The past and future of Cube Universe

What happened in the past two years?

The past two years have been rough for me and I just could not find time or motivation to work on Cube Universe. My father died of cancer in September 2024, which made me rethink my life choices. I had worked on the game full-time for 6 years after release without earning any significant money from it, but I did get money from my parents to survive and put a little bit of it into the game's development, mostly for art.

I needed a more predictable source of income, so I looked for freelance work - and after a few months of searching, I got my first big contract for a website. And then... the customer canceled the contract because he didn't need the website anymore after he asked me to delay the development multiple times, always for a month or so.

I wanted to use the money to grow my business and make more money until I had enough to live and fund the development of Cube Universe. Now, I do not know how to do that and the market has pretty much vanished in the meantime anyway.

The alternative of finding a job as a software developer does not look very promising right now thanks to AI and the state of the economy. That was always my plan B, so I might have a problem...

What does this mean for Cube Universe?

I do not know. I want to finish it eventually but the reality is that I just cannot do all the work alone and need artists to make the game look good. So I need to find a source of income, whatever it may be.

I'm also not sure if the whole concept is working, quests in an infinitely large world will repeat, no matter how many I add, which might feel a little strange - especially when I re-use main or side characters for multiple quests.

Additionally, I am pretty frustrated because no matter what I do, the main character models for the 6 playable species just do not look as good as I would like and I cannot quite figure out why. Maybe I need simpler models with less joints?

Anyway, I am currently looking for a job and once I find one, I will probably continue working on Cube Universe. I did also inherit a house that is in desperate need of repair, so there is a lot to do for me and only limited time.

I might also develop another game, but I will not release it in Early Access anymore. It will either be finished or not get released at all. This could allow me to finish Cube Universe eventually.