The Bone Warrior's Oath Launch!

Welp, after three months from start to alpha demo launch, I've learned a lot of things. Here is a list of some of the things.

Top 10 Things I Learned from Releasing My Game.

1) Do it! Since I started my game dev journey at age 37 (2007), I've been wanting to make a game from start to finish. I hmmmmd and haaaawed my way through the last decade and a half, but I finally saw a project through. Its never too late, I guess. hah

2) Don't procrastinate! I spent a lot of time watching Youtube or movies when I would run into issues I didn't know how to solve.

3) Write it down! I spent a lot of time trying to getting my brain wrapped around the game idea and how to implement it. Writing it down really helped my keep track of where I was and where I was going. Sort of a roadmap. I still wasn't as organized as I should have been.

4) Deadline! I needed a deadline or I was never going to get it done. Come he|| or highwater, I was going to launch on Halloween night. I did, but it took a toll one me the last week or so. I went without sleep the last 32 hours or so before launch day. I just sat at my PC working day and night.

5) Rein in Scope! There is truth to be told about avoiding "Scope-Creep". So many things I wanted to add to the game, but given my deadline, I had to really scale down my desire for "cool" new ideas.

6) Gameplay Testers! Man, if you do anything, have testers test your game before launch. I had scheduled some, but the game was not ready for testing until right up to launch. Several systems I implemented on the *LAUNCH DAY*.  Their feedback would have been invaluable and would have helped me avoid *4* game breaking bugs I did not experience in my testing.

7) Don't let burnout stop you! Yes, I said it. I burned myself out several times, but took a short breath and a brief some time away, and got back to work. I pivoted to other systems or features I had planned to keep myself progressing.

8) Keep your eye on the ball! It's easy for me to be distracted by shiny objects i.e. new or existing game ideas. I had to keep turning away from new ideas or existing games I have in progress to make sure I hit my deadline. I promised. I told EVERYONE on my X dot com, Facebook, and Discord of my time constraint. I had committed, and to miss that would have let them down. The Youtuber, Videogameiacs, helped me keep in mind the goal. I told him I would do it, and he believed me.

9) Find and Follow Inspiring People! Man, if I had a dime for every person that has inspired me to get this done, I could go full time gamedev. Andrew Gilmour, creator of Slain and Valfaris games, OrangePixel, and Thomas Brush inspired me to keep pushing. Keep going. Much needed motivation was found in their cheerleading posts and thoughtful dev videos, posts, and conversations I had with them.

10) Press the DANG button! I finally had to press the launch button. I had to take the chance that people will not like my work. I had to face the possibility of rejection. No one likes to be rejected and much of life is us avoiding the opportunity to get turned down or criticized. If I die tomorrow, I can say I've accomplished what I set out to do. I released a game out to the world that I poured blood, sweat, and tears. Yes, some people won't like it. Its fine, but I won't let that stop me. Usually, critical people had expectations that were not met. Find out why and see if you can address it. Maybe by looking at the criticism with an objective view, we can learn from it. Maybe even gain a new fan. If not, no harm done. Just don't listen to the miserable people who hate to see others succeed.

Thanks for reading.