2023

All year: POGOPPL

POGOPPL has remained my main project throughout the year. This year it saw some big improvements to gameplay and visuals. The first version of the entire 70-level campaign has been finished. A shop with unlockables has been added. Tons and tons of bugfixes and tweaks. Still to do is the whole level sharing system via Steam Workshop, proper music is to be added, and cutscenes will be animated to tell the story better. I was aiming for a late 2023 release, but as always with these video game things, it’s taking longer to finish than you’d expect.

March: Vaasa Game Days

I last attended our local gaming expo VGD in 2019 and found it a great experience. In terms of marketing and exposure these events don’t do much, but in terms of honest player feedback it’s very valuable. So this year I hauled my laptop and monitor over the expo and watched lots of people play POGOPPL. It was great.

April: New Office!

I’ve been sharing an office with some fellow local gamedevs for the last couple years, but it was getting too pricey and also it was just a much bigger space than we needed. So we started looking around for new places in February and eventually settled on a lil office with room for 5 of us. There’s usually only 3-4 of us there at once so that’s plenty.

Summer: Something BIG that I can’t talk about

Some very exciting stuff happening. Can’t talk about it. Sorry!

September: First Person Prototype

I started making this first person thingy summer 2022. I was never really sure WHAT it was gonna end up being, but over summer 2023 the idea sorta coalesced in my mind, and well, this thing is free to play in-browser on itch.io so just go play it yourself, eh?

September: Unity pisses off everyone

The game engine Unity is what enabled me to make games in the first place, and over the years it’s kinda felt like a safe haven, y’know? No matter what else was going on in my life, I could sit down with Unity and create. It was my creative outlet and the thing that enabled me to start my own company and go my own way. But in October the leadership at Unity announced some insane changes that scared the pants off every little indie dev like myself. It was the first time when I felt like I’d have to make my future as a gamedev with someone other than Unity.

Time to stop waiting for Godot

So there’s still scrappy lil open source game engine called Godot which has been gaining ground in the last few years. Feature-wise it looks like it’d be enough for me to make the kinda small games I usually make, and I’ve been eyeing it for years. Unity’s crazy announcements convinced me to finally get off my ass and start learning this tool. I’m not much for following tutorials, I prefer to just try to make something and then google for solutions when I get stuck, and that was my process for putting together this little game which I’m calling Drivin’ Bob.  It’s also available to play in-browser on itch.io, give it a try!

Late 2023: Crossing Guard Joe is a HIT! In China!

Crossing Guard Joe came out early 2022 and was a real flop. It garnered 9 Steam user reviews in its first year. One day, in late October I check the Steam page and suddenly it has 12 reviews! And it’s selling like crazy! Investigating further it seems a lot of people are playing it and sharing vids on bilibili.com! At the moment it’s got 134 reviews on Steam, 95% positive, and has sold enough that I could actually pay myself a salary this year! A good, unexpected ending to 2023. 🙂

What else…

Oh yeah, I became an uncle! 🙂 My sister had a kid. Ella. Shes adorable.

Coming in 2024…

• POGOPPL (for real this time)

• More Stilt Fella content! Also… possibly a console annoucement? I’ve been saying this for years now. But in 2024? COULD IT BE TRUE? COULD IT? Let’s see.

• Got a handful of other small games that might materialize in some form the coming year. Remember The Flying Doctor? I worked a bunch on that this year. Still wanna release it in some shape or form.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned to @SeptemberGames for further updates! Also I’m on mastodon now, here! And wishlist POGOPPL! 🙂