v1.0.0 - final release and post mortem

Yup, you've read that right. This is the end for that project. But more on that later ;)

With this final release I decided to introduce "EX BATTLE" mode (short for extreme). This is a new mode with new ruleset, focusing on more hectic and fast play, demanding quicker reaction time. Something for more experienced players.

Smaller changes involve getting rid of all placeholder art, and replacing it with final versions made by RaindanceAR - endless thanks to her for that. Speaking of thanks, I finally made a ingame page listing all of the assets used and their creators. Thank to all of those people.

Now, addressing the elephant in the room - why? To be precise, why I was so insistent on finishing this pretty mediocre game, that had no following besides its debut on LDJam50? Well, I wanted to challenge myself on finishing what I have started. So many times I was abandoning my projects after building their MVPs (the most exciting phase), because I did not like the grindy phase of game development at all. This time was not different, and (understandable) lack of interest from itch.io audience was not making things any easier.

But... I have somewhat prevailed? I was improving both gameplay and codebase for almost 8 months. And I haven't fallen off, even though I had made another game for a jam (which usually meant abandoning my previous project). So, I am definitely capable of pushing through the hardest, grindiest phase of game development.

But it also made me realize the importance of taking joy from a hobby. Because, for me, game development is just that - a hobby. And I have to face the fact, that Revenge of the Necromancer/Spooky Gothic Siege is not a good or fun game to play. And sure as hell it was not a fun game to make. It has like one interesting idea (necromancers respawning killed zombies, which I'm pretty proud of), which was not executed all that well. Don't get me wrong, I've had fun making it for the jam, but... After that it became like a work. And as I said - nobody likes this game anyway, not even me.

But, by looking through my creator dashboard I've realized, that I have some games... That people are interested in. And I've abandoned them long ago.

So, for my next project I wanna focus on I have one goal - give people what they want and finish one of my "popular" releases. And focus more on having fun from that hobby.

PS: As this is the final release, I've removed all of the previous versions, only leaving jam and final release. If you interested in all of the previosu versions, or would like to peek into source of the game, there is a GitHub repository you can visit.