Chasing Selene (Patreon)

so this is what i've actually been meaning to post about for -checks watch- uhh like four months now

after ten years of making this game and also a demo of another one
we have finally adopted a studio name!

and now the Q&A

wait so you're a studio now?

so, like, yeah, but also don't overestimate how much that means. the team and work itself hasn't changed at all recently, though of course i hope to be expanding in the future-- this is ultimately solely the change of now having a name to refer to the group as a whole by. we're a studio now because we said we are, and that's about it. but that's probably true for the majority of indie groups as they start out too.

why now?

i hate thinking about branding and advertising and PR and all that bullshit but as much as i hate that it still seems reasonable to me to pick a name before a major release. given the nature of the release, is it a bit of a risk? maybe. so is releasing. so, oh well. 

i dont know how to phrase a likely question here but this section needs another heading?

i also have some mixed feelings about it all and how i'm going to represent in the future because like
i like when people use their own names as a brand because then there's no ambiguity about who you're dealing with. if you've got a single name dev like Christine Love or Dan Salvato, you know there is a singular person accountable for those communications and the outward appearance. if you've got a studio name like Team Cherry or Naughty Dog and you, like, reach out to them, you have no idea who you're actually dealing with. it could be anyone. it could be some guy they hired last week. companies are stupid and anonymity is all too often used as a method of obfuscation for exploitation. i hate it all.

but, on the other hand, especially where i'm depending on the team more and more, it doesn't feel right to just be taking most of the credit for myself-- especially where i've burned years' worth of time and energy trying too hard to fly solo here. i want to be a point of contact for the sake of trust, not a black hole of credit. 

for the sake of navigating the above two contentions, my plan for a while has been to approach this the same way music bands do. you've got group with names like Marina & the Diamonds, or Emilie Autumn & the Bloody Crumpets. It doesn't always roll off the tongue, but I feel like it's a decent compromise between having a lead person to pierce anonmity while also recognizing the contributions and identity of the group. for that reason, you'll see the opening splash of the game list both like this:

That also has the advantage of, if someone else in the team decides to go lead their own project, they can just take the lead spot and I can just be part of the ensemble instead. who knows?

so who is selene and why are we chasing her?

ah yes, what's in a name?

to be honest, i think most gaming studio names suck. Rockstar Studios? Bungie? i mean...whatever, i guess. it's not like it doesn't get the job of [naming a group] done. but it's also not very interesting.
i was hoping to choose a name that felt less like a studio name, and more like a band name not just in the above format, but also in terms of being attention-grabbing and interesting. less Yacht Club Games and more Panic! at the Disco. Panic has such a great name for a lot of reasons-- it begs questions, has pizzazz, implies action... I think the music industry has a much better energy for that thing overall than the indie gaming industry.  

Actually, I think games have a lot to learn from music in most ways that don't involve copyright laws. But I might just say that because I grew up performing live every summer since my mother was a music teacher. Also, I barely follow or directly look up to anyone from the gaming industry, but there are several musicians that I've considered to be role models for me as far as creative pursuits. It also helps me to distance myself from the rat race of trying to meet perfect ever-evolving expectations in the industry. it feels much cozier to me to think of it like
this is our band
we've got a new album releasing soon, hope you like the music. 

so anyway I wanted something fun and dramatic that rolls off the tongue. aside from that, I also knew that I wanted it to relate to the moon in some way. Amethysts as a crystal are charged by moonlight, and where I'm depending more and more on the team, I thought it would be cute to have them take on a name that signifies their importance in helping (and enabling) me <3

so, Selene is the greek name for the goddess of the moon. The idea of chasing the moon to the horizon is one i've kept accidentally coming back to-- It comes up with a certain character in Reborn too, and then I picked this name without even realizing the connection. It's not the first time either. 

To me, Chasing Selene is kind of like-- trying to do the impossible. Reborn is already a ridiculous project by all means. Trying to do a fangame with all badges and pokemon and quests for all legendary is absolutely an awful choice, terrible for scope. The moon is always going to set past the horizon no matter how far we run. Ah, but can't we still enjoy the journey and having something to try hard to reach? 

--

now, i won't forgive myself for just talking about branding and not posting anything of substance, so here's a few changes we've made in recent patches:

• placed two additional catching charms (as they now stack)
• added dragon dance and extremespeed to relearnable moves for zygarde since apparently that's a thing
• added password "gen5weather" making weather setting abilities last until overwritten instead of just 5-8 turns
• flower garden field now boosts powder move accuracies to 85 instead of 100
• flower garden field now only scales offensive boosts (for grass moves, swarm and overgrow) up to x2 each instead of x3
• added an early dhelmise event before luna
• solosis is now wild in the wasteland tunnels
• You can hold the shift button to use last registered item
• Added barebones Champion Defense system
• EV-reducing berries are now twice as effective
• added neighborhood signs in azurine lake to help with underwater navigation
• Items can now be purchased from the BP Store in multiples
• Added the ability to shove Meteor Grunt Sanchez into a cage in Blacksteam. 

oh, and by the way, beta for the first wave of folks is imminent.
like maybe end of the week?