Vote Now! Choose the Next Update!

As I talked about toward the end of the recent release announcement, I'm feeling very split on what to work on now that v0.09 is done. I'd wanted a nice, short update, but animations ended up turning into a pretty large chunk of work to get running smoothly, and took even longer when life got in the way.

The obvious next thing to work on is the Interp-Theory Mind, because it's one of the most important systems to the final version of the game, and we've already built the foundations of it. If we can get it fully online to let NPCs make choices intelligently based on real motivations, it opens the door to about a million things I've wanted to do with Project Wild One that have been pushed off to "after this critical piece is in place." Besides that, it would feel like PWO is finally "whole enough" that I'd feel comfortable putting it aside to work on other projects for a bit! Maybe a port of MVOL, maybe the other half of Voice? It feels like everything is waiting on this one big chunk of work to be done!

But I also feel like with how long v0.09 took to come out, I should really double down on making an actually short update. Something light, no big new systems, just content. I think it would feel better for you guys, and it would probably be the smart move as a creator, honestly. Being the guy that only updates a couple times a year is not a great look.

So I've been thinking a lot about what I still want to accomplish with Project Wild One, and as promised, I've developed a rough outline of the features I've been keeping in mind to add to the game. I probably haven't remembered everything just yet, but this should be the bulk of the ideas I'm holding on to.

Check out the Feature Plans for Project Wild One!

I'm giving you the first look at this, I'll probably open it up to the public later. Now, a lot of these are new systems that would require a lot of work, and the vast majority of them are waiting for the ITM to be complete before I can get to them. So while this list is long overdue to share with you all, it's not really going to directly inform today's decision.

The more I've thought about the question of what to work on next, the more I've realized that, well, if I just ask you guys what I should do, historically you tend to just encourage me to do what I want, and go for the big goals. And that has been awesome. I cannot tell you how much it has meant to me. But I also know that a lot of folks prefer to support creators that update more often, and even that some folks only even put in support when a new version comes out. So while it might delay the big goals, in a way, a short update feels like the more responsible move? The smarter move? GIving the supporters more value for their money?

So I've decided that this vote is maybe less about which I should choose, and more about, well, if I can tempt you guys. I've made up a list of features that are less work-intensive and might be enticing to players. I'd like you to take a look over them, let me know what you think, and once you've heard me out, we'll see which way you think I should go for this update.

So VOTE HERE and be tempted!

I'm honestly pretty split on this myself. I guess maybe part of it is, it feels like v0.09 was "supposed to be short," and if I aim to make another short update, "for real this time," is it going to feel like I'm just wasting time I could be working on the big one? Let me know how you're feeling about all this!

Thanks for your support! Sorry this took a minute, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to gather up all the ideas I've been playing with since halfway through making MVOL. If nothing else, I hope that page is an interesting read!