whenitsreadygames

[whenitsreadygames]

The State of the Games (December 2019)

Hello World! As you can tell, we’ve moved shop (again) and with a fresh coat of paint and a brand new IP we’ve been brewing we’re proud to announce that Project Y Games is now When It’s Ready Games! I know, I know, it’s pretty exciting stuff but it’s not a release date announcement~ Anyways, we’ve got a lot to cover for this inaugural post (before we inevitably descend back into the depths of Game Design and full-time work for another 4 months) so let’s get as much out there as possible!

What’s In a Name?

So I’m sure the first question on your mind is this: Hey Alessandro when we can we actually play more of this stuff your making? To which I normally will reply “When It’s Ready.” The classic development mantra has now become so synonymous with our titles, that we figured we’d make it official! This also makes our little team pop a bit more. It’s a memorable name that communicates our lighthearted (and untimely) sensibilities. Also everyone kept pronouncing “Project Y” as “Projectee”and I swear to We’re excited what this fresh new coat of paint will mean for us and you in the future, so stay tuned!

What’s new with QuestQuest?

Not much unfortunately. The game is on pretty hard ice right now for a variety of reasons. The biggest amongst them was that the game simply wasn’t fun. The dialogue and world were fun and we got some amazingly positive feedback from all of you! But combat was falling flat on its face, and in a JRPG full of combat we needed to go back to the drawing board. For right now this means you probably won’t see QuestQuest for a while and it probably won’t be on RPG Maker when you do... So stay tuned! But speaking of that drawing board...

What’s this new IP?

As I started experimenting with new gameplay ideas for QuestQuest, the most obvious testing grounds would be the tabletop space. I found that (admittedly cumbersome) games like Gloomhaven and Kingdom Death were capturing turn-based combat in a way that felt fun and fresh. Now partially this is because playing around a table with friends is inherently engaging, but there was something more at play. As time went on a new system began to birth itself, and one that might very well be the future of QuestQuest some day. For right now we’re calling this the Skill Edge Threat, or SET System. As someone who got into game design with tabletop RPGs over 10 years ago, it feels nostalgic to be designing in the same field going into 2020. As the system develops I’ll be posting more about it, but for now you can read up a bit on it over here.

With a new system comes some new IPs, and let me tell you, I’ve been watching a lot of Anime recently. It’s interesting to see how few tabletop RPGs take advantage of that medium’s sensibilities considering how similar the two already are. The episodic nature, the bombastic combat, the constant flirtation and fan-service, it all feels like a match made in heaven. 

That’s why our first two IPs draw heavily from this genre, one inspired by the politics and horror of mecha anime like Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the other inspired by introspective and fantastical Isekai like .hack//Sign and the 12 episodes of Sword Art Online and Code Lyoko. These IPs are Steel Hearts and NET//realms respectively, and we’re excited to tell and show you more in the future!

But for now, most of our projects still need a little more time in the oven before we start showing them off more. But be sure to give us a follow on your favorite social media sites, because we’ll have more info for you... When It’s Ready.

We may or may not have changed our team name so we could also make outrageous amounts of terrible puns