Hey there,

I'm Steve -- thanks for checking out my little passion project Garden of Moving Things!  It's been almost a year since I put up a demo of the first chapter of the game, and progress on the full game continues to chug along. I wanted to give an update on where I'm at, share a few quick things I've learned from my experience as a solo indie developer, and also talk about what you can expect with the eventual full version of the game (if you haven't played the demo, some possible spoilers below).

Most of us probably know the challenges with passion projects; we find time to work on them when we can (as Life allows), but we don't really set due dates.  And the same is true for GOMT.  But one of the great things about creating a game by yourself is you can pick and choose what to work on as the mood strikes you, and that can help you feel like you're making a little bit of progress every day.  Don't feel like coding today?  Work on some art assets.  Frustrated with debugging?  Take a break and look for some cool sound effects.  Can't get that NPC's dialog to sound right?  Just brainstorm some ideas that might be cool to add to the game later.  I've found it's nearly impossible to get bored or worn out with this project because there's always a different type of thing that I can switch to if I start to feel that way.

For the kind of game that I hope GOMT eventually becomes, there is still sooo much I have to do, but taking it all in bite-sized pieces helps prevent me from getting overwhelmed.  It gets discouraging sometimes; it's easy for me to look at what I've produced and say that, after nearly six years of development, all I have to show for it is a simple demo.  But if I'm honest with myself, I know that's being disingenuous.  In truth, the brunt of the work so far has been creating all of the underlying systems the game needs just to function, such as player movement and controls, conversations, item management, saving and loading, etc.  With all of those things already completed, the rest of what needs doin' at this point is the fun stuff.  The creative stuff.  The imagination stuff.  And in that regard, the demo really is just the tip of the iceberg.

The concept of dreams plays an important role in the story of GOMT, especially for our main character, Iona.  Without spoiling too much, I will say that when Iona dreams, she's able to access special places that are filled with puzzles, secrets, and ways to earn new abilities.  Every dream world is different, and each poses unique challenges and even different styles or genres of gameplay.  Below is a quick preview of just some of the places you'll be able to visit in the full version of the game.  If you like what you see, please follow my page for more progress reports and updates in the future.  If you haven't already, please try the free demo and let me know what you think!  Thanks again for checking out Garden of Moving Things!