2018

[Deo]

There's only a little bit of time until 2018! While this isn't news or an announcement, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the community for the past year! It's really been an awesome past year at Relic Castle, and I'm personally hoping that 2018 is an even better year for the fan game community!

What about you, though? Did you accomplish anything in 2017 that you want to share? Is there anything you're eager to finish in 2018? What sort of new years resolutions do you have for 2018?

 

[Taq]

I'm going to be honest, I didn't reach my goal of making a certain amount of progress for my game this year.... Hopefully I could get a demo out late next year, I can't guarantee that, but I'll be slightly optimistic.

Despite this, this year is actually important to me, it represents change for many new things occurred this year. This is the first year I ever decided to join teams for other fangames like Lustrous Aqua, Epitaph, and Astral. It also allowed me to participate in the game jam by helping Mantager with ditto edition and Leilou on battle island. I got to see the new stuff shown by Ethereal Gates which is making me excited for that (Especially with JWNutz joining them!). I also decided to practice spriting again to make some of the new pokémon I have and I hope to maybe improve on it more next year to maybe make the mons for my Dex. Another thing that occurred is that I decided to join the relic discord which allowed me to encounter those who I'll never regret meeting and remember how helpful and caring they were. This year also allowed me to practice designing more and maybe get the Dex done soon.

Despite I feel like this year might have a downer for me somewhat on my mood and emotions, it actually makes me feel like I'm improving and various ways.

 

[SmokedPaprika]

2017 was a hellish year for a lot of people, and it's been a year of hardships and struggles for me as well... but it's also been one of the best years of my life.

This year has been about growth, self-reflection, frustration, and ultimately sprinkles of success. I've been facing a lot of personal insecurities and character flaws, as well as some financial troubles that've made 2017 feel limited and less fun, but at the same time, I've done something I never thought I was ever going to do in my life - I've released two completed, full projects. Some might understand the feeling. Others may not.

It feels so completely wonderful to have put my ideas into one small, artsy package and even get good reception for it - it makes it feel like perhaps there's a future for me in this sort of thing. I don't want to let that go. I have so many stories to tell, and so many things to say in my writing that I can't just stop here. And now that I've started, I know I can keep going. So many people never create anything, but I've created something, and now I know I can create more. That reassurance alone was enough to make my ENTIRE year.

I used to be terrible at receiving feedback, and now I'm learning to properly take it. I used to be terrible at giving feedback, and now I'm learning how to properly give it. I used to be insecure about my flaws, and now I'm learning to accept criticism. I used to be harsh about others' flaws, and now I'm learning how to overlook them. One cannot ask for this much personal growth over the course of the year, and yet I have been blessed with so much, and a lot of it is because of my exposure to this community and the people in it. So thank you, Relic, for a wonderful year.

I only want to grow as a person and an artist even more, and I know that if I continue to stick with you guys, I'll find more growth. So once again, thank you, and I hope everyone has a wonderful 2018!

 

[Rhyden]

I thought this year would be pretty terrible considering the current political climate in the U.S. but personally I've had a pretty good year overall. In terms of fan game dev stuff:

-Making an April Fool's game was a fun time.
-Hitmon! Jam was a much bigger success than I thought it would be. Sorry about abandoning the update on it, that came down to bad planning on my end.
-Joining up with Phoenix Rising was cool and a pretty big milestone in my book. Learned plenty about stepping up my game with those guys.
-Did a couple of one-off songs for a few people so that felt good too.

On top of all of that, I became a Twitch Affiliate and now I have someone in my life who actually like-likes me back, both of which have really brought me a lot of motivation do more music writing. I've also gotten back into going to the gym. This was a good year for me to take some time to recover and recollect after all the stress I've been through the previous year and I'm actually really looking forward to 2018. After a year like this, I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for writing music for fan games, but at the same time I've learned enough to maybe see about writing professionally next year should the opportunity present itself. I'm starting 2018 with high hopes and I haven't been this satisfied with how things have been going in such a long time.

Spoiler: Let's all do our best in 2018!

 

[Dragonite]

Ahh, 2017. It's been an interesting year, for better or for worse. Here's a list of stuff that happened in it:

- Participated in Relic Castle Game Jam and banged out a playable, mildly fun five-hour game. I still argue that it's not "complete" but it was still the most fun thing I've done in a while.
- Participated in a few Iron Mappers. Even if I didn't use RPG Maker they were an interesting experience in designing landscapes.
- Went back to school. Only took two classes to start off with (next semester I'm taking three, maybe four, it's complicated) but I think most people would agree that was a productive use of my time.
- Celebrated my seventh year on YouTube
- Volunteered at a bird place over the summer, which inspired Bird Game
- Saw some of my high school friends for the first time since 2013
- Asked a girl out (it didn't go well)

Overall 2017 was pretty disappointing in terms of "making games," I spent most of it floating around aimlessly with a half-baked game engine in Game Maker, but hopefully in 2018:

- Bird Game will be playable (maybe even stable!)
- The 2D Skyrim that I've been working on intermittently will be usable for . . . something
- My current Essentials project that I've been working on for a few weeks will amount to something

And also

- it would be really cool if my YouTube channel could figure out what it's doing
- maybe I'll start doing competitive Pokémon again, for real
- it would be even cooler if I could figure out what I'm doing with my life (!)

Have a good year, everyone!

 

[Mashirosakura]

So 2017 huh...
I started the year in France, started using rpgmaker in January...Released a first demo in March, a second in June/july...
Moved to the UK at the end of september, got a job mid October, turned 21...
That's about it really. But I met some really nice people and heck I even released a full game for the Game jam, so there's some more positivity.:joy: