2023 was an important year for me with some ups and downs (what’s new), but overall a pretty great year!

GAMES?

I didn’t do much in the way of new games on NG this time ‘round - only two games that I was involved in!

The first was Booba Beat with @CaptainStevie, @CheddarExuberant and @Keeby:

[it occurred to me I may have to rate this blogpost A if I link it here even if it'll only show based on your content settings and such so...just go look for it]

This was an April Fools release and my first A-Rated Newgrounds game and it’s incredibly ridiculous and I deeply apologize for it...not!

Sadly I somehow didn’t account for not every device being able to pull off millisecond-perfect timing, thus the timing offset detection method I implemented which just reset the game...caused some players to just have the game reset on them over and over. This, coupled with the game’s boner-killing content, naturally tanked the stars it initially had on release.

I plan on an update that should fix this and remove that detection reset altogether!

Then in June there was Love Me Newgrounds 2:

I was brought on to this project by @VoicesByCorey and I'm very grateful that I was, as I met people like @CaptainStevie and @CheddarExuberant through the project in late 2022! It was a bit of a chaotic dev cycle even by the time me and the later recruits came on, but the finished product came out pretty good if I do say so myself!

I also: Took the reins on, and completely didn't make happen, Tankmas '23! All to make it more...special when it does happen, yeah, totally the plan there...

And that brings us to...

MEETS!

2023 saw me at two NG meets, both of which I have writeups about here. I have a distinct memory of June's when things were winding down a bit and the NG dog tags were being given out to people marked as coming...It felt like being back at a day camp as a kid or something. Some kinda beautiful blend of old feelings and the new...

"It's a brand new feeling! Or have I felt this before?"

And then in October I ended up being "furry handler" for Steve for a little bit, as well as the other end of holding up his NG flag in the photo op, both really cool things! What else to say, but how special these meets are! I suppose I would count them as what "made me emotional" as per my 2022 recap's goals.

RANDY? THE MOUSE?

A lot of '23 was spent working on Randy Learns History, the sequel to Randy Learns Science; although I feel like things really started to kick into high gear for it near the end of the year. This still-relatively-small game became a BEAST, and the world of Randy is about as expanded upon in this as you could ever want! There's also a lot of small things in this point n' click which aren't anything new on their own but feel very unconventional for the genre, though that's probably just me badly explaining the game has a very unique voice going on, which is cool! We're at about 30-40 minutes of average gameplay and my goal was an hour, sooo I've probably overshot on that goal, WHOOPSIE! I can relax about that now and just focus on gettin' things done and makin' them fun, you dig?

My plan right now is to release Randy Learns History...THIS YEAR. Though I'll have something more conk creet later on as far as a release window goes, I'm sure. Still lots to do! I'm excited to get this silly thing into everyone's hands, and as always I have to give a shoutout to all the contributors on the game, this thing would not be what it is without y'all and I can't wait to slap your names in the credits!!!

TWENTY-TWENTY...FOUR!

I started this year off dealing with Covid, GRAND STUFF. But as I said, the main focus this year is finishing and releasing Randy 2 to Newgrounds and such! I'll also try to be in some things as usual and make some smaller stuff if I can manage. You may catch me in something...BIRD TAPPY next month. Oh, and that Shoot Trip Die update should come out sometime too, whenever @LeviRamirez is finished with it.

Do I have a goal for this year like I've had the previous two years?...

...

NAH. Although it's going to be the Year of the Dragon this year, my zodiac sign. So I'll just take that extra good luck and have the year I'm gonna have!

Also, I feel like I've become a lot more down-to-earth over the past couple years and a bit better at writing stuff like blogposts, they feel a lot more readable and concise. I'm pretty happy about that I s'pose!

Have a 2024-riffic year everypony!

-XOXO DN