It's the end of the year and the start of 2025! I honestly can’t believe we’re at the end of the Year of Best Hedgehog because the passage of time stops for no one. Everything felt like it went so fast that I didn’t get around to my resolutions for 2024 lmao. Ah, well I won’t beat myself over it. I’m tired of doing that tbh
Admittedly a good portion of 2024 felt like a continuation of 2023 where the burnout I’ve been trying to unwire from my brain had been super prominent. Aside from I Got Transported Into My How to Draw Manga Book!?’s demo (and arguably This Visual Novel Isn't Like Other Visual Novels though I don’t think that should count lmao), everything I’ve made this year is pretty bite sized. There is a reason for this though, and I’ll go into a little more depth into that at the end of the devlog.
So I guess now’s the time for me to talk about the games I was able to make this year then, huh?
Kinda wild how this started as a very silly idea in a discord server and it got made tangible somehow! Both Shyfox and I have seen the lovely comments everyone had been leaving and how everyone's been receptive to the demo! Both they and I are really happy you played and enjoyed our game~!
As for progress, well, there really hasn’t been any so far. The game had been fully written and edited with the intent to be a full game for NaNoRenO, but I, who is coding the game, had gotten sick at the end of March. After I recovered and the jam ended, I had a lot of life things to deal with and wasn’t able to get back into the thick of things. I won’t lie, this game has been put to the side for the time being just because I’m currently working on things I know should take priority first.
It doesn’t mean this game isn't on my mind constantly because I love the work Shyfox and I did with the writing. It’s just that I have other projects I want to get done first. My hope is to get this game completed by the end of 2025, and I hope you all will be waiting for it by then~!
I had been dealing with impostor syndrome for a better part of the year and at the time of making this game, I had seen some questionable, and frankly, shitty things get published. When coming up with my idea for Worst Visual Novel Jam 2024, I think of the visual novels that pissed me off the most, Kickstarter campaign taglines for their own revolutionary visual novel (you know the ones), and the worst takes I've seen of visual novels made by Youtubers and non-VN game devs who think they know better. I mashed all those feelings into this monstrosity of a game in hopes of making something not only what they think they want, but also something utterly infuriating and dogshit.
And by god and ironically, this was so freeing to make lmao. I tend to put more pressure on myself in terms of quality when it comes to my visual novels and the, well, visuals, so to toss that shit out the window and make stuff intentionally meant to be bad and be an asshole to the player was super fun! It also got me to experiment with Ren'Py code that I typically don’t get to use and unlocked a gremlin part of my brain that desperately needs to see people struggle with this mess of a visual novel. I still can’t believe I got the entirety of Pride and Prejudice coded in like 3 days lmao.
Later on in this devlog I’ll mention that spolier alert: I’d like to publish a game on Steam. I have some I know I definitely want and this game is absolutely high on getting it on there because god I want to see more people lose their shit to Violet’s trolling lmao. If I actually do get it on Steam, I would like to add a few more minigames and scenes I wasn’t able to the first time around, but we shall see how that will go.
This was made for Neo-Twiny Jam, alongside Translucent Trails as part 1 of a trilogy that never happened lol. Admittedly the inspiration for PDUM was from me being frustrated from a comment about having unreadable text in a section that was meant to be hard to read plus several moments I've had in my real life, but I wanted to also test out the bubble textboxes Ren’Py added so it all became a catalyst to making this game.
I really liked the idea that the narrative is illegible and you have to figure out what the person is saying only based on the replies. I figured, hey, I have the power of editing fonts, I am just going to make a whole new typeface based on public domain fonts to make it look Weird. I came out of making PDUM thinking I should experiment more with bubble textboxes and making them more customizable for my usage because I had some weird hang ups with how Ren’Py’s defaults are, especially when I’ve seen nicer bubble presentations in other games.
