2019 in review (Patreon)
Content
Looking back, I have mixed feelings about this year. On the one hand, we did some great stuff:
Completely redesigned the avatar, and made her more personalisable and interactive than ever. You can now customise your agent's face and body type, turn her around for a rear view, give her tattoos and piercings, get her hair wet, etc.
Implemented the Lifepath. You can now create a unique back story and intelligence career for your agent, and play through some sexy university scenarios.
Created the SURPS rules, which turns the game into a functioning RPG with stats, skills, dice rolls and XP.
Improved lots of existing systems (including the notification system created by Hyneman, the scalable avatar and other visual improvements created by Lara, and lots of bug fixes by Tommygun).
On the other hand, I know I'm not the only one who's disappointed that the game isn't further along. I think everybody sees Female Agent's potential, once we get to open world Bangkok (repeatable gameplay loops, with new locations, activities and side quests added in each update) – but the game's biggest problem is, and has always been, slow implementation.
I've been thinking seriously about how to increase the development speed. One of the big things I need to make better use of in 2020 is the community – you guys have great insights, and I believe that consulting with you more regularly can speed things up overall (by helping me get to the right solutions faster).
I wrote some analysis that I want to put out to spark a discussion on how we'll improve things in 2020. I was going to publish the first piece tonight, but "Anatomy of a Failed Sprint" is too maudlin a topic for New Year's Eve. (I am feeling kind of maudlin at the moment, but that's at least partly due to listening to mid-90s Faith No More on repeat).
So I'll publish that tomorrow, and just end 2019 with something that doesn't make me feel maudlin at all: a heartfelt thank you to everyone with an interest in my little video game, and especially to all patrons, past and present – your support for the game changed it forever.
Happy New Year, everyone. ☺️ I hope 2020 is your best year yet, and not just because your agent is finally going to get to Bangkok.