New Year's Resolutions

Gonna retool this blog a little bit.

My old "About" section mentioned my 'perpetual alpha' philosophy: games aren't finished, only abandoned. Well, seems that philosophy doesn't get me far. I end up abandoning too many projects without even reaching a base level of completion. Most of my projects are rather large tasks for a single person to complete, e.g. Magic sets, FissureVerse, Latchkey. I am always a grandiose thinker with a lot of ambition but when I new idea hits me I put one large project on hold to start another large project.

But I found that I have been able to complete small projects that made me happy to finish them: Dominion sets, HeroQuest levels, Doom levels. So I'm going to make an effort to focus on more small one-offs. My 'Monthathons' worked out well, to give me a sense of accomplishment, so I will start giving myself achievable deadlines, like making one small project a month, like a single Doom level.

This blog was also originally kind of a 'developer's blog', taking it's cue from the Dwarf Fortress blog, with weekly updates on projects, but I think my wavering interest in some projects and lack of progress shows itself when posts have almost nothing to offer each week (thinking of Latchkey, for instance). On top of that, I was kind of cheating, not even showing off development as I go with the Magic set, since I was only posting cards when I had drawn some art for them. Which, by the way, I know is not my strong suit, and I do not have the patience to get better at. So I'm going to focus on projects where art is not something that is required. Therefore I won't be making any more art for Magic sets, and won't be slogging my way through finding art for FissureVerse. I am very grateful to all the artists who have allowed me to use art for FissureVerse for free, but I feel that it's now a project that, if I pick it up again, will be altered in enough fundamental ways I may as well consider it a new game.

2020 will be the year of Monthathons. I will attempt to make 12 projects, one for each month, each one small and doable, like a Doom level. I am currently working on three major non-game projects so this blog has taken a back seat and dried up this last year. My hope is that these mini-project Monthathons will reinvigorate me.

I am not positive about posting schedule. I will have at least one post a month, when the project is done. I'm thinking anything else is a bonus. I may finish off the current Magic set, sans art, since the Magic set is actually done, and has been for quite some time, since before I even started posting it (in fact I've been working on a second Magic set). Without making anymore art for it, the set can actually be posted very quickly. Perhaps I'll pop those out to keep me remembering that I have a blog and that I should be working on stuff.

Anyway, 2020 has begun.