DAMNIT MOTHER I'VE DONE LEFT IT AGES BETWEEN BLOGS AGAIN

Hello! It's been an eventful 18 months, so it's nice to come back and see good old 64Digits still here, still toodling along, serving not only as a fun community but also as one of the last remaining hits of nostalgia for the mid-noughties GameMaker scene I grew up with. (I know GameMaker Games is still technically up, but bless it, you don't have to do much on it now before you wander face first into a site-breaking bug.)

So… recap!

==> YoYo Games

After five years and a month, I resigned as a game developer at YoYo Games. This was partly due to the direction the company seemed to be taking - nothing against it, but Playtech's uses for the company and a person in my job description were far removed from what I wanted to do. It was also partly so I could go full time indie.

==> Chequered Ink

is the name of the company I then formed with my friend, former work colleague and fellow deserter, Dan Johnston. We make games, he makes websites, I make fonts - basically the same as I was doing both with YYG and casually in the meantime. But commercial!

==> Innoquous 5

was released in August 2015, after I had spent the year preceding it making it while at YYG, all the while as a possible first moneymaker on my departure. Released that to itch.io and IndieGameStand. It did okay.

==> Won't You Be My Laser?

was released in January 2016. A much smaller game, with a one-dollar price tag to match. I did release a couple of other free games between Innoquous 5 and Won't You Be My Laser?, but one was a cipher crossword application and one was a game in which you murdered Teletubbies and stole their custard, so they need not be mentioned further.

==> NAL Is Dead

was also released in January 2016, following a 47-page ebook I wrote along with it taking longer to write than I wanted it to. NAL Is Dead contained everything I ever made as NAL between March 2003 and August 2015. That's 130 games - along with about 90 WIP builds, the 220 fonts I released under the same pseudonym, and the aforementioned PDF documenting the history with fun facts and stuff.

==> Steam

It took 7 months, but Innoquous 5 was Greenlit on Steam around April 2016, and released on May 13th 2016, a date chosen because it was the five-year anniversary of Innoquous 4's release.

About a week after its release, NAL Is Alive (NAL Is Dead but with remastered games, a launcher, and more Steam stuff like global leaderboards) was Greenlit too. And shortly following that, WYBML made it as well! Released WYBML at the start of last month, NIA is a long, LONG project that is still under construction.

==> Tick Tick Pass

A game I started in mid-2015 with no intentions to release it, TTP is a multiplayer game I made purely to amuse myself, Dan (now my colleague) and Darrell (also a YYG employee of the time we lived with) on a Friday night when we were pouring alcohol into ourselves. To summarise, TTP presents you with a category, eg "Tom Cruise films", and you take it in turns to fill in a valid answer - if you can't get one, you're out.

That's still in development alongside NIA, and is currently sitting on Greenlight slowly amassing votes.

==> Miscellaneous Gamedev

Innoquous 5 has also been OKed by Microsoft for release on Xbox One - Dan's looking at that, but I'm looking forward to it!

==> Fonts

The fonts are still coming out thick and fast. On top of the 220 released under NAL, I've released ~140 so far under Chequered Ink.

I've started to see them a lot more in public too - since the last blog entry, Flo Rida used one on his EP "My House", WWE used one for the Cruiserweight Classic graphics, the Derren Brown's Ghost Train ride at Thorpe Park uses one extensively, PBS used one extensively in a special, and yet another one is going to be used on a lot of set design for a fairly huge upcoming film!

It's still weird.

==> Miscellaneous Gaming

I'm self employed, so I've been getting a silly amount of gaming done. I've completed most games of personal interest that have come out in that year:

Fallout 4 (over 300 hours into that bad boy, platinumed)

Ratchet & Clank '16 (three times, platinumed)

Batman: Arkham Knight (activated Knightfall)

Mad Max (A MIGHTY DUSTER!)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (**** you Robomodo)

Just Cause 3 (ok, didn't finish the story, it sucked. but took over all the territories!)

The Witness (no piss jar required)

Uncharted 4 (*drool*)

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst (loved it)

inFamous: Second Son (for the second time, and platinumed)

Bully (PS4, for the fifth time, and platinumed)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (want to platinum but the no-alarms trophy can GTF)

Also played a ton of Rock Band 4, WWE 2K16, Guitar Hero Live, nearly finished Tearaway: Unfolded, started Mafia III but kind of fell asleep a bit, and I've gone through and replayed most of the Professor Layton sextillogy.

I've also been outside the house and socialised a few times, so get me!

==> Miscellaneous

I can't shake off the massive tech erection and the blinding impatience I've had for the past eight hours. Bloody Nintendo Switch. One day I will have you, and I will have a Pokémon game on you, and I will dream about you, sleep with y…

==> ANYWAY

How are all of you? I've done a lot of talking, I've covered pretty much everything, and I miss y'all.

And I got the motivation to come back and write this blog because I was reminded of Another Day In The Life Of Bob, a game that essentially screams 64digits to me.

Until next ye… uh… time.