and, as the filenames & sizes shows, the latest build was only for the usual stress-test of the newest version of adv3Lite, so the last actual coding (I have just edited some dev comments, actually random musings) is last october.
Good sense suggests that instead of beating a dead horse, is best giving up and amnesty Isekai next week ?
I take a long time to make games. This is due in part to a miserable sort of perfectionism, butâthis shouldnât surprise anyone who follows my workâmuch more time is lost to depression.
Once you release the code, you cannot call it back. Perhaps you could share the source code privately instead. That way, the door remains open to you.
Usually, when I am stuck, I hastily throw together rooms, skip the descriptions, and work on a puzzle or mechanic. The writing is usually where I get held up, so I jump over it.
In any case, I hope you reach a decision that brings you peace.
I personally view it this way: I have had bad experience with having several peojects simultanously. So: Do you have a game in the making that is more important than Isekai? (And with important I mean enthusiasm.) If Isekai is the most important then get over your âdepressionâ if you can call it that. Else put it on the shelf, and perhaps your fun in developing it will come back later.
Some people seem to go fine with simultanous projects. If you are that kind of author then my advice might not work very well for you.
And it might be useful if you examine why exactly you have lost the lust for Isekai. Bad reaction from test audience? Writerâs block? Estrangement from the general game idea? Etc.
@Piergiorgio_d_errico Iâve come to terms with the fact that I like to tinker more than finish. Starting a project and learning something new is rewarding enough, for me, most of the time. That said, I have a folder of projects that I keep coming back to. I have one project thatâs almost 20 years old and may remain a pipe dream forever⌠and thatâs okay.
Youâre just in a slump. And youâre not the only one. Youâll find your inspiration again.
I, too, am constantly beginning, experimenting, learning but not finishing. I personally am very unsatisfied by this. I never thought about it as positive, but I see now that one can see it that way though Iâm not that way. I had to restrict myself to high priority tasks, and suddenly I move really forward. Again: You can view it different than I do.
Iâve reached out to other authors to help in projects from time to time. This has given me a sense of accomplishment. Finding meaning in life can take many forms, but finishing what you set out to accomplish is probably the most difficult thing a person can do.
Knowing too much or being a perfectionist can create a sense of self doubt. I think Iâm starting to embrace ignorance as life goes on. Maybe this new found super power will enable me to release my first finished game.
Some days you commit 2000 lines of code, some days you commit 2, and some days your creativity decides that you need a pause.
As for those small changes - progress is progress, however little. You still added something.
Itâs good to share your struggles, but think about what you as an author want to do with the project, donât ask us - we donât know your situation.
Paraphrasing what the great warrior-poet Pink Guy once said, youâre the only one who cares about the process. youâre the only one who messinâ with the progress.
If you yourself think that you want to kill the project, do it.
If not, start with adding something simple, and snowball the progress from there. Little steps every day. Youâll choke if youâll try to chug a whole steak in one bite, as my mathematical analysis prof once said
As a personal note, during the development of my own projectâs v0.01 Iâve had months without progress. And then, one day, I just sat down and continued. Iâm on v0.04 now, and itâs looking better every day.
There is no grandiose event when creativity and drive returns to you. Itâs just a random tuesday when you sit and think âhey, letâs maybe code a littleâ. And then you do code a little, and do the same the next day. And the next.
Whether youâll continue this one, or decide to start a new project - you got this, man.
Things come and go; I too have had projects on the back burner for years. Every now and then I dig them out, work on a bit of them, and then move on to something else that interests me more at the time.
And then I pick it up again and put it back.
A short story I wrote 40 years ago and had forgotten about will be featured in Spring Thing; Iâve fleshed it out a bit and reworked the parser.
You might not need 40 years, but try setting it aside for a while and perhaps youâll find yourself interested in it again in due course.
In the end, I think that in light of everyoneâs opinion, the best course by far is to put the release date from âlate 2027â to âTBDâ.
Peter: actually I give my best when multitasking.
Kamineko: actually an experiment (source-level proofreading) is in process, with rather positive results.
Hal & again Peter: I always tinker with coding, and Iâm actually evaluating amnesting some of my âmessing arenasâ⌠but, as everyone known, one ended being worth of an actual release (Return to home)
Roberto: still hunting for that old printout⌠to put in context, I live in an hollywood-hijinx sized vesuvian villa
McTest: actually I often have âstop and goâ phases. even longer than the one of Isekai (up to ten or a dozen of yearsâŚ)
Sorry I missed the early thread, but I definitely endorse
I find my own elongated development cycle to ebb and flow as well, and while the ebbs kinda suck, the flows are still gratifying. Donât think Iâd want to preclude those. You of course are the best judge of how fun the flow is, relative the silent glare of neglect.
Also, as sometime Isekai reviewer/tester/sounding board, I want to see it finished! Yet another topic that turns out to be ALL ABOUT ME!
I say. What you have there my friend is a âsaggy middleâ. I know, itâs shocking to discover. But youâre not alone, these things can creep up on anybody.
Iâd like to share a revelation. Smaller games! Attention spans are short. Is it possible to split your design into acts? Each act a short game?
Indeed dividing by acts is on the tab, but after the lack of feedback (exaxtly ZEROâŚ) of the second preview (roughly equating a first act) Iâm uncertain about this.
On the saggy middle, narrative-wise (from duckgo, seems a writing issue) isnât the point, the PC/Azuj dynamic is defined, and drafted. But where is a sag, is that Iâm somewhat lost in the source, notwhistanding being the author and the heavy commenting. (as a certain someone knowns⌠)
Isekai is a very popular genre with lots and lots of anime and manga works already out there. I think it would be very difficult to come up with something unique enough, within that realm, to gain any interest.
Apply your talent and imagination to something fresh within our Wonderful World of IF.
In 2021 I did NaNoWriMo and wrote 50,411 words in a month. Naturally I didnât produce anything of worth, but it taught me something important and terrible: you just have to do it. You donât want to write, youâre waiting for inspiration, youâre demotivated, youâre tired, youâve lost confidence⌠but you just have to do it.
And itâs wonderful and horrible because itâs so simple, itâs so easy, and yet itâs still so hard!
But also, you can just pick it up whenever, no matter how long ago you put it down. You just have to do it.
Anyway, last actual coding on your big WIP was October? Sounds familiar.
$ git log
commit a64eaf24cd33f1d9b3c923863a298e242930a873 (HEAD -> main)
Author: Pacian <cejpacian@gmail.com>
Date: Wed Apr 1 22:30:08 2026 +0100
Winfield dialogue and a couple of little fixes.
commit 5acc1af77a9e2c011c608736b2b289ce57502b62
Author: Pacian <cejpacian@gmail.com>
Date: Wed Apr 1 18:25:00 2026 +0100
Bug fix for asking someone about Helios before it is unblocked... I hope.
commit 512c406b7dbd4c4d8db8bdf6910b6283e5573a52
Author: Pacian <cejpacian@gmail.com>
Date: Thu Oct 30 21:10:11 2025 +0000
Dru dialogue.
commit 9cae25601f2821c7cc88ab7d8cf5fcce8d22a844
Author: Pacian <cejpacian@gmail.com>
Date: Tue Oct 28 21:51:34 2025 +0000
Gem dialogue.
