thewakingcloak

[thewakingcloak]

Studio Spacefarer Steam Dev Page

Steam made it easier to set up a creator page (developer, publisher, etc.), and is adding some neat features too. Check out the Studio Spacefarer page and give it a follow so it looks actually legit!

Steam Developer: Studio Spacefarer

[thewakingcloak]

YESSSSSS I LOVE THIS THANK YOU

EDIT: I should probably use this opportunity to say go play ProtoDungeon: Episode I and Episode II! And wishlist Episode III!

Lef from protodungeon/ @thewakingcloak !

[thewakingcloak]

Hi y'all, if you played ProtoDungeon Episode I or ProtoDungeon Episode II on Steam, it would be super helpful to me if you could leave a review! It doesn't have to be long or fancy, but hitting 10 reviews does a lot for small games on Steam

Provides a Steam rating such as "Mostly Positive", which helps with legitimacy

Steam is more likely to give it visibility via discovery queues and other algorithms

Players are more likely to buy a game with a clear score

It sounds like games usually get a traffic spike after the tenth review as well! ProtoDungeon is three reviews away from the magical number so we're almost there

Anyway it would be a huge help for a few minutes of your time! Thank yoooouuuu

[thewakingcloak]

Hey y'all just a small bit of news that

ProtoDungeon Episode II is LIVE ON STEAM 🎉🎉🎉

Please go check it out, spread it around, see if you can get the ProtoDungeon Series bundle working(??)

Also I would like to reveal, at long last, the protagonist's name, in celebration of the Steam release of PD2:

Lef

(hey remember when I used to do these????)

Lef's story is yet being told. Who or what will she become? All you know is that she remains trapped in nightmares...

Well, and you also know you can go play her second episode now :)

Ok so the Steam bundle?? I figured it out???

(after all, why not compete with Elden Ring Nightrein?)

[thewakingcloak]

ProtoDungeon: Episode II in one week!!!

Hey y'all!

I'm still working hard on the updates/fixes for ProtoDungeon: Episode I (and technically II and III as well), but I wanted to stop and remind everyone (including myself???) that ProtoDungeon: Episode II is coming out on Steam next week!

In this second episode of the prequel series to The Waking Cloak, you find yourself deeper in the dream, in a new nightmare, with a new item and new puzzles! Also there's a gravekeeper guy to talk to!

Please do go wishlist it and grab it when it arrives! It'll be on a launch day sale of -20%, and it's already cheaper than a cup of coffee.

And please repost/etc.!

ProtoDungeon: Episode II on Steam!

[thewakingcloak]

Wishlist Episode TWO on Steam

I keep forgetting to mention this for some reason, but please go wishlist ProtoDungeon: Episode II on Steam!!! It comes out at the end of May!

I don't have a current trailer (that will come after the PD1/PD2 engine updates), but I do have this magical old one from 2019!

[thewakingcloak]

I am being forced to invent ladders

this is how ladders work, right?

So the ProtoDungeon: Episode I update is proceeding nicely. There is more to fix than I expected (yes I know the HUD still looks goofy), but also I'm fixing things very quickly, so it sort of balances out?

As the title states, I'm having to make some changes that you might not expect. Since PD1 now uses the depth/height system on PD3's "engine", that means that stairs don't work like they did before. The explanation is sort of complicated, but if you think of us now working in 3D space, just "flattened" to an orthographic 2D space, the stairs throughout PD1 are just climbing straight up walls.

(can't unsee that, can you??)

In other words, they are ladders. Even if they kind of look like stairs.

Anyway, I already needed to create ladders for PD3, so this works out.

[thewakingcloak]

ProtoDungeon: Episode I - update status and so on

ProtoDungeon: Episode I is out on Steam!!!

Getting this on Steam has been a pretty big milestone, so huge thanks to the folks who have supported me throughout the whole process (and boy has it been a process).

Updates on where everything is at:

The game runs great on Steam Deck! Verified by two players so far!

The macOS build of the game is NOT working (unless you are still on 32-bit like Sierra). I tested on my old macbook, and so the game ran fine. I did not account for 64-bit-only macOS (totally forgot that was a thing). I'm learning!

