I finally managed to finish DragCore, but not without a bunch of scars. In short, a lot of things were cut. Nothing gameplay wise but things that required plugins (purchasing, ads, game center, etc.) don't work at all on iOS and Game Services don't work at all on Android. To top it all off my old Macbook is officially too old. It's unable to run OSX 10.8 or higher and thus can't publish apps to iTunes anymore. That means my games are Android exclusive until I can afford a new Mac. So not for a very long time. I'm also debating if I should let my developer license disappear on that platform. My games are not selling well enough to pick up the $100 a year.
All these things should spell crushing defeat for me, but they don't. It's a new day for me. It's time I finally be true to myself. It's time I make something for me. I've been trying too hard. Chasing the idea of what a successful app should be instead of making the best game possible. That's what I'm going to do now. No more features and gimmicks that I don't believe in. No more outside advice. My next game is coming from the heart and I'll see how that goes for me.
After long months and tons of stress I finally overcame the challenge. DragCore is finished. Or at least published on Google Play and the Amazon app store. I scrapped all leaderboard/achievement features since I couldn't get them to work. I've spent weeks on this and I'm having way too much trouble with a feature I can't get myself to care about. I also forgot that I can't AdMob or IAP to work on iOS so I scrapped those too when I tried porting DragCore. That's when I discovered that I need OSX 10.8.4 or higher to upload new apps. So, no Game Services and no iOS. My next few games will just have to do without these things. They will be more straightforward paid apps anyway.
If I ever need a social element I could just use Facebook and Twitter buttons like I did in my last two games. I still have to contact press again when the game is out and I want to try getting into the Samsung 100% Indie program, but for the most part DragCore is not on my development plate anymore. It's a bad sign to be eager to shake off a project like this. I need to make games I love completely from now on.
Look out for DragCore next week as an android exclusive. It needs to be reviewed for Amazon which might take a week but the Google Play version is set to show up on Friday. It's a simple and fun game that should make waiting/bus/train/toilet time more entertaining for everyone. For me, it marks the day I gained the confidence to work full-time on games I'd love to play. DragCore is my personal graduation project of the school of Yotes. I've proved to myself that I can produce something with substance on the app store. Now it's time to make something that can change the way the app store is perceived.
I'm dying to start my next project and will probably hop into my old word document the instant I publish this post. I want to give thanks to any and every one who's been reading my blog posts up to this point. I think of this moment as my second major milestone (the first being making this website in the first place) and I can't wait to tell the world all about what's coming next.
Expect big news tomorrow, I'll be posting my plans for my next game.
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