Happy new year, peeps! Hope you all had an incredible holiday season full of feasting, antics with loved ones, and relaxation.
Now that we're wading deeper into 2024, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past year. 2023 was a big one, both for me personally and for Almanak Games!
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
#1. Almanak Games got its branding!
#2. Created Fablefly Music!
#3. Two game jams completed!
#4. Made our longest game yet!
#5. Got featured in Indiepocalypse!
#6. Started earning money from game dev!
#1. Almanak Games got its branding!
This year, we got our name and logo!
We took the word “almanac” (because it sounded cool), but tweaked it so that it included the letters of each of our studio members’ initials:
Thus, “Almanak Games” was born!
Our logo is based on the astronomy aspect of the word “almanac”, with the playful icon of a rocket as if to say, “We're shooting for the stars!”
#2. Created Fablefly Music!
Video game music is a magical thing, so I conjured up Almanak Games’ sister studio: a music assets page with loopable tracks that anyone can use in their games.
Check out Fablefly Music's page here.
You can read the 2023 Reflections for Fablefly Music here.
#3. Two game jams completed!
“LOVE BLOOMS: Speed Dating with Persephone” was the first game I made completely solo! It was submitted to Narrative Driven Jam #12, ranking 4th Overall, 1st in Theme, and 2nd in Enjoyment.
Also for the first time, I did a game jam with a team I hadn't worked with before! We were matched up through the Game Dev Field Guide podcast community, a dedicated and supportive community of game developers. (Come join the Discord here and listen to the podcast here!)
The fruit of our team efforts, “The Glassassin: A Broken Tale”, was submitted to GDFG TEAM JAM #3, hosted by Game Dev Field Guide’s Zackavelli. It was an excellent learning experience, and I got to meet some very talented people!
#4. Made our longest game yet!
"Bucket List of a Ghost" was one of our proudest achievements: a heartwarming RPG about a friend who returns as a surprisingly optimistic ghost, and needs your help completing his bucket list.
Tallying up to 2 - 4 hours of play time, this was our most ambitious project to date. It’s also our only game so far that has combat!
#5. Got featured in Indiepocalypse!
“Bucket List of a Ghost” and our very first game, “Witch Tea?” (the game that started it all!), were chosen for Issue #43 of the innovative game zine, Indiepocalypse. Absolutely bonkers! We were very excited, to say the least - thank you to PIZZAPRANKS for supporting and boosting the indie game scene!
#6. Started earning money from game dev!
Money? From making games?? We’re living the dream, folks!
Of course, our earnings were nothing to write home about … but nonetheless way more than we expected from making FREE games. A large part of it was thanks - again - to Indiepocalypse, for being a paying zine. A rare and valuable opportunity indeed!
And a MASSIVE shoutout to those of you who made a donation when downloading our games! It means so much to us. :') But even the simple fact that you guys are PLAYING our games (and hopefully enjoying them) gives us more joy than you can imagine!!
THE STATS
Totals by the end of 2023:
Views: 2,287
Downloads: 360
Followers: 37
Views | Downloads | |
913 | 174 | |
637 | 111 | |
415 | 40 | |
243 | 38 | |
106 | N/A |
“Witch Tea?” is still our most popular game, but "LOVE BLOOMS" is quickly catching up, despite being much newer. I guess Dating Sim x Greek Mythology is an intriguing combo for people!
“Bucket List of a Ghost” has the most content out of all our games, yet it hasn't drawn nearly as much attention. This, I suspect, may be because of its more generic “RPG Maker” look. Going forward, I'll return to the “sketch-like” style of character art in our other games, but will continue to refine it and experiment as I go - which will be easier now that I have Procreate!
These may be rookie numbers, but we appreciate each and every time any of you interacts with our creations!
I also wanted to keep a record of stats to compare at the end of 2024 … will we grow, I wonder?
2024 GOALS
The year ahead is already shaping up to be a busy one, so we're keeping our new year's resolutions small and manageable. (Avoiding scope creep even here!)
Thank you guys for your support, and feel free to share your own game dev goals and aspirations for the year - let's cheer each other on!
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