When making games, I always keep one principle in mind: minimize taking control away from the player. But last week, maybe because I was tired and drowsy, I did something I don’t quite understand myself. There was this frustrating issue in the very beginning where dialogue would get out of sequence if players didn’t follow the guide exactly, so I just blocked player input and forced all the dialogue to play through. I also added tutorials that freeze player control while teaching mechanics. I thought, “Ah, now it’s clean,” and forgot about it.
This week I noticed that player drop-off rates in that early section had shot up dramatically. Even with a small sample size, the abandonment was so severe that it snapped me awake. I realized I had momentarily ignored something I always keep in mind, all for the sake of convenience. So I rolled back the parts where I had taken control away from players from last week’s changes.
Working alone often feels like constantly having to observe myself. I find myself frequently ignoring rules I’ve set for myself or obvious principles, only to have feedback or numbers like these snap me back to reality.
Since releasing the demo, I’ve been stuck in this cycle of feedback, demo updates, and early-game fixes while working on Steam capsules and micro-trailers. I’d try to start on the next stage of the main game, but I’d always end up staring blankly, then drift off to other tasks. But now I think I’m finally finding my rhythm. I’ve started organizing the story roughly and placing it as events throughout the game.
Even though I don’t usually think about switching modes, changing pace just once is really exhausting. It’s draining.