Unhack 2's launch week has come to a close. Thank you to everyone who picked up the game ːneonyaː! Software developers know the 90-90 pattern. When a program is 90% complete, another 90% always creeps up. This applies to game projects as well, but in Unhack 2's case, it felt more like 90-90-90. The first draft of Unhack 2 was a disaster ːnblushː. In Unhack 1, I was able to hide a lot of flaws through gameplay, but with Unhack 2, my lack of skills became apparent. To tell a good story, you may for instance wish to describe the senses. What does a place smell like? How does it feel to touch this wall? Every step was a nightmare with Unhack 2 thanks to the AI cast. Program X can describe what something smells like, but can she experience it? I rewrote the script, and once again, nothing made sense. At that point, I had spent a significant sum on production. If this were a novel, where the only cost is time, I might have abandoned the project.
And so, I took a month off to study. Watched films, read books, browsed documentaries. By no means am I a scientific mind, but I enjoyed my time with the research. Next, I locked myself in the library and created a deeper lore for Unhack. Generation 1 AI, what were they like? How about gen 2? Eight pages crammed with notes, and now I was ready to try again ːpxː. Is this the 3rd, 4th or 5th rewrite? I had lost track, but I knew those password mini-games were rubbish. Let me try it this way. No, they still suck. How about this? All right, maybe you should give up. Hey, you know those mini-games from Unhack 1? Why not bring them back one more time, but with a twist? Sure, but that means more money and time. Do you love Unhack, though? All right, I will do it.
Another month passed, and I could no longer tell if Unhack 2 was good. It is impossible to have perspective when you have memorized every scene in the game, almost down to the individual words. I have cut close to 20,000 words off the script. It means a shorter read, but I will never accept padding. Since Unhack 2 is filled with AI, the traditional hero's journey can be a poor fit. I will negotiate with the cast, let them do as they please and pray gamers may approve. Unhack 2 received the okay from testers, so it was time to do or die. It sure would be painful if the game turned out to be a disaster. Regardless of my feelings, Unhack 2 was at last published on Steam.
Thank you to everyone who purchased and reviewed Unhack 2. Reception wise, I am glad these AI characters connected with you. The Unhack universe is complex, but I tried to balance depth with concise language ːwhappyː. In terms of sales, Unhack 2 could have performed better. It may take several more discount weeks before the numbers break even, so I will have to live with that. If you visit visual novel boards, you will be lucky to find Unhack 2 mentioned once. This has been a trend for me, and it is indeed hurtful, but all I can do is focus on improving ːblushː. If money was a non-issue, I probably would have considered Unhack 3 based on the feedback so far. I have no new story in mind for this universe, so we will see what the future holds. So yes, I had considered giving up. In retrospect, I am glad I was stubborn enough to continue. I learned more from Unhack 2 than any other game, and I look forward to carrying those lessons into future projects ːa2ː. The only way to improve is to step out of your comfort zone. Perhaps next time I will stumble and produce a disaster, but I would rather take risks than to grow stale. I am thankful for every obstacle I crashed into throughout Unhack 2's production. To stay up to date with my future projects, please feel free to join our Facebook community: http://facebook.com/invertmouse You can join connect with me on Twitter, where I post daily fun stuff: https://twitter.com/InvertMouse Thank you everyone ːweedyː!