What’s Next for Maui Game Studio in 2023
It’s the end of 2022. These last few years have been quite the journey. I started game dev in 2019. I’m writing this post because I’m taking a bit of a pivot in 2023. In summary, this coming year will be characterized by four things: personal development, Less RPG Maker development, more Godot development, and increased Youtube content.
Personal Development
When I first moved to Hawaii four years ago. I came from a high-paying position as a Digital Manager at a major San Diego marketing agency. The money was the best I’ve made in my lifetime. Since moving back to Hawaii, my livelihood has come from building websites and small applications.
I don’t have a full-time gig. I market for my own business. I enjoy being a one-man show, but as time passes, I want to be in ‘the code’ more. I will always have a side hustle with the potential to become a full-time hustle. However, for the time being, I would be okay with something a bit more stable. Thus, I’m going to try and find a regular development job. If you have any leads, be sure to let me know.
Furthermore, I want to improve my programming skills while getting my career in order. I have spent plenty of time this last year improving my JavaScript skills. in 2023, I am going to learn python. I plan on taking on a position as a robotics coach for middle school students. This will force me to learn python, as it’s the primary interface method with the student robots. I also want to master JavaScript further and become familiar with more libraries like Node.js.
Less RPG Maker
I still love RPG Maker and will continue to make RPG Maker content. The unfortunate reality is that RPG Maker content is getting fewer and fewer views as time goes on. This is not only the case with my content but also with other popular RPG Maker content creators. If one were to check Google’s interest in the topic, it would be at an all-time low. At this time of writing this, my last 5 RPG Maker videos received less than 500 views, which is the lowest I’ve seen since starting my Youtube channel.
It’s also worth stating that my first game, Familia, is an RPG Maker. In Familia’s development, I logged roughly 8.5k hours into RPG Maker MV and RPG Maker MZ on my Steam account. This doesn’t include all of the time I used RPG Maker because I sometimes would use the engine offline. It also doesn’t consider other aspects of the game, like art, marketing, or anything else that doesn’t require me to use the engine. I have poured a significant portion of my life into this game, so Maybe it’s time to take a break and do something else. I will fix any bugs submitted on my discord or the message boards, but I am not planning on adding an extensive amount of Familia content during 2023.
More Godot Development
I’ve jumped into Unity and RPG Maker pretty heavily in the past. I am increasingly attracted to Godot as a game dev platform (and maybe a general software dev platform). This year will be the year I finally made something with Godot. Using Godot, I will participate in Ludum Dare and maybe the Global Game Jam in 2023. I’m increasingly attracted to Godot because of the open-source model of the platform.
Why not Unity?
- I wouldn’t say I like Unity’s need for frequent updates. For my RPG Maker project, I can pick it back up years from now with little issue. I also take issues with Unity as a company as well. Again, I also enjoy and support the open-source model. I wouldn’t say I like platforms that charge game dev studios based on the amount of revenue they produce.
I aim to publish a few small projects with Godot over the next year, most likely on mobile platforms. I also want to create YouTube content relating to Godot. I believe that Godot is the up-and-coming game engine and that creating content for this platform will pay dividends. Speaking of Youtube, I also have a bit of a change in the content I want to create this year.
Content Marketing for 2023
Twitch
I will still stream regularly. Most of my streams will be pretty chill. People hang out and work on their projects while I work on my project.
Blog Content
I’ll continue to post blog content here. Sign up for my newsletter if you want to be notified when new posts come out. My blog content works as a precursor to my Youtube content. Generally, I will write a blog, and if I feel the content works as a video, I will produce a video later. Occasionally, I will produce a video first, but that is rare.
YouTube
As stated, my RPG Maker content is not producing many views. While I will continue to create content for RPG Maker, I also want to discuss more general topics beyond RPG Maker. I want my Youtube content to show more of the stories and the drama of my game developer journey. I am a bit burnt out on writing technical tutorial videos.
I have pretty much abandoned Instagram. I will use Instagram to repost my TikTok, but I have not been able to gain followers on Instagram for several years, so I am generally abandoning the platform.
Tiktok
Most of my Tiktok content will be one of two types of content. (1) I’ll repost clips for my streams or (2) the clips from other people’s streams who are playing a game I made. Of course, I will have to add AI voices to everything.
Twitter has been a bit of a wildcard since the Elon Musk acquisition. I am unsure what the future is for this platform. I don’t want to commit verbally to this platform, but I will most likely continue to post content on Twitter.
Conventions
I’ll be doing a few conventions this coming year. Notably, I’ll start with Kawaii Kon in early 2023.
Wrapping Up
I wasn’t sure if a post would resonate with you. If you enjoyed it, let me know on Discord or email me at mauigamestudio@gmail.com. I want to do more content like this, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Until next time! 😀
