The Break: Future plans, breaking the Jam's loop

It's done!

The GMTK Jam 2025 is over and the scores for The Break are in.  I made it to the top 1,000 for enjoyment, which is the best result I could ever hope for! So... what does this mean for the future of this silly little game?

I have many more small game ideas I want to make, but I can't stand The Break staying unfinished. Which means this is me officially saying that I'm going to keep working on it to make it a polished, complete release as much as I possibly can!

As a first step, I'm going to focus on fixing the coworkers' navigation system so they don't get stuck following you anymore. I will also tweak the collision of the running pawns and give them a clearer purpose in the game. And then... the sky is the limit!

Except it isn't, because I have a pretty clear list of the things I want to implement! Here are some of them in order of priority:

• Implement an animation system (player, coworkers, guards, possibly more)
• Add a working pause menu
• Add an optional WASD control scheme as it was requested!
• Create some environmental props to add level variety (plants, printers, etc.)
• Add an actual story: my little sister had some great ideas on the story of this game and I want to see them realised, either through lore items or environmental narrative!
• Add a textbox to display in-game story and lore items
  
• Add coworker classes for more complex puzzles: hackers to hack doors, salespeople to distract guards, etc.
• Maybe experiment with a timer and a leaderboard based on coworkers saved + time to complete

I have some more ideas, like expanding the game with more levels and adding my own music, but I feel like these are small-enough changes to give me a general, manageable direction and have a game I'll be proud of at the end.  Many of these mechanics should be easy to tweak and implement, and my plan is to manage scope creep so I can move on to the next project more quickly – hopefully before the end of the year.

Joining the GMTK Jam was doubtless one of my best experiences as a game dev. It was also the first jam I joined completely solo, because Broken Dawn and Nightmare Artifacts (my previous two games as a game designer) were developed with a lovely jam team. Now, this game has received some of the most beautiful, thoughtful, genuine comments in my entire creative career so far, and you guys gave me so many ideas on where I can take this moving forward – and much of the list above is due to your precious feedback.

Thank you to everyone who played my silly little game. I hope you'll stick around for the rest of the ride and you'll see what will become of The Break very soon!