Shortly after the Torment roll-off, we started discussing what we wanted to do next. It became abundantly clear that there was an ever-growing itch internally to create something substantial of our own. Something that we could pour our hearts and souls into. For myself particularity, I had previously “sold my soul for pings so low”, so I needed to acquire a substitute soul (inside joke). For the others brave enough to partake in this adventure the sacrifice was quick and painless. We still needed to wrap up work on GCAP before any serious traction on Dethol could happen.
dethol «welsh» – to choose one or more elements from a set.
After the final milestones and delivering one of the most awesome pieces of tech that we had crafted in a while, the task of planning the breadth and scope of what we wanted to accomplish started, ambitiously!
For some time we have been developing a set of lore with an elaborate back story and encompassing the world. Like many of our ideas, it is extremely ambitious, and with a small team, we had to be realistic about our goals. Procedural content has always been something that we have experimented with and used within other games. The thought of delving further into using procedurally generated worlds really caught our attention.
No Man’s Dethol Mashup?
It would allow us to create infinite possibilities, as a small team. That is what the premise was for No Man’s Sky, which despite all the negative press, was still an amazing accomplishment for a small team. As we fleshed out the idea for the game, unique gameplay emerged which we feel strongly about. Which, any designer out there will tell you is a good sign.
As awesome and supportive as our families are, we still needed to bring home some money at the end of the day. We had saved up a bit of money knowing that this was in the works, but this amount will not last long, even with a lessened burn rate. Whether it’s service work, loans, grants or something else, we are going to eventually need to find an injection of cash for the project. As I like to say jokingly, “that’s future me’s problem”.
Not Really!
I couldn’t leave a decision of that nature up to change, “betting the farm” is never a good thing. This is not something that I am comfortable with; we wouldn’t have lasted this long if decisions were made so hastily.
I won’t go into the exact details but, given that we can dedicate ourselves to the project for a bit, we should be in a better place when we start to pitch the idea around. We also applied for the OMDC’s Concept Definition Fund in April, however their turn around is 4 months (got rejected!). After the outstanding success of both past Canadian Media Fund grants, it is something on our radar to look at. Hopefully, our record will aid in that process. There is also a bunch of other options on the table, but for right now, we are focused on doing what we love most, making a game.
Wait! What about this new website?
dotBunny quietly released what I will refer to as the 2017.1 version of the website. Apparently, that’s what everyone is doing for versioning these days. I am much happier with how this one works internally.
That’s all for now!
The Forgotten Soul 