The bad news here is that the PD1 project files are so ancient that they cannot be used by any modern iteration of GameMaker, even the latest LTS. They can't be imported, as the conversion process throws mysterious and arcane errors. I've even tried some complicated spells and converters to no avail. I have the "correct" old version of GameMaker on my macbook, which might've let me make some updates, but the licensing/authentication/whatever won't actually let me sign in to do anything.

The GOOD news here is that I did already have all the PD1 and PD2 files in the PD3 project, since they're all just built on top of the previous episodes. However, quite a bit has changed, which means PD1 was initially very broken when I booted it up from there.

(this is fine)

(the entire game is in the upper left corner... but the room borders were out of control giganto and kept yeeting me into darkness)

Okay so that was actually the intermediate news. The real good news is that getting PD1 working hasn't been too big of a hassle, despite the various depth rendering, state machine, HUD, etc. changes. AND that means several features I built out for PD3 are now going to be part of a free post-launch update for PD1 (and PD2 pre-launch), which means ya'll get:

An updated HUD - not the one from PD3, as PD1's rooms are specifically 20 pixels shorter to accommodate the bottom HUD, and changing everything right now would be tons more work than it's worth, but the small update here will be much nicer than the stark white one with the big goofy hearts

CRT filter effects - I've hinted at this in the past (you can see it in a gif or two, as well as me raving about my love for CRT shaders in the discord server), but I got some really cool CRT effects working!! It's more of a subtle nostalgia filter than a 1-to-1 replication of an actual CRT monitor. I think y'all will like it. It adds vibes. A full post on this is coming in the future and I'll show it off some more, but yes you will be able to toggle it on/off or set parameters

Neato "3D" tall grass - enabled by the depth sorting / sprite z-tilting system from PD3, and also enabled by the fact that I deleted all the code from the old-style tall grass lol

Working macOS build - which was the whole reason I started this

Mayyyybe a Linux build??? - GameMaker is capable. Depends on how big a lift this is. I'm not promising anything except that I'll look into it!

There's still more to fix, so here's what I'm working on now:

Many objects have become jet-black portals into the void

Tall grass isn't generating all the sprites yet

All doors lead to the owlery, for some reason

HUD still needs a bit of work

Lighting system needs to be fixed

Making progress! Apologies again to the Mac friends, I'll get this all fixed up for you, and hopefully the update is a pleasant surprise for everyone as well.

And finally, this deserves its own post, but ProtoDungeon: Episode II is up for wishlisting! Please go give it a wish and look forward to its release. Any improvements I make to PD1 will be pulled in for PD2 as well.

[thewakingcloak]

ProtoDungeon: Episode I goes live on Steam TOMORRAHHHH

[thewakingcloak]

Trying Some Stuff

So I said I would Try Some Stuff last time, and the most valuable thing I've been trying is talking with friends about all this stuff. Who knew?

In review: I need some kind of sustainable, healthy way to communicate online about the stuff I'm making. That is how I want to connect with people, via my games.

But in talking with my friends, I realized it had to be more than just "sustainable," it has to actually drive the engine forward. It has to be fun. Whatever this ends up being, I have to look forward to working on it, and working on it has to push forward the game development, which will fuel the devlog, which will fuel the game development.

So if you caught that, I'm just going with calling this future strategy thing a "devlog". Not "marketing," not "engaging on social media," not "feeding the algorithm beast." I don't know what form a devlog will take. I mean it could just be this, what I’m doing right now (and this will certainly continue). One friend suggested doing devlog videos. A long time ago I did gamedev streams, and that was fun, and I also cut together little highlight reels, and that was fun. So that may be A Thing. It may not, too, because I don't know if I can actually consistently do something like that. Editing videos is a lot of work. Streaming is, too, especially with our baby's feeding/sleeping schedule. But I'm enjoying thinking about it.

And that's really good, because every time I've thought about online presence recently, I've just wanted to shrivel up and die. Maintaining social media, to me, is misery, is bowing before an algorithm, sacrificing my wellbeing to a human-made god that doesn't care. "If you're Really Lucky, I might show your sacrifice to the other sacrifices, and if you're Astronomically Lucky, a few might like it. Now let me drink your blood and fill your veins with toxic liquid instead via my evil ritual. Also, you have to post all your stuff in gifs, the worst image format known to humankind, but not that way, this way. No not like that, like this."

