Lake George Expo as a goal has given me some discrete goals to work towards. In a perfect world, the game will be playable on a Steam Deck and I’ll have a proper EPK. With that in mind…

You can beat what will be the demo, with a proper end of the stage now with a boss conflict with multiple dialog paths. There’s a summon mechanic now, which is a form of leveling up.

The energy mechanic is now persistent, rather than resetting between conflicts; this makes it another form of currency and puts greater emphasis on conservation. You might not notice it at first, but when you run out you will. This has improved the strategy of the game.

The memory system is being built out; they’re stored, but not displayed yet. I’ll need to MVP it for the time being so the meta aspects will be better represented.

I implemented a cheat system that’s been invaluable for game testing. For example, they destroy all the enemies or yourself, give (or take away) resources, jump to the end of the map, and so forth. Using a cheat will taint your save, which in turn will disable achievements when I implement them. For completeness, I’ll publish the cheats if people want to use them with the caveat of the cost; it may be fun for exploration.

I’ve been continuing the refinement of my integration with Yarn Spinner for GDScript, including some cleaner abstractions as they evolve their API. As I continue to add content and dialog, I keep finding new edge cases, and each improves the whole.

The upgrade to Godot 4.7 forced me to reconsider some of the plugins I’ve been using; I’ve removed the Controller Icons dependency, which I’ve been putting off. Instead, I switched to Godotsteam and Steam Input. This locks me into Steam for the time being, which is a trade-off. Right now my focus is on shipping, not making something academically perfect. Part of my business strategy was to publish a version on Itch and build an audience there, and this trade-off is in opposition to that. Plans can and should evolve, and I feel that I should make faster progress on the game and focus on shipping compatibility rather than potentially reinventing a wheel.

As a result, the game is mostly playable with controllers. I’m continuing to refine and improve, including thinking through various interactions (what happens if you hit back? what should be focused at any given time? where do I render controller glyphs?). I hope to have it completely playable by the end of this week.

I’ve adjusted the introduction as well; it now plays at startup, rather than the beginning of a run, and will immediately cut to the main menu without delay rather than fading. Visually, there’s more going on. Until I start working with an artist, I think it’s as good as that’s going to be.

The map screen is tighter, with a rotated reticule and a lot of little navigation and generation bugs fixed.

I wouldn’t say that I’m losing steam, but there’s a lot of life distractions between my part-time jobs teaching and playing music, participating in my children’s end-of-school activities, and being the primary on most household obligations. It is hard finding a balance, and I’ll admit that I’ve slowed down. As it’s just me for the time being, I need to balance being disciplined while being true to my family and myself.

Practically, what’s that mean? Get back in the habit of regular weekly updates, be more goal-oriented, and maintain a healthy boundary between work and my personal life. To a healthy balance!