Werethrope
patreon
I need a BoofVR Development break.. and to move forward!
🕑 Added 2022-09-19 17:48:30 +0000 UTCHello everyone!
I wanted to put up this update the last few days but had to mull over some thoughts and weigh out the decisions that lay before me, but basically, I am at the moment stuck and incapable of certain game design limitations on BoofVR, including the ability to test different VR sets that are bumping into issues with trying to play the game. There's a lot to consider and without access to some of these equipment others may have, it's hard to find solutions and test these issues properly.
With that said, I'm deciding to put a pause on BoofVR until further notice, and instead, have been thinking to move on to the next project being a traditional ol' Desktop PC with mouse and keyboard game, specifically looking at an action/adventure RPG fantasy genre. This will be similar to BoofVR in which will be a side project I make during my free time between 2D drawings as well.
So with this big decision, there's a couple of things I'd like to talk about as sort of a post-mortem set of notes of where things went wrong and went well!
BoofVR was a very fun and exciting project, I love the idea of having a VR game where you get to touch and rub all around these big huge muscular characters, especially planned out to have charm and stories onto them. However, the technical side of this project was the huge challenge and something that should've been taken more into account - yes, there are other furry/non-furry VR games that already do this, but this does not mean it's "easy" just because there are other games that were able to achieve these features. I'm an artist at heart and skill, not a programmer, so my knowledge of this was very limited - I had thought that it'd be a neat project to dive into to learn and see if I can pull it off, but realistically, it would never have ended up becoming overtly polished until I have *more* experience with this medium. Testing the game in VR as well proved to be extremely challenging, and also limited because I, like many other people, cannot stay in VR for too long without motion sickness kicking in after some time. So as you can imagine, popping into VR, then out to desktop, then back into VR, vice versa constantly could be a nightmare to some people, and is what I had to do quite often that I'd always end up needing to take consecutive breaks each time.
The decision to pause this project until a later time does weigh heavy on my mind and I do feel like I've failed, but after talking to some people, yeah, I did fail on many of these aspects and I acknowledge that I did, and apologize greatly for not meeting up to expectations of you lot giving me support all this while. But in retrospect, I think putting my skills and knowledge into something I'm more suited for whilst considering the perspective of accessibility for myself and others, would lead to a much better and enjoyable experience for all of us. There's a lot of things I've learned from the course of this development, which also includes planning, gameplay loop and features to be nailed down first, accessibility, and the more backend stuff.
The important takeaway as well; All of this is not given up on, I'm taking a break from the project to do something else so I don't get burnt out and end up giving up on developing furry games. I still want to make a great experience, and still want to make something "finished" as well. Not all is lost either, I plan to reuse assets made and visual style that people now enjoy from the latest visual updates in the new side project.
Again, I understand a lot of people may or already felt frustrations towards BoofVR, and I'm very sorry, but I am addressing this now and making the effort to do better by moving on to something I'm actually capable of making instead.
Moving forward;
I'll be focusing and continuing with my 2D art whilst I lay out gameplay design work for the next project.
BoofVR related tiers will be changed to follow and support the development and preview art/design of the next project instead of BoofVR, and I can understand if people choose to unsubscribe for the time being until they get to try out the demo for the next project - so totally understandable!
Thank you all for your amazing support, and I hope you're well in health and taking good care. BoofVR will come back in the future, again, I'm not choosing to cancel the project.
Cheers,
Werethrope
Comments
TuskBuddy34
While I am saddened and disappointed to hear this I know I would be more so if you were to retreat entirely. Burn-out is something that is woefully under the radar to many I wish you well and the best of luck with the next project. I hope that whatever it is, whatever genre or setting or style, there's a little romancing/bromancing minigame or sidequest. Warm and fuzzies with combat adventure gameplay is a shortcut to the heart
KyoLinach
the break is understanding but the visuals you made for this are really amazing and I love every bit of it I look forward to this new adventure of your new game you are going to make and everyone will love it **FORGE AHEAD**
Werethrope
They will remain to be available for download yes! I may have to check it every now and then in case any links go down, but that'll be something I'll do on the go! :)
Rokami
Very excited for what comes next! Are the BoofVR builds still going to be available to download?
Three Kobolds in a Trench Coat
I really enjoy the visual style you've developed and look forward to seeing whatever the desktop side project ends up being (especially if that gif is a teaser or a prototype) 👍
Whole dedicated teams struggle with VR development, it's an Alpha, and you are only one person, as tools progress, and other drop-in systems are made available I'm sure things will be much different in the VR landscape in time. I look forward to it, whenever you do happen to revisit this. Don't beat yourself up over it. Push away any non-constructive criticism (its an alpha). Still love your art and best of luck moving forward.
CosmicNoodle
Love you’re art and if your next project is anything like the gif you used in this post then I am even more excited for it!
JasonMiller
I hadn't gotten to play Boof v0.7 but loved the other versions. Sure there were bugs but it was obvious the passion you had for this project and the talent you brought to the table. You did a lot as only one person at the start. Thank you for going as far as you did on this project and I hope you manage to come back to it one day. Sorry people were too demanding and were mean about their failed expectations. I look forward to any future projects you work on.
