Devlog: shaking off the rust

The following blog post carries the personal thoughts of Elder Prince, founder of Blossomsoft Games.

This week feels like a breath of fresh air as I confidently proclaim it to be a true game development week after a long hiatus. Many of you are aware of the complicated life circumstances that have hindered my ability to focus on my projects over the past year, with even 2020 and 2021 proving to be challenging. However, thanks to the renewed financial support from an online friend, I can now devote more focused energy to my development without the need for an additional real-life job.

I must admit that I’m feeling a bit rusty across various aspects and I am currently in the process of relearning things. While it’s not an overwhelming task, I have undoubtedly lost touch with my previous routines and workflows.

During this weekend, I accomplished the following:

• Reinstalled my Wacom tablet, fortunately retaining my pixel art skills!
• Updated to the latest version of Blender. I had been using Blender 2.79, but they have since released version 3.51, which boasts significant changes from the version I’m familiar with. Despite my games being 2D, Blender remains instrumental in creating various game assets.
• Revised the website. My goal is to prepare it for a larger influx of updates. More sections and widgets will be added at some point in the future.
• Reviewed the progress of my game engine. The last time I worked on it was around April 2022. I was thrilled with the progress made back then, and it saddened me that I had to put it on hold due to a full-time job. Unfortunately, I hadn’t documented my latest advancements, resulting in a loss of memory regarding the improvements I had intended for the latest version. This weekend, I delved into investigating the necessary upgrades, thankfully finding several clues to guide me.

This experience serves as a reminder that progress should never be halted for such extended periods. I genuinely hope that nothing will impede me from working nearly full-time on my projects until their next release.