Good afternoon fellow content creators!
How is everyone doing this week? I am so, so, sorry that I haven’t updated in so long! August was a wild ride! Things were nonstop with developing a routine, recovering from bronchitis and the flu, and then going on vacation. All in all, last month was a whirlwind of activity! As you can guess, not a lot of it was for the better. Unfortunately, being sick dislodged my routine and when I finally felt better, I went on vacation. I didn’t really get time to get situated or really recover. With it already being September 11th, I found that I have been floundering quite a lot on the productivity front. My first step in getting back on track is to get my website and Discord updated and reset my sleep schedule. As of right now, my routine aims to look something similar to, going to bed around 8/8:30pm, wake up around 4:30am to workout, do some art studying/practice, and get ready for work. When I get to work, I work on my book on my two 15-minute breaks and my 30 minute lunch. Lastly, I finish up the day by working a bit on my hidden object video game. This way, I am working on my top 3 things: my art skills, my book and my video game. The weekend I do chores and work on the other two projects as well as resting and recharging. Getting this back up and working since I got back from vacation has been a bitttt of a struggle! But, I’m nothing if not persistent! I managed to create a routine before I got sick and so, I will do it again! I WILL get back on track! >:) Now, let’s review August’s results!
My fantasy book made some progress! I have started to gather everything I’ve written and put it into Scrivner on my Ipad and in a folder in Google docs! I left at defining mana crystals, their impact and influence, uses and how they are gathered (I am hoping to write my first handful of stories actually on mana crystals in September/October since they will be a fairly large focal point of my book) in my notes. After some research, I found that I needed to work not only on my worldbuilding and content organization, but, my actual writing itself. I need to write frequently and actually post it to get feedback. I am hoping to start putting together video content (short stories, speed paintings, reviews etc) for my social media accounts towards the end of this year once I make more progress on everything overall. As well as developed and maintained a routine for at least 2 to 3 months.
As for my Hidden Object Game, we made quite a bit of progress and found that we need to redo several things such as the dialogue system, art style, puzzles and the game document. Together, my project partner and I found better resources and gained more clarity in what was working in the current scene and what wasn’t. The next goal for this is to take everything we learned from August and apply it. We aim to get a very rough playtest completed by the end of October in order to get results back as soon as possible. Testing is essential in games! Before we put too much time into certain parts of the game, we need to see what the beta testers say what is and isn’t working.
My Alice in Wonderland video game got some direction but, didn’t get as much content added to it as I would have liked. I got an idea on the character, her weapons and actions but, I need to flesh out a lot more on story and the world. I do want to rig up a model in October and set up a small stage to start getting the mechanics down. Once I get that smoothed out, I can give it to the beta testers to test and give feedback on while I work on building the story and world. Unfortunately, I was unable to make any progress on the solo journaling game edition. Being so new to the solo journaling games, I found that I need to really focus on just playing more solo journaling games (and let’s face it, more video games as well) to research, understand, and dissect the topic. First step is to read the Alice in Wonderland books a few times to get ideas for both projects while I play more solo journaling games and video games.
Lastly, My poor, poor, neglected card game. How I wanted to work on you! But, like the solo journaling game, the main focus is to just experience a vast number of types of games. Once I get a better idea of defining the type of card game my game is going to be (like a battle, survival, or collecting game etc) I will focus on throwing together a demo to start playtesting. I bought all the supplies I need to create a rough demo so, when I hit that point in production, I will be ready to go!
With having such a big list, I think the biggest thing I realized last month is that I need to really narrow down my list and focus on my time management skills. Life is well, life, aka, one giant curveball. There will be good months and there will be bad months. So, with the help of my friend, I made a list of everything and then passed it to him to review. He has seen me struggle, fail and succeed over the years so, he was able to objectively look at my list and tell me if it was too much. He took one look at my list, shook his head, and helped me narrow it down further as well as break it into two segments. The two segments are my main focus goals and the maybe later goals. The main focus goals are goals that have to be done and the goals that if I have time, I will attempt to do. It gives me more breathing room overall. As well as things to aim for once I finish my list. I think a lot of people get so shy about sharing their projects, that it can hinder a lot in progress and development. I was stagnant for SO many years but, when I began sharing online, with friends, joining groups etc, I really started to see some positive movement in my projects. While everyone’s creative is journey is different, if the things you are trying now are not working, then don’t be afraid to try something new! For example, start a blog, find an accountabilabuddy, join a group that you can bounce ideas off of, have someone review your goals etc.
What was August like for you? Was it successful? A disaster? Or somewhere in-between?
Comment below!
Have a great rest of your day!
From,
Squeaky
