Man, what a year this has been - one of my most productive ever on NG! I think I've made good progress on coming out of my shell a bit more, and being more motivated to not let fear and insecurities hold me back from working on what I love like in the past. I've gotten better about balancing my time for NG with career goals and other interests, and I want to keep honing that. Before I do that, though, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of what I enjoyed working on this year! 

Moxy's Vertex

My Pixel Day entry was a fun exercise in working on surreal storytelling and drawing humanoid characters, something I hadn't done in some time. I struggled a lot in the past on the latter in particular, so it was satisfying to see that come out in a way I was happy with. 

Tidying Up

Definitely the highlight of the year! I worked with @Bleak-Creep , @GetterRocka , @Scarfygoose , and @Taxmann (@ChippyTheCat is leading level design on a new set of levels for an upcoming update and @Madfatter is making a few new tracks for that update too) on this puzzle game for the Flash Jam. It warmed my heart to see people enjoy it and relate to the characters so much, and plus, it was good practice for maintaining complex (for me!) code bases. We supported it with updates throughout the year, and we've got a few more updates in the works before calling it finished! 

Reggie's Seasons of Streams 

Absolutely the most unsure I've ever been over whether or not I could reach a jam's deadline before committing to a decision one way or the other - I was only sure I could make it by about 5 AM on the day of the Dress Up Jam's deadline. This was my first time in Godot and it was a great project to get started with; I fell in love with it, considering it felt to me like a much more natural "Post Flash" segue than Unity ever did. The final product had some design aspects I'd change in hindsight but I'm still pretty happy with how it came out! 

Grandma Got Hit and Run

I worked with @ArtCompany and @TeffyD on an entry for the Christmas Collab! This was another good experience where I got to work on backgrounds for animation and match another person's style, and it was a blast. 

Writing Jams

I've started writing more regularly again and got a few short stories out of it! These were Savoring the Ostrich Garnish, Habit Coral, and The Wood Pig's Fortune.

Looking Ahead 

I've got a handful of things planned; some being actual projects, some being general "soft goals". @UncleWeirdo has been plotting out design work on a game we'll be working on very casually, no deadline there. I'm also making plans for my Pixel Day '24 entry, a very small game for a Seattle punk band, and Flash Jam '24 plans; I haven't commited to anything there yet, but I'd like to do something small. Probably nowhere near the scale of Tidying Up! Speaking of Tidying Up, we've been working on the next big update, featuring a bunch of cool new tiles; no spoilers, but one of them makes so much sense for this game, I wish it was in since Day 1. 

This focus on smaller projects leads into a general "soft goal" of connecting more with the community this year, as well as returning to working on visual art more consistently. I want to make sure I'm giving myself space and time to focus more on all the cool stuff around NG. See you all next year!