Coming from a filmmaking background, much of what I've been trying with Solitary has been mainly testing new ideas and mechanics. It has been a way for me to discover if I can build it on my own and test my game development limits. Working as a level designer for another indie game project that's soon ready to ship, i have learned so much in the last year about game development and about scope. I think the focus for what I wanted Solitary to be as an experience has changed over the last months. I no longer want to just make any game. I dreamt of making a non-linear narrative game with emergent or systemic gameplay. Although this project sparked from a gamejam idea that was never finished, I started this journey following a dream and I basically wanted to have fun. I feel it has grown into something more, something that I actually want to see through to the end and finish. I have found people who believe in me and the world of Solitary and I plan to imbue the project with their talent. I've been trying to stay away of feature creep but it has been a long battle.

After all the fun I had testing what could be built and finding ways of how to do that, I was confused about what to do next. I felt I was stuck doing nothing. I was trying the same mechanics that I couldn't figure out or starting grayboxing on a lot of scenes that didn't go anywhere, even if I had weekly goals. I felt this wasn't the game I wanted to make. I took a break in December from the game and life sort of happened. Four months passed. I didn't open the Unity project, even if all I could think was ways to make the character better interact with the environment or other NPCs, new ideas for mechanics, more content. My original idea wasn't enough for me anymore. I had to re-focus on the element that is important to me - the characters, the story and the world they live in. I know most of the big games out there use a more pragmatic mechanics first approach and leave the story undeveloped or as a thing that's not really necessary, but I don't want to make that game.

In the last two weeks I've re-written Joltuk, the main character and I've decided on the rules of the world he is living in, the history, the politics. As I'm working on the story I've started re-shaping the 3 main mechanics that will drive the game and will help the player advance in the story. I started working with a very good friend who is an amazing  and inspiring concept artist on the look of Joltuk. I'm very impressed by his take on the character, the story and the world building. There's so much more I want to show as we build the world of Solitary in the coming months, but at this point it's still early. For now I'm adopting the KISS method, doing small steps and focusing on the character and story.

Will keep you posted.