Esther.

Were enough of them into both hobbies so that term just bled from one camp to another or what?

Hi there, I'm Esther.

Let's consider this the real inaugural post for my profile on Cohost. The spot where I'm pretty sure I mentioned I wanted to discuss game development. Let's do that now.

As of right now, I'm in the final stages of preparing True Love Covers All Bases! for public testing and development, which will release sometime at the end of this year. While it exists in draft (having forgotten to post as proof of my intent) I do have a draft on this website declaring this as my first step into solo game development.

The Why

Like many artistic dreamers, I have cultivated something of a vision for what I want to do with my time as a storyteller, and some problems that I see in games that I know we can develop and do better.

Love is of the highest order of worth and meaning in every story I write. Letting people see the layers of love, to be inspired, to learn and be reminded of how far they've come in their lives. I want to celebrate love, and to encourage love in my audience, with all that I do.

There are also mechanical curiosities and 'what if we did it this way?'s that have existed in my head long enough to form a timeline of projects I intend to stick with into the future, for as long as I have creative control of my work.

The What

I've organized my current pathway of love and game design into several projects. Many of them have names, at least in my head, whilst others are more nebulous, shapeless, but bear a meaning or mechanical challenge I will attend to when I reach that part of the plan.

So let's go over the plan now, and discuss the projects I have in mind with the following code names:

Project B - This is True Love Covers All Bases. The 'B' is for Baseball, but it's also the base jump point to kick off my portfolio of love-centric games. I wanted to start as simple as humanly possible - a visual novel game with the largest roster of unique characters that I'll likely ever write, serving as a segue into crowd developed games and to see if I've got the fortitude to go further after it is all said and done. If TLCAB is the only game I can ever achieve, at least it will stand as an anthology of many, many love stories.

Project H - This one has a name, and while I'm not yet ready to share it, this game will be a significantly smaller game in scope, but broader in terms of technology use as I leverage motion capture technology and connections with some superb 3D art friends to create a game that will perform on both PCs and mobile devices. Some of you will know what this game is, but try to keep it hushed for now.

If successful, Project H will almost assuredly afford me the resources for what is come after.

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Two games of vastly different genre will be quite the pivot, and it'll take some years to see both games finished to completion. The other important factor for these two games is that I intend to show romance and love themes in these games as they have existed in the current games we play today. Refining ideas and methods, but not quite ready yet to tip my hand and reveal my own, unique methods of gameifying love.

Success permitting, game development will then shift towards one of a few games, with varying scales of complexity and ambition such as:

Project E - A prequel game relating to Project D (see below), which will be a game suitable for mobile, console, and PC devices that will allow me to really flex a romancing game system concept I've been developing for the past several years.

Games, like real life, are systems that have rises and falls, and I feel that as with love, we can show how relationships shift and change us through narrative and gameplay. We can do better, I've seen better in other game formats, and Project E will be my way of expressing what I consider to be the 'ideal' dating game system.

Project D, a.k.a The Dragon and I - This was a game that I was prototyping pre-covid, that grew to a scope I was unable to complete as a solo developer.

Returning to The Dragon and I will require additional developer brain power and resources, so while it's one of the most fleshed out concepts I have, even playable today, I'll be shelving it until I can express this important story in a format that respects the important of it.

Finally, while I'm already impressively pleased with my achievements if the above mentioned projects are able to be brought to life in a manner that satisfies me, there exists a couple more projects that have existed perhaps the longest time in my mind, but might require the full weight of publishing to be given life. I'll tease them quietly here.

Project A - You'd think I'd start with this, but it's A for a reason. A story that could tie everything before it together, and a love letter to all the games of my childhood that inspired me to make my own.

Project R - Let's just call this 'Rivals'. A cinematic character action game where I challenge myself to successfully execute the biggest story pivot since MGS2. A story and game concept I've been cooking since 2011.

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While Project B a.k.a True Love Covers All Bases! and Project H have resources to be brought to fruition, the future is unclear beyond. Time will tell if I have the fortunate opportunity to share more of my worlds with you.

I look forward to sharing more thoughts in future on these ventures, but for the time being I need to get the ball rolling with TLCAB!. You've been warned.

Join me on creating a better world overflowing with love!