Today, after maybe 4 years of solid development, I reached the first "finish line" for The Real Texas.
December 7 I started work on the final boss mechanics. Today, 20 days later, it's basically complete. I will still need to do some major tweaking and add a few minor-ish things, but there you have it. And oh, dear friends, have I been slogging.
What's a Boss Battle?
I try to generalize the idea of "Boss Battle" into what is really just a climactic gameplay event.
These kind of climactic battles take a lot out of me, because I try to avoid formulas. As a result I do not work very efficiently and they take forever. In fact, when faced with a boss battle I end up wasting a lot of time browsing the internet or just sitting around the apartment and thinking. For me these are the hallmarks of having run out of creative energy.
Once an encounter picks up some momentum, however, it's more possible to focus. Like a puzzle that comes together, once you see certain things in action you can see more easily what is required to complete them. But reaching that critical mass is a long and painful process.
Each "boss" encounter in The Real Texas is somehow unique. I'm not suggesting they will blow your mind, but none of them are "memorize the pattern and hack away until it dies." And by unique what I mean is that they represent situations you should not have really encountered in games before or would not expect, exactly. Not that I claim 100% originality, either.
What's Left
There is now nothing major left for me to do to finish the game.
My list is roughly:
- One area for the epilogue.
- Some drawings for the "THE END" section and maybe to redo the intro drawings.
- Fill in a few areas with foliage/etc.
- Maybe a few small mini-dungeons/puzzles for reward items.
- A number of end-of-game cutscenes.
- Rework some quest sequences.
- Figure out one major-ish subquest's resolution.
- Fill in more object/enemy interactions, particularly with respect to the later-game weapons.
After this comes the truly end-game stuff of final play-testing and of marketing, which I will do in parallel. I need to try and get the attention of Steam and other distribution services. At the same time I will need to work with a number of people to play the game through and find out where the sticking points are, and resolve them.
Fortunately I have a great list of volunteers who have played the game in the past and/or are eager to give it a try! If you've asked me before, you are likely on this list. If not, you can post a comment here or email me at psysal@gmail.com and I will add you to it. I can't guarantee that I will get to you but the list isn't that long so the chances are good.
ONWARD!
A Present
In commemoration of this momentous day in my life I have drawn a picture of Gannon for you. He looks oddly at peace with things:
