TOMORROW FOREVER A.8: Hello, World Is Here!

TOMORROW FOREVER A.8: Hello, World is here!

This is the first publicly available version of TF, so give it a look! The biggest change is definitely the rebuilt hacking mechanics, but we've also got four new gadgets, five new enemies, and a whole ton of other improvements!

You can download the game for free right now at https://supreme-hubris.itch.io/tomorrow-forever Let me know what you think!

TOMORROW FOREVER has a few different kinds of missions now, so I made a little video explaining the challenges that each can bring!

Heres your reminder to use literally anything but chrome

I just got another version out to playtesters and I'm feeling good about the progress I'm making. Skyjackers a.2 has a bunch of new stuff and some necessary refinements as well. It's just been really encouraging to see things coming together.

We're a long way from any kind of finish line, but by the end of the year the last of the big questions should be answered, and it just becomes about cranking out the game itself.

What's the last question?

Should Skyjackers be a fully co-op/singleplayer game? Or should it be elevated to the absurd height of becoming a sandboxy MMO?

Both have their costs, and both have their great benefits. Amazingly, both seem entirely possible, which is a great testament to the state of available technology. It's just a matter of figuring out which is best.

Public Game Development is Hard, Public Political Storytelling is Harder

I’ve been silent here for a while, but I just wanted to say that I’m very much alive! I’ve been working out how I want to do the netcode and general multiplayer setup. Now that I’ve got that going, I’m getting back towards being more public in my progress.

As much as my instinct is to be totally open with my process, my process involves rapid iteration, which is to say throwing some cubes together and making them do a game mechanic in a sloppy way in order to see if it’s actually worth doing right. By working like this, I save a lot of time trying things, as I try to reject most of my own ideas and only keep that which really works well with the game as a whole. I’m happy with that process, but I feel like posting pictures of that both undersells the look of the game and overpromises the gameplay by showing lots of mechanics that wont ever be finished or published. It’s tricky that way.

Additionally, while the game isn’t propaganda by any means, there is a significant political dimension, and the politics at play are both very strange and very familiar. The game is set in the future of Earth, and while it does not directly represent the struggles of today, it does echo them. The ideologies at play are not those of today, they are the descendants of today’s ideologies, which means that if I portray them clumsily, they could very reasonably be read as caricatures of the beliefs of today. All this means that I’m hesitant to reveal them until I’ve had a chance to make sure that they won’t be reasonably misread. Some miscommunication is inevitable, and so is valid criticism of my own assumptions and understanding as a creator, I accept that. I just want to welcome people into the world when the time is right.

So I’m not going to get deep into the lore early on, but that’ll shift over time, and I am very excited to show more and more of what’s happening in this strange future.

If you're able to say without causing yourself problems, what's your game about? What's the pitch?

Hello! The basic idea is a sci-fi multiplayer heist, with an absolute pile of interesting abilities, and a focus on planning and improvisation over having big numbers. I’m focusing on building things to be as flexible, dynamic, and weird as possible, so players can bend the system to get interesting results.

Can’t disable an eye? Rewire it so it can’t lock the door!

Can’t avoid or destroy some turrets? Teleport between them and then back again to get them to shoot each other!

Can’t open a door? Activate the alarms, and skip past the defense drones as they pour through it!

Of course, very little of this is actually created so far, and nothing here should be read as a promise, but personally I’m feeling really good about things. I’m aiming to have a publicly playable version in a few months, and ideally I’ll keep developing and updating it for a couple of years.