New Project Announcement!
Posted: August 20, 2021 Filed under: Patreon Leave a comment »I’ve been hinting at it for a while but my next project is going to be a PS1-era style RPG, with pre-rendered backgrounds, 3D (maybe turn-based) battles, a mix of characters who save the world. Think FF7-9, Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Cross – but by me and HD.
It’s the kind of project I’ve experimented with before, but always had to abandon because I needed to pay for food and stuff (human needs are SO annoying!). I’ve developed all the skills I need for a project like this but it’s absolutely going to be a challenge – it will take a lot of work and a lot of time.
Honestly, I don’t know how much time it will take yet, I don’t even have a vague idea. A year? Two years? Twenty years? Hopefully once I really get into it I’ll have a better idea, and I can adjust the design so it’s something that can be finished reasonably.
The thing is there’s no way I can make this without your support, so I want to let you know what you’re getting in for as soon as possible; there are going to be a couple of changes to the patreon:
For All patrons:
- I’m planning to post a huuuuuuge dump of screenshots, renders, notes and such every single Saturday (we can call it “Screenshot Saturday” or something :P). This will partly replace me dropping every single thing I do on twitter to make sure you’re getting cool secret stuff, but also make sure you’re kept up to date with what your pledges are enabling (something I’ve not been great at until now tbh).
- Access to my GDD (Game Design Document) once I start it. This will be a living document that describes the game I’m trying to make in as much detail as I need.
- The same old stuff as ever – whatever you can access now, you can still get. Plus as usual any jam games I make or little prototypes, systems, etc – I’ll make sure they are available to you.
For $5+/Monthly Build Patrons
You will still get work-in-progress builds, but they won’t be monthly anymore. This is for two reasons:
- Monthly builds take up a not-insignificant amount of my time and energy. They usually take a few days to prepare, some almost a week. I love sharing playable builds with you but if I keep this up, I risk spending a third of my time working on builds when I could instead be adding to the project.
- I might not even have a build ready in the next couple of months – I want to take all the time I need to prepare, ensure my tech is solid, build a workflow etc. I don’t want to rush towards having something “playable” at the expense of cool stuff that might take a bit more time.
You will absolutely still get builds and I will make them for you as often as I can (if for no other reason than I love sharing my work with you! <3), but they could be a while.
Instead however it’s going to be monthly videos. I’ll talk in-depth about how things are going, what I’m working on, design philosophy, etc. And I’ll show you gameplay footage, behind-the-scenes blender stuff, explanations of techniques I’ve figured out… Plus if you have any Qs I can address them in detail in the next video.
I know that in a way, for the time-being at least, you’re getting less for your money… but I hope it will be enough and I think it’s going to be better for my work too. BUT if you have any ideas for other things you want to see from me monthly, I’m super open to hearing them!
Thank you so much!
I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the support up to now, I’ve been able to make things that never would have been possible without you!
I hope that you can continue to support me with the new project and with these changes to the patreon, but if not I still want you to know that I love you for all the help you’ve given until now and that I am so grateful you thought my work was worth your pledge <3
About the game itself
It’s still in its very early stages, but tomorrow will be the first ‘Screenshot Saturday’ so you can see just where I’m at with it. (spoilers: it’s mostly notes, ideas, and testing blender tech).
The main goal however is this: I want something that rivals a PS1 Final Fantasy game in terms of scale and quality, whilst using modern techniques to have awesome HD pre-rendered environments. Also I want to tell a really good story. Which might be the most difficult/ambitious part of the project but we’ll see how it goes 🙂