Managing Expectations

I’ve been finding it difficult to sit down and write a blog post for a while now.
Like most things we get stuck on, the problem has been not knowing where to start or what I wanted to share and communicate.
So, I’ll begin with what’s been weighing on me the past two weeks.

I post all my daily updates on X, a platform that lets me quickly share my progress on Interferion in a concise format—some text here, a few pictures there.
Every day, I see a pinned post I made on November 3, 2024, which is the first thing new visitors see on my profile. Lately, it’s been feeling like a weight around my neck because I didn’t achieve everything I set out to do. Here’s what I had planned before the end of 2024:

I did manage to release the first version of the website after two weeks of non-stop work.
It was a massive undertaking: cleaning up ZBrush sculpts from concept artist Jack Works, learning new materials and rendering techniques, generating artwork, designing the layout, writing text and explanations, learning Squarespace, and more.
I thought I’d have it done in a week.
I was wrong.
That’s just part of the process when you’re tackling things you’ve never done before—estimations are almost always off.

ERROR

What I’m struggling with right now is the feeling that I’ve flat-out failed.
Why?
Here’s what I haven’t accomplished yet:

- I haven’t released the amazing concept art from Jacks Works.
- The discord channel isn’t live.
- The game isn’t playable yet on Tabletop Simulator.
- The fantastic short stories written by Damon Theron aren’t online.
- The music from Land of Abundance for the videos that haven’t been rendered yet isn’t online.
- The game manual isn’t finished.
- The 3D models for the T.A.C., weapons, and hardware aren’t complete.

SYSTEM RECOVERY

So what I have been up to?
A lot of different things that I couldn’t have anticipated 2 years ago.

- Learning new skills: I’ve been diving into retopology, basic hard-surface modeling, and subdivision modeling. Why? I have high artistic standards and want the 3D models for Interferion to be the best they can be. Plus, I ran out of budget and couldn’t afford a 3D modeler. It’s been some of the hardest stuff I’ve ever had to learn, and I’m still a complete beginner.

- 3D printing experiments: I bought a Prusa Mini 3D printer and have been printing a ton of prototypes—the T.A.C. at different scales, cover pieces, and possible 3D board layouts. Interferion has always been designed as a physical tabletop game, with the digital version serving as a way for people to play regardless of distance and to enable faster playtesting and prototyping of game mechanics.

- Sharing progress on X: I’ve been posting almost daily updates on X, which has led to a lot of new followers.

- Game manual progress: I’ve gotten the game manual to about 80% completion.

- Life changes: I moved out of Berlin and came back to Holland. Moving is a great way to disrupt all structure and plans on a bigger project for a while.

- Asset development: The light, medium, and heavy constructs are nearly finished, as are all four weapons and four hardware pieces.

3D PRINTS

3D RENDERS - NEW MODELS

THE PROCESS

END OF CURRENT CYCLE

What’s left to do?

- Finish all the 3D assets.
- Rig and pose the new models with their weapons and hardware.
- Create new, improved renders for the website.
- Produce short video renders of the new assets with the new music.
- Reduce the face count of all assets so they can be imported into Tabletop Simulator.
- Refactor the old codebase in Tabletop Simulator and reacquaint myself with Lua (and why it even exists as a programming language).
- Continue working on the game manual.
- Create a short dev video about Interferion and my progress so far.
- Release the short stories by Damon Theron.
- Complete, paint, and set up a 3D-printed version of the game on a tabletop.
- Send some resin prints to Erofean so he can paint them and possibly create an epic diorama.
- Start my new job next week.
- Find peace with the fact that everything is taking longer than I’d like.

I wish you all the best