Undoubtedly, we have failed to deliver enough projects like we used to, but also each new project has increased complexity. This means that we will no longer deliver batch games made in 7 days like we used to 5 years ago. Now, we are revolving around our "zone of comfort", which is mostly Unreal Engine and C++. To leave that zone of comfort, we try new stuff now and then. Recently, I've experimented with Raylib, a C++ library that is insanely easy to use to create both 3D and 2D scenes. We have managed to make (but not finish) a 3D game engine that includes a map editor with entity types and whatnot. It also had lighting, simple physics, and animations, but it became too complex. Probably would've kept going if there were tens of people at Cotangent Games.
Last year, in the August-September period, we leaked two pictures from two different games; one was supposed to be a weird game that takes place in Northern Siberia in a real-life abandoned Russian town called Yurshor. The other game was a horror game inspired by The Nun movie, and we initially aimed to make it unbearably creepy—so creepy and unsettling that, despite its pixelated graphics, a jumpscare could cause nightmares. The sheer tension and fear caused by the game are not to be underestimated. Now, where are those games? Nowhere. The Yurshor game had nothing in it except a small explorable town with no real features, and the other one would have taken too long to make, and we lacked an inspirational plan at the time of development.
However, now I can say (like I always do) that new projects are underway. Wanna know what's different this time? We actually try and make a GDD (game design document) before actually doing anything significant in the game. We attempt to make the GDD as complex as possible to NOT forget any ideas or themes or even feelings that we want our game to give off.
The most significant release in the past 12 months is definitely the atom game. You wouldn't believe how much math, how much learning, and how much STRESS have gone into making that game, and yet it's imperfect but NOT broken. It's definitely a good release but not well-received, unfortunately.
This period has definitely been silent in terms of actual releaseable projects, but there's definitely one thing that has been happening: LEARNING.
