no idea when I'll use this sprite though.

I'm emailing them now but I swear to god I will be so mad if it remains terminated. What the hell did I do wrong?

Alright so my current project (roboska LV is kinda still in development, but on a haitus and I haven't touched the gd file this year) is this DDLC fangame which I will be working on in my free time while studying for GCSEs (ie working on it instead of doing revision all day like my parents want me to). I've gotten the start screen made and I've made some of the sprites for the main character:

I'm not planning on doing any more game jams at this current moment as I have quite a lot to do already. I've submitted a drawing for the sandwich collab and I plan on making an animation for the FNAF thingy that's in July. I'm also planning on opening commissions for various video game stuff during the extra long summer holiday and I don't know how much of my time that'll take (maybe 2 or 3 commissions max, I'm not too well known so I can't imagine I'll receive a lot of customers) but I suspect I'll get the fangame made during that time. The good thing about college is that there's only 3 (or 4) subjects to revise for and also with college you only have to go in if you have a class, like uni.

I'm also currently creating an intro for my main games that I will upload on here once it's finished. Because the fangame is the one I'm working on, the characters in the intro are from that, but it's designed in a way where the characters can be replaced depending on the game.

So, Roboska LV...

Roboska LV...

most of the work on it will be made after I've done the 3 or so medium projects that I have planned. I'll be in uni by the time I actually work on it seriously so I imagine I'll launch some kind of kickstarter for it once I've made enough for a demo, which I'll upload here too. I'll update the tumblr for it every now and then though. I started overhauling the dialogue system to use dialogic back in December so I suspect most aspects of the game will be updated and tweaked. I also might port it to godot 4 once the videoplayer thing there actually works.

Oh, and here's the start screen to DDLV. The beginning dialogue is different now, but the actual screen is the same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=323-eULXcGY

I'm making designs for Redbubble stuff but I don't want to use OCs that I'm planning on using for future games so expect to see a lot of drawings with Aliza from "Entity creator: lolita fashion edition" and ducks because I can't draw any other animal.

I've considered changing my username, not sure to what yet, but I feel like doing yet another rebrand. The problem is that you need to be a supporter to change your username on Newgrounds which is a monthy subscription that's £2.43 as a minimum price. It's not the cost that's the problem for me, I was planning on becoming a supporter at some point in the future anyway to help the website, it's the fact that I don't have a stable source of income (or a debit card yet) and I plan on spending almost all my money in my bank account to buy a new phone so things like subscriptions scare me a bit. Probably won't change it today, or tomorrow, or the day after. I want to change it though as I came up with that username when I was 13 and even though newgrounds has forced me to become attached to it, I want to do things that having a name like "PearlHikara" just doesn't really fit. I don't want to use my real name though: it's not a bad name, I quite like the combination in fact, but ya know, privacy and stuff. I'll go down the stage name route where it seems like a name I could have possibly gotten from birth, but not really. I've also stuck with the OC I created when I was 12 (she's changed quite a bit design wise, but she's still the same person). I did have another OC back in 2021-3 that I killed off because he wasn't waifu material. It feels a bit odd representing myself as a hot ginger fairy girl so my plan is to go down the "what youtube animators do where they draw a slightly more attractive version of themselves" route which makes more sense. Also PearlHikara's hair is ever so slightly linger than mine and a brighter shade of ginger which is annoying me slightly. I'm also not very feminine in real life so it just makes more sense. I guess this will mark the end of an era when I do get round to it.

At least my name still isn't "PearlRainbow Animations".

The sad thing is, it means I have to change my splash screen and I really like it's design. It's based on my username though so I'll have to scrap it after only using it once.

edit 12/02/2024:

I've got it. It came to me right as I was going to bed last night:

Rosie Ultraviolett. RosieUV for usernames.

Rosie 'cause roses are my favourite flower (second favourite plant to the potato) and also I can make that into a cool logo and it's a name I used to use a lot when naming things back when I was a toddler. I don't know why but maybe it's because one of my middle names is "Rose" so 3 year old me thought it would be fitting for a teddy bear.

Ultraviolett because the electromagnetic spectrum is cool, it gives me an excuse to use my favourite colour (purple) and it sounds futuristic, which works as I'm a game developer.

I'll change my username eventually (mostly once I've got it changed on Newgrounds) but yeah.

edit 12/02/2024 not at midnight:

YendorNG on the NGP discord server gifted me a month's supporter! thx :D

they always end up like discord conversations in the review responds.

This is my first proper 3D model (others before were scrapped) and this is my first 3D model of a shoe from scratch! It's a slip on shoe which is why it looks so basic but I'm proud of it.

