Hallå pals!
Jonas here with another issue of Indie Notebook to get some ideas out of my noggin, and to inspire you to do the same.
Normally I only send out new issues of Indie Notebook on Wednesdays but there is a last minute sale happening right now that I wanna share!
Surmount is 40% OFF!
My climbing roguelite Surmount is currently on sale over on Steam and on the Nintendo eShop!
If you’ve been waiting for a sale, then now’s a good time to pick it up! Just be aware this sale only lasts for another 30 hours. So act quick! (I really should have mentioned this earlier, sorry)
What’s up?
I don’t have a concrete topic to talk about today, but it’s been two weeks since the last issue of Indie Notebook. It seems like that’s becoming a pattern. Maybe I should just change the update schedule? For now I’m fine with improvising the schedule slightly.
I’ll run you through what I’m currently doing and thinking about!
Ploppy Weather
I’m still working on the pitch for this game. I’m partially designing the actual game by figuring out what goes into its pitch deck (which I will probably show to publishers).
I had a big aha-moment for the story and the elevator pitch.
John Truby’s book The Anatomy of Story is what forced me to think about the right things and reach that aha-moment. The book is not at all about game development, but my partner found a lot of use for it while writing her book, so I tried it and gosh. It’s tough to follow the steps in it, it forced me to think hard about the foundations. Sitting at the desk and staring at the screen didn’t help at all, but staring out the window or leaning against a random wall did. I’m so used to always have my fingers on the keyboard or around a pen when I need to get stuff done, but I can’t solve every problem using those tools, sometimes I just gotta use the brain (and a good book).
"It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." - Abraham Maslow
My last estimate for this project was for the pitch to be done in December at the earliest. But I had a sudden increase in freelance work and there’s just no way I can finish the pitch as soon as I thought. Which is fine! There’s no real deadline! It was just my eagerness. Getting it right is more important than being fast.
Space Deer game idea
I’ve been wanting to make a Space Deer game for a while. The only idea so far has been something Super Mario Galaxy inspired, mixed with A Short Hike. But that’s just way too ambitious for me, I don’t wanna deal with funky gravity behavior like that myself. I know that’s gonna slow me down too much.
Yesterday however, my partner planted a little seed in my brain during lunch. Our conversation made her blurt out “Space Deer tamagotchi.” And then during a stroll in the afternoon an idea for that game popped into my head.
It’s the first time I have a realistic and promising option for a Space Deer game, so I’m gonna continue to think about it and let it take shape in my mind. It would be an idle-game, but more about emotions rather than accomplishment. It would be poetic and a bit funny, just like the comic strips. Which I think could make it stand out a bit from other idle games?
We’ll see if this goes anywhere!
Freelance work
My primary source of income is illustration. Most of those illustrations are for Steam games by developers similar to me, who need key art to represent their game.
This is my most recent one, for Pest Apocalypse by Kikimora Games.
And this is an older one I made last year for Bang Average Football by Ruairi Dorrity.
I love doing this cause I gotta adapt my style to the vibe of the game I’m working on and highlight what’s unique about it. It takes me out of my artistic comfort zone.
To be honest it still surprises me sometimes when someone wants me to draw something for them, even though I’ve been doing this for a couple years now.
Suddenly I had quite an increase of these commission requests showing up in my inbox. This is actually the first time I’m doing more than one at a time, which is GREAT!
These little freelance jobs are what keeps me afloat, otherwise I would have to get a job in a grocery store or something (which I’m not even sure I could do since I live in France and my french is far from perfect).
I don’t have a real conclusion today. Maybe this was more scattershot than usual, but voila!
Panel of the week
(from Space Deer)
Thank you for reading Indie Notebook! I’d love to hear what today’s issue made you think about.
Take care and have a creative week.
PS: Don’t forget that Surmount is on sale (Steam and Switch)!
I already love Ploppy Weather. The chunky raindrops are everything I want in my life!!! I would like to cry in chunky drops too. hahahahaha <3
There are many things one could comment on here, but I just want to say that that Pest Apocalypse art is spectacular!