The Future of Playgrounds
Ah, the release of Playgrounds! Exciting, but an extremely stressful time for me. It was my first release ever, and it was pure chaos. Despite all that, I did it, and I’m really happy to be able to say this today, after two years of development!
Marketing-wise, I’ll be honest—I have no idea what to do next. Honestly, promoting the game sometimes feels harder than developing it. I do have some plans to promote it more actively, but for now, I need to focus on the first major update. Currently, I’m working on a completely redesigned graphic editor, and I can’t wait for you to see it!
I’m also planning to finally add a feature I originally intended to release with the game, but ended up removing. I wanted to implement it properly instead of rushing myself.
Speaking of rushing—university has forced me to cut corners more than I’d like. I don’t want to sound like a crying bitch about it, but it’s true. I had plans to tour around and promote the game in person, but those had to be pushed aside.
Another thing I want to share is my coding style. It might sound boring, but I can’t help noticing how different periods of my life are reflected in it. The Squaries editor, made in 2023, is messy and feels directionless. If someone read through it, they’d probably think the project had no clear future. The graphics editor was created during another rough period of my life, but its code feels more ambitious and certain about where the project is heading. Then there’s the engine, which I started after breaking free from a huge chain in my life. It was the right time to dive in, get messy, and experiment with all sorts of physics and features. The code only became messy later because I was rushing and couldn’t prioritize sustainability. That’s something I’ll fix in the next update, along with redesigning the first two parts of the project—because doing so would truly feel like leaving that past behind.
The new semester is approaching, and I’ll be starting a paid internship. Whether I’ll have the time to progress with the update as quickly as I’d like—time will tell.