Happy New Year 2026!
January 01, 2026 at 11:51 AM
It's time for a new year! Yippee.
2025 was a fine year, but I didn't get nearly enough done. But some cool stuff did happen, most notably, the release of Three Wishes! I've watched so many streams of vTubers playing the game, like legit probably close to 25+. As of now, it was 64 total reviews, 100% of them positive, and around 950 sales! That makes me very happy. Friends have even listed the game on their top-10 games of the year lists. Hearing Polly give Three Wishes the #4 spot on her list was insane to me and it kinda made me realize that even though I always feel like I'm not doing enough, I literally did release a video game this year. I need to keep reminding myself of that. That's something I need to work on, I suppose.
Speaking of things I need to work on, I have so many things I want to do for 2026. I have so many ideas in my head but never enough time. So, I think my main goal is to get more focused and working on things every day. I used to be a lot more productive, but lately (since like 2020, the pandemic times completely changed my lifestyle I think) I became complacent. I blame myself of course. I always take responsibility for my actions/situation. The tough part is doing something to change it for the better. I get stuck in my ways and the safety of sameness way too easily.
Last year I broke out of my shell a bit and pushed myself to take driving lessons. I took two lessons before I had to hold off to save up money for more (also my fault, I ordered way too much food last year) and by the time I did, it was cold outside and I didn't feel like it. I don't like driving anyways, it constantly feels like a 50/50 for me whether I'll crash and kill someone. That's only for cars, mind you. Motorcycles are so easy to drive because you are sat right in the middle and can easily feel the full size of your vehicle. Cars are just a huge blind spot on the right (American) for me and it scares me so much. My driving instructor said I did great, though. My permit is good for quite a bit so I'll try and do more lessons next year and get my license for real probably.
As I mentioned earlier, I did manage to release one game this year, and it was a big one. Three Wishes finally released, a game I had done concept ideas for in 2015, and was seriously working on in 2019 until the pandemic once again totally threw everything off in 2020. But, release it did. The game was even featured in a real physical print Japanese magazine called Vtuber Style, which, honestly is just insane to me. I keep thinking it must be a mistake, and maybe it was, because the article only seemed to mention the cuteness of the game, and not any of the endings LOL but I guess it's hard for a Japanese publication to play a game in English.
Speaking of games, I have so many ideas for new ones. People really loved the headpatting mechanic in Three Wishes. But they also wanted more from it; headpatting/not headpatting having consequences, cheek pulling, tummy poking, different facial expressions, etc. I'd love to work with a team to put together some kind of mobile app so we can all focus on our strengths and share the profits. I still want to finish my 3D Moe Escape remake project. I got pretty far in development with that and just stopped. 3D development is way harder than 2D; it's just one more dimension but the difficulty increase is like an order of magnitude. I'd also like to attempt a 3D platformer. I have unique movesets and settings in mind but I haven't really done any additional work on this. I'm thinking I may try to do something small, and test the waters. Maybe if it pans out I could make it a group project with others! I've always worked alone in the past but after all this time, I think it's probably a mistake. I feel so isolated lately.
I've also been extremely inspired by Velsaebvnn's 3D artworks lately and it's got me wanting to try my hand at more 3D stuff, not just for games, but for putting together scenes, meticulously handcrafted, like 2D art. There is one particular scene they showed off of their character in a cozy dark library which just has the best vibes, and I want to create a scene like that and get lost in it myself. And doing more 3D work will help me in the long-run once I give more 3D game dev stuff a shot.
I also closed down my Patreon site yesterday. I really appreciate everyone who has ever supported me there since 2017, but I constantly felt bad about it because I was getting money without putting in any effort to posting consistently to that website. Patreon came to feel like a chore to post on. I'd rather just have stuff in one place. To be honest, I'd rather not really post stuff at all. It'd be nice to be super secretive and just talk about stuff when they're ready to release. But I might explode if I tried to do that. Anyways, yeah. People can still support me by buying my games and stuff! This way I make a sale, and you get something tangible for your money.
Another thing I really got into a bit this year was the PSP. I revived my old PSP3000 by buying a new battery for it. It still had the old custom firmware still running, which was really cool. After playing a few games randomly, I ended up buying a whole bunch of new PSP games off ebay. PSP games are so cheap! Even Japan import games can be bought for like $15 each, it's pretty awesome. I haven't played much since the first couple weeks carrying it around with me everywhere but I still love this sysetm and the games that came from that time period. Very nostalgic and fun for me to re-experience.
