After I noticed that gamedev has been in stasis, I've wanted to set a proper though subtle deadline to the project, so it's not going into a yearly stasis again.
And it appears that I was focussing on it so much that I actually havn't drawn anything else, welp.
However, after a month of work, it has now reached it's Beta State, where it's now tested with a few friends. And though it still needs a lot of polish, it's quite well received so far.
Looking forward to improve on it again:
Other than Gamedev, I've also been active on Bluesky, where I did a little showcase of my characters each day.
Out of them all, it was the Alraune that got the most attention, and I think that was a funny thought :v
Character intro #7 Althaea the Alraune She lives in a forest and locals visited her for her aroma, until an earthquake sunk her in the underground. As she matured she learned that she's carnivorous, and that the aroma is supposed to be a lure. though her diet is undeveloped #OC #OriginalCharacter
bsky.app
As for games, I've been playing a lot of Void Stranger again. That game is so goood, I love it!
I spend a lot of time just documenting the stuff, and I'd love to share if it wasn't a massive spoiler about basically anything.
But hopefully I'll get to draw more about the game in the future, it's out there as one of my favorite indie games.
And that's about it. Things will get busy soon again as it been the standard of december month, so I probably won't get into gamedev or art too much, I gotta find some time to relax first. (And playing some bit of Battlefield with friends as I've gotten hooked at it recently)
Have a great Saint Nicolasday and Good luck with everything at the final month of the year!
Naturally, because it's been the busy holidays, I havn't been focussing on much this month, mostly the Secret Santa, and getting along with the family.
...Aaaaand I also have gotten hooked at Battlefield 2042, still.
So let's get to it. So I can continue with it afterwards.
And with that been done, I've cleared another summary of Art this year!
And with that, I pretty much have been doing Art Summaries for a whole decade now. !
So, to end off this 10-year anniversary, here's a compilation of all "Summary of Art"s done together!
I also brought back a compilation of games I've played this year:
From left to right:
Void Stranger
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
BTD6 Mermonkey
Battlefield 2042 Shotgun Sniper
Bug Fables
AoE4 (Reached Diamond Rank this year!)
Kid Icarus Uprising: Light vs Dark
Lethal Company
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
Flashpoint and Super Mario 63
3DS, right before the servers shut down
Anbernic with Fallen Star
Paper Mario: TTYD
XC2 Elma and Xenoblade Chronicles X OST
Minecraft Hardcore with me and my brother (still in progress)
HertenHeld and shikanokonokonokokoantan
HertenHeld Plant Boss (also still in progress)
Overal, this years theming can be quite summarised in one word: "Nostalgia".
Almost every game can fit it in some way.
Whether it's a game I've played a while ago. A forgotten flash game that's resurfaced through new methods.
A game that mimics the style of an old game. or an old series that has gotten a new release.
The 3DS servers also went down this year, and I think that made people also realise what we had until it was gone.
Cause I've seen quite some people missing the handheld era of games, myself included.
And although not mentioned in the artwork, I also played "Weapons throwing RPG" on my phone.
All things considered, this little game really felt like what phone game should be:
Easy pick-up and play, little to no loading times, no advertisements, distractions or fuss, short sessions.
You can pick it up and play it a bit anytime whenever you feel like it. And if it wasn't for the stamina system, one could go through it quick by playing it a few days back to back.
But I think that's not the purpose of the game, it's just to give me something to do for a short moment of waiting while I'm bored. And funny enough, the only time it really asks for advertisements is if you're playing it back-to-back, beyond the stamina limit.
This may be a personal opinion, but I think you can get easily overstimulated by the TikTok-like videos, the public social medias like Twitter and Tumblr, and the many Discord Servers one wants to check for any news, it's so much random information in bursts that it actually feels more intensive than keeping your focus on playing a single game. And that can get problematic on the long run.
So whenever you're bored, try picking something up like that, a game, a book, or a movie/series, and keep your focus on it. Don't try to switch to many different activities so you can get more out of the single ones. (Depending on the situation)
And some misc doodles done:
The Debuff witch would probably just put people to sleep instead of discovering the mysteries of how a sleep debuff actually is supposed to work.
I had a different view on the size of an Armor Plate in Battlefield 2042:
Gamedev
The HertenHeld Update has reached Beta now, and has been tested with a few friends.
I havn't done much to it today besides some little fixes.
Though sometimes it's nice to sit back and look at what's been done so far already:
And that's all for now.
10 years huh? It's been quite some time.
I've noticed that as one gets older, you're more vulnerable to things that I never thought about as a kid, stress and stomach aches been one of the major factors. This year I learned it wasn't just a "me" thing, and that more people with my job are having that issue, and how been healthy is surely a blessing. You kids sure all start on easy mode huh? Better spend that time well until the 30's hardmode starts.
...Okay, I was kidding, maybe. I've seen Red also been full-jedi mode at his age. So it's definitely something that can be worked on, even at later ages.