I'm over that.

If a social media platform doesn't fit what I want to do, I'm going to cut it.

(wow that gif is old… nice to see Tav though, right?)

I'm starting with Twitter (I'm not going to call it X). Twitter is not fun for me and never has been. So I'm actually, 100% for real, deprecating my Twitter account. Do you know how much pleasure I get from this idea? Do you have any idea how much lighter I feel, having decided to get rid of it? Twitter has given me a few dear friends (whom I now talk to via routes other than Twitter anyway), but also nearly ten years of grief, and this platform is not getting better. Oh, the algorithm actively suppresses my posts now? Fine. Let it die. I'm not carrying that burden anymore.

(just constantly bashing my head against social media)

And I don't want a Twitter-like. If that format works for y'all, great, please keep doing what you like to do, but I'm not going to spend my time trying to recreate the evil rituals somewhere else (I've never enjoyed evil rituals). (To be clear, I'm not calling you evil if you engage on social media. I am calling social media algorithms evil.) My time on any remaining microblogging sites, if I even continue those, will now be devoted to simply directing people to the devlog, the thing I actually like and want to do. Does that mean just like a static post on each of them that has a few (shudder) gifs and some links? Maybe! Maybe!!

I'm not going to make any sweeping declarations of The Plan, partly because there isn't a firm one yet, and partly because I've done that before to little success or consistency. However, I know I want to do stuff that makes me want to make stuff, and I'm excited for that. I think it's gonna be fun. I think it may also be sort of a return to form, at least in ways that I can now that I've got my family. So stay tuned…

Oh! Don't forget to wishlist ProtoDungeon: Episode I and ProtoDungeon: Episode III on Steam! (II is in progress!)

[thewakingcloak]

63 Wishlists

Note: in this post I'm going to be talking about my frustrations with making and publishing games. It is by no means an indictment on anyone for not wishlisting my games on Steam. Y'all are wonderful. This is more a personal re-centering. With that in mind I have intentionally left out links to the Steam pages here.

At some encouragement, I submitted ProtoDungeon Episodes I and II for Steam. The announcements for Episode I being available for wishlisting received little attention, and most of the posts I sent out on social media fell flat and mostly unnoticed.

I knew it wasn't going to get much. I haven't been consistent on socials. That has been fantastic for my mental health, but it also means it wasn't going to get very much interaction. I had prepared myself for this. However, after a week, I'd gotten a total of sixty-three wishlists, and by last Saturday I still couldn't stop myself from feeling really down. As much as I'd mentally prepped myself, I wasn't emotionally prepared.

What was the point of all this? I need to start with hundreds of wishlists in the first week to make any kind of feasible launch. I need thousands (5,000 seems to be the minimum number these days) for a successful release. With roughly a month to go until release, that's just not going to happen. It was never going to happen this way, and I knew that going in.

Sooo I spent the past few days thinking about all this.  The original purpose behind putting ProtoDungeons on Steam was to:

Get experience publishing on Steam (and holy wow I have learned a lot, that alone has been so valuable)

Use each episode as soft marketing for each next episode, and eventually as a series for getting word out about The Waking Cloak itself

Maybe make a few extra bucks so we can pay bills and medical stuff

Best case have a "long tail" where people enjoy the later games and come back to enjoy the earlier episodes

These don't include "become wildly famous on your first small game on Steam" or "make a ten thousand dollars," and I need to pause and remember that wasn't my intent anyway.

That helps.

If I'm honest, though, it all still hurts, and I still have a lot to reckon with in terms of my own reasons why I make things. Do the emotional work. I still feel like I'm running out of time, like I just don't have the ability to keep up with other devs and games. I'm still seeking approval and validation and wanting to be Seen. These are things that ultimately can't and won't satisfy me.