This is actually the 4th time I've posted this online but idc I find random things like this find me joy.

The prompt I picked is "lantern". This ended up being a lot spookier than I thought but it still has that wintery vibe to it. 1519 words total.

Gentle snow fell from the sky and rested on your hat. The trees protected you from most of the elements and still let some light in. The entire forest you were walking in was covered in snow. Not so thick that you couldn’t walk in it, but thick enough to make you thankful you wore boots. The lack of light gave the forest a mysterious atmosphere, especially with all the animals asleep in burrows and trees. You refuse to use your phone’s torch: battery life is important to preserve. It was fine anyway; you could clearly see up ahead. The light was cold and blue, but still bright enough to show you the path to take. On and on you keep walking, until you feel something in the sole of your boot. It doesn’t hurt but you look down anyway to see what it could be. You nudge the snow out of the way with your foot to reveal a broken lantern. You must have stepped on it during your journey. You don’t think too much of it, it’s just glass and metal after all. You take the glass shard out from the soul of your boot, and you continue on walking. You had to continue on as you were still looking for it.

A couple steps later and you come across another lantern, fully formed and half buried up ahead. Then another lantern just like the previous. And another one. And another one. You keep coming across these empty lanterns until you see some sort of mountain up above. Could it be the thing you were searching for? Excited, you run towards the ambiguous shape. The sun sank lower and lower with each step. You abruptly stop. Could it be? You go and check to see if this meant your quest was finished. Your hands were starting to freeze up, but you had to check anyway just to be sure. No, it was just a false alarm; you’re just delirious. You sigh and were going to continue on as normal, until you saw a glow, a warm glow. It was on top of the mountain like structure and shone like the sun.

You decided to walk towards it only to realise that it wasn’t a mountain at all: it was a massive pile of lanterns just like the ones from before. These weren’t junk as all of these lanterns were still perfectly functional with no cracks or missing pieces. You wonder why on earth someone would make a pyramid of such a random item. Excess stock? This would mean that there’s a shop or at least a warehouse nearby. But you know from your journey that there’s no sign of civilisation for miles so where could these have possibly come from? You stop questioning it and decide to climb it: the light was enticing. It wasn’t easy trying to climb a massive pile of lanterns, but they seemed to behave and stay in place. As you ascended, the light gradually went duller and duller. It dwindled into the size of a candlelight. It was too dark to see without any kind of light and you still refused to use the torch on your phone. As you reached the top you realised the light was just another lantern, but this one had a burning candle in it. You pick up the lantern and carefully climbed back down the same path that you went up. You seemed to have forgotten that your boots had snow on as you slipped down the pile and fell into the snow. Phone still in pocket, yourself in one piece, everything’s okay. There’s some cuts and scratches in places but nothing broken or sprained. You frantically dug around in the snow to find the lantern. Somehow it was still lit. You didn’t question it; you were just thankful you still had a light.

You continue to walk forwards. 10 minutes pass. Still couldn’t find it. What were you looking for anyway? It’ll come back to you eventually when you see it. The light seemed to be a little brighter. Odd, but you didn’t care. It was pitch black now anyway, you needed that light to be as bright as possible. It seemed to have snowed a bit more as the layering on the floor became a little thicker.

You continue with your journey. Where were you going? You must have been going somewhere, why else were you walking in this forest? The light was significantly brighter. It was a simple candle, yet the wax was untouched. The cold used to be more of a slight annoyance, now it was trying to make itself as known as possible. You check your phone to see where you were trying to go. Weird, it doesn’t say anything about going somewhere. What were you doing here then? You couldn’t seem to remember. Just continue walking.

At this point you’ve been in this forest for…how long exactly? It feels like hours, but the sky is still as dark as it always was. Your legs start to ache. Must have been a while. You look around but everything still seems to remain the same: trees, dirt, snow. You checked your phone for the time but…did you have a phone? It’s not unreasonable to assume that maybe you wanted to be isolated. Some people like to live in the middle of nowhere as a way to escape from the loud cities and live a more peaceful life. This may explain why you don’t seem to remember where you live or where you are in the world. Nevertheless, you didn’t check. You continued to walk in the same direction you always do. The cold was starting to attack you, but you had the lantern to keep you warm. The flame was more like a miniature campfire at this point. You could feel it escaping its simple glass container as it looked like it was going to burst. Just continue.

Just keep doing what you know, and you’ll reach some sort of conclusion. It worked then and it’ll work now. Walking along this path is the only thing you seem to remember. But then a realisation occurred…who…who are you? You stop dead in your tracks. Over and over, you muttered those words to yourself, but in the first-person tense. Your eyes turned into the shape of panic and despair. The cold had decided that it wants you dead, so you’re muttering session was interrupted by violent winds and snow dragging you in all directions. Just…just…

You’re not going to make it out of this place, are you?

