Like last year, instead of talking about progress on development, I want to take this as an opportunity to look back on the year and celebrate the good that came. Like any year, there's plenty of bad, and plenty of things that could've gone better, but I think it's way more fun to look back at the good and forget about the bad (at least for a little while). I also like to do this without doing any more editing beyond checking for spelling mistakes. I've spent a lot of time on the internet, and a lot of my working life in customer service, so I'm all too familiar with how easy it is to forget that there's a person behind these words - both for me, and for you.
On that note, I'd like to start there. The people. You. 2022 brought lots of new people into my life, even if they are on the other side of whatever connection we have through work, and the vast majority of you have been very welcome additions. I still can't quite get over that double digit mark for Patrons and stay there, but my Patreon has continued to grow, and I'm exceedingly grateful for that. The same goes for those of you who support me through itch.io - it's not a lot of money, but it means the world to me that you want me to succeed enough to send that support my way.
Aside from the people who support me financially, there are still a lot of you that I'm glad to have met, even though it's only through the internet. The community of developers I'm not a part of have been constantly helpful, the people commenting on my game(s) either asking for help or reporting bugs, the people following me on Twitter, and an extra shout out to my first volunteer playtester who has been nothing short of absolutely phenomenal - thank you for being here.
Moving on to my outside projects... While The Rising Son has still seen very little progress, it has still seen some progress. If all goes well, something might actually release in 2023. I've also taken a role in two other teams, which has allowed me to bring in some actual income and ensure my bills are paid. Working the equivalent of four jobs is exhausting, to put it lightly, but having even a small amount of financial freedom again feels amazing. If I can continue to grow both my projects and the other projects I've joined, I should actually be able to reach this dream I have of doing game development as a full time job indefinitely, which makes me happy beyond words.
For my personal projects - Maids & Masters has finally reached the conclusion of Act 1. There's still so, so much work to be done to get the game done, but now that I have all of this experience under my belt, that seems less like this impossible daunting mountain of a task and more like an achievable goal. It won't be long now before I start reaching out to various communities for some in-depth feedback so I can remaster the existing game in RPG Maker MZ and eventually move into development on Act 2, following turning Arrival into a proper prequel rather than a janky tech demo.
And in addition to Maids & Masters, I've finished not one, but two new demos for potential future projects: Love/Loss and Redemption Harem. Following a vote from the beautiful, generous people that are my Patrons, Love/Loss's demo recently released to the public to (admittedly a small amount of) some very positive feedback. While the demo for Redemption Harem is a lot rougher around the edges, I'm excited to see what people will think of that when it goes out this weekend.
Taking one last look at the past - specifically, last year's Year In Review post - I think I mostly got where I wanted to be, even if the road was a little rocky. I didn't end up joining the team I had talked about initially, but I am working with them now, and like I said above, that financial freedom feels amazing. The stress that comes with doing this as a job has finally started to catch up with me, but it's still true that I love what I do, and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. I'm still working the occasional 60 hour week, but I've also started taking steps to take better care of myself instead. All in all, the me from last year is overjoyed that present me is writing another Year In Review post instead of admitting defeat and looking for a regular 9-5 to crawl back to.
Looking into the future, specifically as it pertains to REM Cycle and Maids & Masters Act 2, I admit I'm a little nervous. REM Cycle really needs a dedicated artist to work the way I want it to work, which I can't currently afford to hire. I'm doing my best to at least get the general idea across, and I'm happy with what I've got so far, but despite being much more mechanically simple than Redemption Harem, it's taking a lot longer to develop because I need to figure out how to create all of these custom assets and work on them until I'm happy with them. MnM Act 2 I also want to be a little less linear than Act 1, and I'm still not quite sure how to reconcile giving those options to the player in the midst of active development. That said, the only way to do it is to do it, so I'll be jumping in and charging forward regardless. It's not like I've never made a mistake before, right? If I do it wrong, I can always go back and fix it. That's the beauty of feedback.
For the rest of what the future might bring, I hope I see the same kind of growth and success in 2023 that 2022 brought. Growing a business is definitely not the easiest thing in the world to do, but I'm making progress, and that's all I ever asked for. I get to keep doing this for at least a little longer, and with a little luck, I'll be reading this post in a year (hello 2024 me!) and quietly smiling to myself as I marvel at how far I've managed to come from that first decision to re-download that old copy of VX Ace, just like I'm doing now. And I hope I've managed to share at least a little bit of that happiness with you, dear reader. I wouldn't be here without you.
Happy New Year from The Mithril Hourglass.
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