2022 will be the year of Cyberganked

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Ok, I have been working on Cyberganked since 2013. It will be 9 complete years in July of 2022. I think. Since I don't have many memories in the first year of my life, this means that about a QUARTER of my life that I can remember, I have been working on this game. It is time to commit to it. No distractions, no nonsense. I have a sane and stable job. I don't have a commute. We're probably gonna go into lock down. And I have a few very text text adventure text-filled games I want to work on that are much smaller before I hit my 50s.

So.

I will work on it every day. I will bump this thread every few days with progress. 2022 will be the YEAR OF CYBERGANKED. I am not going to put limits on testing it - if testing takes 3 or 6 or 9 or 12 months then so be it. The time is right. There is a thriving community on RPG Codex who like games like this. While I am no longer the first person to make a game in CGA, I sort of like the game's art direction still. And all my favorite jokes and bits from 9 years are in the thing.

I will allow myself two (2) other "hobbies. The first is writing for RFTK. The second is that I am allowing myself to take some breaks and doodle around with my synthesizer and MIDI controller to make some songs. The songs can be used in Cyberganked, so that's sort of ok. But that's it.

Onwards! If I fail to finish the game's content I am dragging the project into the trash.

[bryanb]

I've been working my way through a fit of melancholy/mini midlife crisis over the past week. If there's one thing I regret the most in my life, it's the general lack of continuity I've exhibited when it comes to the things I really care the most about. I found a bunch of things I really enjoyed in life when I was young, but then I proceeded to largely not do those things as an adult. I had reasons, of course. I wanted to focus on making money, I thought I wasn't very good at what I liked to do, and I didn't have enough time...but the end result is I mostly just screwed myself over by not doing what I really wanted to do. So what I want to focus on for -- let's be really generous here -- the second half of my life (or my last decades, years, months, or hours) is giving myself the green light to pursue my passions.

I think you're 100% right on to focus on Cyberganked. You love creating games, and you've touched a lot of lives with your work. It's part of what you've given the world of yourself...part of your legacy...part of what you can look back on and say, "I did good there." Where I disagree with you is you don't need to finish the game in one year. If it take another 5 or 10 years to become the greatest game you've ever created, that's OK...the important thing is that you give yourself the freedom and time to keep working on it, no matter how long it takes. It's all about continuity. Let it take as long as it has to take. Just look at how well EoC turned out even after you and Mike had set it aside for so many years. There are no time limits when it comes to creating art unless you're on OnlyFans and your patrons are really getting restless for some fresh nudes.

I also want to declare that 2022 is going to be the year of Cyberganked testing for me. This one's going to be bug and typo free!

[Jizaboz]

I by no means want to add more time to this, but for some reason I just now wondered.. how difficult will the combat be? Can you stray into over-dangerous places for more risk/reward? Is there a possibility of "normal" and "expert" modes? In Cryptozookeeper I probably spend at least 2 hours doing nothing but focusing on grinding up the cryptids only to discover.. I really didn't need to do that haha. If not that's cool, I would then probably try to find some really slow to grind skill or barely use the stronger weapons to try to slow things down a bit.

A lot of people don't play regularly play tabletop RPGs or computer cRPGS. But, those who have for at least 2 years and who are considered "veterans" can be very had to kill in a game meant for "normal" people!

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Yeah, one thing I should have done is create a manual for Cryptozookeeper and stated that hey, you can advance the cryptids if you like but getting them by sheer numbers by solving the game sections is another way to do it. Although a mix is also nice.

how difficult will the combat be? Can you stray into over-dangerous places for more risk/reward?

Right now there are different maps and the average enemy is more difficult as you progress into the game. Some maps, once you enter them you cannot go back. There is no level scaling. I do want sections where it is clear that the monsters are too difficult for the current party, as being able to do just what you described is one of the fun things with CRPGs (especially in Cyberganked where you can save whenever you want). I like the idea of a party thinking they are doing well and journeying to an area they are not ready for to get a taste of what lies beyond!

I don't want there to be too much bothersome grinding in Cyberganked, I have the rewards in mind. (Although grinding is definitely a genre convention in CRPGs.) My hope is that each fight is somewhat fun and that I am giving the player enough things to do with the party members that every time a character gains a level, there is a "I can't wait to see what this does in combat!" feeling or "Wow, this will really help me get even with [some monster] now that I have this ability!"

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Bryan, that is a very nice thing to say. Please know that I have read it many times since you wrote it and I appreciate you saying that!