Your hands hurt.

Your feet hurt.

Your face hurt.

Everything hurt.

You started to scream. It was a pointless exercise as nobody could hear you, but it made you feel a little better about your situation. You tried to continue but each step felt like a chore. Simply existing was agony to you at this point. You tried so hard to progress, but it got too much. However, you needed to carry on: it’s all you knew. Wait…carry on doing what? This state of obliviousness tortured you. The lantern’s flame engulfed its glass and metal body and proceeded to surround you in its warmth. Its heat was so great it seemed like it changed the season entirely as all the snow melted into steam and trees burned and barbecued. The snow you collapsed in melted as well but you were unharmed somehow. You continued to lay on the floor waiting for something, anything, to end it all. Cold, fire, wind, snow, whatever would kill you first. As your eyes were slowly closing, you saw a familiar mountain like structure up ahead, its warm glow enticing you, but you didn’t have the willpower to get close to it.

Everything was dark. Did the fire die out or yourself? No, that’s not right: you woke up. If you were dead, then you wouldn’t have done that. Where or when did you wake up? Open your eyes.

Everything is much brighter now. You weren’t lying on the burnt earth, but on an icy road. You seemed to be on the side of a mountain, a real one. To your left was a car. It was sticking out of a tree and had certainly seen better days. You remembered how it got into that state and let out an awkward laugh. Nobody else was there. The road wasn’t a big one, it was the kind you would only go down if you were going through a rural area. There seemed to be no phone signal around and you needed to call someone to help fix your car. You double checked to see if it was wrecked, maybe it just needed to be plucked away from the tree? It didn’t even start. You looked towards a forest to check if there’s any signal in there: possibly a phone line was installed for a local village. You put on your boots and decide to walk in. You reassured yourself by saying this wouldn’t take too long, the forest was only small after all. 

after a failed drive transplant in my computer, i have managed to break my computer so now it doesn't do anything when powered on. my phone barely runs this website so i haven't been active here for almost a week and i got my computer to the shop to be fixed today but because of christmas, i'll end up getting it next week. i'm using a laptop that belongs to someone else in my family currently, as i don't want to type my entry for the writers jam on my phone. don't expect any art or music stuff for the next few days though as i don't want to have to redownload programs and drives and stuff. it's annoying but hey, could be worse.

so many daily picks from P-bot that i will never see...

This year started with me trying to finish my entry for Pixel Day (and ended up releasing it unfinished) and ended with me trying to get blender to work properly on my computer so I can give a proper go at 3D animation. I went from coding on scratch to picking up godot and making my first game in that program (that wasn't a prototype) for Pico Day. This was the first year where I really tried to put in more effort in participating in collabs, jams and competitions no matter how many other projects I had going on in the background. Hell, even now I've joined the writer's jam and are waiting for the themes to come out.

A list of every collab, jam and stuff that I did this year (and the links to all the details to said thing if you're curious):

• Pixel day
• Pico day (sorta did last year)
• Sketch collab (did last year)
• Secret santa (done ever since I joined in 2021)
• south park collab
• Deathink's horror game mashup art competition
• Halloween competition
• Costume jam
• Grimace shake collab
• Hatsune Miku's birthday collab (can't find the original post)
• Not a Newgrounds game jam, but a jam on itch.io called the 02A2 visual novel jam that I also uploaded the game onto here as well for consistency sake

I think that's all. I hope I haven't missed any out. I was planning on doing the most recent lunum dare but there was just so much going on at that period of time that I couldn't participate without driving myself insane.

Overall I would say my programming skills improved the most this year. Like I said earlier, I started this year using a modded version of scratch called turbowarp and now I know a decent amount in godot. I'm not a master at it, but I know enough for the types of games that I code.

Music is also another one that I think I've improved on. I've learned more about the DAW that I use, LMMS, and can do some fancy stuff with it like automatically making tracks louder and quieter and automatically changing the tempo. Also I'm a bit better at melodies and stuff because I started using scales and taking advantage of drums, and also because I make music quite frequently as I keep making tracks for my current project. I also started the compositions for my music GCSE this year so there's 2 of those.

I've gotten a bit better at voice acting because my current project is voice acted. My mic sucks but I'm getting a better one for Christmas.

So yeah that's basically it. I haven't used the blog feature much here ever since I moved most of my blogging stuff to tumblr, but this is special as it's mostly about Newgrounds (but I'll probably copy and paste it there too 'cause consistency). I have no idea what I'll do in 2024 apart from make that ddlc fangame idea that I have and also work on my main project.