2023 Retrospective

Howdy, Cadets!

As 2023 draws to a close, I thought it would be a good time to write a little post for you all, detailing how the game is progressing and what my plans are for 2024. You can think of this as a little FAQ going into the next year of development!

However, before we get into that, I want to extend a heartfelt "Thank you!" to everybody who's played my games in 2023, and my immense gratitude to those of you who have funded my projects as well. Being able to make these games full-time has been nothing short of a dream for me, so thank you. You guys rock.

Now, with the sappy stuff out of the way, let's talk about FOXXX.

2023 - A Summary

Personal thoughts

Personally, I'm happy with the progress made this year. FOXXX is now the largest game I've ever written, and it's been awesome seeing people enjoy it so much. I'm mostly satisfied with my pace in terms of writing, keeping in mind I try to do 4 days writing and one day implementation each week.

In 2022, I said I wanted to try new game-play styles (Specifically turn-based combat and a dungeon-crawler). The former is semi-implemented in the form of "The Scar", although I'm unsure about the latter. I may rework the code I was going to use for it and have a planet where you walk around tile-set environments (Probably a rework for Taun?).

Last year, player feedback indicated there were a lot of bugs. Having incorporated testing into my workflow, introduced feedback forms, etc, I think the game is in a better place than it was at the start of the year. Certainly a lot more bugs are being pointed out to me, and I'm endeavoring to squash them within a few hours of reports being sent.

Development progress

• FOXXX has now been in development for about 18 months total.
• The total word-count is 429,600 words (About 24 hours of reading, at 300wpm).
• Since January 1st 2023, a total of 252,000 words of new content have been added (About 14 hours of reading).
• A total of 4 new planets were added (Ovis, Sciurus Silva, The Scar, and Na'Ja)
• The game was ported from Twine Harlowe to Twine Sugarcube this year. It took about 2 weeks to make the jump, and about a month afterwards to crack down on the resulting engine bugs.

What's next?

• There are four planets left to complete: The Scar (About 50% done), Domoy, Karnivora, and Dionysus Core.
• There's also the main story, which will be implemented once the planets are done. A big, galaxy-spanning narrative to tie everything together. It'll be entirely optional, but will add definitive endings and reveals to the game.
• My current estimate for the game's completion is around August next year, although I'd like to spend a few extra months on it once it's considered finished, just to improve some bits I'm unhappy with, add more options, player suggestions, etc.

That about covers it! I'll be away from the 23rd of December until the 1st of January. The next build will be out on the 5th of January!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and have a fantastic New Year!