The Contest is Over

It finally happened, the contest ended. The end result was very fair, I did not win nor was I expecting too. I had far to much on my plate with far too much to learn, and my community efforts were lax and ineffective. The winner did a great job during the contest and ran his project very professionally. You can go check out the winning entry and congratulate him here.  

I was holding off on doing a lot of things until the contest ended, but wound up doing most of it anyway because it was taking so long and I was loosing months worth of work. I seriously needed a name change to separate the project as it is from the project as it was during beta. Beta was rushed due to the contest schedule, and it was terrible. It had a few redeemable features and was based on a good idea, but the implementation was simply terrible. Quite frankly, I am glad I did a terrible release because I have learned a lot about game development through it, and through a lot of trial and error I have found things that work and don't work.

Now that I have messed up royally, I have been laboring many hours to bring those few redeeming elements into a new system with a much improved gameplay. By the first of next year I hope to be releasing an alpha ready for testing. Artwork is still suffering a bit right now, but I have taken many steps including buying new software and going through art lessons. I can already tell a difference and things are steadily improving. 

Finally, Aeges Road is now code named the Aeges Road Project, and will be formerly named when the beta comes out. I like the new name much better and the storyline has lost those convenient little unknowns that leave far too much unanswered. 

PS. Anyone got any ideas on community building? This is my weakest point in the process, and ideas would be greatly appreciated. (I am technically an internet hermit :)