I Made It To Blog #2! | The GAME pLAN

So, I wasn't sure if I was going to be doing this weekly, but it seems like I am.

Where to start?

IRL
I guess we'll start it off with some current events. If you're a loyal Islander, you may recall a post I made a few weeks back about taking Saturdays off from my day job(s) in order to get some big chunks of work done on The Ovate Order.

Well, that backfired. 

While I have moved my shift to the morning in an attempt to reclaim the heft of the day for game dev purposes, I am still working Saturdays, and have actually picked up an additional Friday shift. So, I'm back to being really busy 7 days a week. 

This isn't all bad, though. Now with a couple extra bucks each month I am thinking about finally moving out of my studio apartment into a full blown 1 bedroom! Woah! I initially moved into this studio as a transitional apartment. I had just moved back from Mexico with my girlfriend at the time, and was looking for a place to rent ASAP. At the time it was almost perfect; cheap, located walking distance to my job, and most importantly, available. However, as I spend more and more time at home working on The Ovate Order, I realize it would be greatly beneficial to have a separate room for sleeping/relaxing. Having my work station looming over me every minute while I am home is bad for the sanity. 

We'll see how it goes. Tentacles crossed.


The Ovate Otter
Order? Otter? Whatever. 

So, as I said last post I've just been doing art assets... and I think I'm going to stick with that game plan for a while. Since time is a hot commodity right now I need to work fast, and out of all the things I could possibly work on right now, the art is going to be the quickest to get done. I've discussed managing all aspects of development with other solo devs, and it's pretty much the general consensus that switching from art, to sound design, to coding, to writing dialogue/text on a daily or weekly basis only slows down development. 

This is one of the areas of development that gets me the most excited. To me it's through the art that I can really start to see the world 'come alive.' So, be sure to check out my Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook in the coming weeks to get the low down on new art assets including environments, spell effects, enemies, etc!

Butt Weight, There's More
Oh you thought it was over? It's never over.

There's one more thing I feel I should talk about, at least a little, and that's working out. That shit is something I do religiously. 4 nights a week, 2(ish) hours a night. Miss one day and I feel like I'm going to revert back into a puddle of ooze. Unhealthy? Naaah. While it may lead to odd eating habits and the fear of 'losing my gains,' physical exercise is one of the best natural mood enhancers ever. Depressed? Work out. Angry? Work out. Anxious? Work out. Your mood will level out in no time. 

Now I know what you may be thinking. "IDK Joely, for working out so much you kind of look like a blob of Jello wrapped around Quasimodo . WTF bro. Do you even lift?" 

First of all: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloLS5kTrVs

Second of all: I was like 230lbs of blubber until I was 19. All I did was play video games and eat pizza for like 10 years straight. In that time I lost all my muscle mass, and gained a whole lot of fat. Then in my early 20's I went on this awesome diet called Not Eating and lost even more muscle mass. My lowest weight was around 150lbs, and at 6'0" that's pretty damn low. So, the past 2-ish years of lifting weights has basically been just rebuilding everything I never used. It's been a long ass journey, but I now have around 8 consecutive months of working out under my belt and I almost look like a fully formed human. It's awesome. 

​One day I will look like Chiaotzu and my quest will be over.