Summing Up 2023

With 2023 coming to a close in a few days, I would like to look back at how I think this year was at least a good one as an upstart game developer, still with a lot to learn along the way, through these ups and downs.

I began full-on development on Strip Junken last April, several months since the project started in late 2022. Throughout those five months of development, I've had lots of fun working on the game, despite its simplicity in gameplay, aesthetics, and UI/UX, as well as the sacrifices made to get it finished, at least at a certain level. I also made sure that the demos were working normally by constantly making change after change until they were good enough to work, at least with all the essential bits in them. By the time of release, I'd managed to sell a few copies of the game, specifically Nightingale Academy, in the first month, which is at least better than having to sell nothing.

While I take a break from game development, I took the time in doing other things, at the same time think of what games to release soon. One of my projects was a Rubik's Clocks remake under the name Magic Clocks, which I had developed for some time. Another one was the proposed Strip Hi-Lo game, a 'direct' sequel to Strip Junken, with a totally different game mechanic where the player guesses the second number, whether it is higher or lower than the first number. Strip Hi-Lo also includes 12 new girls to play with.

Coming up with the girls alone was a bit tough, although some of them I recycled from the original Strip Junken project, added some new ones, and ultimately went the dual-title route like Pokémon and Medarot, but this time, the two Strip Hi-Lo games are named after two different residential locales instead of schools in Junken. As of now, I'm finishing up the dialogues, despite how cheesy they were in some way. Once I'm done with that part, I might begin working on the Kisekae models until I have all the images I need for the game. As for the UI stuff, I've already done some, and most of them will just reuse the same UI as SJK.

And with 2024 on the horizon, I'm looking forward to working harder on Strip Hi-Lo as well as many more projects I have in mind, although I've got other things in mind besides making games at this point. As always, I would like to thank everyone for reading this blog post and all the support you gave me for the past year, and I hope my games get more exposure in '24, no matter how simple they are.

Thanks again, and I'll be seeing you in 2024 with Strip Hi-Lo and a few more games coming very soon.