Summary of November 2015
Hello all, Ben here. This is the first of many weekly blog posts, which we will update every Wednesday, in an effort to keep everyone up to date with our progress on Rok and the goings-on with the team. In this post we will be talking about what weβve been doing in November, but first, our planned release for Rok.
We have wrapped up development on Rok, after almost 3 years of conjuring up the idea, back in 2013. We have decided to sit on it over the Christmas period, and release in January 2016, weβve decided to do this for a few reasons.
The main reason is that January is a quieter month for game releases when compared to December, and although the app store is a pretty busy place year round anyway, we thought the extra added noise of the Christmas period would make things even more difficult for us. We also decided to launch in January because of Christmas! Many people will be getting iPads and other tablet devices for Christmas, and will soon be looking for shiny new experiences to play on them all. The last reason we chose to delay release until January, was to give ourselves more time, and to not rush it out of the door. Weβve poured our heart and soul into Rok, and want to market it a little more, and test it thoroughly, before finally letting it out into the wild. It would be silly for us to rush the final step after being so meticulous throughout development.
Now, on to what weβve been doing throughout November! Hywel, our programmer, has been testing the game on iPad for any more bugs or serious issues. We have all been testing on different generations of iPad, to see if the experience is quality and of a high standard across the board. Cian, our producer, has been sorting out the very final SFX and dialogue, to be used in the game and for marketing materials. I myself have switched roles toΒ βcontent marketingβ, and as well as writing this weekly blog, have set up ourΒ βBursting at the Seamsβ podcast, as well as creating Youtube videos focusing on Rok.
The weekly schedule looks like this:
Mondays - Rok Youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RokqtlY1Uak
Wednesdays - Bursting at the seams development blog post
Fridays - Bursting at the Seams podcast
http://www.burstingattheseamspodcast.blogspot.co.uk/
The Youtube videos will look at different aspects of Rok each week, such as itβs lore, gameplay mechanics, and visuals. This blog will focus more on what Stitch Games are up to, including where we are in development, reflecting on our work, our experiences at game shows, and much more! Finally, our podcast is an informal chat between myself and Cian, about all things game industry related, covering topics such as games weβve been playing, our experiences as an independent game developer, our thoughts on game industry trends, and we hope to get guests on the show in the future, to share these discussions with.
That pretty much sums up what weβve been working hard on this last month. Come back to the Bursting at the Seams blog next week, where Iβll be writing about our experience of this yearβs EGX in Birmingham, as well as keeping you up to date with the teamβs efforts during early December!
