Coming off the release of Bean Grower, I'll be breaking my word of focusing on the direct production of games in 2018. What I've learned in the past year between web and game development has ingrained within me a desire to once more - hopefully for the last time - squirrel myself away to build tech. At present, I'm a web developer first and a game developer second. My hobby development has kept my skills relevant throughout the years and what I'm working on next is going to ensure my value for years to come; even if I didn't love building cool stuff, and working with tech, I would still have the responsibility of learning new technology for my own employability. So next, I'm:

Rebuilding Orbium

But not quite. Most of the back-end code (stuff you don't see) is solid and I'll be keeping it.

I'll be rebuilding Orbium's front-end (the user's experience) in React.js, which I already have some experience with. React is a considerable shift in design logic and what players will notice is that Orbium feels light and quick to respond to input. I'll be rebuilding entirely with Bootstrap 4, a styling framework that I'm mostly using for its structural benefits rather than style; I'm not keen on building cookie-cutter interfaces.

I'm expecting to be ready to deploy the new Orbium website toward the end of July. (six weeks) I hope this update will include purchasing premium currency; it must be done regardless, I'd just like to be done with Orbium before September ends. Then:

GAM3

I'm still shocked that it will be a year since I last developed GAM3! The engine needs a little polish, so naturally I'm planning to rewrite the player's view in React and Bootstrap. It's a considerable undertaking, but I will emerge from it very comfortable with using GAM3 for all future projects.

I've sometimes fantasized about what a booth at PAX might be like for the studio, but I'd resolve that if I'm not demoing some graphically-impressive experience, people wouldn't be interested. Maybe that's true, or maybe I'll push web technologies to their limit for all future projects. Still, what's on my mind is the fact that I've built a powerful web-game engine and the web is rapidly becoming very mature. Soon we'll have the ability to deploy to app stores, requiring no installation on a user's device.

It would appear that I should seize the soon-to-be day, which is why I see value in redesigning GAM3′s frontend and further fleshing out the developer experience in the backend - known as Play and Build respectively. Once I'm comfortable with the state of GAM3, I'll finish Fireburner, a game that's mostly complete but that I have ignored for lack of faith in its fun factor. I have hope it can be fun, but if nothing else, it will serve as an example of a game that can be made with 2018/2019 GAM3 technology.

I'd like to follow that up with a press kit. I want more people working with GAM3. I'd like to license the engine out with the promise of being able to publish a game not only to web, but mobile. The world (Apple, mostly) may not be prepared for that when I am ready, so we'll see what comes of it. I have always developed GAM3 with myself in mind, that even if no one wanted to build with it, it would be worth it for the experience and the ability to rapidly prototype and produce content.

And So On

All games will hereby be produced in GAM3. I have a horror game I'd like to create a teaser for, and I still want to visit MonBre before the year's end. I may make it a year-end ritual to work on MonBre. Perhaps in five or so years, it would be done: pirated art replaced, gods finished, bugs ironed out.

I once read that at any time, a typical game designer has at least five ideas for games they'd like to make. I balked, but here I am, years later with a total of six that I'd like to see done. I was hyped to ride on the production-train in my public announcement of tinydark's existence, but if I press on with my current technology, I will eventually cost myself time at the expense of the user experience. If not, then at least frustration and code complexity. I now retreat into my furrow, building tech for the last time.