Development Update - January
January Update On Design Philosophy 2024 has already been an interesting, if not tumultuous, year for Aetherdale's development. I began the year working on a "To-Do list" - a checklist of features which, if implemented, would put Aetherdale in a state where I could release a rough demo version and start getting feedback. It dawned on me, at some point, that the gameplay pattern I was trying to create was simply not efficient. I've been developing Aetherdale as something like an MMORPG - a wide open world with long questlines that ultimately culminate in a prestigious endgame. But a large open world is no trivial task, and in Aetherdale's case, trying to achieve it is simply a waste of time. If the game were ever to go live, I would not be able to create new content at the rate it would be consumed. The solution to this problem is to change the gameplay loop. Instead of one long, epic quest line, Aetherdale will focus more on repeatable con...