Hi everyone! This will be like a postmortem/ final update as the last day of Crunchless Challenge :D For this month, I was very nervous about balancing things, what with other responsibilities and game development and the holidays, so I wasn't sure how much progress I would make on things, how stressed I would be, etc. That was one of my biggest reasons for joining Crunchless Challenge because I knew it would help me keep a healthy mindset throughout the month (hopefully). Originally, my schedule had been to wrap up game development the first week, fully playtest the game and make edits the second week, and market and release the third week. I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with the last two weeks of the month, so I didn't know how that would play out or if I would be so burnt out I wouldn't work on anything.
Turns out, even though it was a crunchless challenge, I was really proud of my progress this month!!! And in a healthy way too. Usually with other Jams, I feel like I make progress but I'm not always happy with the quality or I feel like I barely make deadlines/ overextend myself. This month, I felt so proud of the work I was putting out, and I think the focus on marketing and really letting myself enjoy/ execute each stage was helpful for the game itself too. I felt like I'd put out good quality work and I definitely noticed my engagement go up this month compared to past months. I also, in the spirit of the challenge, decided to take up a side project associated with my main game rather than mindlessly continue working on my main game. I decided to use the rest of the month to create a side story for the game that will be winter-themed in honor of the upcoming Winter VN Jam. It's been refreshing to be able to do this since I felt like I was able to be more creative again and reconnect with enjoying game development as a side project. All in all, while I did make objective progress with the game, I've noticed a huge mental shift that has allowed me to feel more connected and proud of my game as a developer, which is my personal biggest takeaway.
I loved engaging with this challenge and I am excited to hopefully take part in it next year already and take some of the lessons I learned with me throughout the year :) For those who are interested in my game, the main game, which has it's first chapter is here:
AND feel free to follow the studio itch.io page to stay updated on the Winter Content, which will be coming out in the next couple of weeks! The official game page will be going live tomorrow so feel free to follow the itch.io page or follow on Twitter for updates on that :') If anyone has remaining comments/questions for the last couple of days of the challenge, feel free to reply. I'd love to talk!