{"id":640,"date":"2012-01-09T13:57:37","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T12:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/?p=640"},"modified":"2012-01-09T13:57:37","modified_gmt":"2012-01-09T12:57:37","slug":"you-should-just-relax-and-try-to-enjoy-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/?p=640","title":{"rendered":"“You should just relax and try to enjoy it.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s not often you get the chance to finish up a three year project, and I’ve found there comes a point when the end is in sight, and with it a psychological hurdle. \u00a0Do you have what it takes to push through the hardest part? \u00a0Is the project all you hoped it would be?<\/p>\n

I’ve taken more than six weeks off Lone Survivor. The first three weeks were due to sciatica, a trapped nerve in the back which means you can’t really do much. \u00a0After that I tried to go back to work but felt the pain coming back. I was quite out of love with the game at this point too – almost unsure if I wanted to finish it. \u00a0I loaded it up and played it but I couldn’t see past all the stress the last few months had given me (basically I was burnt out.) \u00a0I couldn’t really stand the sight of it at that point.<\/p>\n

So I took another three weeks off, relaxing, getting well, playing some DARK SOULS (and Demon’s Souls again,) spending much needed quality time with my wife and daughter, and yes, I admit, working on a secret side project. \u00a0Which I’m super excited about (and will reveal when this is all over.) \u00a0But I’m putting it back to the side now, as the final crunch begins…<\/p>\n

My wife and daughter are off to Japan tomorrow for six weeks, and in that time I’ve resolved to finish Lone Survivor!<\/p>\n

Michael ‘brog<\/a>‘ Brough said to me: “Trust your past self, stick by the choices you made when your head was clearer, don’t let the stress throw you off.” \u00a0I appreciated that advice, it was what I needed to hear, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n

I loaded it up again today, for the first time in three weeks, and finally I saw it with fresh eyes. \u00a0When I used to make music as my career, sometimes it would take going to bed to do that (for the ears, I mean.) \u00a0But with a massive game, it takes six weeks apparently. \u00a0I suddenly decided, from the list of hundreds of suggestions I’ve had from feedback, to pick a few key things I think will improve it, focus on them, and add no new features besides them. \u00a0I’m going to work on the combat in particular. \u00a0That and take a good look at the level design, in terms of stealth, so I make the best use of my resources, and make the two key mechanics as satisfying as they can be.<\/p>\n

Besides that it’s the endings, and I have them pretty much figured out scene-by-scene now. \u00a0Although I’m going to trim them down to the minimum too. \u00a0I actually want a short ending after the conclusion of the city, it feels right for the game.<\/p>\n

Anyway, for now, as Benzido says…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BONUS: \u00a0City artwork-in-progress I was gonna use for a behind the scenes, but I honestly don’t think I have time for that now (postmortem perhaps?)<\/p>\n

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It’s not often you get the chance to finish up a three year project, and I’ve found there comes a point when the end is in sight, and with it a psychological hurdle. \u00a0Do you have what it takes to push through the hardest part? \u00a0Is the project all you hoped it would be? I’ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[120,121,50,119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/superflatgames.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}