Fast update: I'd love it if you bought Word Turtle Island! If you're still deciding then please do play the free demo.

Word Turtle Island is now available, ready to play, and is in active development also known as "early access". 2.5 years ago at the beginning of the project I posted about it a couple times, then went mostly quiet. Since reaching early access in June I've published two updates to Word Turtle Island and now I've published a free demo version. The demo is even playable in your web browser on Itch!

A reminder of what happens in Welcome to Word Turtle Island. Survive nature dungeons battling book stealing creatures. Use word weapons to rescue books and readers in danger. Relax and recover by tending to the book sanctuary.

Get it on Steam (and hopefully by the time you read this the free demo will be downloadable there) | Get it on Google Play | Get it on Itch (play the demo in your web browser)

Slow update: Journaling about getting to early access and marketing the game while continuing to improve it.

It took me a long time to start sharing publicly about Word Turtle Island. Once I started I got invited to appear on the Tell the Damn Story podcast ep 305. It was awesome to hear Alex Simmons' questions and reactions to the game. You'll hear us talk about how I found the story behind the game.

So why did I choose to keep mostly quiet for so long?

The short answer is my 2.5 year timeline of keeping quiet began after my partner got her cancer-free diagnosis and asked me to make something I believe in.

2.5 years is a long time to be quiet about a project, especially one that I am directing. Nobody asked me to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Indie game developers very commonly post all the time as soon as they have a concept. Daily posts. Screenshot Saturday posts. Streaming. Developer journals. Release notes. For my needs, I chose to do none of that.

The choice to be mostly quiet came from me. In short I wanted to show up with something tangible, to be able to talk about it, invite folks like you to come play it and support continued development by purchasing a copy. Along with that I felt it was important to have a clear enough idea of what it was like to play, the story, why I made it and I wanted to have the place for folks to go in order to learn more and hopefully buy it.

Developing the game I was immersed in a process of discovery. Applied research and development figuring out the systems of the game. Learning Godot. Creating the story and art. Figuring out the game play feel, flows, modes. It started as an action typing game and evolved into more. Both an action game where you survive battles with creatures out to destroy the galaxy's best book sanctuary. And after battle you can tend bookshelves to heal and level up in a cozy experience.

As someone who likes to build fun things and solve interesting problems, I had tons of joyful work all around me.

A series of life events that led to starting that 2.5 years of focus on Word Turtle Island

Mixed with that I had also taken on the bulk of home and family logistics.

It started just before the pandemic when I experienced a layoff/team disbanding due to changes at my day job. My partner and I have always shared the work of managing our living space and needs. Two things led to me taking on more, first was my day job went away. That led to a whole series of chapters and changes figuring out what I'd like to do next.

Second was my partner had a couple of big health issues. The first was a heart issue and as soon as that was healed she got diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Both were during the Covid-19 pandemic. A big focus for me became managing meals, groceries, school transportation, all kinds of care for my partner and our kiddos.

Amazingly due to a great care team and good fortune, she got the cancer-free diagnosis after all the chemo and surgeries were done.

I'd been doing some UX teaching, some coaching, and looking into making a game in Godot. Sometimes looking at potential gigs and once in a while going through the interview gauntlet. Also it was early days developing the concept and prototyping the typing action of Word Turtle Island. Splitting my time in many directions.

Kate asked me what I really wanted to do. I said I wanted to focus my professional efforts toward making Word Turtle Island. She said go for it.

Making room for deep focus

And that's when my deep focus kicked in. I stopped posting, podcasting, coaching. With developing the whole product of Word Turtle Island and being primary caregiver I didn't feel I had the capacity to also post frequently. For all kinds of reasons.

So I focused. Kept at the discovery. Managed the project to make the game. Prototyped and evolved and refined.

My goal was to get it ready for early access, then start making noise. Being ready for early access meant to me the game has to be ready enough so it communicates on its own and is rewarding to play.

Early access and coming out of deep focus

I reached that threshold in late June 2024. Early access, finally! Next I was figuring out how to get the word out effectively after having been so quiet for so long. Starting to make noise about the game made sense. How much noise makes sense to make? When is it practical for me and my audience to make noise about it?

Once I felt ready enough to start making noise about it, here comes more questions. How well is it said? How easy is it to dig further for those curious? How can people act on wanting to support this effort, purchase a copy, or hold onto something that keeps them exploring even further?

Here's what I landed on. Each of these things needs to be ready-enough, then it will be time to make lots of noise about the game: the product, message, landing, and a way to support holding on.

• Ready-enough product
  • Through private testing with friends and family, public testing at a few events where dozens perhaps hundreds of people have played it. I knew for certain in May 2024 that it would be time to publish very soon.
• Ready-enough message to describe why this game matters
  • Through presenting the game, talking about it, I knew I'd found a good enough message to start. Then through continuing to post and improve I knew that my ready enough message would only get better each time I worked on it.
• Ready-enough landing/product pages
  • This one I'm keeping an eye on. Hopefully I'm at a strong version that helps people get more curious and confident about getting the game.
• And ready to offer a way to hold on a bit longer
  • Bookmarks and wish listing are helpful features. But are they enough for my audience? I wasn't sure I wanted to offer a free demo until after I published to early access. Would it be worth the effort? Then I learned about Steam's Next Fest and how they require a demo. Seems like a good chance to learn if a demo will help me reach more curious folks.
  • Now with my latest update I've also created two demo versions of Word Turtle Island. A downloadable demo for Windows and a playable demo that works in your web browser.

I'd love it if you bought Word Turtle Island and/or played the free demo.

I hope to re-ignite my habit of writing and posting more frequently. One of the ways I feel resourced to do so is when folks like you are buying the game. Play the demo. Talk about it with your friends. I'm not planning on taking on investors as I'd rather focus on connecting with you by making something joyfully worth your time. Get it on Steam | Get it on Google Play | Get it on Itch which also has the web browser playable demo

Another way to keep me talking by posting is to ask me questions. You can reply to my newsletter or post one via my Ask Me Anything page.

You've read all this? Then I'll close this update with my thanks. Thank you for being curious about me and my work.