2023: 8 Years and a Christmas Carol Devlog

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Well y’all, I’ve been working on The Waking Cloak (and, by association, ProtoDungeon) since 2015.

Eight years.

Eight is a pretty terrifying number of years. I naively expected this do be done in maybe a few years max, so when Tumblr (the first place I started posting back in 2016) informed me was turning seven, it was quite the disorienting revelation.

I had to reprocess a lot of the emotions about how it feels to be a solo hobbyist dev, with others who are more well-funded or just with more staff and time “passing me by.” Some beautiful games have come out in The Waking Cloak’s genre, and are still coming out–Tunic, Death’s Door, Mina the Hollower, to name a few.

That may be something that always stays with me (this definitely isn’t the first post I’ve had with this sentiment haha). Still, I’m learning to reframe, re-teaching myself to be thankful, and actually really enjoying these other offerings folks are making. A friend of mine reminded me of the two cakes philosophy. As a developer, I see other games initially as something that will drown out my own offerings. But players will just see more games in the style they enjoy–more cakes.

All that aside, I’ve been really excited about where I’m going to take Studio Spacefarer next. I’ve been working on ProtoDungeon: Episode III behind the scenes more and more consistently (which means The Waking Cloak is getting its foundation of course). And I’ve got some upcoming announcements for y’all that I think you’ll really like. So what’s on the way? Gonna do this Christmas Carol ghost style:

• The State of Things Past: Where development has been at, why it’s taking so long, life status update, etc.
• The State of Things Present: What’s happening now, ProtoDungeon: Episode III stuff
• The State of Things Yet to Come: This’ll be the fun one–plans for 2024 and beyond for Studio Spacefarer, The Waking Cloak, and ProtoDungeon!

I’m hoping to be more consistent here on out. No promises–this IS a hobby–but I do have a plan too.

Until next time. :)