After roughly 3 weeks of porting I roughly coded 50% of what I defined as an MVP of the project and therefore I am way more confident in what will be ready for La Zona Warpa in September. Whoo-hoo!

When will there be the first demo?

I’ll publish the alpha demo on itch.io first and use it as a platform to get feedback and make the game be known. Demos on Steam are expected to be way more polished and close to the final product so it will probably pop up 6-8 months before the actual release, depending on when it will be ready for a Next Fest but that’s too soon to think about that.

Style rework

I also am reworking all 3d assets and trying to make a visually appealing product from the get go, for three reasons:

• It makes me feel more motivated

• It is easier to explain the game and show it around

• Iterative development is clearer

And if you are wondering what iterative development is, the next section is for you.

Iterative development

From here on, this post gets very game dev oriented.

I have to admit it, I got it wrong the first time. Real iterative development requires that the product is considered to be “done” at each iteration. I think I really understood how to do it by watching this GDC speech by Seth Coster of Butterscotch Shenanigans and reading this very old paper on how Valve made Half Life.

Here's the process I'm slowly but steadily adopting:

Step 1: Define a Vision

Start with a one-line vision focusing on feeling, mechanics, or experience. For Terra-7:

“A cute company simulation on an alien planet, where you build production pipelines and care for employees to earn their trust.”

This vision will evolve, and that’s okay—iteration helps clarify it.

Step 2: Build the Smallest Possible Prototype

Only include the essentials. For Terra-7, this could mean:

• Walking employees

• Scattered resources

• A portal to sell things

• Selecting resources to collect

Skip unnecessary features early on. I began with a slightly larger prototype, but if starting from scratch, I’d go smaller.

Step 3: Iterate Quickly and Often

The more, and the faster, the better.

• Test the game

• Compare it to the vision

• Identify what’s missing or wrong

• Brainstorm fixes and weigh the cost

• Make changes or test again

Testing can be broad or hyper-specific. Eventually, you’ll get something ready to ship or show.

Framework Recap:
Vision → Prototype → Test → Repeat

Tips to Stay on Track

• Shorter iterations = better results. Invest in tools and architecture to speed things up.

• Good enough beats perfect. Perfection usually means unclear goals. Know what’s “enough” based on your vision.

• Test over talk. Opinions are cheap. Use prototypes to resolve disagreements. (I work alone but I still have a lot of opinions).