Introduction

So here we are. The fifth official version of Mail Call, almost a year since the game began development. And it's taken a long time. 

By that, I'm referring to the five-month gap that took place between the Motion Update's release and the Spaw Update's release. A lot of people are probably wondering: Harold, how in the halibut has it taken you so long to get this tiny update out?

Well, strap yourselves in, folks. I've got quite a story to tell. And no worries, I'll talk about the next update afterward!

The Motion Update's Aftermath

It all began when 3.0 itself was released. I was thinking to myself how the game couldn't get any better. I was nearing the end of middle school and my friends were giving me incredible feedback whenever I showed off Mail Call to them. But something seemed off: Not everything was perfect with this update. Obviously, the game's pretty incomplete, but some of the quality of the Motion Update pestered me. 

So I began getting around to finishing up things that I hadn't before: animation and music overhauls from points I hadn't touched upon in 3.0. However, it suddenly hit me how much I wanted to add that I hadn't thought much of before!

And so I decided to take a break during the summer in order to plan the rest of the game's development and then finish 3.1 when I returned to school. But that decision was held back in favor of three unfortunate causes...

Cause #1: Planning Troubles

I set up a game design document which I would constantly update when working on versions 2.0 and 3.0. But there was a problem: I couldn't think about every future update as I was already working on updates that were important at that time. Because of this, I don't really have a solid plan for the game's completion at this point. It'll just come as it goes, I guess.

Cause #2: Novel

Mail Call isn't my only passion. I also really profess in writing and voice acting. Because of this, I was working on my first novel Dawn during the majority of my summer, and that took time away from the game. Either way, Dawn personally inflicted stress regarding the management of other passion projects, which leads me into...

Cause #3: Mental Health

The strongest case of them all. At the end of the day, Mail Call usually gives me anxiety and weariness. 3.1 was no exception to this motive. I felt that I was exerting myself to add more than I should've to this update. Remember, this was supposed to be a minor update, but it's shown as a major update. That was the reason I stopped working on Baldi's Basics mods in order to worry about the thing I stressed about more. Over the summer, I found myself under enough pressure in my personal life where I wanted to cancel Mail Call and focus on getting my crap together instead. However, I ended up pressing on to where I am currently.

Well, that's about it for the hiatus explanation. Game design is not easy, especially considering how much I had to practice in order to get this update figured out. The dark lighting in certain levels was a huge process to program, so I'm thankful for the DnD feature in GameMaker for saving my breath!

What Now?

3.1 is the second to last update released for the 2021 run of Mail Call. I hope to get one more final update out before the end of the year. I don't want to give too much away, but basically, it'll give Buzzer a chance to shine. He'll have his own world and the ability to play as any character on any level is planned to be implemented as well!

That's it for now. Thanks for reading this update as well for your understanding during this long hiatus. Hopefully, the next update releases smoother than before!