What happened to us?
Hi everyone, Anton here! It’s been a while since you heard from us, so I decided to write an update (not that anyone cares :D).
Last year we went to Game Access. During the conference, I managed to hunt down Jonathan Blow to check out the next Alchemist game, Alchemist’s Artifact. After going through his feedback I realized that the game had no focus.
Thinking about I realized that I was burnt out, so we decided to give a break. While Yesim, Ibrahim, and Aysegul kept working on the Arranged, it wasn’t a very demanding game. Not for me anyway. I was on the light support and assumed the role of a producer during that time.
Taking my mind off side projects, playing some games in my free time really did help! Now I feel fresh and ready to tackle new challenges.
What’s next?
I love to work on games. But I also love to play them, spending time with my wife, and I have a day job. So it became very clear that I need to have a healthy work-life balance. Even though making games as a hobby in my free time doesn’t feel like it, it is work nonetheless. Obviously, I need a sustainable weekly schedule. Here is what I come up with;
During the weekends, I will spend 6-8 hours actively working on a game. During the week I won’t touch the code. I may take care of other more relaxed stuff, like writing a devlog or taking a screenshot for the screenshot Saturday.
Working like this should be sustainable in the long run. The development of games should progress steadily. I will have time to spend with Yesim, to play games, and I will take care of the marketing. To test this schedule out I decided to develop a game I had in mind for a while: Particle in a Box.
Particle in a Box
To be honest, this won’t be the most original game ever made. In fact, this is a remake of my first released game. But I like the simple mechanics, and it easily can be repurposed into a hyper-casual game. So it shouldn’t take us too long to develop it. And with some luck, we may be able to find a publisher for the game.
The next blog will be a more technical devlog. Meanwhile, take a look at the very first video of the Particle in a Box!
Stay tuned if you want to learn how I created the visuals, in particular the shockwave effect.