So I’ve been working on Fist of the Forgotten for like 5 years, which is longer than initially expected, as is typically the case with game development. I thought I could knock this project out in 2 years, but here we are! While I still intend to finish this project, it always feels like it’s about 2 years away from being completed, ever since its inception. Even after 4-5 years of development, it still feels like it needs another 2 years to be completed. Things like building out content for levels and creating boss battle just take an obscene amount of time, especially solo.
On top of that, I feel like I haven’t been getting the wishlist numbers I feel are necessary in order to sell enough copies to cover the development costs. As such, I’ve decided to pivot my primary project to KOOK. I had been working on KOOK on the side a little bit here and there, and I feel like it has a lot more potential to be successful. Retro FPS games have been pretty popular lately, and given my history with modding and mapping for the Quake series, I know the target audience a lot better, and there’s a more concentrated audience for these types of games in general.
I actually cover my change in focus in my “The State of Things” video for April 2024 here:
Also, here's the follow up video talking about my income as an indie in 2022 vs 2023:
That said, I’m not abandoning Fist of the Forgotten. It has just switched to my side project instead of my primary focus. I’ve been doing “Fist of the Forgotten Fridays” on my Twitch stream to continue to progress on it, though its release will likely come after KOOK, and probably take much longer than 2 years. Apologies to the fans that really want to play the full game, but at the end of the day, I’ve gotta make money if I want to keep doing this indie thing, plus I think KOOK is going to be a lot of fun and hopefully generate more interest in Fist of the Forgotten as well!