EPISODE 3 - RELEASED TODAY! (finally)

That's right! After being about 5 days late, I have released Episode 3 of "A Long Journey" VN.

Episode 3

And now for the news portion of the update.

////EXPLANATION FOR THE LATE RELEASE

Aight, so when a game dev suddenly goes quiet, it's usually one of two things: 1) they gave up or 2) they are ill beyond comprehension. Mine was sort of like the latter..... as you all know, I have a bad tendency for estimating how much time it takes to do something. This time, I had planned over 20 cutscenes in this one episode, (most were towards the end), thinking I could knock them out in half an hour each. I was completely off about that. Takes a good 2 and 1/2 hours to make one of decent quality.

Also, due to my financial situation, (I'll talk more about that in just a bit), this could be the last chance I get at making another full episode. I know a lot of you have been following me for a while, and I needed to at least give my very best to prove to you I am worth your trust. My dream is to not be just a game developer, but to be a game developer with a reputation for trying my best for all you guys and gals out there. The reason I became a game developer, was to try and create a little bit of an escapist's haven for whoever plays my games. With each iteration, I feel like I'm getting closer. There's no way I'll give up.


////DEVELOPMENT STORIES


Have you ever pushed your physical limit? Not only that, but did you keep pushing it without a break? I had to do that in order to reach my vision for this episode. I'm incredibly sick right now from pushing myself so hard for so long, so I'm going to recover for a few days.

Honestly, I had so much fun drawing and creating a different story than what the trends are following. The cutscenes were especially fun to make. I used to be a comic artist, and so being able to go back to drawing action scenes really brought back some good memories.

We've come a long way from where the series began. An awesome youtuber by the name of WendelBurke5 made a let's play of my game back when I had just gotten to my first full version. I don't know about you, but when some takes the time to make a video for your game, as a developer, I am overjoyed that you would go to such lengths. It really made my day back then, and it gave me motivation to make a game that a youtuber could maybe one day make a name off it. Here's his video: youtube.com/user/funnytimeyahb


TIP: When you're reaching about 80% - 90% of completion, START SAVING AND BACKING UP! That's when all your technology will fail! (Literally, my computer was deleting files off my harddrive that I was using too much).



////FUTURE PLANS

A little bit of bad news, I'm afraid. As I mentioned about the financial situation. My college loans are piling up, and I need to get a job first. The only reason I was able to pursue making this game was because I had borrowed the school's powerful computer and software to create these games. With my graduation in May, I'll have to return everything, and thus, I won't be able to publish any new episodes for a while until my financial situation is fixed.


I've started a Patreon Campaign here: https://www.patreon.com/roxioxx

I don't expect you to become a Patron, but benefits include behind the scenes work for the creation of the game. That's all I'm going to say about that. I don't want to sound like a telemarketer. Anyways.

While I can't publish, I did not say I would not keep working on it. I'll be making more concept artwork and keep working on the writing. So that when the time comes, I'll have things prepared to be released like on a que. I think I'll even work on some cutscenes during the mean time >:D   Oh boy..... never underestimate the time it takes to make one cutscene...


Oh, Episode 2, for those of you wondering, will be getting a massive update.... but I'm not going to tell the deadline because things are really stressful. I'll send out a news announcement for when I release it. My plans for updating are to add a better beginning, and fix the ending. Not pleased with it right now. (If you'd like to see the current build, go to: http://thelegendofauferre.weebly.com/alj_ep2.html )



Well, I'm exhausted beyond belief right now. For those of you who have been following along with the series, thank you so much. You make a struggling college student's dream come true. I wish you all the best as well.


Have a good one!


~Rox