Year In Review 2022

Welcome back to another year in review. This is now the third year running that I’ve posted a summary of some of the stats behind the scenes and expressed what I plan to do in the upcoming year. If you want to see the previous years, you can access them below:


New Releases

This year has been a quite one for new releases. The main release on the assets side was the experimental Multi-Scene asset which is currently only avalible on GitHub & Itch.io.

On the games side there was some decent progress on both projects. Project Tilly ended up hitting a major roadblock with some of the 3D assets I’d need to make. This is still a project I plan to go back to once I’ve gotten better at 3D modelling a bit & when I’ve sorted out the story a bit as well.

C.W.I.S has been the main project for the majority of the year with slow but steady progress throughout. Just before Christmas I managed to get the some new features in such as an online leaderboard, a chaft mechanic & several fixes to some of the minor but annoying bugs with the game. I’m hoping to manage a release of the build around the end of Jan 2023 but like every other deadline I’ve set its not in stone.


Downloads

The download stats this year are about what I expected. I got a bit of an increase on Itch.io due to a few game jams but nothing significant. The asset store remains the best for downloads as a whole getting around 100-150 per month dependant on if there are updates released that alert users or not. Google play saw a drop in downloads from 2021 but this is mostly due to my own neglect of the platform this year. I do hope to put out a few more products on google play in the future though.


Upcoming in 2023

The plan for 2023 is a bit more fleshed out that in previous years because I wanted to make it achievable and while also having a clear plan of what I was doing for the year. I’ve split this into three plans:

Plan A

The A plan is the plan I am committing to completing in 2023. These are goals I will be hitting next year first, and are the aim for the year at a minimum. This also includes the release of the C.W.I.S build but with any luck that won’t be much longer down the line.

  • Audio Manager (3.0.0)
    • A fair amount of progress has already been made on this update.
    • A new static only version of the system.
    • Automatic library management.
    • Play from estimated start time removing blank space at the start of a clip.
    • Library search.
    • Automatic variance to vary the volume & pitch without any extra work.
  • Save Manager (2.0.0)
    • New save structure for better modularity.
    • Save editor to edit the save in the engine.
    • Custom save path option.
    • Migration system from 1.x to 2.x.
  • Leaderboard Manager (2.1.0)
    • Extra display options such as same position options (show as the same with gap, same without gap, etc.).
    • Custom save path option.
    • Settings panel to match the other assets.
    • Audit of the existing code to match the latest standards.

Plan B

The B plan is mostly a load of smaller projects or updates to existing projects that need a little work still. This includes:

  • Multi Scene (0.3.0)
    • An update to the experimental asset to add some better scene loading options as well as an attempt to improve the performance a little where possible.
  • Build Versions (1.1.1)
    • Just a small updtae to correct a few bits, but its nothing urgent hence it been in the B plan instead of the A plan.
  • Detective Notes (1.3.0)
    • This update would be a bit change, but most of the setup would be the same.
    • The UI & feel of the app would be improved
    • I’d look into having the app run better over longer time periods.
  • Game Prototypes
    • I’d use some of the time in this plan to prototype a few games idea’s I’ve had. I would release these builds for people to try out and give feedback on.
    • More on this if/when I get to it.
  • Personal Projects
    • Blood on the Clocktower app
      • A little side project to make an app that helps an ST run a game as well as lets a player take notes in a game. I have started this project behind the scenes, but needs a few weeks of dedicated time to actually make it work.
      • The idea is to automate bits as well as remind the ST of bits they need to do with a kind of checklist before letting them continue. As well as applying reminder tokens to players automatically based on the context.
      • This wouldn’t be made public out of respect for the games creators as they already have an online app which is great for running games online. My app is more for personal use if I want to try and introduce new players to the game without having a copy of the game to hand.

Plan C

This is the stretch goal plan where any extra bits I’d like to try would take place after all the bits from the A & B plans were done. These indluce a few additional personal projects that are mainly focused on making game mechanics from games I’ve played both old and new to see if I can make them. It would be with programmer art and more of a test of my skills for a bit of fun.


Closing Thoughts

While 2022 didn’t go as well as I’d like, a though I’m sure many feel with the current state of the world. I’m hopful 2023 will go a little better. I’ve spent the Christmas period mostly relaxing & plan to continue until the new year as I havn’t really had any kind of break in a while. So I’m playing some games and taking it easy until the new year. See you all in 2023.