Friday Rambles and Game Dev Update 2025-06-27

Hello. It is the last Friday of June 2025, and thus the last Friday Ramble of June 2025. The year is now officially 50% over! You know what that means! That's right. Performance review time.

Performance Review

At one of my previous jobs we had to do a performance review twice a year. We called them halves. So, what did we accomplish in H1 2025?

*Get organized*

• - Okay, I did this at the beginning of the year, and my desk is still nice and organized. For the most part. I ordered a new pegboard from Ikea to clean up the surface of my desk and have someplace to put commonly used office supplies. I also kept up with a daily journal entry in my Obsidian vault, but I also kinda wanna get back into physical journalling, so I ordered a Hobonichi Techo for the second half of 2025. I guess I lost the cool cover I got in 2020 so I also got a new cover. I wish they still sold the Earthbound covers.

Also, unexpected color coordination.

*Released the Dreams and Deadlines and Overtime update*

• - Did it on March 31, literally the last day of my deadline! It was not a fun time, trying to get unblocked for a month so I could release the dang thing. But it worked out and the positive reception has been worth it. If not monetarily, at least for my own satisfaction and future marketing and long tail idk

• - As an artistic endeavor, it's something I'm really proud of. The original game was fine, but I took all the learnings from it, and added a new chapter that improves the game in almost every way (narrative-wise, gameplay-wise). The game isn't perfect, obviously, but I'm satisfied saying it's "done". I'm happy I did it.

• - It's been a bit of a challenge to get people who played the original game to know the existence of the new update. Maybe I should have released it as a DLC.

*Released Dreams and Deadlines on Nintendo Switch*

• - Yeah! I did it! I navigated the arcane process of releasing a game on the Switch eShop and successfully released a game for a Nintendo console. What a dream come true.

• - And I managed to make it work just as good on the Switch as it does on PC! It's really cool having a game out on the Switch (and by extension Switch 2 😏), and it's something I can point to for game dev cred and stuff. Well, in any case, it was a good learning process, and I'll definitely be releasing my next game on Switch 2 (too).

• - As far as sales go, well, at least it's selling better than the Mac release. Can't really complain!

So cool!

*Steam Daily Deal*

• - I sort of just took the initiative to ask Valve for a Daily Deal and it worked out. Endless Monday was on the front page of Steam for a day earlier this month, and it resulted in a lot of new players and fans and wishlists. I hope they'll stick around for the next thing.

*Updated Endless Monday website*

• - It's been on my todo list for a long time. It's simple but it works.

• - I can definitely expand on this throughout the remainder of the year, though.

*Penny Plushie*

- The campaign is currently live, and we hit the initial goal of 200 sold so it'll actually get made, which is cool. My internal goal is 400 though, so we'll see if we reach that to "Meet Expectations".

- The campaign is still live here! 5 days left!

*Found a new partner for merch*

• - Well. I think. Probably. But I'll have more to say about this later. :-)

• - I guess I shouldn't count this until I actually have more to say about it.

• - Apropos of nothing, please let me know what your favorite t-shirt and pin designs are.

*Endless Monday reference added to World of Warcraft*

• - Yeah, yeah, I'm not the one who did this, but maybe it counts for something.

All in all, pretty good. I'll give myself a "Meets Expectations" rating, pending Penny Plushie sales performance.

Plans for Next Half

What do I want to accomplish in the next half?

• - Announce Game 2

• - Finish Game 2 demo by TGS

• - Announce new merch with cool new merch partner

• - Don't starve

• - ???

• - Get Good Smile Company to notice me and accept their offer to make a Skye Nendoroid

Gamedev Stuff

Due to a bunch of stuff IRL I got literally no game dev work done. It's like one of those weeks where you show up to work and just sort of sit in meetings all week and nothing really happens. I went to the car maintenance shop twice. Did a lot of cleaning. Real life obligations.

Other Stuff

The Steam Summer sale also started this week, and so did a big Nintendo eShop sale. Of note is Hypnospace Outlaw, which was on sale for like 70% off, and I got it because I saw that its sequel got canceled and everyone was very sad about it. After having played Hypnospace Outlaw, I am sad now, too. I played it on Switch, even though I probably should have played it on my computer for Maximum Immersion.

13 Sentinels is on sale for 75% off. It's a steal. I already have a physical copy, but if I didn't, I'd be buying it right now! Unicorn Overlord is 50% off too, and that's another game I'd be getting if I didn't already have a physical copy.

I drew a comic for the Penny Plushie campaign.

The End

This week was kind of a bust as far as gamedev goes. I think it's fine. Not every week can be a winner, but I did a lot of other marketing and have a few more irons in the fire. Next week will probably be more productive on that end, as the Penny plushie campaign winds down.

All in all, a good first half of the year, at least when just considering the narrow context of this humble gamedev career. A lot of you joined this half as well, and it is very cool and good. Thank you!!

Also, if this ramble seems low energy, it's because I used up all my exclamation points for my social media posts.

Anyway, thanks for your support, as always! See you next week. Love you all.