The future of the project Vis and Mad King games.
Hi mates! I hope all is good with you!
There is a time in our lives when for the sake of sanity, we take a few moments and think of what we achieved and what we will achieve, while keep walking on a certain path.
So I did the same with Vis. Since I first had the idea for the game, back in 2019, I wanted to deliver an experience that would at least rival the one that Dragon Age managed to inflict on me. I wanted to create a world where experiencing a micro world would lead to a macro. Based on an entire plot that would question existence itself.
So I took this quest, I bought a small boat and set sail for the unknown waters. As I was navigating, I encountered good weather and bad. Even, sometimes I've encountered monsters that I would have never thought existed, and yet we fought back. But with every storm and every fight, I would lose sailors, and I am here at this point, where I know there is still so much, until the end, that I think to myself if I should sacrifice more. I realize, that the boat and the gear are insufficient for the journey. Therefore I have to go back.
Coming back to more, modern words, I have gone through perspectives about the future of Vis. Since it started I sacrificed so much free time and to some extent, mental health that it steadily transformed from passion to a job. And I ended up in this place where I finish my daily job, sign out and then sign in to my second job, Vis. In time, this type of approach erodes your will. Also, since I started increasing the quality of the renders, I managed to add more time to the vis development. A time that only I would sacrifice. And then, the question came: "Is it worth it?".
To have an idea, in the current pace and funding to deliver the whole story, just with this character, I would need three more years, at least, to finish it.
Initially, I would say yes, for the remaining fans, but as the months passed, the numbers were in a continuous dive. And so the question doesn't get an answer.
On the other hand, as I mentioned above, the project has become more and more demanding. I started spending less time with the family, I started sleeping less, around 6 hours at best, and it also affected my performance at my current job. So I decided I needed to bring back my passion for developing games.
So, I came to this conclusion.
1) I will put Vis and Vis origins on hold and I will create a Kickstarter campaign. I think that what I have released until now could be a good demo for players to understand the world I would like to invest in. Every cent from Kickstarter will represent the budget for the game. My dream is to create e 3D RPG world, hopefully with character creation, where the player can free-roam, take side quests and have the main campaign. I know it's a big dream, but at least I won't try and deceive myself into thinking that I can create it using Renpy.
2) I will continue the game development. I was planning to start developing a game, a modern-themed one, after Vis, but given the decision I made, I will start the game dev now.
It's hard to bring this news to my current patrons and game fans, but I think that for the sake of Vis, my sanity and yours, I must reconsider my plans.
I will start creating the Kickstarter campaign, for Vis and after that, I will start revealing the characters for the new game.