One thing I didn't really expect this year, was how many people that found me and told me they remembered playing Lily's Day Off 10+ years ago and how nostalgic they were for it. Really not something that I ever expected, but it's so extremely cool to know how many people's lives I affected, however small. That's life, I guess, huh. Speaking of mobile games, I'd also like to port Three Wishes to mobile. I want to make the game available for free just like Lily's Day Off and Night Off before it. But I'll have to give it some friction so people who buy the full game on Steam won't be upset. Naturally, being on mobile, the texture quality will be lower than on PC just by the nature of being a mobile game. But I also plan to put ads in the game after each ending scene. And I was thinking of locking content behind timers. So, it'd take 4 or 5 days to complete the game. And mobile players will have the option to buy the game whenever they want, so it should even out I think.
Some more things to touch on, which will get a lot more personal. Firstly, is personal health. My mental state is in a constant loop of extreme ups and extreme downs. I've always been this way, though lately the downs seem more prevalent. I think that's due to my health and habits. I have gained a lot of weight and am much less active since 2020. I will be eating better starting today and doing my best to get healthier. I already went to the gym a couple days ago to start getting back in the groove of working out every other morning, or at least every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm extremely sore today and turning over in bad last night was a chore because my arms are basically jelly lol.
I'd also like to one day be in a proper relationship, though as I get older it seems more and more unlikely. I've never been in a situation where my feelings for the other person outweighed my anxiety and constant feeling of trying to do things right. Well, I won't get into this much more. But it'd be nice, I think. Or would it? I can't tell. I just don't want to be alone. Everything keeps changing and I'm stuck in place. Every year I have less people in my life. My best friend suddenly told me to never contact them again earlier this month, and I have no idea why. As they requested, I did not message them again, even to ask why. It was a big blow to my mental health, to have something like that happen so suddenly. But I did meet a lot of new people this year! And reconnected with some old friends! Pudding is still in great health, and though I feel like it's sad that he has to live with someone boring like me, I hope he knows I love him a ton.
It'd be nice to make it to Anime Expo and vExpo next year! But I really need to work on myself. I keep telling myself "tomorrow" and I never commit. I'm hoping putting it in writing, paired with the new year, will help jump-start me onto this new path. I'll feel better about myself, and I'll travel, and meet friends, and that'll make me feel even better! I'll try.
So, with all that said, I suppose here are somethings I'd like to accomplish this year, or attempt.
-Release Three Wishes on mobile
-Release multiple games (headpatting mobile game, Moe Escape 3D, platformer idea, Lily's Week Off)
-Work on my health (mental and physical)
-Get my driver's license
-update this website (add sidebars a-la 2000s style, fanart page, an art page, blog comments and tags, etc)
2025 was a fine year, but I didn't get nearly enough done. But some cool stuff did happen, most notably, the release of Three Wishes! I've watched so many streams of vTubers playing the game, like legit probably close to 25+. As of now, it was 64 total reviews, 100% of them positive, and around 950 sales! That makes me very happy. Friends have even listed the game on their top-10 games of the year lists. Hearing Polly give Three Wishes the #4 spot on her list was insane to me and it kinda made me realize that even though I always feel like I'm not doing enough, I literally did release a video game this year. I need to keep reminding myself of that. That's something I need to work on, I suppose.
Speaking of things I need to work on, I have so many things I want to do for 2026. I have so many ideas in my head but never enough time. So, I think my main goal is to get more focused and working on things every day. I used to be a lot more productive, but lately (since like 2020, the pandemic times completely changed my lifestyle I think) I became complacent. I blame myself of course. I always take responsibility for my actions/situation. The tough part is doing something to change it for the better. I get stuck in my ways and the safety of sameness way too easily.
Last year I broke out of my shell a bit and pushed myself to take driving lessons. I took two lessons before I had to hold off to save up money for more (also my fault, I ordered way too much food last year) and by the time I did, it was cold outside and I didn't feel like it. I don't like driving anyways, it constantly feels like a 50/50 for me whether I'll crash and kill someone. That's only for cars, mind you. Motorcycles are so easy to drive because you are sat right in the middle and can easily feel the full size of your vehicle. Cars are just a huge blind spot on the right (American) for me and it scares me so much. My driving instructor said I did great, though. My permit is good for quite a bit so I'll try and do more lessons next year and get my license for real probably.
As I mentioned earlier, I did manage to release one game this year, and it was a big one. Three Wishes finally released, a game I had done concept ideas for in 2015, and was seriously working on in 2019 until the pandemic once again totally threw everything off in 2020. But, release it did. The game was even featured in a real physical print Japanese magazine called Vtuber Style, which, honestly is just insane to me. I keep thinking it must be a mistake, and maybe it was, because the article only seemed to mention the cuteness of the game, and not any of the endings LOL but I guess it's hard for a Japanese publication to play a game in English.
