As usual I'm doing the end of the year blog post, in which I talk how it was the year that is about to end for me. Looking back at the post I wrote in 2011, lots of things went better.
First of all, and most importantly, I didn't had so many losses like last year. In April I lost my cat Orpheus, but luckily it was the only loss.
The year of RPGs and Loren
Personal life apart, the main event of this year for me as you can guess was the release of the RPG Loren The Amazon Princess. I already did a postmortem about it, but now that more than 6 months passed after its release, the response of people that are playing/discovering it is still amazing, and I can absolutely say that will do more RPGs in future :)
Does it means that I will do only RPGs? No, of course! I need some simpler games from time to time to take a break and recharge batteries. Heileen 3 was good on this regard, because while is true that making it was still working, it felt almost relaxing to have "just to design and code some simple life simulation rules" instead of balancing 60 skills and testing endless battles like I did for Loren :D
I'll still put some RPG mechanics in the other games though, like the leveling skills of Heileen 3 (which I think was something relatively new, at least in the OELVN?) or the "crafting gameplay" that will be present in Amber's Magic Shop.
This year was my best since I went indie, and this means that I must thank first everyone who is supporting my games (I'm not on any big portal, so every little sale count!) and also a special thanks to all my valid collaborators/partners who are helping me so much to make better games! In no order and using a mix of names/nicknames: Aleema, Anima, Sarah, Megan, Michael, Franklin, George, Deji, Ayu, Matthew, Eddy, Slamet and everyone else who probably missed but that helped me making games.
Future improvements
I think that the artwork of my games is already at good levels, even if will try to have more quantity/variety of images or scenes. However, there are two crucial aspects that I plan to improve in the next year games:
Custom soundtracks
It's something so obvious that is quite embarrassing for me to say it. In the past games I always used royalty free audio tracks. A bit because I couldn't afford to hire a musician, and also because I have hard time to explain exactly what music I need, because of language barrier.
However as I've seen by the response to Heileen 3 custom track bonus, people really like that. So for all future games I'll have full soundtracks made and have them available as mp3 bonus content.
Professionally made logos
A friend of mine pointed out that while the art of my games is in general quite good, the logos sucks. Indeed, I made most of the logos myself! :) That's why I asked M.Beatriz Garcia also known as Deji to create logos for all the next games, so for sure they will look much better!
It might seem a minor detail, but I must say that people often judge games by first impressions. And surely a professionally done logo has much better impact than my current ones.
In conclusion
Even for this year the show is over! I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and I'm looking forward to work on the next year games. Stay tuned!
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