March 3rd, 2018 Progress

Game

Berry Street

7 years ago

Hello, everyone!

I’ve been working on Berry Street since December 8th, 2017. I haven’t been working on it full-time, though, as this is currently just a hobby of mine; my real life and real job are currently my biggest priorities, though I do spend a lot of my free time working on this project, making sure to make some sort of progress every day, whether it be something as big as a whole page of code to something as small as a minor edit to preexisting code.

This might not seem like the smartest method of work, but from my own personal experience, this is the method that currently works best for me, as forcing myself to work on x-amount of the project every day might not always be that simple, as, like stated before, my life outside of development is my biggest priority, and I might not always have enough free time to work on as much as I’d like each and every day. Plus, writing is something that can’t always be forced.

That all said, I’m almost completed with a small test demo to give to a group of friends of mine. It’s a small portion that basically sums up the game’s main story and direction, as well as give a good rundown of the protagonists and mechanics (ie. choice consequences). I hope to release this demo to them some time next week, where they’ll hopefully give their feedback via a poll I’ll have provided them.

Now, I’m sure some of you are a bit worried that getting feedback from friends might not be the smartest idea since they’re sure to be heavily biased. And to an extent, you’re correct. However, I’ve made it clear to them to be as honest as humanly possible, even if it may hurt my feelings. Plus, a few of them are writers, themselves. Nothing professional, mind you, but they know enough about the basics to know what makes a good story. Because that’s what Good Tales is about: story.

Anyway, once I get the information I need from their feedback, I’ll begin work on making edits and changes wherever they’re needed. From there, it’s on to focusing on custom character sprites and adding more to the story. If I don’t feel in the ‘writing mood’, I can work on the sprites, and if I don’t feel like drawing, I can work on the story. If I’m not in the mood for either, I can at least work on the branching paths to make sure they all line up and work the way I want them to. Again, as long as some sort of progress is made each day, I’m satisfied.

I’m still a while away from releasing a public demo, but I’ll still be sure to give teasers and devlogs as I develop the project. If you’re not following Good Tales on social media yet, feel free to do so here: