time for a journally ramble! that's right, we're not "kinda like tumblr", we're just going all the way back to LiveJournal with this shit. y'know I think mine might still be up somewhere... at least, the second one I made. the first one I deleted out of embarrassment when people in my school year found it. a big oof to this day, to be sure
trans pride
a wild weekend of extremes this weekend. trans pride south west, as expected, was another great chance to be surrounded by beautiful trans people and at the march I felt the sense of solidarity amongst our community more acutely, and emotionally, than ever.
thanks to a nice nap and cuddles I had some energy to go out and socialise and enjoy the transfem meetup, and afterparty and danced and flirted the night away. immensely grateful that these spaces are opening up more in my city now, even outside of trans pride.
wolfwalkers
I watched wolfwalkers again and that movie absolutely ruins me both with its touching and refreshingly accessible story with a simple but potent message, and its absolutely, unbelievably gorgeous audiovisuals. it just feels like right of a template for what a kind of 2D animated movie that's entrancing to all ages should be today. cultural differences aside depending on where the studio is based, of course. though as a welsh woman, I find myself strongly magnetised and biased towards these Celtic themes and imagery.
game dev
aside from that, though I've had a great deal of difficulties lately - a brutal bout of depression and a lot of deep cutting personal shit to process - things have felt positive lately. largely, overcoming that depressive slump and getting back to a baseline if not in an especially positive place, and getting absolutely back in the zone when it comes to game dev. I'm almost startled at how complete it's looking.
I don't really mind how amateurish it is, that's the cost I took on when I decided to make this game by myself from top to bottom (aside from a couple generous friends doing a bit of playtesting) and to make something that is me without any creative or financial compromise. the only compromises I've really made are making the decision to say "yep, that'll have to do" because it's just a small game and I want to actually release it. lessons learned can go into my next project, and it certainly won't be something I do by myself. also you inherently have to compromise with game boy games because, well yknow, it's a game boy. but that's been a fun process all by itself.
now I have some bits left to do:
a couple more pieces of level music
the final/ending scene (don't want to underestimate this)
options
sound effects pass
final polishing, bugfixing and general vibe check of the game flow
the only thing I'm wondering about now is the cover art. it would be entirely optional but I do want it. I am absolutely not well placed to do it myself, it would take forever and probably not great. but I could try. or - for this alone - I could hire an artist else to get something that looks real nice. hmmm....