Achievement: Game 4 flow chart!

 

Don't forget! I am doing a webcast on Friday, and you can now submit a survey to be an alpha tester.

I finished Bout 2 yesterday, and am diving into Bout 4 now. We have been cooking. After Bout 4, wrapping up Rorasuketo will be a walk in the park. Yes - I made the grown-up decision to do the hard part before the easy parts. For once. I shouldn't say it will be a walk in the park, because I will definitely be finding bugs and thinking up extra little woulda-coulda-shoulda story beats and NPC interactions until the day I die. However, the finish line for an alpha test is in the distance, and I can feel my feet propelling me forward. I'm starting to feel a high that I rarely feel - that I might actually finish a project. I keep texting composer Mike with two words: "IT'S HAPPENING." (He's been in on this thing since 2018.)

My problem with the bouts has been a feeling of dread. Worry. Helplessness. Paralysis. It took me entirely too long to figure out that I had a "block" because I was lacking a detailed plan. (It didn't help that the format of the game has changed over the years, making my vision difficult to adjust.) Once I started laying out flow charts and diagrams, it became easier to find my objectives, task by task. Most of my minigames have a success/fail branch to them - some end the jam early, and some just change minor outcomes like scoring. It's fun - for the player too, I hope - but also a lot of work keeping tabs on all of the branches, which minigames fit best where, and so on.

Maybe Bout 4 is feeling easier to approach because I sense I have more "permission" to pull out all the stops, challenge the player on a technical level, and spawn a more open-ended conclusion (that directly affects the player's story, and doesn't just fine-tune the trajectory of the overall arc). I know exactly where I want/need things to go: to a planned climax, and then completely into the hands of the player. Figuring out how much agency to bestow without derailing the story has been an ongoing battle. This feels like freedom!

On another note, I should probably face my fears and grab a copy of Roller Drama to see what it is all about, and how dynamic the actual derby bouts are in their gameplay. I think I've been avoiding it because - like visiting RPG Maker subreddits - I risk an identity crisis and the temptation to throw Rorasuketo in a deep, dark hole and bury it forever. Let's be real - I am no Concerned Ape. Rorasuketo is a side project of side projects that's been picked up and put down over the span of 8 years and many life changes. It's not my life's work (I don't think?) and it's not technically very remarkable. But it's something, and it's mine (ours), and it's going out in the world, goddamn it. Comparing Rora to Roller Drama would be ridiculous. Rora is exactly what it is - no more, no less.