But this game is essentially my sleeper hit of 2024: I was blown away by how much reception it got when I released it! I didn’t think it would have many eyes on it due to its size (smaller than an O2A2 VN!), me deliberately making the text unreadable, and my intention of testing out a feature I’m not used to so it wasn't going to be fancy in its presentation. But tons of people commented on relating to it super hard and it is currently my 4th highest ranked game of all the games I’ve made so far. Like, truly, thank you for the kind comments and thank you for enjoying it. I'm genuinely sorry if you relate to it because it's not a great experience to go through lmao, but one of the nice things of making things like PDUM knowing you're not alone in feeling like this.
Another Neo-Twiny Jam game, made alongside Please Don’t Understand Me. This was meant to be a more hopeful end to the trilogy, but, well, I never got around to making the game that was meant to be between PDUM and TT. I might release that middle game one day if I happen to get inspired by a jam to finish it.
I honestly love limit jams like O2A2 and Neo-Twiny because it's a fantastic exercise in your writing skills and dev skills. Translucent Trails was nice to write as a conclusion of trials and being in a happier place than before. 'Tis a shame I couldn't get the middle game done to add more context from how the protagonist went from PDUM to TT, but as is and even outside the context of the apparent trilogy I think it’s was a nice way to wrap it up.
I’ve been hemming and hawwing about what to make for 2024’s O2A2 VN and had an idea to shoot for. However, I found out when O2A2 would take place this year and I thought I wouldn’t be able to make anything for it because I had some family trips planned for July and the jam started right when I was travelling out for the first trip. Semi related: thank u Hozier for kicking me in the dick hard enough to make this game lmao
Luckily I was able to write something quick during downtime. It wouldn't be the first idea I initially wanted to go with for O2A2, but something was based on a larger project I’ve been hinting at through this year, so if I couldn’t get to coding or drawing it for the jam then it would make for a nice base to a side story for when that game gets finished. Even more luckily, I was able to quickly get an image together when I got home from my first trip (thank god for the reflection drawing tool and detailed brushes in CSP) and threw it together with the GUI that’s directly from that project. Any typos made while writing can at least make sense since in-game the letter was written in a rush.
This was a great way to test the waters for the bigger project, regarding the subject matter. I’ve been a little hesitant with the main game IBHWY is from considering it has a lot of Memento Mori to say the least, but the reception to this game was reassuring. I’m glad players were able to enjoy it and say how much it impacted them because of the subject matter and not despite of it, and recieving comments like those has given me a lot more confidence with going forward with that larger project.
And that’s it for the games I was able to publish this year! Nothing super large and as I mentioned before, there’s a reason why I was only really able to work on smaller games. And the reason is…
Through my other devlogs I mentioned other projects I haven’t expounded upon yet. And well, I don’t intend to until I’m ready to show something tangible. These are longer projects which will take a lot more time baking, so sometimes I’ll mention them while working on it, especially if I had a dry spell where I mainly worked on things I can’t show.
One is the project I’ll Be Home With You is based on, which I’ve dubbed Project Funeral. The hope is to release a demo for it by the end of 2025, but this isn’t a hard goal but a more passive one, if that makes sense? I won’t do any formal announcements with it until my current workload is done (IGTIMHTDMB!?, PoPH 2.0, Wolf’s Wool 2.0, artbooks, etc), but may show a sample from time to time depending on my mood.
Other projects I've planned are honestly games I’d like to make in game jams like Neo-Twiny and O2A2, or finish the ones I attempted for previous game jams in 2024 but couldn’t get them done due to life circumstances. I also want to try out different engines like GB Studio or Godot if I can! I’ll show these project when I’m able to work on them and show them~
I’ve stated this in the past long ago, but for those who don’t know or want a reminder of my goals: I want to do a GUI overhaul update for my first two visual novels, Pillars on Poppy Hills and Wolf’s Wool, in hopes of giving them more accessibility options like my current games. Both of these games were made with a super old version of Ren’Py, and because of how different the code is from 6 so 8 (Ren'Py's current version) I essentially have to port the games to the current version, which is what my personal code used for current visual novels are based on.
