I didn’t get too far last night, so as I continue spring cleaning, let’s talk about a new topic.
One of the issues I’ve always had with my projects is the fact that, while I primarily focused on gamedev, there are tons of other things I’m also interested in. The advent calendar and the mini webcomics (Hyoukyo Mirror and Hyoukyo Traitor) are evidence of this, but they are far from the only side projects I considered. Unfortunately, my scheduling sucked and the exhaustion/motivation issues didn’t help either, so most of these extra projects never saw the light of day. “If I split my focus even more, I’ll never get anything done”, I thought… and then proceeded to not get anything done anyway.
Something that always seemed fun was the thought of sharing gaming experiences. Let’s Plays used to be a big part of my day around the time I made my first gamedev attempts, and I remember looking forward to watching the new “episodes” as soon as they got uploaded. Even now, after many of them vanished from YouTube or moved on to streaming on Twitch, there are some creators I follow and whose videos I listen to while working. I also recorded about a dozen RPs myself, but man… the quality sure was garbage. I didn’t have good equipment, nor stuck with it long enough to improve, and I have no idea if I was entertaining in any way.
A year after closing down Prismanga, I felt like sharing something again and opened a new Twitter account for the purpose of posting (retro) gaming screenshots and similar things. I didn’t announce this at all and just made a few Tweets now and then, until I eventually closed that account as well. But I had a lot of fun with the banner, which even had a special winter version! (Looking at the things I found while spring cleaning, a Halloween version was planned too, but I guess I never finished that one.)
The character is Maron, a kind and responsible boy who is a passionate retro gamer as well. (He also has a mischievous twin brother he needs to keep in check all the time…) This was some time after my otokonoko obsession got worse and I experimented with my drawings a little; the eyes in particular. Maybe it’s noticeable here.
And yep, I looked through all my favorite retro games to grab both “normal” and frosty screenshots. I even made sure to include some of my favorite places, like that bridge on top of Death Mountain in Zelda ALttP, or the Tall, Tall Mountain stage from Super Mario 64! The latter isn’t that great gameplay-wise (because almost every star requires you to climb the freaking mountain again and again), but it feels especially nostalgic for personal reasons.
I still think that sharing cool games in some way – by making videos, writing reviews or even Vtubing – would be fun, but it all takes time and effort. And I’m still very tired of never finishing anything I start, so I’d rather not open up any new accounts or channels right now. But if I ever became a Vtuber, you can bet that I would design a cute otokonoko character to represent me ww