Yesterday under the shower, I had an “eureka” moment. Now I can continue with a project I had put on pause, because I have a new vision to work on. This breakthrough was possible because I put hours into studying a tool– a completely different kind of task. My mind started connecting the dots, and after a couple of “let’s try this…” attempts, I got it.
I am happy; now I have renewed energies to work on this.
Today I discovered something more about myself, thanks to the creative director of the project I am working on with a company.
I tend to not insist too much on my vision. I explain it, defend it, and usually that’s it. When I see too much resistance from the other side, if I have no real power over the decision, I desist and try to meet the boss’ vision.
This is good, but it can lead to a passive-aggressive way of communicating. “I will do like you say, but I do not agree”. At first it may seem like there’s nothing wrong with that, butthe issue is that:
Today I have learn something more about myself. Something I want to fix. And that’s why I prefer to work within a team.
In this fight for taking back our attention, I started unsubscribing from newsletter and YouTube channels. I don’t have specific resolutions for the new year, apart from those who are always in my life. But I got to a level where I don’t tolerate anymore all this information that I constantly have access to. Maybe is better knowing less, but deeply.
This thing is valid for everything, from professional life to the rest of it. I need to get my attention back from infinite scrolling feeds and silly games if I want to really build a good game. I need to focus on other things of my life, too. So that I will probably stop looking at curves and statistics. I will not listen to industry experts building their stories to sell their brand. Not that I don’t like them, please do not misunderstand. I love that thing!
But I feel overwhelmed by too many sources, images, sounds, slangs. It’s just too much to leave into my mind the necessary space to build my things up. It will probably hurt for a while, but I have too. My mind and also my body are begging me this.
I have lost the password of this blog and I switched PC because I am traveling. That is why I wasn’t writing from a while. I am in Brazil now with my family.
I wish to all my readers a great 2025, with less things but more meaningful.
Yesterday, I got the third prototype for my game Pawtners Case. I have this design pillar, which is called “continuous patrol”. One of the objectives of the ideation stage and pre-production is to decide on design pillars that will guide the rest of the production and launch.
That means that I don’t want to have a main menu. You run the game, you are in the game. Most games do not need a main menu, especially nowadays when loading a game takes so much times and connections.
Also, there is no death condition. You can fall off the level (imagine levels are islands in the sky) and land on the same level again. I am also thinking of minigames to do.
Credits will be integrated into the game, too. You can ignore them, but you don’t have to skip them.
We are arriving at the end of 2024, and every year, we will get predictions from experts and prizes for the best games according to many different lenses.
Until now, I have seen a lot of AI in predictions, and China is the clear winner of the year. The underlying message seems to be that the industry is moving towards cheaper developments and removing the intervention of humans from simple tasks, at least.
The message is that the big-budget, high-quality human craft is not sustainable anymore, but is it? I think the main issue is greed instead. The idea is that 3-5 people in the World need to get stellar bonuses at the end of the year and grow and grow. This is unsustainable, for sure, not quality. Not craft. Not the participation of people also in simple tasks, which are the tasks that made us seniors.
I do not have predictions, as every year, I am a designer, not a marketer. I am a creative guy, and I accept that it’s impossible to predict anything, the World is made by interconnected systems and tomorrow a plane accident can easily unlock WW3 and disrupt the job market for many years.
But I do have a wish: to see great games coming from my continent, Europe. And I do have a dream to complete my game this year my game Pawtners Case. Wishing and dreaming are refreshing.
Maybe it’s because I started on a new project. Maybe it’s because a company that canceled the position when I was the last candidate republished the position again. Maybe it’s because I am tired of influencers. Or maybe it’s because they use content to train shitty algorithms to produce empty content faster.
Maybe it’s because I don’t want to constantly check out likes and notifications there. Or maybe it’s just because I got bored.
I decided to commit to (at least) a period of silence on LinkedIn. I will continue to write here and on my Substack, though.
Yesterday a client of mine hired me as lead game designer on a new game. I cannot say much about it, but it will be a Steam game, 3D, premium. The game will feature emerging narratives and I will care about the gameplay systems to support that.
Plus I will manage a team of game designers, which is something that I love. I am happy because I am trying to switch sector since quite a while.
Mobile F2P is broken, for now. A total race to the bottom with unrealistic expectations. Plus, the survivors are not looking at the future. They look at the past. They want people ex-<PutFamousCompanyNameHere> to repeat formulas. They hope the dramatic situation with distribution will change someday. It will not. They should look at the future instead.
I was happy to collaborate on f2p projects, but a little frustrated with this way of running businesses. Do you start a race following other runners? That’s wrong in so many ways.
That’s why I am happy to finally work on something truly creative. The expectations are not surreal. I am happy, thank you!
I have hired a concept artist to help me with keyart and logo design, then I made this onepager to introduce the game to potential publishers.
I am currently stuck in a limbo, and I will not come out easily from here. But I will do it.
I am preparing all the material needed to participate to the IndieDevDay24. I have hired a freelance artist to help me to the promotional material (one pager and pitch deck) of Pawtners Case.
For now, zero publishers accepted to meet me. I don’t know if this is normal because it’s the very first time I am willing to pitch to indie publishers. Anyway, the experience is worth to me. I am doing something different, at least.
For the rest, here’s the limbo: from one side I have companies that are offering very high positions to me, but then they disappear because I have never held that same position in another company. From the other side I am getting in touch with smaller realities that value well my work but they are offering too low compensation.
That’s a mess, and it’s hard to be patient with money running out of the bank every month. Wish me luck, if you read this.