Unicon Retrospective

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Earlier this month I showcased a new build of Point & Sin.

That's a cool pillow

The venue was a small booth at the Unicon convention in Riga. Considering the recent rise of covid cases and the ensuing restrictions, there were few attendees and booths. But compared to other years, people spent more time playing my game, which was nice.

Game instructions in Latvian

On the second day of the convention, I took a webcam and recorded the "playtesting" process. The footage and in-person observation gave me much needed validation as well as insight into what people like, dislike, and pay attention to (and bugs, many bugs).

Surprisingly, I also managed to be more productive than on an average weekend (Point & Sin is a hobby project, so wasted weekends hurt quite a bit). Painted a little pixel brazier and also attempted to copy Achrileg's style for a new idle animation of the player character. When you place these animations side by side, the style inconsistency is pretty apparent, but IDGAF at this stage in the development. If it looks cool (aka better than a placeholder) then I'm happy.

The greatest benefit of the entire showcasing affair was being able to finally deliver a tangible result on a deadline. Well, sort of deliver. Originally I intended to release a new version of the game on itch.io as well, but it seemed too buggy, so I only showcased it at the Unicon booth.

This year has almost entirely been one long hiatus, so it feels good to break the cycle. It’s been told a thousand times, but having specific goals and a deadline really do help, so I’ll keep setting new dates and trying to deliver on them.

Soo… Point & Sin is sort of a spooky game and it’s October. It would only make sense to get out a new version before Halloween. The task list for the new version can be found on the project trello board.