She Who Fights Monsters: Almost Done!

Posted on May 26th, 2014

Astonished as I am to say this, She Who Fights Monsters is almost complete. As long as no truly catastrophic bugs show up during playtesting, I should be releasing the game on May 31st. Not a new demo; the full game. I’ll be offering it as donationware so that anyone who wants to play it can. (And if anyone DOES find a game-breaking bug once the game is out there, please feel free to tell me so I can fix it.)

Making this game was and still is quite an experience. And no, I don’t mean the aggravation of dealing with RPG Maker’s idiosyncrasies. I’ve taken this from a shaky alpha demo created on a whim all the way up to (at least to me) something rather special that I hope a lot of people will find value in, even those who didn’t grow up with alcoholic parents.

Over the course of the game’s creation, I’ve smiled, I’ve cried, and I’ve screamed in frustration over game creation software that doesn’t always function in what I see as a logical way. And as things came together in the final stretch, I’ve sat back and marveled and thought, “I’m really going to finish this.”

As I tested certain phases, I’ve felt the joy of nostalgia. Or mood whiplash I didn’t expect to happen as it did. With other parts, I’ve felt surprise at exactly how dark they came across when fully assembled, surprised to the point I thought of changing it so it might be less controversial. Then I decided to leave it alone because as it was, it was honest.

Overall, I’m proud of this game. I know I’m too close to both the project and the subject to be subjective, but… I’m proud of it. This is my first non-Twine game. And I think I did good.