Tristan Cole [elocnat]

I definitely meant to post something before this. I even sat down to type something on Feb 28th to get something done then realized I had an extra day so I said I'll do it tomorrow and, well... I do have some specific posts I'm putting together with no timeline though so haven't done absolutely nothing.

I took the week off and have been mostly working on TCPD, playing The Saboteur since it has "re-released" on Steam, and trying to relax with good food. I'm finishing up my vacation by smoking some ribs for the first time on the WSM I bought myself for Christmas sitting on the deck with a beer and writing this. Not too warm with a nice breeze, and birds are noisey today. Maybe I've just been more in tune to it recently since I've started to enjoy bird watching a little bit, but the bird population has picked up heavily over here the past couple years. Maybe because of the newer developments forcing them out and me letting the landscaping grow up a little bit. Either way, it's nice sitting out here but I can't wait to be able to do it on my land. Which may be happening sooner than later because my rent situation is changing after a decade. Good problems to have but lots happening at once and I don't love change.

Despite other big IRL projects on the horizon, I really want to release TCPD next year at the latest. It's over scoped and is going to cost me a fair bit to polish like I want, but at this point I'd rather take the extra time and release it when ready then cut everything I (know) now I want the game to be. I have a new name for the game and would like to get logos and such made for advertising, and then do an "early access" launch on Itch with the latest build (paid, likely $10ish with Steam key at launch I'm thinking) before a Steam festival entrance and eventual release sometime 2025.

I'm still stuck on level design. Initially I wanted to have multiple levels, but it quickly became apparent that wasn't happening. In order to compensate for that I needed to expand LATC, but I've not had a very clear direction. I've split the map into four districts but they're oddly shaped and it's not as easy to differentiate them with the limited assets/skills I have. As I build them out and play test they get better of course but it's hard to balance the level design between racing, objective, and taxi gameplay. The Campus district is the most fun tricks lines wise, even if it's possibly the blandest.

TCPD is so much fun though...I love playing it. I usually play it before I work on it since I build almost every time, but occasionally my play test sessions will go on for a half hour with me just zoning out and going around the city & thinking about the end product. And it's mostly because it's my baby and you can love your ugly lil babies no matter what, but I really hope there's a small group at least who finds the game and enjoys it as much as I do. But it's gotta actually be finished for that to happen. So rebrand, license music, get characters/vehicles modeled, maybe paid UI design, finish level design + all gameplay, in a year and a half with shoestring budget. Easy!

I walked away for a minute to grab another beer and check the smoker temp (aiming 275-ish) and started wondering if I was going to post this. I didn't mean to turn it into a TCPD devlog but also writing about myself and what I'm doing feels pompous? I think is the word. Like who gives a shit basically. I read the occasional blog post from somebody else but generally don't care what they're doing outside of projects or specific write ups so why bother including anything irrelevant? Like how I just fought a jumping spider who was on my water bottle with a lighter, he jumped at it first and then I turned the flame on and he leaped off the bottle then off the table quick fast. I guess I just kind of like experiencing little stupid shit like that and amusing myself and don't feel the need to share it, so it feels weird when I write it down. :aliens-guy-emoji:

Guess I'll finish this, ribs are still cooking but I'll attach a pic to the end of this post maybe. My next project is to get a beaver lodge torn out and my dam repaired and hope they don't come back again anytime soon, then maybe get an access road to my land so I can start using it. Not sure when I'll end up renaming TCPD and doing the whole re-launch thing, but would like to get to a solid "initial district layouts done" + updated gameplay loop with the new focus sometime before the end of summer. Then I'll start trying to commission some real art and get ready for that soft launch to gain some feedback before full release. I've thought about looking into publishing on PlayStation and Xbox too but I'm not sure how realistic of a goal that is. Not ruling it out entirely but don't see it happening unless game looks a lot better/I get accepted and doesn't require any huge changes build wise.

Later.