After almost a full year, Floodpunk is finally ready to be released! It got an early release on steam so go check it out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3695310/Floodpunk/

Now that the shilling is out of the way, time for my Floodpunk development recap.

As a first time dev, this was a brutal slog. I thought I knew everything I needed to on the programming side, and that arrogance cost me dearly throughout development. If I knew then what I know now...

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I also thought I only needed to know the programming side. I was (painfully) wrong. Here's my brief list of all the skills that came up that I wish I had spent more time improving beforehand...or skills that I wish I knew would be useful:

1) People skills - This was by far the most important skill I didn't realize I needed. Working with three people remotely on this project (which was unpaid, as this is a passion project) was a nightmare. Poor organization resulted in a ton of wasted effort and a folder on my desktop full of beautiful, unused assets because of over-scoping.

2) Scope Creep - Literally everyone and their mother will warn you about this. I thought I had scope under control. I was wrong.

3) Design and UI - Playtesters are not optional. They will tell you, straight up, that no one knows how to use something or if something is completely garbage as an option. You don't have to take every piece of advice you're given, but do listen to every piece of advice!!

4) It's Never Ready - Not really a skill but it's true. It'll never be ready, and you'll never be ready. Better to try and fail than to sit on it for months, waiting for it to "feel just right".

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This is, of course, all just my opinion and observations. Your own life is different than mine. Take what you will with that grain of salt, that every situation is unique.

Thanks to everyone who followed and supported my progress through Floodpunk's development. 

Cheers!

-Noah