Crunch Time
2025-09-27
Brain squeak.
September was a lot. And I mean a lotttt. We FINISHED our FIRST game! Waves of Chess is complete! COMPLETE! It feels great to say, and although I'm sure we will still find some bugs and issues (as we always do), this has been a long time coming now. We started development during Ludum Dare in the spring of 2024, with no real intentions of turning it into a "real" game. After feedback from other jammers, it was clear that this game was fun. So we decided to roll with it and continue development. Alongside the other game jam game entry from the weekend Faded Cove, which is a much longer and bigger single player experience for steam, COMING SOON!
For the last month Faded Cove has had to sit on the sidelines and watch as we cross the finish line, dragging Waves of Chess with us. While we may be tired now after the crunch, I know that the excitement will kick in once we've had more sleep. The feeling of finally finishing a game isn't exactly new to us. We HAVE released games before but never like this. Not a game as polished and well done as this one. Our previous games aren't online anymore, due to deals outside of our control but that's okay because we have picked up and started again! The sting of having our previous games taken down hasn't fully gone away yet but we have plans to re-release those games whenever we are able to re-make them. Since they were made in Unity and we use Godot now, some refactoring is necessary but we assure you, they're coming!
I've had a lot of nights with very little sleep over the last few weeks, working until the sunrise many different days. Because once the sun rises, it's daytime again. But it's all worth it, all the hard work and lack of rest lead to a finished game, arguably one of the most satisfying accomplishments. We may have finished the game, but now the hard part arrives, selling it. I have always loved marketing, but indie game marketing is a thorny field to cross and I'm still learning how best to navigate it.
With luck, we will have more games releasing soon. Our early feedback for Waves of Chess has been very positive and very motivating! Thank you to anyone who has played the game, it means the world to us! <3
- Sarah