I have a family with three kids, one of which is a newborn. I have a day job. I'm not growing younger. These are all blessings (yes, aging is too, even if it freaks me out), and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but it's crazy to suggest they haven't slowed me down (I mean, I released episodes 1 and 2 in a year, and then we had kids and six years later I'm still working on 3). Time, time, time. At what point will people no longer care? When comes the expiration date on their interest? Has it already expired?

Worst of all, even when I do finish, will it be enough for those few who were interested at the beginning? Will it meet expectations? Will it matter to anyone? No, I can't rely on external validation to fulfill me, but will it even matter to anyone?

. I don't remember where I heard this concept used before, but: If sixty-three people all showed up in my office and every single one said they liked something I made, that would be bananas. I would be floating for weeks. It's not what this is about, likes and follows and attention, but it also kind of IS, right? What is art if it's created and there's no connection with other people? Is it still communication if there's nothing communicated? I mean, yes, I still think there's value in the making of the thing, that creating is not a waste. But it would still be a shame if nobody played it. It would be a shame if nobody even put it on their wishlist. But sixty-three people isn't nobody. Ten people isn't nobody. One person isn't nobody. If I connect with someone, somewhere, even in a small way, that is enough. It HAS to be enough. That's what life is made up of, mostly. Small things. Even big things are made up of small things. If we undervalue small things, we undervalue our lives. And one person isn't small, either. They are a whole world. .

I don't know what this means for my Online Plan. Earlier this year (I think? time has no meaning with a newborn) I posted about how I was going to take a "I do what I want" approach to socials, and that is what I want, because in the overall scheme of things, what I want is to not drink from a firehose of sludge, and the plan is absolutely helping me. It's working.

(I'm not head-in-the-sand, I still hear about important stuff, that's a whole separate topic, please don't @ me)

But if what I also want is to actually get my games out there in a healthy manner, I can't just be a total hermit who occasionally posts a game and then disappears back into the woods for six more years. There's going to need to be some kind of third way here. Something sustainable with at least a little effectiveness.

So... I've been chatting with a few friends about this, and think I'm gonna Try Some Stuff??

[thewakingcloak]

ProtoDungeon: Episode I is finally coming to Steam AHHHHHHHHH

Please go wishlist, reblog, etc. etc.! Every little bit helps!

Wishlist ProtoDungeon: Episode I on Steam

[thewakingcloak]

Thankful today for my two kids and for our new baby.

Thankful that I have a breather to work on ProtoDungeon 3 again too. Making good progress!

Here's a very early-in-development look at one of the rooms I've left til the end to work out. Don't worry, it's in such an early state that there aren't really spoilers here lol. Just wanted to show you a lil behind the scenes. :)

A more completed room. What's that thing on the rug? 🤔🤔🤔

wishlist ProtoDungeon: Episode 3 on Steam!

[thewakingcloak]

Thank you!

Just wanted to send out an update! Thank you to everyone who gave generously or bought ProtoDungeon or just sent encouragement our way. We had enough funds come in that we're all set for this month ❤️

[thewakingcloak]

Baby... and the bills

Hey y'all, it's been a while! We had a baby! It's our third, and she's doing great. She was a high-risk pregnancy, so we've been hit with a lot of bills and expenses, and money is super tight right now

Please consider buying one of my games! They're only $4.99 and anything would be a huge help to us in paying the bills 🙏

They're little adventure/puzzle games that are prequels to The Waking Cloak:

If you can't buy, please repost! Thank you!

(Or toss a tip at https://ko-fi.com/spacefarer)

[thewakingcloak]

Redid the Game Over scene in ProtoDungeon 3! The original Game Over caused the most game-breaking bugs in 1 and 2 lol, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to add some polish And! It no longer says "Game Over" anymore, since I feel like that's a holdover from olde times, where your game would actually be over (if this gif doesn't work for you, I apologize, it's a webp, which is nice because it's 60fps, but apparently websites don't like webp for whatever reason even though it's higher quality AND smaller file size than gifs but WHATEVER.... anyway if you click on it it should work)

[thewakingcloak]

the shadow is back!!! (you probably didn't even know it was gone)

it's a small detail but should help pretty significantly with figuring out where you are when you're jumping or falling off a cliff!