Finishing Mighty Goose
November 23, 2021
Last week I got the translation document for the Mighty Goose content update back from the localization team. Yes! Finally we can wrap up the content update! This translation document is basically just a big ass spreadsheet with all the text in the game. After converting the spreadsheet into a .json file using one of the tools Mathias from MP2 wrote, I implemented them into the game.
I soon felt a knot forming in my stomach as I tested the game. I had missed a sentence… Or rather, I had prefilled all of the languages for that sentence with English. So the localization wasn’t complete after all. So I sent the localization document back again to Playism. Playism hires individual linguists to translate each language, so each of them will have to take a look again. That will probably take another week. It’s not a huge problem, but at times like this I curse my own sloppiness!
Looking at the previous post I noticed that the date was Juli. Testing, fixing issues and localization. These are the things that make even a ‘small’ content update seem like a big undertaking. We kind of moved past the ‘indie’ style of just making something, shouting ‘YOLO!’ and pressing the release button. This can be annoying, even trivial stuff can take long. But yeah I am that sloppy indie guy. So having those checks in place is definitely a good thing.
Waterworld
But yes, the waterworld mission is as good as done. Just waiting for that dang localization, and yes we’ll have to get that tested after implementing it. So we’ll have to be patient just a bit longer.
The Mighty Goose content update will basically be a new mission which takes place on a water themed world, planet Ceto. It’s a fairly big mission, clocking at ~30 minutes of playtime. Since it focuses on a new villain, we had to make sure to implement some storytelling segments in the level. I’m pretty happy with how that played out. Looking back at the main campaign I can see it would have been much better if it had several of these segments to remind the player what they are fighting for.
All in all I’m pretty happy with the content update. The boss fight at the end is a real highlight, I love how it turned out.
Soundtrack
What’s this? An album cover? Getting the soundtrack out there is also on the agenda (finally). Now that the content update is coming out that means the OST is complete.
The plan is to get it on bandcamp, youtube, spotify, apple music, etc. Keep an eye on our social media accounts, we'll be releasing it asap after we launch the game update.
Wrapping up
And with all that coming out soon, I think we can finally wrap up Mighty Goose. There has been some other Mighty Goose related stuff I had been talking about adding in the future. I know I mentioned a ‘Canadian Goose’ co-op partner, a boss rush mode, and a few other ideas that seem simple on the surface. But at some point you just have to say it’s done. Looking at how long it took to just add one level, I think it’s definitely a good idea to just finish it there and take some time to work on new ideas.
I learned a lot of things about development but also a lot of things about myself and working in this setup. I plan on doing a public post-mortem post sometime in the future, describing what went well, some of the things that didn’t go well, etc.
Lately I tried to start a lot of new concepts. But every time, almost instantly, my power meter drops to a 3/10. My last long break / holiday was in 2019 and I suspect that plays a big part in this (Covid also not helping of course). I’m just dead tired, it’s pretty simple. I can’t wait to be done with Mighty Goose and just chill a bit.
Of course, I know you have to take care of yourself and strive to have a good life & work balance. But once you (and only you!) are at the helm of your own company, it becomes almost impossible not to constantly engage with it. Which leads me to the biggest downside of having a home-office; It becomes very difficult to ‘switch off’.
I have some long-term plans brewing which should hopefully fix this problem. Moving the business to an office? Try to find a house with a separate ‘work-building’? Both are very expensive options in the Netherlands.
To be honest I’m not particularly enchanted with the Netherlands anyway. Emigration might actually be an attractive option. If you’ve got any tips I’d love to hear them 😉
In any case, with the whole Covid situation I feel like it would be better to play the waiting game just a bit longer. We have been waiting for quite a while, so I guess we can wait a bit longer *sigh*.
Whoever is reading this, I hope you are holding up in these turbulent times. Stay hopeful, stay safe and try to take care of yourself! <3