[h3]Man, where do I even start here?[/h3] First of all, it's been a beautiful year for me as a developer. From the continued success of Happy Bones I and Happy Bones Infernal, to my newest full-length game release this year, 'Waking Atlas'! Y'all have poured out your love, support, and coin in order to keep pushing me to do what I do, and I appreciate the HECK out of that. Let's take a look at some of the big achievements! Happy Bones I hit over 500 players worldwide, which is crazy to me! Looking back at this dinky project that I started back in 2016, it's wild to see where it's gone. Happy Bones Infernal sold [u]THREE TIMES[/u] as many copies this year than it did last year when it launched, for a total of nearly 300 copies to date. This probably means the most to me, as while I love the narrative story of that game, I do regret doing the game in 3D vs.. the hand-drawn style that made so many people love the first game. (You live and learn I guess) Overall, I'm glad to see that this entry is seeing a resurgence of sorts. Waking Atlas became my [i]fastest[/i] selling game to date, which also took me by surprise as the only other game made with GB Studio at the time on Steam was a game called Dragonborne, which literally got negative reviewed into oblivion, the dated mechanics and graphical style being cited as the culprit. (It got so much dislike they actually ended up unlisting it from the Steam store) My worries ended up being unfounded, as it sold twice as many copies on launch day than Happy Bones I did on it's respective launch day in 2021, and you all showered (mostly) praise upon my inbox! Then there was Captain Cone! *crickets* *crickets* Don't worry, his time to shine will come eventually. [h3]So where are we going from here?[/h3] If you follow me on Twitter (X?) you know that I announced that I was remaking Happy Bones I in HD, I did a silly teaser trailer for it and it was a grand time! You can see that teaser [url=https://x.com/FrostedFears/status/1671215102349934595?s=20]here[/url] if you're interested! It's still in development despite the Unity fiasco. [i]OMG BUT FROSTEDFEARS WHY ARE YOU REMAKING THAT?! IT JUST CAME OUT TWO YEARS AGO![/i] Well, for starts, it won't be releasing for a while. So by the time I'm projecting to actually launch it, it'll be more like 5 years since the original came out. Secondly, there are features that I wanted to add to the original, that I simply can't because of how I developed it. I never thought about adding major features when I made the original, it was just a hobby project for years. Therefore making it from the ground up but prettier, *chefs kiss*. Lastly, I want to be able to reach the console audience, those guys deserve weird RPGs too! Porting RPG Maker MV games to modern consoles is a convoluted process, and the porting services are simply too expensive when I can just remake the game but better, ya know? [h3]Where else are we going?[/h3] Lots of places...just not for a while. I don't want to come off like I'm crying on the internet here but bear with me. Ever since I released HB1 I've been plagued with a pattern of mobility related health problems. I had a motorcycle accident in May of 2021, which lead to be being unable to walk for several months, and I wasn't able to truly walk normally again until the later months of 2022. Flash forward to 2023, in March (several days after finishing development on Waking Atlas) I woke up with an awful deblitating lower back and leg pain. Turns out I'd herniated a disc and it's since been causing me movement deficits and just awful pain all the time. Presently, I'm seeing a spine specialist, doing considerably better, and the end of my (sorry to sound dramatic) suffering is in sight. With that, I've been thinking of all the things I can't wait to do, all the things I've missed out on the last few years. I'm an outdoorsy person, and I can't wait to go all the places I've been wanting to go, go do all the hikes I've been wanting to hike. Naturally, my mind isn't on working on my games right now, there's just other things I'd rather do now that I'm able to again. I've sat in front of a computer screen every day and I just need a break :( I've released a game every year since starting, but this is the year I'll most likely break that trend. This isn't goodbye so much as it is a [i]see you later, alligator![/i] Thank you all so much for you support, and I sincerely hope I have it when I return, whenever that is. For now, I'll leave you some completely wild screenshots of some things I've been working on, and you can probably look forward to. [h2]For now, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for playing.[/h2] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39628239/3e49c235c5f8633f605eda78becbdf90deb41ca0.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39628239/e4d9d74ef895d7347642468a63090aac7c759ef5.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39628239/2856c82a7905bfea8d52b3722b57e6025a0d1dfa.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39628239/0cfb8f329b759da5a1f95a6edf5b1dcfade28cf7.png[/img]