That’s right! I have decided that the prototype and concept is workable and have now started working towards the first Alpha build.

“But what does that really mean for this game?” you may ask. Well there’s a few things:

1. The amount of time I have for development is unlikely to change anytime soon, so any kind of release date is still a bit far away for me to predict. However as I am near a point where I have implemented the majority of the base mechanics first iterations (First alpha build will show this off!), The focus can start to shift away from the coding part (not completely though!) and more onto the artistic/creative side to get rid of placeholder assets, implement an art style and design for fully fledged levels.

2. I have a bit more of an idea of what I want this game to be. It’ll take a long time to explain it all, but in summary… I want this to be a 2D platformer (duh) that tells a bit of a story based in a fantasy world. The story delves into how the top of slimeciety (yes that’s a pun) has cursed slimes to always look down on anyone with a lesser status than them. 1 Slime (the player) must ascend through the classes of society, while dealing with lifes insecurities, to reach the royalty and put and end to the curse so everyone can live together in harmony. This wont be easy though, as the player is struggling with their past which has haunted them for years.

3. I now need to look into avenues to get my game marketed. The game has no funding (and I don’t intend to look for it) so I will be looking into avenues that doesn’t require money, just a bit of time. Think social media, youtube/twitch, networking in the right places and just generally trying to get the word out to people. This will probably start to occur once I have released a first alpha version.

4. I have a rough idea of how I intend to release the game. Itch.io is a great place to get it put it with no cost to me so that’s a guarantee. GameJolt is another one that I beleive is is free. I also have my eyes on both Steam and Epic games, with steam being a higher priority for me. At the point of beta I would look into having a demo prepped for things such as Steam NextFest. I do intend to have a price on the game. My current thinking is £5(GBP) so nice and cheap but can help me recoup any small costs I have such as publishing to steam. I initially was going to skip early access but after looking up onto how steam pushes games to users screens, I will likely have a short period of early access to have a double dip of front screen presence.

So thats just a bit of an info dump of what’s floating in my head right now. I am pushing to get a first Alpha build out by the end of May, but not pressuring myself as I do have a very busy life which does take priority. This is and always will remain a hobby project for me that I do in my free time, but I am determined to make this my first (and hopefully not only) commercial game.