Changing the focus of the blog + A look back

It has been an extremely long time since I've last posted, and a lot has changed since then. 

Catching Up 

In my last post, I mentioned that it was time to really consider "new and alternative opportunities". I was unceremoniously laid off from my tech job earlier this February after 9 years on the job and decided to take some time and re-evaluate everything going on. Luckily I saw the writing on the wall right before the holidays when I had made that post and decided to pivot early. 

During the layoff, I took the time to sit down and work on Selatria full-time for 60 days, to finally try and complete the game. It reminded me of back when we started the studio right after college, but with all of the practical software experience gained over the past several years. I want to be clear that there was no time in the last 13 years that Selatria was ever not worked on, but the hurdles needed to complete the project were something that needed to just be completely focused on for a few months. Though I didn't complete the game as planned within that 60 day jam, it did untangle just enough problems to see it to the finish line. I also want to give a special shout out to Jon, Deborah, and Shadoe for sticking with this project until the very end. Jon and Shadoe were able to perform a miracle to get a game of this proportion running decently on the Steam Deck with all of the adjustments needed for programming and sound to make it work. (We even earned Verified status for that!) 

We finished the project on August 22 of this year. I hit the go button on 11:59pm on accident, so it will always show August 21 on Steam. Doh! 

During this period, we brought Spellbearers to a console for the first time. With Parker's help, we were able to get things packaged up and launched our first game on Nintendo.

I was able to do a panel for the first time at LVLUPEXPO alongside some award-winning game industry folks. (I was the not-award winner on stage!)

Forgive the sound and us shouting, had to make do without an AV person from the convention on site. Big shoutout to Wushensnake for filming what she could. 

A few months after LVLUPEXPO and the panel, I joined Nightdive Studios and the Atari family as a Project Manager/Producer and helped bring Killing Time: Resurrected to launch on October 17, 2024, wherever you play your modern games. 

And from there I got to talk with my friend and colleague Jason at Atari as well as with the Nightdive team for the official Atari podcast to talk about developing remasters. Worth a watch or listen!

To top it all off, we were able to finally have a much delayed Selatria launch party at Revival Arcade. I wanted this location because it was down the street from where it all started, in the heart of San Bernardino in the back offices and recording studio of Groove Time Records. (Also, support your local businesses!)

What now?

So now it comes to what to do with this blog. In the past, I've made development logs to talk about our games in development, but that's now a lot harder or impossible to do, the reach doesn't go far enough for a few viewers, and I'm admittedly more steps away from the trenches than I used to be. 

Instead of using this blog as a talking point for what I'm going to work on in the future, I'm going to work on blog entries that revolve around tips and guides for up and coming indie game developers and students so they don't make the same mistakes me or our team made. I'd also like to talk about post-mortems about past Whim Indie games, both still active and those we've had to take offline - I feel I can talk about it a bit more objectively now that enough time has passed. Some of these entries may read as rough drafts or scripts for future game development talks I plan to give to conventions, schools and the like. (They'll get the cleaned up/condensed/cut for time version) It will also save me some work and time down the line. 

I was inspired by Masahiro Sakurai's YouTube series about developing games, but I don't have that kind of money or time to do something as epic as that, and maybe people may want to read about a team who has been on the opposite end, using the majority of the last 12 years making games in spare hours before or after work and releasing games when they can. So you'll have to deal with this format for now, sorry about that! 

I'll end with this: Many friends and colleagues in the tech and game industry are in the situation similar to where I was at the beginning of the year, where funding was suddenly pulled, shareholders are not pleased, mergers and acquisitions made redundant, or pushed out by outsourcing or generative AI, and are currently out of work. It's been a really tough year, and it's not going to get any easier. With the incoming administration, I feel things are going to get a lot worse over the next four years before they get better. I really hope I'm wrong.

---

 
Follow the Projects I've worked on below:

Wishlist/Purchase Selatria on Steam (Whim Indie)
Wishlist/Purchase Spellbearers on Steam (Whim Indie) 
Purchase Spellbearers on Nintendo eShop (Whim Indie) 
Killing Time: Resurrected - Steam - Nintendo eShop - PlayStation - Xbox (Nightdive) 

.