Steam News9 January 20251y ago

Journey continues

Last year did not go as planned in any shape or form. A little update before we talk about games. Life stuff Last year started with high energy gained from graduating and the start of a dream career.

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changedLife stuffLast year started with high energy gained from graduating and the start of a dream career. That energy was quickly drained away by unexpectedly hitting the concrete wall of the broken Finnish bureaucracy. Even worse, two sudden serious health issues in the family shadowed the entire year. End of the year was extremely tough for all but we are winning on the health side, there is no need to go deeper into the subject. On the front of the bureaucracy, no idea how the battle will end.

addedLife stuffIn the Finnish system there is a government grant given to new entrepreneurs to help them start and succeed with a new business. I did my homework and planned carefully to apply for the grant. I did everything by the book. What I did not expect was the arbitrary decision making and incredible inefficiency of our system.

addedGame stuffAs you read this there is now a brand new combat focused teaser trailer available for your viewing pleasure. In addition you may notice that you can now apply to join playtest from the Steam store page. The current playtest will be limited in player count.

changedGame stuffAfter last year, I’m hesitant to give any promises on the progress of development. There will be two gameplay related blog posts next week, these are already written and scheduled, no amount of red tape will block them so stay tuned! Barring any catastrophes during this brief playtest period and life, a demo should be playable sooner than later. Future plans depend greatly on how the next month goes.

Dead Underworld changes

changedLast year started with high energy gained from graduating and the start of a dream career. That energy was quickly drained away by unexpectedly hitting the concrete wall of the broken Finnish bureaucracy. Even worse, two sudden serious health issues in the family shadowed the entire year. End of the year was extremely tough for all but we are winning on the health side, there is no need to go deeper into the subject. On the front of the bureaucracy, no idea how the battle will end.

addedIn the Finnish system there is a government grant given to new entrepreneurs to help them start and succeed with a new business. I did my homework and planned carefully to apply for the grant. I did everything by the book. What I did not expect was the arbitrary decision making and incredible inefficiency of our system.

addedAs you read this there is now a brand new combat focused teaser trailer available for your viewing pleasure. In addition you may notice that you can now apply to join playtest from the Steam store page. The current playtest will be limited in player count.

changedAfter last year, I’m hesitant to give any promises on the progress of development. There will be two gameplay related blog posts next week, these are already written and scheduled, no amount of red tape will block them so stay tuned! Barring any catastrophes during this brief playtest period and life, a demo should be playable sooner than later. Future plans depend greatly on how the next month goes.

Last year did not go as planned in any shape or form. A little update before we talk about games.

Life stuff

Last year started with high energy gained from graduating and the start of a dream career. That energy was quickly drained away by unexpectedly hitting the concrete wall of the broken Finnish bureaucracy. Even worse, two sudden serious health issues in the family shadowed the entire year. End of the year was extremely tough for all but we are winning on the health side, there is no need to go deeper into the subject. On the front of the bureaucracy, no idea how the battle will end.

In the Finnish system there is a government grant given to new entrepreneurs to help them start and succeed with a new business. I did my homework and planned carefully to apply for the grant. I did everything by the book. What I did not expect was the arbitrary decision making and incredible inefficiency of our system.

Unexpectedly, I was deemed as an entrepreneur based on my game development activity, even though I do not even have a company. In Finland this is like a financial prison. The main reason, apart from being totally exhausted, for being silent about my game's development for the longest time is the uncertainty of what I can and can not do under these rules. The officials have been known to dig through several years old social media posts, to gain leverage against people in the similar situation and ruin their lives.

During the past year I have gotten several contradicting and highly illogical decisions on my status. I have tried to revert these decisions through all available official channels, a process that could be considered a full time job. I could write (and have done so) several pages worth of text detailing the convoluted process and blatantly unlawful handling of my case, but that is for another time and place. In the end an appellate court will decide my issue, but this will still take months. Now for the game related update.

Game stuff

Despite the difficulties I have the means to continue developing and releasing the game. All major components are done and what remains is the process of polishing and testing the final product.

As you read this there is now a brand new combat focused teaser trailer available for your viewing pleasure. In addition you may notice that you can now apply to join playtest from the Steam store page. The current playtest will be limited in player count.

Genre loyal members of my elite cadre of testers (friends) have found many hours of joy from the playtest version. One of the pre-testers describes the game: “This game felt a bit like a weird but satisfying combination of Nethack, Fallout 2 and Darkest Dungeon.”

After last year, I’m hesitant to give any promises on the progress of development. There will be two gameplay related blog posts next week, these are already written and scheduled, no amount of red tape will block them so stay tuned! Barring any catastrophes during this brief playtest period and life, a demo should be playable sooner than later. Future plans depend greatly on how the next month goes.

Thank you for reading and sticking around this far. Life of a solo developer has its benefits and downsides, notably life itself. Hope you have a happy and productive year!

-Iiro

Manmachina Games

Source

Steam News / 9 January 2025

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