October 2023 in Review!
Hurray!
Hello everyone and welcome to a long awaited October in Review! The 2023 kind!
This is Gaian, it’s been a while! Updating you on the happenings at Genome Studios over the month…ish~
Soft Launch on Patreon!
Welcome to the world GS_I
Beginning late September, I soft launched my subscription service: “Genome Infinite” oo-eee-ooo!
I left my job due to my chronic fatigue not allowing me to work the frequency I was hired to commit, and returned to my indie roots, a little more jaded, a little more experienced! I’m looking to twist and turn through scrappy angles to get the work out we all want to see, while supporting the Infinite service and you all as an audience! Sometimes you just gotta be the Mean Girl and put things out!
Check out everything to do with that here.
Earlier this year, Del Lago Layover.
Oooh, spooky.
Part of what inspired this leap back into the indie depths was the personal success of Del Lago Layover, a surreal survival horror demo. A project with about 40 minutes playtime, took 1 month of development, and was a tight complete package with title, soundtrack radio, easter eggs, and finale.
People played and enjoyed it~! That means everything to me. <3 Check out everything to do with that here!
So many VLOGS
While I’ve been busy with an application writing, I’ve been occupied with little bursts of thoughts and lessons that I can record quick, then get back to the grindstone after. It turns out to be quite a cathartic experience, and nice to be able to create in realtime.
Raw and real, I hope that they carry some cool insights and aren’t destroying my career!
Now you be real: I know you just want to watch your trashy behind the scenes cry.
Check out all the vlogs here!
Dev Logs!
As I’ve been going over the gameplay and systems for the application I’ve taken the chance to delve into what is actually going on within the seemingly simple things you see in games. Not tutorials, not lectures. Deep dives.
In a freebie I go over the Sprite “Paper” Puppet used in Some People’s World and all the little tweaks and dials I use to make the whole thing happen!
In the next I continue into systems used to make them move, talk, and perform through more elaborate sequences and gameplay. Another, I talk about Hooks and Motivators and how to think about them to better drive your intentions and the players to your project goal.
Some People’s World Development!
If you don’t know but are in the know. My Comic, and kinda~ Animated series, Some People’s Kids, is getting an interactive iteration! Some People’s World. Yeah.
A Narrative Adventure Toybox to kick back in and get lost in the cartoonish antics with. Some of you may have already lost a few hours into the first Some People’s Kids interactive website. This time YOU’LL be there! After all, you’re some people’s kid.
I have been chipping away at this for a while now, trying to create a base cartoonish character that can withstand the rigors of being an illustrated cartoon character in 3D. I’m building off past game systems and building them to handle more expansive needs.
There’s not a whole lot of gameplay yet as I was predisposed but characters can talk, walk around… There are minigame prototypes abound, experiments, tweaking, tuning. Trying to make something that stands out with the elements it holds. The characters are coming along but will need a little elbow grease in some animation labour. The games and interactables exist. They’re something that can start to be done in most cases! Haha.
I’ve been slower to produce work because I’ve been preoccupied wiiiith….
CMF Conceptualization 2023 Application!
I am launching my efforts into seeking funding and trying to roll through an entire production cycle with invested… parties… to actually try and make a real deal Some People’s Kids production!
Some People’s World, if it wasn’t clear.
I am happily saying it out loud because I already have my application finished for submission, spare some signatures, and I won’t lose my momentum from talking about it!
Huge thankout… shout out of thanks… to a Mentor of mine: Andrew! You and everyone at Only By Midnight are incredible professionals and I look forward to being able to stand alongside you all as indie studio devs!
Check out Caldera Interactive‘s Newsletters about their CMF application process. They are invaluable!
If you’re a local Alberta studio, send me a message and I’ll happily share it, buuut.
If you want to get a look at what constitutes a good try at the Conceptualization stage of the CMF funding programs, you can download the application package through the Genome Dev Partner Tier
So the stream closed today. I will need to resume this process next year. Ahaha! Good thing I have all these vlogs to help me cope through.
MOVING FORWARD!
More IP Support
Now that I got to mull over Some People’s World so thoroughly I hope to apply a lot of that to new work moving forward. Although I will be taking a more gentle effort on it while I let the application work its way through.
With this window of liminal time before I ramp up for production I’m hoping to delve into some Jean Arteest and other side musings while I still can.
On the Path to…
A HARD Launch. -le gasp-
The Soft Launch is behind me now. I’m hoping to spend some of this gap time to clean up house a little and get some ducks in a row to actually start reaching out for audience from hereon out.
How I’ll do that?
Builds builds builds! First and foremost, whatever buggering I’m doing in game will be to make for a more stable and fully packaged ensemble of what’s there for now. A taster, and post in the ground for where the projects are at. For good and for worse. Behind the scenes means raw! I’ll also be trying to channel my production experience to aim for regular stable builds, some for release, some for internals.
Likewise, I’ll see if I can pull together any drifting media for SPK that’s hanging around my drives, or other classics worthy additions.
I am excited to bring you all along and have you for all the highs and lows as we journey on to make some really cool media!
If there’s anything you can do for me it would be to share whatever work you see with people you think would enjoy it. That means more than anything!
Thanks for your time and deep dive into everything going on at Genome Studios! We’ll be excited to sweep you away with all sorts of new updates at next month in review!
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