Hey there, friend. It's wall of text time.

So it's been about two weeks since I released Flotsam, and I feel as though I've gotten the necessary distance to evaluate where my process went right and where it went wrong being the noob solo developer that I am. So please join me as I dump some final thoughts about this project's conclusion.

~ The Good ~

- I've really grown to like the slightly pixelated, silhouette artstyle, and I intend to continue using it. I'm not an artist by any stretch (nor do I have the kind of dough to hire one), but I do want to have more poses in future projects. Less relying on eye movements.

- I learned a whole lot about Ren'Py. I haven't had to use Python since I completed my major some years back, so it was nice to revisit it in this new context. I really should learn to create modular avatars though.

- Experimenting with audio and sound was tons of fun. I haven't messed around with composing music since I was in middle school, so this is another blast from the past. Making my own sound effects was real fun too. That said, I think I'll mostly stick with music in the PD in the future. I'm thinking I should focus on getting better at remixing such tracks for different moods rather than composing ones of my own. So look forward to more early jazz and ragtime. 

- I got introduced to the wider FVN sphere which is awesome. There is some fantastic advice by both large and small creators out there, and I can't wait to sift through and find out what works best for my process.

- I absolutely love my finished story. Even though I'm sick of rereading it, I'm really proud of having finished it. The longest work I had previously written and edited was ~5k words, so this was a massive step forward. Cheers to that.

~ The Bad ~

- Editing was extremely time consuming and meticulous. I went through six different drafts and experienced some burnout along the way. First draft took about a week and a half. Editing took 5x that amount of time. And even after release I still found a couple typos! Microsoft Word spell check, why must you fail me so!? Really need to find a way to ease that process, especially if I decide to go forth and attempt larger works. Otherwise I'll go insane.

- My marketing was awful. While this is just a fun hobby for me, I would like to get feedback on how to improve, and that's not going to happen unless I learn to market better. Thumbnails, SEO, first impressions the whole nine yards. Gotta learn to do that to at least a modest degree.

And that's about it. 

Overall, I can't tell you how happy I am about this project. I made a video game with a story I poured so much effort into and I think that things came out pretty gosh dang good for a first attempt. Already I'm chomping at the bit to get through some more. So here's a status update of two I'm currently working on.

Both horror related. Both Missouri related. Why? Because I guess that's my niche now. I've taken to calling it my SHOW-ME HORROR franchise. Pretty cool, eh?

One's a short VN called How The Ink Tastes. I hope to have it finished around Halloween. It began as a creepypasta idea, and I've been playing with it for the last couple years. I'm estimating that it will have around 3.5k words: something more bite-sized. It is currently in the drafting phase. Planning on experimenting with music and art while also attempting some different tactics to appease the almighty SEO gods.

Additionally, I did tell someone on the FVN Reddit discord that I would work on a FVN with a very bleak or tragic atmosphere. 

I think I've found a good candidate for that in my pile of shelved ideas. As of now, it is titled The Giant in the Field and is in the plotting phase, with an estimated final word count of 80k-100k. I'll probably nibble away at it in between smaller projects. I don't know if I'll release it piecemeal or all at once: I would really like to avoid the former if I'm able. 

To close, thank you everyone that played Flotsam and enjoyed Andy's story. It really does mean a lot to me. Here's to more great adventures in the future.

And to actually close, I have a twitter now. Because I hate myself, obviously.

https://twitter.com/KraajLanding

Thanks all, and eat your veggies.

-Kraaj