I recently replayed this eccentric 'musical memory game' I actually finished and released in 2019. Despite some fears that I'd cringe over concerns about its content, I ended up feeling mostly impressed and in some cases surprisingly emotional! It's such a shame so few people got to experience the most moving moments though due to the gameplay barrier in the way... READ MORE
I'll finally be seeing someone again about my crippling mental issues! I got a tin whistle! I replayed Memody: Sindrel Song for the first time in years and found it very moving! READ MORE
I said I'd put up more music albums, so here's the first of 2022: the soundtrack to Memody: Sindrel Song, my first Steam/3D/Unity game that broke so many records with how well it sold and was received!! READ MORE
I haven't written a personal post in a while, so here's some rambling about a cold I have, my fruitful efforts to break through my reluctance to use Reddit, friendship and relative loneliness, and buying Lego to rekindle childhood joy! READ MORE
A long one this week! I've been thinking I should trim out some vestigial features to focus more on the monster-skills mechanic, plus some replies to things people said in comments on last week's post (since I can't reply to them all individually!). READ MORE
Another productive week! I'm almost at the point where I can update the game for a new test run; I just need to tidy up a few bugs and things now. I have some questions related to MARDEK and games dev in general that I'd like to hear your thoughts about this time! READ MORE
As Old Father Time wraps his Chrono Dagger +4 rather roughly around 2019's frail and withered neck, breathing heavily behind its ear and savouring the sobs as he gets ready to lacerate its bulging jugular, I feel maniacally compelled to look back on how poorly I've managed to Live My Best Life during the preceding dozen months. I've made things! I released a thing even! It was not a success! I've started on something that'll be big, you guys, just you wait and see, for real, you gotta believe me, guys!! READ MORE
I played MARDEK recently, and it was much better than I expected! I'm now a fan of the series again! Here's how my new feelings about it have influenced what I want to do with a remake. READ MORE
Since the 'release' of Sindrel Song was so quiet due to Kartridge's obscurity, I'll need to do some research that I've mentioned in the past but haven't actually done yet... Maybe you can help, if you're that way inclined? READ MORE
Gasp! I'll be releasing Sindrel Song out into the world tomorrow. I've wondered a lot in previous posts here about how it might go, but I'm going to do that again just because, well, it's actually going to start happening tomorrow, and I'd like to be able to look back in a month or two and see how my predictions/expectations compare with the reality. READ MORE
I've just been naively assuming that Sindrel Song will do okay without too much promotional effort on my part. I very much doubt that it'll make millions!!, but I thought $10k+ would just 'sort of happen somehow'. That if the game were out there, thousands of people would notice and buy it. I've been avoiding actually doing research about promotion and marketing though because it's stressful and unfamiliar to even think about, but now that release is upon me (or delayed, if anything), I've been looking into it and... well, experiencing the anxiety I'd been avoiding it to prevent. I'm planning to do more research and to keep updating this post with everything I learn, even if nobody reads it and it's all for my benefit! It'll be useful to have it all in one place. READ MORE
Today's the day I intended to release Memody: Sindrel Song, but there've been complications which mean I'll need to bump that forward a bit. I'm wondering what the best course forward here is! READ MORE
I've been working on the ∞ alorafane.com ∞ site, with a blog there specifically for games development stuff. There's a post there with a release date for Memody: Sindrel Song! Also, a little bit about where I'm planning to go from here. READ MORE
It's taken way too long, but here's what might be a final version of the trailer, with music. There's still time to tweak it a bit before I upload it to YouTube and make it official, but for the most part I'm finished, finally! READ MORE
Carrying on from the previous post, here's another, improved video draft of the trailer, which has most of the structure in place! Again, I'd very much appreciate feedback; it's been helpful so far! READ MORE
I've made a video trailer thing for Memody: Sindrel Song, and I'm curious to hear some thoughts before using it as the primary way of demonstrating what this thing even is! READ MORE
I'm trying to write a bit of text that succinctly summarises Sindrel Song in a way that'd pique the interest of people who've never played it before. I'm interested in your thoughts! READ MORE
Here's another update, which addresses the biggest remaining issue - rewarding the player's performance - in the form of 30 clothing items, and the shrine where you can acquire or equip them. The game is likely in its final form now; I still need to fix a few bugs, but I've now finally finished all the major content! READ MORE
Finally! I've uploaded the latest version of this game for some final testing, to ensure everything works as it should and to resolve some lingering uncertainties. READ MORE
It's been a week since I last posted anything! Gasp. I've been very busy finishing off the last bits of Sindrel Song, and I'm almost done now!! READ MORE
Testing for Memody: Sindrel Song has been underway for over two weeks now, and some of the testers have finished the game. Yay! I've been doing a lot to improve the experience based on feedback - most notably adding features to address difficulty concerns - but I still have some big concerns. Most importantly, is the game actually fun? READ MORE
Here's an update to the Sindrel Song testing beta which includes some new mechanics, which emerged after engaging with feedback and discussions, and which I hope will address many of the difficulty concerns! READ MORE
It's been just over a week since testing on Memody: Sindrel Song started, and there's been a whole lot of high-quality feedback to sift through! I've fixed some bugs and added some relatively minor technical things, but I'm concerned about some of the more subjective aspects, as the opinions from different people seem to vary quite drastically. Most notably, the difficulty is still a concern; I feel it'll be difficult to find the right balance there. READ MORE
Feedback's continuing to come in, and a lot of interesting things have been mentioned, many of which I'd like to address at some point before release. Many are thematic or aesthetic, and some are really weird bugs, but the biggest thing I feel I need to address is the difficulty. (I've pinned ∞ the feedback post ∞ just under this one; we should continue to use that for more general feedback for now. I felt this should be a separate post though.) READ MORE
Gasp, Memody: Sindrel Song testing is finally upon us! I've set up this blog post to include a list of issues I'm working on or aware of, and I think it could be useful if you - the testers - could provide your feedback in the comments section here so then it's all in one place. READ MORE
I've FINALLY almost finished Sindrel Song! For real this time!! I'll probably start testing early next week, if I can get some final tweaks done over the weekend. Here's a video showing the game as it is now, plus some rambling about thoughts and concerns I've had while finishing it off. READ MORE
It bothers me that I'm having to worry about this game's story and characters being too repulsively depressing, when excessive, gory violence pervades media the majority go wild for... READ MORE
ANOTHER POST. I've made the new version of Memody I talked about in the previous post, and I feel like I've come up with a way that I could effectively explore the neurotic themes in a way that's entertaining rather than uncomfortable... but I'm wondering whether this is a bad time to be releasing this, if people are particularly busy! READ MORE
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