Weekly Update (3-10-2025) (Patreon)

Better progress this week than last, so happy about that.

 

On the flip side, the section I've been working on got longer than expected. I was imagining I'd finish it around the 30k word mark, but I'm not quite done and we're almost at 35k. XD; Still, I'm nearly past the first part. I do think this is going to be a longer update, wordcount-wise, than I originally planned, so the extra time will hopefully be put to good use if I end up needing it. XD

Things are improving IRL as well. Don't want to say for sure that I'll be past that soon and jynx it, but it does seem like a good possibility, so here's hoping.

Now for some idle musings. I was reading a post by a developer who had failed once and then come back and made a very successful (+100k sales) game on their second try. One thing that stuck out at me about it was he attributed his success to, in addition to good use of marketing, "Listening to the market. Instead of just making what I personally liked, I analyzed trending game genres and untapped themes. "

Thinking about that reminded me of kind of an interesting thing, which is that, basically all my life, I've never had any sense of "I want to be an X." Even now, creating isn't about being "a successful dev," to me, it's about creating something I find good and meaningful. That desire has animated my previous attempts to create things as a writer, and I could easily see it animating other media. That said, I do find that being a game developer suits my skillset and inclinations best, and I enjoy the way it lets me wear different hats (technically I'm doing like 10 jobs in one here XD).

Either way, it was just an interesting difference to think about. Obviously I would like more success, and I believe the genre of "ruler rpg" has a lot of potential for wide appeal (held back in part by Noblesse's visible rpg maker-ness), but even if I didn't, the choice that guy made is a non-option for me. I really can't create things I don't find compelling. Honestly, it sort of fascinates me the level of effort I'm willing to put into something I care about (Noblesse) versus how little I'm willing to put into something I don't (my other work). I'm someone who would never not meet a minimum of quality for something I did, but I'm not really willing to go beyond that minimum unless I care. So, being a trendfollower for cheap success isn't even an option for me, heh.

Ultimately this isn't super important, though. The more useful takeaway from that post was the value of marketing, which I already knew. Sadly he didn't share much about what specifically worked for that level of success. XD But another datapoint to keep in mind.

For now, though, back to work on v0.15!