2023 Recap, 2024 Preview
Hey folks, how's going?
I suppose it's time for a **2023 recap** and a **2024 preview**! Prepare yourself, it will be a long read.
Just like your beloved Restorer, I spent most of 2023 moving to a new home and getting used to a new life. I spent months in fear of contracts, bills, money and all that kind of stuff!
But let's not talk about my life, let's talk about games...
Thanks to DragoniteSpam tutorials, I started 2023 studying 3D in GameMaker from scratch, in order to make a better framework for future 3D projects. That's how 2023's first project Lala is Bound was born!
Made for the annual GameMakerItalia contest, this small prototype (which you can play here) took the first place and was well received in spite of its prototypal nature. I was fun implementing TheSnidr's 3d animation framework.
A toy from Lala is Bound.
Peeper...
Lala was then used to push the very next phase of 2023, which was the Patreon page!
People that wants to give me that extra kick can now do it with a subscription that gives them access to canned projects and early builds of upcoming games, both free and paid ones. My very last fatigue was uploaded on Patreon just some days ago, so feel free to check it out (I'll talk about that game later).
I wanted to see how Lala would perform on Patreon, I needed to know if it was a good idea to keep working on it... Some of you liked the game, but I don't think anyone got that invested in it. There's no plan to work more on it right now, but I'm really fond of this project. Only time will tell!
I then spent something like a month or two working with a great artist on a commissioned project, something I haven't ever talked about 'cause it's available in italian only.
It's a game tied to a short movie, a cautionary tale which talks about online grooming. This "Apocalypse Panda" game took its time to be made, especially because it was my first time working on a commission. Not my cup of tea, still it was fun working with my artist friend Willshir3!
Will's art in all its awesomeness
Are you still with me? Neat!
Let's keep going!
Straight out of Pokémon blue, ain't it?
Me and Tiz (Revolab programmer) planned to rehash an old idea of mine, the nefarious "Gameboy Project". It's a horror rpg game inspired by old Pokémon games and will totally see the light of the day sooner or later.
I really liked how this idea was shaping out, can't wait to get back on it!
Meanwhile, IMSCARED got published on GOG. Don't have much to say about this one, it was another thing that took some time out of the year. Being a solodev makes all this things incredible time wasters, but hey it is what it is!
Had fun making that new small trailer!
I kept walking the "make a new cool 3D framework" road; I wanted for the framework to handle .obj files, a real lighting system and the possibility of vertical movement a thing without losing my mind in the process (yes house stairs, I'm talking about you).
It took a lot of time, but I think I'm almost done with it. Also, would you look at that cursed pic? :eyes:
Oh well
Then October came, a small IMSCARED update with it: A lot of time was spent on making new IMSCARED localizations with the help of great people.
Bash them in glory, please, it's well deserved! (SEOKU prepared something like 7 different localizations for my games, both mods and official... Such a madlad)
The update also hid some new content. Nothing special, but it's necessary to keep going where I want you all to go. It's still a long road, but I think it will be fun.
I also made a new short game called Fortress for one of GameMakerItalia's jams. I really wanted to make a 2d game and I had a lot of fun crunching to make this one in time for the event.
I'm thinking about putting it in the Main page. Meanwhile, you can play it in any browser (or go download it I don't know pick your poison)!
Patreon people got to play this one a little earlier, so thanks a lot to them for the feedback!
Uh oh, the painting's not there
Such a shame tho, this thing was gorgeous
Then I started working on a 2d sidescroller with Jak and fran43 (you might remember the last one for Keychain and A DAY).
The project was soon canned in favor of something I'll talk about in the 2024 section of this thing...
One last break to flex the only time in which someone preferred one of my other works over IMSCARED
Lo', good old Discomfort was featured on "From Ants to Zombies"! This was a very pleasant surprise, it was a crazy sensation seeing one of my small games inside a book!
Okay okay, let's end this recap.
2023's last project was my first attempt at a Card game! Millmess (now available on Patreon exclusively) is a solitaire game made for GMI's Secret Santa Jam.
I think it turned out to be fun! A prototype that can go a long way.
Also, some of the cards in this were made by Patreon members and this marked the first time I got to interact with them in a more playful way (some of them were also made by my beloved Leira, which also payed homage to MegaMan in my place).
When time will come, would you like to make some cards for this game?
Aaaand I think that's all for 2023!
Now let's talk (briefly, I swear) about what the future holds...
Let's talk 2024.
Do you remember KEYCHAIN? Do you like it?
Well, this is not KEYCHAIN... But it does remind of it, right?
As I've said earlier, me Jak and Fran scrapped the 2d sidescroller we were working on in favor of something more... Keychainish.
Please say Hi to Millennium.
Hope you've read all of this with a mysterious voice, more info on this project next month
Do you remember MILLMESS? Do you like it?
Well, this is silly since I'm awful at making gags but yeah this is the section in which I let you know that sooner or later this year I'm going to release the silly game that is Millmess! I think.
And of course, let's talk business.
Second half of this year. Gotta wait a bit more.
Bye everyone, thanks for staying up to this point!