Speaking of games, I have so many ideas for new ones. People really loved the headpatting mechanic in Three Wishes. But they also wanted more from it; headpatting/not headpatting having consequences, cheek pulling, tummy poking, different facial expressions, etc. I'd love to work with a team to put together some kind of mobile app so we can all focus on our strengths and share the profits. I still want to finish my 3D Moe Escape remake project. I got pretty far in development with that and just stopped. 3D development is way harder than 2D; it's just one more dimension but the difficulty increase is like an order of magnitude. I'd also like to attempt a 3D platformer. I have unique movesets and settings in mind but I haven't really done any additional work on this. I'm thinking I may try to do something small, and test the waters. Maybe if it pans out I could make it a group project with others! I've always worked alone in the past but after all this time, I think it's probably a mistake. I feel so isolated lately.
I've also been extremely inspired by Velsaebvnn's 3D artworks lately and it's got me wanting to try my hand at more 3D stuff, not just for games, but for putting together scenes, meticulously handcrafted, like 2D art. There is one particular scene they showed off of their character in a cozy dark library which just has the best vibes, and I want to create a scene like that and get lost in it myself. And doing more 3D work will help me in the long-run once I give more 3D game dev stuff a shot.
I also closed down my Patreon site yesterday. I really appreciate everyone who has ever supported me there since 2017, but I constantly felt bad about it because I was getting money without putting in any effort to posting consistently to that website. Patreon came to feel like a chore to post on. I'd rather just have stuff in one place. To be honest, I'd rather not really post stuff at all. It'd be nice to be super secretive and just talk about stuff when they're ready to release. But I might explode if I tried to do that. Anyways, yeah. People can still support me by buying my games and stuff! This way I make a sale, and you get something tangible for your money.
Another thing I really got into a bit this year was the PSP. I revived my old PSP3000 by buying a new battery for it. It still had the old custom firmware still running, which was really cool. After playing a few games randomly, I ended up buying a whole bunch of new PSP games off ebay. PSP games are so cheap! Even Japan import games can be bought for like $15 each, it's pretty awesome. I haven't played much since the first couple weeks carrying it around with me everywhere but I still love this sysetm and the games that came from that time period. Very nostalgic and fun for me to re-experience.
One thing I didn't really expect this year, was how many people that found me and told me they remembered playing Lily's Day Off 10+ years ago and how nostalgic they were for it. Really not something that I ever expected, but it's so extremely cool to know how many people's lives I affected, however small. That's life, I guess, huh. Speaking of mobile games, I'd also like to port Three Wishes to mobile. I want to make the game available for free just like Lily's Day Off and Night Off before it. But I'll have to give it some friction so people who buy the full game on Steam won't be upset. Naturally, being on mobile, the texture quality will be lower than on PC just by the nature of being a mobile game. But I also plan to put ads in the game after each ending scene. And I was thinking of locking content behind timers. So, it'd take 4 or 5 days to complete the game. And mobile players will have the option to buy the game whenever they want, so it should even out I think.
Some more things to touch on, which will get a lot more personal. Firstly, is personal health. My mental state is in a constant loop of extreme ups and extreme downs. I've always been this way, though lately the downs seem more prevalent. I think that's due to my health and habits. I have gained a lot of weight and am much less active since 2020. I will be eating better starting today and doing my best to get healthier. I already went to the gym a couple days ago to start getting back in the groove of working out every other morning, or at least every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm extremely sore today and turning over in bad last night was a chore because my arms are basically jelly lol.
I'd also like to one day be in a proper relationship, though as I get older it seems more and more unlikely. I've never been in a situation where my feelings for the other person outweighed my anxiety and constant feeling of trying to do things right. Well, I won't get into this much more. But it'd be nice, I think. Or would it? I can't tell. I just don't want to be alone. Everything keeps changing and I'm stuck in place. Every year I have less people in my life. My best friend suddenly told me to never contact them again earlier this month, and I have no idea why. As they requested, I did not message them again, even to ask why. It was a big blow to my mental health, to have something like that happen so suddenly. But I did meet a lot of new people this year! And reconnected with some old friends! Pudding is still in great health, and though I feel like it's sad that he has to live with someone boring like me, I hope he knows I love him a ton.
It'd be nice to make it to Anime Expo and vExpo next year! But I really need to work on myself. I keep telling myself "tomorrow" and I never commit. I'm hoping putting it in writing, paired with the new year, will help jump-start me onto this new path. I'll feel better about myself, and I'll travel, and meet friends, and that'll make me feel even better! I'll try.
So, with all that said, I suppose here are somethings I'd like to accomplish this year, or attempt.
-Release Three Wishes on mobile
-Release multiple games (headpatting mobile game, Moe Escape 3D, platformer idea, Lily's Week Off)
-Work on my health (mental and physical)
-Get my driver's license
-update this website (add sidebars a-la 2000s style, fanart page, an art page, blog comments and tags, etc)