Or, as I've recently learned to say it in Japanese... 明けましておめでとうございます!

So far so good, no nukes flying around haphazardly, bringing down the sky and all. Somehow, we all survived 2024 lolololol. And hey, watching the first sunrise of the new year's put some Motiva++ in my veins. Right to the meat of things, then - a lot of people have asked me why I wasn't too active on the internet in 2024, and now that I'm done with it, I can explain why.

31st December 2024 was the payment deadline for a bank loan I had taken out. Much of my online life, R&D, internet expeditions, game development and otherwise having fun doing stuff was heavily dialed back because I had to do freelance work and commissions on top of my real life job to earn every coin I could to make sure I could hit the deadline. I wasn't sure if I should mention this before since I wasn't sure if I could actually make it - but damn, I somehow pulled it off. Selecting a shorter deadline is a risky route to take, but it reduces interest payments, that's why I did it.

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, I HAVE DONE THIS ONLY ONCE BEFORE, WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.

The mortgage is next, but compared to the bank loan cutting so close, I can manage to pay this off WITHOUT compromising on what really matters.

But you know, it wasn't all bad/doom/gloom - despite the rush of work, I learned a lot of new things, new compression methods, new programming tricks, new drawing methods during that headlong rush to make the target goal. Now that I'm done, I'm going to use everything I've learned to make even better games and art moving forwards.

WE NEED TO GO WIDER.

I would also like to take this moment to thank the absolute kings over at the Newgrounds Reading Challenge for pushing me to read books that also served as a supplementary education for game development, business and doing things my own way. Of the books I read this year, these three books are my recommendation for anyone walking the path of game developer.

1. Game Design: What Makes a Development Team?
2. Game Developer’s Market Guide by Bob Bates and others
3. How to Start Your Business and Make it Work, DK Books (multiple authors and editors).

Making free games is fine too, but the reason why I added the business book is because it provides an excellent insight into how one should market and distribute the finished products. It's for this reason that I hope that the Newgrounds Reading Challenge continues on for many more years to come.

Also, guess what's 100% ruffle compatible?!?

One of the more complex games I made is now pretty much 100% forklif-UHHH I MEAN ruffle certified. It was a bit of work having to recode and redo some broken segments, but now everyone can enjoy this piece of newgrounds forum history as it was meant to be played.

Ya know, I should make more games like this. Might have to do some R&D on save files some more in a post-swf world...

Next up: Progress on the next sex kitten game! (the green lines indicate areas of the game coded to be playable thus far).

Once it reaches all-in, adding in game events will begin. As per my standard working procedure, the first event (game intro) is already done. The GUI system is also functional, with some snazzy new gameplay features that depend on real time! Things didn't go quite as planned last year, but with the bank job finally done, I'm confident that this game will be done just in time for the 21st anniversary of the Sex Kitten series!

I've got some other projects on the backburner for now, but for the time being, this is getting my full attention.

2025 brings financial freedom, but with it - new challenges and more stuff to do. And hey, it's never a boring ride. Yes, it started with a WTF and it might be tougher than 2024... but you know what I gotta say to that?

BRING IT ON!