“i’m in a band! i’m in a band!!! i’m in a band!!!!! i’m in a band!!!!!!!”

Making this post about a purported new productivity arc that I might hit in the next month or so. While development on CYPR[e]SS has continued in some fashion pretty consistently for the past few months, I’ve definitely had less time recently to throw into it. It’s really odd saying that development has continued when I have nothing directly related to show for it?? Everything I’ve been devoting time into has been skill development, which SUCKS because I can’t directly show anyone “yeah here’s this sick game I’m working on,” but I’m praying that this learning pattern is going to let me work on games nonstop from here. If I can get a good enough demo out, I can always find people better at those skills to help out, right??

Anyways, putting this post out to outline and hold myself to some sort of schedule in regards to what I’m working on/am setting out to work on. Big news for the fans of the CYPR[e]SS universe!!! (population: me….)

Twine Project: I’ve got a game in Twine that I have to write and develop by Oct. 19th for a game design class I’m taking. Taking the lazy route and writing another character bio with this, since it’s something I’m familiar with writing already. Likely to be a written adventure about the Datathief before the game takes place. Probably counts as non-canon technically since it’s an exploration of the world for myself to figure out what the hell is going on, but that’s only if it ever gets overwritten!

Music Project: The last medium I need to get a baseline understanding in is audio- I’ve been learning so much about writing, visual arts (both 2D and 3D), and business, but I’ve not needed to touch audio based on always having a plethora of audio people on hand. Once I delve into this a bit, I should have all of the skills needed to make any game ever, albeit alone (which is a BUMMER. I love working with people on creative projects I fear.) Anyways, if one of my audio guys becomes available it’ll be less important for CYPR[e]SS itself, but still is something that I might as well learn now for a future of easier projects forevermore. Planning to make a song to learn the ins and outs of Ableton, only really looking for the easily accessible 60% mastery in all of these fields, so trial by fire should be fairly effective here, especially with existing knowledge of music and audio.

CYPR[e]SS: Of course, this is the overarching big one. I’m looking at ideally working a lot more in-engine this month. Specifically, I plan to:

A) Make a new testing map, just a big circular area with spawns on the outside. Almost coliseum shaped I guess? Should be quick to throw together, just would make things easier to work on.

B) Make a player model and an enemy model. Working with giant pills inherently makes me more scared to show anyone the game! This is step 1 in the first of several visual overhauls, but if this can get accomplished this month, I’ll look at getting a weapon model or two the month after and we might be able to cook harder.

Will I stick to any of this?? Who knowsssssss, but planning on using this as a motivator to an extent! Updates throughout the month will probably come by, or at the least I’ll post a new update monthly.

(P.S. if anyone is reading this and thinking about how they’d want to join/rejoin development on CYPR[e]SS or start another creative project, DM me on Discord @phasmite !!!!)