3/29 Status Update

Sorry about the lack of an update last week. Netoria Tactics 2 is in a weird place where most of Act 1 is finished and what's left is going pretty slowly. What's really hanging me up is the change in how I'm releasing it. Putting it straight on Steam means doing quite a lot of stuff outside of the game itself, like trailers, marketing assets, technical stuff, etc. The actual game itself is sooooo close. I could probably release a preview that's the whole thing if it wasn't for one of the last levels not working yet. I think I'll just have to redesign the whole thing, it's not very fun in it's current state.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my back catalog. I've been powering forward making new game after new game for a while under this label. But there's a lot of old games that could be improved a lot by revisiting them or giving them more resources. Calibration Error had a good story but pretty bad graphics. TF Card Battle had a terrible engine, Naked Ambition is still unfinished, Futa Oasis had good characters and setting but bad gameplay, etc. I've been pretty unmotivated as far as making another new project beyond Netoria Tactics 2 goes. maybe I should be focusing on revamping stuff instead.

This probably doesn't sound like that new of an idea since I've talked plenty about finishing Naked Ambition or fixing Futa Oasis in the past. But I'm starting to think I should make that kind of stuff more of a priority. Making new games and ideas is a very alluring thing, but if right now it isn't that appealing, then maybe this is the perfect time to actually do these reworks and revamps. Especially if I move more to focusing on Steam, actually having these games in good states is more important. So maybe that's a positive incentive structure I should focus on.

That's a lot of maybes, it should be pretty obvious that what my actual plans for Apollo Seven Games aren't focused right now. To be honest, that's been true since I had to stop production on At the Mountains of Friendship a year ago. Pouring myself into making Netoria 2 has helped, but things still aren't right. Maybe part of the reason I've essentially delayed Netoria 2 is because I'm afraid of releasing it. What if this game is a flop too? It's pretty scary, even if in theory I spent less money than I received each month to make assets for it, so financially I could continue on. Psychologically though, it'd be a disaster.

That's probably why I've been thinking of past games so much. I know how people react to those, there's no danger of rejection there. I could finish Naked Ambition and it'd be essentially guaranteed praise. Some people would likely be disappointed with whatever the end is, especially after a long wait, but it's something I know people want. If I'm still scared over Netoria 2, which is as much me making something I know people want as possible, how could I face making something entirely new?

I don't know if this status update is the kind of thing that interests people to be honest. You probably just want me to write "I added this new feature to Netoria 2!" and show some fun art. But I try to be open and honest on this platform. You're not getting your monies worth if I'm not talking about my creative torment and fear, that's the juicy stuff. But I won't let this update end with no fun previews at all.

More gropes! That's one good thing about releasing the game later, it gave me time to commission this new art. All these gropes are for the TF'd classes. It felt pretty weird that Princess Zaman or Swordsman Shah either had no gropes, or the same gropes as their normal gender. Especially since I changed the system to make turning back and forth easier and more strategic. I don't want scenarios to happen like you want you want Shah and Azar to get together and also have Shah prefer being a boy in act 2, but you end up in an awkward spot where TFing her means you can't get the gropes you need. There's also some juicy gropes for Vashti in her Djinn form, but I'll keep those hidden until later, they're pretty spicy though.

In Act 2, I plan for gropes to be much more important than they were in the later parts of Netoria 1. Not only will you have a reason to still do them, but they will be more varied and more sexy. But for that, I actually have to get to Act 2! So it'd better buckle down and actually finish this sucker, creative anxiety be damned.

That's all for this week. As always, thank you for your continued support.