My last finals are on next Monday, May 6th. Tuesday will be the official day I will start working on the game full-time over the months of May, June, and July.
Over the month of May, I intend to complete the base mechanics, and have most gameplay elements integrated. Not polished or perfected, but have most of the basic functionalities in the game code. I expect this to take anywhere from 2 weeks on the short side to 1 month on the long side.
After this is completed, hopefully around the beginning of June, I will switch gears and get all of my media synchronized. I will create a website, set up Fastspring, connect Twitter and Facebook together, and set up a game profile on gaming websites and Greenlight. Simultaneously, I will create a demo level in the Unity webplayer I can put on my website, in addition to a downloadable one in other sources.
Whenever this is finished, which I aim for the ABSOLUTE latest is July, I will again switch gears back to the game. I will polish and perfect the mechanics, add some nice effects to make the game look nicer, and incorporate audio effects. At the beginning of this phase, I will send out free review copies to bloggers, gaming press sites, youtubers etc. That way, I can continue to work on the game while hopefully several people will promote the game and gain knowledge about it.
By August, the website should be finished, marketing should be going strong (I intend to give away free preorders and beta keys to keep people interested and word of mouth to continue spreading), and the game should be nearing completion. In the early weeks of August, I will just be testing for bugs in the hosting services, coupon codes, etc. The game should be nearly ready for release, with just a few bug fixes remaining. Most of the testing will be to ensure that the website is working properly, and build a last burst of buzz before launch.
Right now, launch date is aimed at around August 20th. It may be sooner or later depending on however things flow, but this sounds realistic to me.
I hope I am not underestimating the code involved to get this working. I already have an algorithm developed for the base mechanics, and I know how to achieve most other mechanics, with exception of reversing vertical gravity. There are a few here and there that may prove troublesome, but I know what needs to get done in order to make them work.
Like I said before, coding should take about the first month of development, and some design. The rest of the time will be spent on promotion, creation of website and update of profiles everywhere, and designing the actual levels of the game.
Whatever the case, I have convinced myself to put in as many hours as I can in to making this game. I am planning to upload all of my work to youtube, so I will record everything I do. This may be an accurate way to determine how much I am working per day.
This next week will be spent on studying for finals as well as meditation before the oncoming storm that will be this summer. I plan to stay up well past midnight every night, and work every minute I can outside of my part time job (to at least earn some definite money) and some time to keep my girlfriend happy.
Thanks for reading.
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