Punch Bomb 2020 Update

Hey everyone!

I want to apologize for the complete lack of communication. I was just going to reply in the forums, but figured this was worth an actual news update.

The question seems to be, “What’s the status of development on Punch Bomb?” and “When will it be updated?”

And the answer is...complicated. And it’s a long story.

If you’re reading this post just to find out whether the project is dead or not - rest assured that it’s not dead. It’s just been on hold in my life for a while. I have no intention of officially killing the project or never working on it again.

If you want the whole story, I guess I’ll start at the beginning.

None of this is an excuse. It’s just how it is.

Punch Bomb, originally, was supposed to be my first experiment with game development. It is, was, and always will be an experimental game. My specialty (and career) is visual effects and computer graphics, and I wanted to make a VR game. This was a learning experience, and I am a 100% solo developer. Everything in the game (barring music/sound I got from royalty free databases I subscribe to) has been created by me. From scratch. In Blender and UE4.

It was supposed to be a quick, simple project that I got out the door so I could make more projects. It was supposed to be a learning experience, and I was having a ton of fun.

I released the game in December 2016 in Early Access after having spent a year working on it, and I wanted to finish it within a year. That obviously didn’t happen. Developing a VR game while working a 40 hour per week job that pays the bills is very draining.

A mixture of burnout, self-doubt, and the creeping, constant reminder that my passion project for the past two years was a complete financial failure that almost no one cared about definitely made development slower than it should have been.

However, in spite of all of that, I was still working on it. I had made promises, and I had a game to finish.

2018 came around, and development was still moving but slowed further as I got sick. Really sick. I was exhausted 24/7, and I was having constant night sweats for the entire first half of the year. I was misdiagnosed with the flu multiple times, and then mono. The eventual truth was that I had infective endocarditis caused by strep bacteria on my aortic heart valve, and I had open heart surgery to replace the valve at the end of May in 2018.

Recovery was a long process. Three months for physical recovery (I wasn’t allowed to move much or lift anything heavier than 10 pounds), but the depression lasted a lot longer and still seeps in occasionally.

During the physical recovery, I couldn’t do much other than sit around and either watch TV or play non-physical (read: non-VR) video games. During that time frame, I got really invested in Fortnite and actually started streaming it on YouTube (later moved to Twitch) because I had the time, and it was something that made me feel like I was being at least somewhat productive in my current state.

While recovering, I managed to build a small community around the stream and continued to grow that throughout the rest of 2018, 2019, and the first half of 2020 (still going strong).

My schedule for 2018 and most of 2019 was 40 hours a week at the full time job, streaming for 4 hours 5 nights a week, and improv classes on Wednesday nights.

I also spent a large chunk of time and a lot of late nights in 2019 chasing after/being there for a suicidal girl who struggled with alcoholism. (She got help, she’s doing much better now, we still occasionally keep in touch)

After Twitch Con in San Diego last year, I moved my stream schedule back to 3 nights a week to focus on production value and stream graphics in my new off time. Then, at the beginning of 2020, I made it my new year’s resolution to upload one video every week of 2020 to my new channel that offers stream advice and tutorials. So far, I haven’t missed a week.

I guess the long and short of it is that I got caught up in life.

With everything going on, I couldn’t find a lot of time to work on Punch Bomb, and I didn’t even realize anyone still cared about it.

I also never could figure out what to do next with Punch Bomb. As an experimental game and my first attempt at game development, I was making it up as I went along for the new game mode, and I hit a “developer’s block” of sorts. I didn’t really have a solid vision, I ran into a lot of performance issues with UE4 and my old PC (eventually figured out the issue was one line in a notepad document), and a lot of what I had originally planned just...wasn’t fun…

I think I honestly just needed some time away from it before hopping back in to finish what I started. I was drained.

But throughout ALL of that, I’ve had the constant nagging voice on the back of my neck telling me that I need to finish Punch Bomb. I need to get in there, and I need to finish it. It's my passion project, it's my baby, and I've neglected it.

I think the time for that time is now.

So what’s the current state of development? It’s about where the current early access build is...plus a few experiments and additional enemies I’ve tried in my free time for the tunnel mode.

What’s the plan going forward? For the time being, I’m going to start dedicating at least one live stream per week to working on Punch Bomb over at twitch.tv/oraclefishlive.

It’s not much, but it’s a start towards easing myself back into development. One step at a time.

This week will be Saturday Morning (4/30/2020). Feel free to stop by and tell me how much you hate me for not finishing the game yet.

A lot of what I had planned for the tunnel mode (high quality robot boss battle, etc) is out of scope for one person to handle, so I’m going to simplify the mode and make it an endless mode with leaderboards - putting the focus back on fun, solid mechanics.

The time off has given me a lot of solutions for problems I did have.

I realize that I’m going to upset some people by saying I haven’t really worked on it for the past two years, and I’m genuinely sorry for that and the lack of communication.

But you also bought a fairly polished, fun game with great art for the price of a large cup of coffee. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - I’ve always priced the game for what I think it’s worth at its current state of development.

So I’d appreciate your patience.

I will finish this game.

TL;DR - I haven’t worked on Punch Bomb in a while because my whacky life got in the way. I’m going to get back into development, and I will finish this game.