Hello! Welcome to 2025. We have comfy chairs here.
So I wanted to discuss some of what to expect from this year. Specifically, to give a little more of a look at the stuff that isn't obviously going to be worked on. The stuff that's been in the works and hasn't seen the light of day. Or the things teased at or on hiatus.Let's tackle the stuff people somewhat know about first... AuguryI've not really hidden this one, but basically Augury is the follow up to Between that I want to do. I've not worked on it actively, but I've made an active effort to do preparations for it. As per above, I've been working with the artist that did the Between designs (via the Ultimate artworks) to develop the main cast's designs. Add to that, any mention of Daega art in the commissions is related to this, too, as I have specific ideas I'll be wanting to do mechanically in it. The concept and story has had more than a few moving parts on specifics over the years, and far from locked into stone while further adjusting to the changes and updates I've made to the world lore since I started. That said, there are certain elements I am committed to because they're the core of what makes me passionate about the idea, and the commissions, design or daega, are made with those in mind.This won't get touched seriously in terms of development development until Between is much closer to completion. But... little bits of work are always being pushed forward to have assets and designs ready for when I do get there. Dreaming Between OrchardsThis is a crossover fun comic that had a hope to be something regularly outputted, maybe even bringing in guest writers and stuff for weekly posts. But... life is life and MassManic, the great guy and comic artist that I was working with, was hit with IRL struggles and has higher priorities to take care of. Since the initial issues there, things appears to have had some momentum, but at the same time its not going to be a regular priority for Mass any time soon, I think. For what we can get done in the background, it'll likely be getting little done here and there until we have a good point to release more and evaluate how to approach it for the future. MockingbirdAs some of you likely saw, I posted a preview for the first release of this on the discord! Yes, I will get a v0.1 out soon. I am committed to that.Mockingbird started as an idea in early 2021, within the first months after having released the first release of Between. In mid 2022, the idea got some more progress in my head and Icarue agreed to join on to help design and do some of the art for it. It was here that the concept was reimagined from my first pitch and we developed what it has now become. From there to late 2023, I did the bulk of the v0.1 development, taking us to an alpha test for feedback on the main systems it employed. In 2024... it fell to the wayside as other things just kept taking priority. I actually wanted to get v0.1 out before end of the year, but... well, I want to get it done in January now. Oh, I guess I did continuously get little bits of commissioned art for it across 2023 and 2024.Mockingbird is a weird idea in my head that's half fever dream, half experimentation, half quirky wholesome charm, and half existential horror. Can what it is never live up to the expectations me saying that probably set? No, no it can't. But I'm excited to get to make it the priority, and am hopeful its received well. Secret Project #1: Codename T.A.L.Ah, another passion project that has been slowly stewing under the surface for the past year plus. In mid 2022, I had an idea. An idea of how to approach something I had a desire to do for a while. To put it simply: I wanted to create a comic/manga. But... that's expensive. And not something I had experience in.That's okay! For those of you that have kept up with the Between minisodes, those started as a way for me to practice and start to learn the craft of telling stories in a comic format. I have learned so much from that, and towards the end of 2022 and early 2023, I approached one of my regular artists for a long term agreement to develop the comic. Since the start of 2023, we've been working hard at character designs, writing an extra large opening chapter, and actually creating the comic. It's not a fast process. I don't have the money to hire an artist to basically work for me full time, after all. But that slower pace also makes it more financially viable for me to keep going forward with (especially since I'm not even considering touching the art fund until the first release is out). Overall, though, the progress to a chapter one release is slowly ticking up as we go, and I'm hope that early to mid 2025 will allow us to get that out and get into a regular release cycle. Secret Project #2: Codename TwiceLightSo Icarue is also doing a comic thing. Specifically, Icarue is developing a couple comic projects that will hopefully get off the ground as well. One of those is one I chipped in on tentatively called "TwiceLight". The story is based in my universe, with a concept I adapted from what Icarue wanted to do. I've developed the characters, the scope, the general outlines and the outlines for the first few chapters as we stand, all ready for Icarue to take the baton and work with the artist to make it (and his other effort) a real thing, hopefully.We also worked to put together character designs for the artist to use as a starting point with Icarue, myself, and the great IMS (IsekaiMeSenpai) assisting with his knowledge of AI models. To be clear, we're not using this art for the comics. We're not even committing to it being the final designs. We just wanted to make sure we could develop the feel for the characters to better illustrate what we wanted for the artist to have for the character designs. Language barriers, multiple parties all having different opinions, etc, etc...So, if that properly gets momentum in its creation, I am hopeful for that to be another regular release everyone can enjoy. A... Trading Card Game?Uh... so something that has captured my mind lately has been TCGs. Specifically, the Pokemon cool illustration arts (I don't play TCGs, lol). But the train of that has led me to having an itch to design one. This is super early days and will take a backseat in priority to most other stuff on here, but if it does progress, I imagine Icarue would also be involved, and we'd be primarily using art we've commissioned for our games in the past.No promises, but who knows? Might just become a cool little thing. Oh, and in this all I also played with the idea of physical cards. AKA, the above Nightshift Triple Triad cards I had made just to learn about that process. Not sure anything more substantial will come of those, but never say never. OtherOh boy I've talked about a lot today. Is there more that might be relevant in 2025? Maybe. That's dependent on a lot of stuff, and a year is a long time. There's a game concept that Icarue and I thought up that Satannia and his Merchant Mode game were originally prototyping systems for. The idea has changed dramatically since then, and is very much on the backburner of ideas. But it DID develop a large chunk of the Between universe lore with it at the time, so... haha. We'll do something with it eventually.There's another game concept pitch that I had sitting for Icarue to look at for a couple years. The pitch in general went well and Icarue is onboard for it. The when and specifics of it are up in the air still, as Icarue continues on the smaller projects he's had and wants to finish up.There's another game that developed when Izumi, a wonderful artist in the community, approached us wanting to create a game. That was developed in story and as a prototype in 2024, with me learning quite a bit about the potential presentation options for future games. But it stopped production when Izumi decided she needed a break from the internet in general (hope she is doing well). That said, it's basically a Oathbreaker sequel in story and very much something I want to do eventually.And those are just stuff that has some minor amounts of work done on it this last year. I've got many more ideas I'd also like to do... one day. But Between and Oathbreaker will continue to be the priority, of course. And we'll chug along and explore all sort of opportunities like discussed as we go.I hope this has been a good read for those that managed through it. A lot of stuff has been simmering the past couple years for projects, with more and more on the precipice of being real alongside Between and Oathbreaker. So, I hope when they do, they're enjoyed by everyone!Best of luck this upcoming year. I hope it's a the best year everyone can make of it. - Six