Posted August 16, 2025 by machamochify
Two years ago (in August, so almost exactly!) I had the idea of making a game that looked like a Chinese ink painting. Beyond the art, I had no idea what the rest of the game would look like. The original development time was planned for one year.
A month of CS olympiad burnout, a summer of game development, a semester of college apps , and one high school graduation later, this game is finally complete! To me, it's fitting that I should finish this project that sums up the most important lessons I learned in high school, right before moving out for college.
Finding "Time" is the first major, planned out project I've published as a solo dev (my first solo game is technically Skyladder, which was a spontaneous weekend creation), and it feels so good! My planning document sits at 19 pages long and I've spent numerous relaxing evenings painting every scene, while looping my favorite playlist or listening to a podcast. I am majorly proud of coding the rune drawing mechanic, through which I've learned elementary computer graphics knowledge I hope to expand upon in college.
Thank you to my sister for her role as a consultant on cultivation as a system of magic based in Chinese culture.