Ok, so a couple of months without blog updates, a bit more than intended but sometimes that’s how it goes.
Once the Writing 30/30 was complete I was able to throw myself almost entirely into the creation of Maelstrom, my afore-mentioned first ever “real” video game. And I’m pleased to say that the process is nearly complete. Absolute strangers are actually playing it now, as it works its way through the beta testing process. Of course that also means that I’m having to figure out how to run a beta test myself, but it never hurts to learn new things.
That being said, I’ve mostly stopped new development on the game for the time being, letting the testers run it through its paces. I have several more updates planed with a variety of new features and things I’d like to see, but I want to get it out in its current version, actually live and in the store, before I dive any deeper. In the meantime I’ve begun the exploration and design phase of the follow up game in between work and sessions of the excellent Breath of the Wild.
And, while it was nice being able to simply focus in on a specific project for a while, and then equally nice taking a bit of a breather after all of that intense study, the last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling the itch that I just haven’t been doing enough. I don’t think I’m going to launch into another 30/30, at least not in the way that I have been, but I do like the feeling of directed accomplishment that comes along with it. So I think for the upcoming month I’ll do something similar, but reviewing all of the skills that I’ve covered so far, sort of a targeted refresher. I’m honestly not sure at this point beyond ensuring that at least some time each day gets devoted specifically to work for Illustrious Kingdom, and the various projects that fall under its umbrella.
Actually, to be honest, I think I’m going to try a slightly different tactic. Before I started doing the 30/30 challenges I had set myself up with a specific dedicated hour of project time each work day. I had specific projects that I was working on each day and a whole schedule laid out to allow for the different things I wanted to accomplish. All of that kind of went out the window when I decided that I would benefit more from taking the time to hone my different crafts. So the current plan for February is to get back to schedule, only with general learning and review rather than the pre-planned projects. That should give me the best of both worlds, adequate time to practice and grow as an artist, but with more structure including breaks to avoid burnout.