Thread by @pLawitzki

I'm usually pretty quiet on this site. But since there's a lot of progress on the project I'm currently on,
I think it's time for some updates which also explain why I haven't been working on new Quake maps in the past months.

A thread 🧵 (1/12)

To recap, I started making Quake maps last summer (2021) in order to work on my level design skills. I was impressed with how good the tools have become, how awesome the Quake mapping community, and how gratifying the process is.
🧵 (2/12)

I planned to stick to simple maps to explore the design possibilities and to be able to finish one map each month. Those plans went quickly out the window once my first map good very positive reception and ambition kicked in.
🧵 (3/12)

I finished my last map "Waldsterben" end of February (2022). I've kind of underestimated the workload on this one, so I decided to take a short break before moving on to the next to prevent burning out on mapping.
🧵 (4/12)

I did start another standalone map with a theme I still think could be really fun. However, the project I was working on during my day job entered a critical phase and required special attention. I had to shift my focus away from mapping for a while.
🧵 (5/12)

Our tycoon management game Good Company (by @Chasing_Carrots) was leaving Early Access. The weeks before and after the release were crucial to its success. We've put almost 5 years of work into this, so you can imaging how important this was.
🧵 (6/12)

Each time I take a peek into the Quake mapping discord, I have to resist the itch to fire up #Trenchbroom and move on with my latest map. I really want to come back, but it has to wait.
🧵 (7/12)

Long story short, the release of Good Company did not give our team the financial stability we hoped for. It was our most successful title so far, but it wasn't the hit that would enable us to set out to new exciting ventures. We had to change course.
🧵 (8/12)

Good Company is still being maintained and will be for quite a while. But there isn't much to say about it at this point. We are working on fixes and smaller features but not with 100% of our resources as you can imagine.

So what's next?
🧵 (9/12)

Financially we cannot afford another five year project. Our thought: reduce risk by reducing scope. After some market research (shoutout to @aayph) and lots of internal pitching, our next (much smaller) game will be within the reverse bullet hell survival genre.
🧵 (10/12)

Thus began the development of Halls of Torment: a retro-Diablo inspired bullet hell roguelite. I'm its lead designer and it's very exciting and fun working on it right now. Plus: it's #madewithgodot 😉
🧵 (11/12)

There will be official announcements and updates on Halls of Torment in the coming months. I hope I'll have the time to post a bit more about it here, too.
Thanks for reading! 🙂🧵 (12/12)