I wish I had someone like Tanya to help me out, because I would really need it.
Today I hoped to announce Bionic Heart 2 beta testing. After two months of coding/testing, would be about time!
Instead no. I have bad news. I’m at one point where I fix a plot hole, and a new one appears. I check a variable, one path works, the other doesn’t. A scene that before was fine, now plays out of order.
I’ve worked like crazy in past 3 days, I’m stressed like never before and then I came to a simple conclusion. There’s no hope to make this work. Every time I open the script I have a headache now. Writer doesn’t have time to help.
So I’m thinking what to do. It’s really embarrassing for me. Despite all the efforts, I know that I can’t make this work, unless I make some really big changes. And I’m not used to release half-broken games. Testing to find the bugs is one thing, but the version I have currently is not even to be considered “testable”. Only 3 days ago I thought I was at good point, but then I discovered that is like a house of cards, if you move a piece, everything falls apart.
It’s the first time I find myself in such situation in my life, and I’m the sole responsible of this. I should have followed more carefully the situation, instead I was busy with other projects. A wrong choice, trusting too much someone else capabilities, thinking he can do it all on his own without supervision, and that’s the result.
A pity because the story itself is really good I think.
Not all is lost though!
However don’t be afraid, I’m already thinking what to do to solve the situation. A simple solution would be to eliminate the “multiple path” feature and just have a continuous story, where if you fail the Mars or Earth path the game ends. Less cool than the original project, but probably in this case I wouldn’t have to do a total rewrite of the story, and would be faster to solve it.
Don’t worry, the game WILL be out, you will only need to be patient for a little more! I am still aiming to finish it by the end of March, even if I’ll have to rework the game structure a lot.
I’m really sorry about what happened and will make sure this won’t repeat in future.
I think in the end it’ll be a good thing: less is more… more often than not!
Good luck!
Having a single continuous story sounds good, but does that mean it’ll play more like a Kinetic novel, or will there still be choices that changes what happens, but leaves the overall story intact, similar to the way The Walking Dead works?
Ah no no there will still be PLENTY of choices even needing to have both Earth+Mars path at same time. Anyway I got new help with someone much less burned than me, so maybe she’ll be able to fix everything 🙂
Don’t worry, we support you! I hope that everything turns out alright and that the process is as smooth for you as it can be under the circumstances. 🙂
Thanks! Got a fresh pair of eyes (and brain, and hands) helping me with it, hopefully things will be better 😀
I’m sure you will make it happen somehow. I believe in this project! I’m following everything you say about it on Twitter and your blog , and I’m so happy when I see a new screenshot or some news about the progress of the game. And like daikiraikimi said, we support you because you make great games that make our day.
It’s OK if there will be no mixed mars/earth endings. I’m sure we’ll be happy with the story either way! 🙂
Good luck! ^_^
Thanks! I believe the story is great, was just a problem to put it all together 🙂
You should not consider this a setback at all. Sure your schedule is a bit impacted, but you found the issue, and have ways to fix it. It’s just normal back and forth of a project. I think you’ll have a better game for all the work you are going to do to fix it. I don’t think folks will care in the end that you took an extra month or not, and you’ll be happier with what you release.
Yes you’re right, is just that I’m not used to have preorders/take people’s money without something to offer. I know that nobody forced them to preorder, but still… that’s how I’m made. Also that’s probably why I’ll never do a Kickstarter, too much pressure 😀
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