Hello all :)
I've covered some of the story behind the game and its conception in-game, so I'll try not to be too repetitive.
Well, several months ago I was toying with the idea of creating a High-Low Cards variant, on the Web (exactly how, why & when it happened is another story) - as frankly I simply couldn't find one that was free or good or - most importantly - one that's FUN!
However, I've had absolutely zero experience with web coding and more than 20 years have passed since I've dabbled a little bit in C++ lol, and so I was very apprehensive about trying to create & maintain such a project. I've been also living on Disability for several years, with some cognitive-related issues as well and so a part of me really wanted to see if my brain is still capable of grasping such concepts, if I could wrap my mind around seemingly very basic algorithms & structures - and if so, how slower will I be now? Will I even be able to? and to what degree? at what pace? will it even matter? And is this just going to be a constant, frustrating struggle to come to terms with yet another thing I can't do.. - or will I end up loving every minute and prove to be more capable than I ever thought?? Maybe I'm too old for this, regardless?
All these and a hundred other similar thoughts went through my mind, but the urge was huge, I REALLY wanted to learn, to code, to start and finish something, to prove to myself that I still can, to style, to choose sounds, to think of ideas, rules, improvements etc, hell I even missed debugging..and generally I just wanted to see if I can handle this task, and how held back would I be.
I will of course skip some details, but suffice to say that I did start learning, trying, failing, succeeding, jumping with joy & pride at some newly implemented feature - and also, on many occasions, feeling so frustrated that I wanted to strangle the computer with my bare hands.
When all is said and done though, a game WAS born. And over the coming weeks & months it would be improved on, enhanced upon, polished, revamped, change and constantly grow, with the result exceeding my wildest expectations, and the journey giving me so, SO much along the way.
Now, I know I have no means of 'publishing' the game, or getting the word out, nor was that ever the intent.. However I would take it as an enormous compliment should someone actually like or appreciate the game or effort (or be their reason what it may lol..) - that you would actually choose to express your support in this fashion is something I find remarkable and would be a dream come true..
(Funnily enough however, I only thought of trying this Coffee thingy, and even putting this whole text up, after a super-nice player who against all odds somehow stumbled upon my game, and wished/asked if there's some way to support me and the game..)
So, I'm kind of doing this with a conflicted heart lol, I hate asking people for money for a game that was never aimed for that or maybe even doesn't 'deserve' to see any.. But on the other hand I do want those rare nice souls out there that DO want to support me - to have that option available!
So, other than being incredibly flattered and touched, this is also for her (and because of her). Thank you sweetie :D
Anyhow, if you've made it this far then hats off lol, and thank you for taking the time to do so. May you enjoy SPHL half as much as I did creating it ! ;)