It's very lonely and dark in space

All of the projects I previously started were never finished. Not from the lack of resources or skills, but from just how insanely high I used to set the bar. It was always my mind, nothing else, keeping me from finishing. To be fair, even for this project (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/comms), I set the goal a little bit above my reach: somewhat AAA look, VO, high quality sound effects, etc. I'm yet to get a voice actor.

The lit interiors look cozy and safe... ...Contrasting with uncomfortably dense darkness

One important thing I learned is to prioritize getting the project released over hitting overly high quality standards ("overly high" for an one-person developer). This means that some things have to be replaced or removed, e.g. I had to replace VO with text boxes that narrate what's happening in the game. I think it doesn't break the immersion as much as mute subtitles would, and it doesn't leave player wondering what's going on.

The story is explained through text boxes

Now I'm getting back to some of my previous projects, and my mind now seems to be able to draw a development path that has an actual end, and considers solutions that get the thing done timely, instead of doing something overly ambitious that takes indefinitely long (e.g. writing a level generator for a game, going crazy with features for it, never finishing it, forgetting there even was a game in the first place).

That said, do I consider Comms finished-finished? No. I'll keep adding more to it, take it to Steam, and hopefully start making money. But besides Comms, I've a lot of projects to get back to and finish.

Follow me on twitter (@biocrust) for updates!