Look, it's 1 year already!

The notification about Apple Developer Membership renewal showing up, it means, I have been fighting for 1 year already.

This sure reminds me of those eventful days before I came to Japan. I ran around doing "quests" to register Exceed7 Experiments so I can register Apple Developer Membership with that name. The documents, the stamps, the cumbersome process.. ah those days..

And then back to my room because the time left to finish Duel Otters is running out (I am going to Japan for 2 years master degree) I have to quickly sort everything out which is much more than expected. I noticed all the songs in the game are currently Michael Jackson song which is clearly not good, so I composed the song. That day is the rare day my friends come over to my room as I was about to compost "that annoying title music" and they watched me. I ended up making something funny because I haven't make music with someone watching before. Before they left I got the accordion going, and it became the title music.

Then I realized there is still a lot of bugs to fix, some games AI are too stupid, and then oh! the website! We have nothing to show publicity, so I coded Exceed7's homepage, Duel Otters homepage, press kit in 3-5 days. That was a "publicity week" of me.

And then I realized (again) that we don't have promotional video. Something that I can send to someone interested in the game and they will instantly get the mechanics of this game. So 4 days afterwards is "After Effects Rush" week.

Finally company registration process come to an end, and then I can finally stitch everything : the game, the web, the URL of PR video and press kits, EVERYTHING is stitched together. Finally the Facebook page I have maintained so long since the game was named Factora, was finally able to post something new : release announcement.

Forward to now, I am going to release version 1.5 which contains some features that helps with retention rate of the game. You can enjoy the game by yourself a little bit more, a prelude to the big version 2.0 to come. I am also adding Japanese localization, I noticed I have to make a new set of promotional graphics too, then more nostalgia kicks in.

I remembered exactly how I felt when I was finally making preview graphics for my own game. Having seen like thousand of these thing from playing mobile game, here comes the day that I am making for my own. Today, I am updating the last image which now includes 10 games instead of 7 games that shipped with the first version.

Last week have been a disaster! I looked at the git commit log I noticed I commited at around 5AM everyday. It had been a sleepless week, with final examination coming, lab work deadline nearing and  some computer vision programming competition I don't want to take but it is a part of study. I have something I wanted to do that is relaxing that is playing Team Fortress 2 and make music, but I must complete these mission first. I must update Duel Otters because I got the opportunity to be featured after a long 1 year of dedication, I cannot let the game get featured without an update. That would be a shame for this rare opportunity.

Moreover I know my friend will probably not help me as expected so this time I only asked them to test on TestFlight, but still they are always busy and cannot test even all they need is an iPhone and maybe test the game in the toilet instead of Facebook. I do not want to question them and decided to believe that they are actually busy, so I guess it is the usual pattern again : no one will do it, so I must or else no one will do it.

I think I have the right to say things like "I am also busy and probably more than you since I sleep at 6 AM and like 3 hours for a while now" but that would not change anything really, that sentence cannot make them less busy. I am not the person who would say that kind of things that cause nothing but bad relationship. (and the drawback is I always take up the tasks) This is one of the reason I think I am not suitable to be a leader.

One thing I am very happy is the artist helped me completing this version as she made the promotional graphics for me. She is more responsive than before and even chatted to me without me calling her first.

Now, 1.5 is almost ready and I finished the final test OF MY LIFE. Semester ended and I probably will not need to take class ever again until graduate, and therefore forever, because I decided I will not go for doctoral degree. It is lucky that it is Friday, so I will take my self-reward by playing Team Fortress 2 and make some music!! :D

In this summer break, I am making a new project for Exceed7 Experiments and is one of my long dream. It is about one thing that made a big part of my life : music games.