Hot on the heels of the last update, I’ve been working on NaGaDeMo contest entry and I’m having a bit of a dilemma: what exactly do I want to do with this game? If I continued working on the game as it is now, I could have it finished and ready for the submission deadline with no problems. However, after tweaking the ending cutscene a little today, I realised that Mythos: The Beginning could be so much more than it is right now. What I’ve done so far is, in my opinion, a pretty decent effort with a chance of winning, but I can’t help feeling that by cutting out so much to release the game by the contest deadline, I’m not doing my original concept justice.

The fact is, Mythos doesn’t want to be a contest entry. It was meant to be an hour long, and it’s ballooned out to 3 hours. Even with that length, there are still two main areas that I’ve had to cut out to release Mythos by June 30. Two main areas… considering the game as it is contains four main areas, that’s a chunk almost equivalent to half the game. It’s another 1-2 hours of gameplay, at the least, not to mention the missing story elements and pacing that those areas would have provided. There are also skills, puzzles and additional gameplay elements that I originally intended to include but just couldn’t because of time restraints. And I really would have liked to have them in the game.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m figuring out what to do with Mythos. I didn’t really intend for this to become a “proper” project, but after spending so much time and effort on it, it’s eventually morphed into one. So, what do I do? Should I continue to work on the game as it is now, with large parts cut out, in order to release it in time for the contest? Or should I gracefully withdraw, take my time working on the game implementing all of the planned content, give it a proper commercial release and make it a title worthy of being my “final game”?

That’s the question.