Future Content: We're Making A Video Game

              This will not be written as a formal announcement from The Dragon’s Treasure, but an informal announcement from The Teaman.

              I’m normally not a fan of “Announcement of an Announcement” events, but I’d like to formally declare something that’s in the works.  Because of certain unexpected circumstances, I shall be developing a video game.  I only started learning Unreal Engine about a week and a half ago, and I discovered I had an unexpected knack for it.  I’m still obviously learning, and will be for forever, but the speed at which I’m picking it up and able to already do things far and away exceeds what I’ve been able to do with past software.

              There’s no real updates I can give now, other than I have a dev log in the discord so folks can track my progress with whatever updates I give.  I decided on this path after much, MUCH contemplation and discussion with other people.  To fully explain why I’m diving head first into another venture when I’ve already got a youtube channel and business will be lengthy, so I’m not going to do that at this moment but instead give a shorthand version.

              I’ve pretty much maxed out what I can do with The Dragon’s Treasure without a HUGE influx of cash.  There’s small scale things I could do (updating some of the out of date tea pics), but those things won’t necessarily bring in what I need.  For what I would need for some real expansion, we’re talking buying a large home/workplace levels of cash influx.  With this economy, people’s money goes towards essentials and entertainment, and for many people, tea falls more towards luxury than essentials.  Coming up with new teas doesn’t take me as far as it used to, and I’d need that aforementioned influx of cash to effectively launch new products for The Dragon’s Apothecary.  It’s not that new teas will stop, as messing around with new concoctions is also a personal passion, but after over 120 teas, there’s only so much more I can do.

              For Youtube, the algorithm has made it a crapshoot where luck and clickbait/ragebait matters more than the quality of the content.  I’m not going to make clickbait or ragebait for a paycheck, or keep relying on algorithms for a boost, which is essentially another form of gambling if we were to be honest.  So instead of flushing away hundreds of hours into potentially nothing, I’m better off putting that towards a field in which clickbait is not really a thing, and you can live or die based on the genuine quality of your product.  Video games seem to be one of the few bastions left where skill, quality, and talent reign supreme, and grifters cannot tread (barring a few grummy examples, cough cough).  My hand may not be able to wield a pencil or brush, but it can at least 3D model.

              My hope is to be able to present something to everyone by Spring of 2025.  I say hope and not goal, because even if I’m doing surprisingly well learning the ropes, it is still uncharted territory for me.  I will say this, however; I have frequently run into problems that I thought would take me months to complete, only to discover it can be solved in a couple of weeks.  Or better yet, things I thought that would take me weeks that I could (theoretically) get done in a day or two.  I have yet to run into any problem that I thought would take me longer than I initially expected, or more difficult than I thought.

              Since I have nothing else to offer but this announcement of an announcement, I’m not going to be doing any heavy push for funding (but I will still keep it at normal levels of pushing for funding, BUY MAI TEA!).  I hope that, with a working small-scale demo, the project can gain considerably more support, and with some luck, a publisher will take notice and choose to help support it as well.  I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel, but as I work on the game’s outline and core mechanics, I can say with certainty that it will be a unique experience, one that gamers will crave.  This should go without saying for those who follow my artistic work, but the game will not be any kind of political or social commentary.  I am not looking for its themes to be rendered out of date 6 months after release.  I’d like to create something timeless, that will feel relevant a hundred years into the future, or even the past.

              I’m sure people have many questions.  I’m sure a lot of people have their doubts.  To those people, I can only tell you the same thing I told everyone else when I announced the launch of The dragon’s Treasure and gave it an anime theme.  “I hear you, and I know where you’re coming from.  Just trust me.”