Game Journal #110 - Next Fest Results, New Build, Life is Hectic

Hey guys! Welcome back to my game journal series. I know it's been a while since my last one... well, life has been a little crazy over here for me. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it.

So recently I've had trouble going to bed. I'd lay down, and I'd feel all these little things biting me. I was like "Wth?!" Since I have two cats, I thought "maybe it could be fleas." And I was right, they were fleas. But this was an even bigger WTH for me because my cats are indoor cats. So how did fleas get in my house?! Then I thought more about it, and I remembered that the previous owner had a dog. Looking it up, it turns out that flea eggs can be dormant in a carpet for literally months at a time. So the carpet that was in the house when I bought it had fleas in it, and they hatched. I was not happy. But thankfully, after setting up some homemade traps and vacuuming a lot they're mostly gone. I've been battling them all week though. Really glad that I left my second job because I would not have had the time to fight them if I wasn't home for 12 hours a day like before.

Secondly, I've discovered that my house is NOT infested with roaches. Because my main bedroom had fleas (I sleep on the floor so it was literally impossible) I was sleeping on my couch in the living room. In the months I've been living here, I'd occasionally find a dead roach in the living room that my cats had killed. At one point it was almost every night that a roach would turn up. I was beginning to worry that there was a roach infestation in the house. But I was skeptical, because A. There's no food in the living room, and B. I'd never seen a roach anywhere else. So I didn't do anything about it. Anyway, while I was in the living room about to go to bed, I literally saw a roach spawn on my front door. After my cats killed it (cats are the best pest control btw) I took a look under the door and lo and behold, there's like a ONE INCH GAP that leads outside. So all the roaches spawning in my house would literally just walk through this gap in my door, which is why they would always appear in the living room. Thankfully it's an easy fix (just need a draft stopper under the door.)

Lastly, I've gotten some epic deals this week. I bought a used OLED Nintendo Switch in mint condition for $220 that came with everything, and I found a VitaMix at Goodwill for $7. If you don't know, Vitamixes are like the Nokias of blenders. They last forever and can blend just about anything. I looked online and the usual price is about $450, so yeah, epic deal!

Okay, now that life stuff is out of the way, how good is Next Fest? Turns out it's pretty good! Kripparrian would be proud.

As you can see, I got 200 more wishlists from being in Next Fest, along with 31 people that actually played my game. Of those 31 people, I met another developer that also is making a JRPG called Toushin Gent. I'll put some pictures of his game below. I played through the demo and it was really fun!

As you can see, the art is really good. The pixel work on the slime especially... I kneel. (Also, isn't it really funny how the guy on the right looks just like Joe?) I really love point and click games, so it was nice to see someone other than myself be interested in making one. And surprisingly, the game was really well balanced. I'm saying "surprisingly" not to be offensive, but in terms of indie games in general. They tend to be either too easy or stupidly hard with no in-between. For example... okay, I recently bought Path of the Midnight Sun because it was on sale. It was fun at first, but the middle had some serious balancing issues. I'm talking enemies that have a ton of health just because. Anyway, it was the first JRPG that I've rage quit (and left a bad review on.) Don't recommend unless you're a masochist.

Toushin Gent doesn't have this issue. The final boss in particular (for the demo) really impressed me. She was a seasoned warrior that went crazy because she smelled the blood from a small cut you had (lol.) And to make it harder, throughout the game you have a healer travelling with you, but she isn't present for this one fight. So all the healing in battle can only be done with items. She was stronger than me, BUT I still managed to win on my first try by using strategy. Knowing what items to use and when, utilizing my mana properly, and attacking when she was open was key. It actually reminded me a lot of an SMT fight. So bravo, Toushin Gent team. I'll be buying the full game when it comes out.

And with all that out of the way... I'm finally announcing a new build! Well, okay, it's new build +. It's got all the Introduction CGs colored in now, so new demo players will have a better experience. Soon, I'll have the Chapter 1 CGs done as well. There aren't NEARLY as many as in the Introduction (because when you first introduce a place, you need a lot of art!) so it should be done a lot faster. Then, 3D stuff, and we can go on to the next part. Gotta say, I'm pretty excited to work on the game some more. I think I'll have a new journal pretty soon!