Hey all. I know it’s all been pretty silent lately, and I do apologize for that. Things have been incredibly slow and I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of things without pushing myself too hard.

I said it a while around the time I released The Awakening, and I wasn’t joking, but things certainly were gonna get very very quiet with these games for a while, and I think it’s okay to break that silence just a little bit today.

I've been in a really weird spot game development-wise pretty much ever since I finished SHOWMAN'S: The Awakening. I 100% knew this was going to happen, and it was one of the reasons why I was actually hesitant on finishing that version of the game.

Obviously I don't want to continue using Blender's game engine, and so I'm kind of stuck at a crossroad on what new game engine I should use, and at the moment it's Range Engine, or I take the time to continue learning Unreal Engine 4.

Range Engine is a fork of Blender's game engine, but it is in active development and is growing to be the best version of the engine out there. It's got some great optimizations, additions, and changes to it, and I personally think it has a great future ahead of it. While it is very familiar to me, I would still have to work with some of the weird clunky workarounds and limitations I've been doing in Blender, because despite the good changes and additions, a lot of it remains the same.

I've been slowly learning UE4 for quite a long time, and as of right now, I'm trying to return to that with a much more open mind so I don't fall into tutorial hell and get discouraged. Seeing a video explaining a bunch of different things really got the gears in my head spinning and it was actually quite motivating. I like Unreal Engine, it's complicated, but there are reasons why it is. Oddly enough, some things are far easier to set up in comparison to the methods I used in Blender's game engine. I would love to use UE4 going forwards because it would greatly benefit me as a game developer and the possibilities could skyrocket for me. I just need to keep learning on how to use it, and that takes time.

Over the past few months I've been a bit restless, knowing I have a bunch of plans for new games I absolutely want to make, but I haven't fully settled on a game engine to use, with only one option being one I'm somewhat familiar with. It almost feels like I don't even know how to make games anymore in a way lol.

Just know I'm not backing down so fast. I feel more confident in learning UE4, and I hope I can get a great understanding of the engine because I think I could make some pretty awesome stuff in it.

Now, onto some more (kind of) exciting news...

The sequel has been renamed to SHOWMAN'S: The Calling!

This is the official and final title for the sequel. I have struggled to find a title I really like that also fits this game well, but after getting a complete rough draft of the story written down (that I also finally like a lot), I have found that this is a perfect title for the game.

If you are not aware, the sequel is actually not my current focus right now. Its development has been on hold for quite a long time! Despite this, however, I am always still writing down every idea I get that I like and this game is shaping up to be something very very special. I am super excited to work on it, but I want to make sure it turns out the best it can be. Really hoping it all will turn out great.

So what is my focus at the moment?

Finally announcing SHOWMAN’S: Helen!

See the game’s page here!

You awake, startled, sweating and shaking. As you look around you find that it was simply a nightmare. There’s no time to waste, you’ve got important things to do. As you sit down at your desk, you are continued to be reminded, and cannot shake the feeling that something, or someone, is trying to tell you something.

For quite a long time, I’ve had a mysterious project relating to a radio that is part of the SHOWMAN’S series.

SHOWMAN’S: Helen is a side chapter that is planned to be only a little smaller than The Awakening, and I really think those interested in the story of SHOWMAN'S will enjoy this one. It focuses on a certain corner of the story that the other games just won't have the time to explore. It's going to be pretty simple yet unique, and I can see this becoming one of the scariest games I've made yet.

I must admit, I made this game's page way too early, but I wanted to make sure people knew something else was in development. This game started off as an idea that I was only maybe going to do, but after a lot of deeper thinking and planning I knew this game absolutely needed to happen.

And something important I should say is that lot of the assets I'm making for this game will be able to be carried over to the 2.0 version of The Awakening and the sequel. It's a lot of work but it will be really worth it in the long run because it'll actually take some weight off my shoulders for those next two projects!

As I have said before, things are going SLOW. I’m trying to get back into it all though, and hopefully I can share much more exciting stuff for everything in the future. The Awakening’s development was genuinely so exhausting and honestly, I really needed to just take the rest of last year off after finishing it lol.

And I want to make this very clear:

I have zero idea when any of these future projects will be finished, obviously. I know SHOWMAN’S: Helen will likely be the next game that will release, however. With the whole learning a new game engine thing going on, I imagine this might take longer than I can even expect, unfortunately.

I still do a lot of work on these games by myself and kind of prefer it that way, not to mention these are fairly ambitious games. I love these games and I am very passionate about them, and I really want to take a big step for their future. These things take a lot of time!

Thank you all for your continued support, patience, and kindness. I really wish I had so much more to share but I didn't want to leave you all in the darkness for too much longer.

Hopefully I can show off some really neat stuff next time!