Through the year, I’ve been whittling at both those games but more recently I’ve been making big strides with the big update for Pillars on Poppy Hills, the first visual novel I released. Turns out adding image captions to a game is a lot more enjoyable than I expected and a great way to practice your writing skills even further. I highly recommend other devs to add captions to your games, not just because it betters your writing skills, but to make it easier for people who need the captions to enjoy your visually based game.
The goal is to get PoPH 2.0 and the artbook that will contain content for 2.0 by it’s 4th anniversary in February. There’s a chance I could miss this though, if only because January and start of February are already busy for me with my dayjob, so the deadline is more for my own motivation than a formal release date. If I happen to release it later than that day, then well it’ll release later in the year lol. I’m at a point where I feel like I’m 70% done, so regardless it should be done by this year.
As for Wolf’s Wool, I say “maybe” not as in “maybe I’ll do 2.0 for this” because of course I’m definitely doing a 2.0 update for this game. I say "maybe" because it’s a little bit tougher to port this game to Ren’Py 8 compared to PoPH and haven’t figured out a game plan (pun not intended lol) for it like I did with PoPH. Admittedly this is because I’m focused on PoPH and don’t want to divert my attention just yet, so I know I’ll figure it out when I’m able to get on it. The hope is to get Wolf’s Wool 2.0 done for its anniversary, but again, this is more for my own motivation and not necessarily a hard deadline. I hope to get it done by this year, but we shall see.
I spoiled this with TVNILOVN, but I want to see if I’m able to get some of my games on Steam! TVNILOVN is absolutely one I want to strive for, and maybe my other larger games too! I’m figuring out how to go about funding these games to get on there, so if I’m able to give more details, I will. That, or you’ll see me complaining about working with Steam on socials lol, considering the horror stories I heard from other devs.
While the year started off with the lingering emotional pain of 2023 and I didn’t get into 3d modeling as I liked, I had been feeling a lot better towards the end of 2024. At the risk of this seems selfish and naiive, I hope I can keep my head above water in regards to the art I make and my relationship to it. I spent too much of my life feeling like I and everything I do is never good enough, and I don’t want to keep drowning in self doubt.
I want to give a big thank you to everyone that had shared my work with others and had given me kind reviews, not just from 2024 but from well before. It’s really nice to see proof that the effort I put into my games are appreciated enough that I try reading them when I feel down on my confidence. It’s comments like these that helps me keep at it, and I really appreciate you all taking the time to tell me how even my games influenced you.
I also want to thank everyone that’s given me constructive criticism too! I appreciate the time taken to comment on things I can improve on, or tell me about mistakes I made but didn’t realize I made. Even if I can’t get to it fast, I do keep the comments in mind for my future endeavors.
Now, 2025 honestly looks like a shitshow what with the looming US presidency and general Awfulness of the world right now. Regardless, I wish everyone good luck with their wishes and endeavors for the upcoming year because even with hope in my heart, it is not gonna be easy. All I can do is hope for a better year and try to do what I can, and I hope you can too.
It sucks to have lost CoHost because I felt a lot more comfortable posting there, but I've been posting more on BlueSky! I'm thinking of revamping my Ko-Fi and Patreon in hopes of funding my games for Steam, so if I get enough spoons to do that be on the lookout for them!
Thank you for reading to the end of this devlog! Here's to a new year that hopefully fucks off~!
~Knickknack PJ
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I really loved the approach to both I Got Transported and TVNILOVN. Especially after spending a lot of 2023 and some of 24 getting more into traditional VNs and learning about the history of sound novels and playing some of them, it's nice to see projects like yours explore the modern landscape of VNs and the VN meta.
If you want to chat about Steamworks, just hit me up! Wishing you the best of luck!