Small Hotfixes - Final Notice V0.5.7.1

A (Not-so) Quick One!

Not much here - I'm currently working on the roguelike mode and noticed a pretty ugly bug due to how I had the main menu setup - if you had a roguelike run active you couldn't play the bounties mode.

WOOPS.

That's now fixed.

Also, the roguelike mode, due to me updating it, got a minor new feature due to some back end changes, cards now have typings stored in the back end that the card buckets can pull from, so expect to see more variance in a few buckets now. This will be expanded upon, but this update is just here to fix that pretty ugly bug.

While You're Here-

I was considering what to focus on with the upcoming patches, I'm shooting for adding as much content as I can into the game, then releasing it, but I've got a few ideas about what I'm doing with that too. Since this is such a small update, I'll just sort of explain where my head is at.

Content Focus

Currently I'm stuck between a couple of options for where the content focus lies.

• Adding as many bosses and unlockable cards as possible, to provide a lot of content in terms of potential fights and mechanics. This would be a raw content focus.

• Adding quite a few bosses, but mainly focusing on the roguelike replayability, focusing on passives, card buckets, etc. This would be a roguelike focus.

• Trying to spruce up the UX/UI to make the game look as appealing as possible. This would be a visual focus.

Not quite sure where I want to point myself here, and I've been going back and forth on it, but this leads me into the next part of the conundrum.

What Do I Want Out of This?

Being completely frank, I never knew! I built this game as a means to learn how to code - it's quite literally the first thing I've ever made past the point of a rickety prototype that didn't work properly. They say your first game is never the big one, not the one to get attached to. Personally I don't really mind if there ever is a big one, I work a full time job, I'm pretty well situated in life, this is more of just something I do as a creative outlet.

The question becomes "do I care about monetising this?"

Setting a price to the game comes with a few benefits, as expected:

• Money makes the world go round, and while I'm not in a state where I need it, it'd always be nice to have a little more for the family.

• It segregates this game from the legion of really poop free games on steam, which helps in discovery of the game, albeit with the unfortunate caveat of requiring a purchase.

• It means I've done the full pipeline, from creation to sale, and that's probably helpful if I ever want to do this for a living (though admittedly I doubt I'd do that, even still).

And likewise, it has a few negatives:

• The concept of charging people for something I've made feels off. I can't describe it, but a massive part of me views games as an art form over an industry. Hell, I think games have got just far worse on average due to them becoming an industry. In a way, I feel it goes against what I believe to charge money for this game beyond a certain value, and I'm not REALLY comfortable with it costing anything at all, but it feels like a missed opportunity if I don't.

• With a price tag comes an expectation of service, and while I do like hearing the suggestions of others, these games in my mind are indeed just "something I made because it was something I wanted to play". I'd hate the idea of changing the game to appeal to more people, and it's a large part of why I don't really bother advertising the game all too much now, I've got enough avenues of feedback, I think, so I'm not too concerned with much else. I'd like to make the game the best it can be, but not at the cost of changing what it is.

• The first game is never the big one. That's something I've thought of a lot. For the first thing I've ever made, I wouldn't want the game to devour all my spare energy towards creation for the years to come in the hope I might "knock it out of the park". Naturally that means the game will be what I would call "finished" sooner than one might expect, but that's probably coming at the cost of imperfections. As a one man show, I'll allow myself those imperfections.

Thoughts?

While I don't really expect any response to this - after all it ain't like I'll be posting this anywhere other than the discord and I won't be propping it up on the main store page - if you do come across this and have some avenue to speak to me, be that the discord or whatever, then do let me know what you think.

I'm eager to continue to make game(s!), but the conflicting nature of selling a game, with something I do for fun, is givin' me conniptions man.

I Digress.

If you've read to this point, hello ːsteamhappyː The next update, like I mentioned in the last post, will be mostly targeted at the roguelike mode. It may or may not contain a certain bloodsucking creature of the night, and I mean that actually, that fella might end up coming in the update after depending on how much work I've gotta do redoing the back end of the roguelike mode. In the throes of it right now and it's looking like a fair bit, but you'll know when the next update comes around, and I'll explain anything else there.

Thanks for reading, and-

Till next time!