Developer Commentary 2

Machine transcription; unreviewed and may contain errors.

Developer Commentary 2
Source: collected/031-developer-commentary-2.mp3
SHA-256: 21b9fe28d5e50af429d8949a29218d56c85f1846f863c238702f239d47cb3c4d
Model: scribe_v2 | Transcribed: 2026-10-10T18:15:19.150641+00:00
Machine transcript — uncorrected. Speaker labels are local to this recording and do not identify people.

[00:00:01.600] Speaker 1: Hello. So I wanted to release a quick, um, developer commentary, uh, just to talk about what I'm up to and what's coming up next. Uh, you may have noticed that there was no episode released, uh, last week. Uh, that's 'cause there's some, there's some real crap going on in life right now. [laughs] You know, it's fairly painful and depressing, but, you know, that's part of life. Uh, but rest assured, it is coming. Uh, working on it now. So I expect that this week's episode will be done, you know, probably released by Friday, maybe midday Friday. That's the current plan anyway. So that

[00:00:36.540] Speaker 1: story is called Everhouse. Um, I'm not gonna go into any more detail. You'll just have to listen to it. Um, so yeah, I wanna take this time to talk about, a little bit about what's coming up next. So we have four more stories in this short story format before we move on to a longer format where I take one story and play it out all the way to the end. So roughly novella length, uh, for the stories. So these stories will almost certainly be two from the 12 that you will have heard. So by April, by the end of

[00:01:11.240] Speaker 1: April, roughly the 28th is what I'm targeting, we will have all 12 stories done, uh, and then I'll move on to picking one of them to sort of flesh out and really polish. So yeah, that's what's coming up. So we've got four more stories after this week's story. So those stories are Valaxis, Soulbinder, Mortal Steel, and Imagiserum. Uh, so they're all pretty cool. Uh, I wouldn't work on it unless I thought it was cool. Valaxis is a... So that'll be next week's story.

[00:01:46.680] Speaker 1: That is based on another idea I've had for a very long time. This is a more traditional fantasy world. It's one of the more complex magic systems I have. Um, it's pretty cool. Uh, we'll see where that goes. So that'll be fun. Uh, and then Soulbinder is after Valaxis. It's got a very cool magic system as well. Uh, again, all of this is pretty high magic, usually pretty hard magic systems, meaning that the magic rules make sense. It's not just wave your hand and something happens. So Soulbinder is after Valaxis. Uh, that'll be,

[00:02:23.200] Speaker 1: uh, a little more of a serious story. Again, it'll be a fantasy world. Um, again, kinda targeting a sort of steampunk era world, right? Sort of early industrial revolution, maybe slightly earlier than that in terms of time period. So that'll be a, hopefully a touching story. That's the goal for that one. We'll see. And then to do a complete 180, after Soulbinder, this'll be probably coming out, uh, April 22nd. Uh, so Soulbinder will be coming out halfway through April. Mortal Steel should be coming

[00:02:58.280] Speaker 1: out the week after, uh, roughly April 22nd. Mortal Steel is the complete opposite. [laughs] It is a dumb, fun story. Again, this is one I thought of a long time ago. Uh, to give a teaser for this one, it's robots versus demons, and that's literally the notes that inspired this story that I wrote in a notebook a long time ago. It's hard to get cooler than that. [laughs] So that'll be dumb fun, uh, and I'm gonna enjoy that. It'll be a nice change of pace. And then wrapping up our

[00:03:33.160] Speaker 1: 12-story session on April 28th is Imagiserum. Uh, this is one of... I intended to do this, do this one pretty early on, but I kinda got stuck, uh, where I wanted to go with the story, so I'll have to figure it out by then. Uh, but Imagiserum is one of the more surreal worlds. Um, uh, I have to find a way to make it make sense [laughs] but still be fun and exciting. Uh, so I'm sure I'll be able to capture that or at least get close. So Imagiserum, uh, will be a little tricky.

[00:04:06.760] Speaker 1: [laughs] So that'll round out our 12 stories. Uh, and yeah, we'll move on to a longer format. I might take a quick break, um, maybe a week or two, releasing just a few developer commentaries about what I think makes a good story, what I've learned about sound design, what makes for a good audio story, that sort of stuff, uh, just to give me some time to, uh, you know, write ahead and plan what I'm doing. [cat meows] Yes, I know, kitty. Okay. So that's what's coming up. Uh, a little bit more in this developer commentary, and then we'll wrap it up. So those are the episodes

[00:04:41.740] Speaker 1: that are coming up. Uh, the release schedule will be a little messy. Uh, I have another trip coming up soon, uh, so I'll keep you posted, but that's fine. It'll all be done. Uh, some of the things I'm struggling with right now is, uh, finding voice actors. As you've noticed, every story is really just me. Uh, and while I, I do intend to keep doing the narration for the foreseeable future, I really want voice actors for the actual characters for a number of reasons. I think it's going to help the clarity. Uh, right now, because it's just me talking, it's

[00:05:16.500] Speaker 1: difficult to tell when a character's voice begins in dialogue and where the narrator's voice ends. So I would love that distinction [laughs] with some, you know, some real actors. Um, so I'm trying to find people. If I can, I'll start doing voice actors before the end of the 12 short stories. Uh, if I can't, it will absolutely start, uh, when I do the long format stories. So we'll see if I can fit that in. If anybody knows any voice actors or is anyone who's interested in volunteering, if you have a decent mic setup, uh, please reach out to me. [laughs] Um, my

[00:05:51.460] Speaker 1: email is stephen.schrimbeck@protonmail.com. It should be in the show notes or the About section of this podcast. The email's in there too. So yeah, I'd love some help. Uh, yeah, the other thing I'm struggling with is, you know, just remaining consistent with creation while life sort of derails around you. Fortunately, the creation of art is really therapeutic. Just entering a flow state, chilling out, making something creative really does feel good, uh, really no matter where you are in life. So fortunately, this is a bit of an escape for me. Uh, so

[00:06:26.440] Speaker 1: yeah, that's the other thing I'm struggling with, uh, but we'll get there, uh, one step at a time. So Everhouse, again, will be out later this week. Uh, there's feedback forms in every single episode show notes. If you just click a link, it's only three questions. I would love your feedback. Even if your feedback is only to say, "This sucks, I hate it," that would be cool. I would love to get that feedback. Maybe, you know, a little more specific if at all possible, but hey, I'll take anything. So that's it. I'm not gonna draw it out any further. Um, there we go. And I'll probably release another developer commentary

[00:07:01.340] Speaker 1: somewhere between, uh, maybe early April. Yeah. That's it. Peace out.