Off-site, I've been working hard to keep up with my health and stress, and now I can finally feel confident at taking it easier without worrying that it's going to fall back to where it used to be. But I'm still going to be careful with the kind of stress I take, and the kind of food I eat.
Hence why I think the over-stimulance of today's websites and self-build-up expectations can get the worst out of me sometimes.
But I've also noticed that, when I looked back at the 2014 summaries, I actually drew very little, and I didn't bothered with it. Because I had no set up expectations of myself, I seemingly was just doing what I liked to see.
Throughout the years, I've gotten an account at many websites, been a part of multiple communities, made many friends, some who stick for longer than others.
Life doesn't go faster as we get older, but we are becoming a part of more things that we want to do within the same amount of time.
Just like cleaning your room, you also got to clean your mind someday too. Keeping what's important or urgent to you, and letting go of the rest.
Yes, this is me once again making the Monthly Art Batch longer than intended.
I like talking about this. It acts as a self-reflection or monthly diary in a way.
Still looking for a place where I can post my artworks with more longlivity.
But since I've seen even big websites come and go, it's hard to decide which will really stick for a long time.
Until then, I will still not mind using TCF for the time been, at this point even this very thread has become this large legacy already.
Alright, enough closure for now.
Hope you'll have a great new year's eve and best wishes for 2025 as well!
Okay, I was kidding, maybe. I've seen Red also been full-jedi mode at his age. So it's definitely something that can be worked on, even at later ages.
Off-site, I've been working hard to keep up with my health and stress, and now I can finally feel confident at taking it easier without worrying that it's going to fall back to where it used to be. But I'm still going to be careful with the kind of stress I take, and the kind of food I eat.
If you say that you cannot do something due to medical reasons and they refute despite explanation, you van ignore them. I ignore people who say that medical reason would be a lame excuse to not be on Tiktok, instagram, twitter, ... because for me an an autist it is an irrefutible fact.
If you say that you cannot do something due to medical reasons and they refute despite explanation, you van ignore them. I ignore people who say that medical reason would be a lame excuse to not be on Tiktok, instagram, twitter, ... because for me an an autist it is an irrefutible fact.
It's actually not medical advice, but physical. My arm tells me that it hurts if I hold a heavy phone with one hand for an extended period.
My brain tells me that I've already gone through a lot in a day already, and that browsing through Youtube Shorts is not relaxing.
I can't ignore these, because it'll hurt if I do.
It's more a personal thing, if you're fine while doing so, then I've nothing to say. I've once done all-nighters on my Nintendo DS while still feeling fine the next day. (though I've become too responsible to afford that nowadays)
Though I would not completely ignore medical advice either, it's there to be a step ahead before the 'physical advice' takes effect.
Not quite, it's not about learning, it's about doing something that I once told myself to do.
I think for most of them they happen so subtle that I was unaware myself.
An example is the Art Summaries, if a spot is empty, it feels like I've spend a month not been productive. Even though I've filled that time with something else that's not art-related.
And I'm quite productive driven, willing to spend the day to get something done, but I also feel a slight frustration/stress when I don't meet these goals.
But in the 10 years I've gotten more independent and responsible, so there are more chores I've to maintain by default. So I should try to let that feeling of 'not meeting my personal expectations' go.
I've noticed that as one gets older, you're more vulnerable to things that I never thought about as a kid, stress and stomach aches been one of the major factors. This year I learned it wasn't just a "me" thing, and that more people with my job are having that issue, and how been healthy is surely a blessing.
29th of Januari once again. Which means today's Nageru's birthday!
And not just her birthday, today marks exactly 10 years since she was created!
So, it's time for a special ninja-filled batch
For something that started as a simple Terraria playthrough with a girl to draw, she has become quite influentional to me.
And my artstyle has slowly evolved along with her.
Nowadays, Nageru is pretty much my main character right next to Steef. And I use her for all sort of things. from outfits to transformations.
She has also been...quite the target to be called as someone else, over her entire lifetime:
I've been trying to subtly change her without changing the parts that I like most.
Sometimes it's been so long that I simply need to reïntroduce her.
This was Nageru in her first year, her eyes were often fully covered to hide her identity (and to hide that I couldn't draw girl eyes)
She was created for a new Terraria playthrough, one where I focussed only on weapons that can be thrown away.
This includes stuff like consumables, magic dagger and boomerangs, something that originates from each class.
The idea was novel, and people quite enjoyed the playthrough, including the character.
The concept of Nageru came from a compination of a Ninja and an Elf Archer class from a mobile game I played at the time.
The blond hair and green clothes and golden weapons were key character points.
And because the Magic Dagger was a strong and flexible mid-game weapon, I accociated Nageru pretty much with the Magic Dagger since then.
The colors however made her look a little too close to an other populair character, so around 2017, I've wanted to give her a redesign:
This was Nageru's second iteration, her overall colors are more darker to fit more with the ninja theme.
It also made her Magic Dagger stand out a little more. She also gained abs, which I found looking fit.
This has stayed consistent for around 5 years, but at some point, the darker colors made her stand out quite less, and her design became a bit stale.
So I've wanted to try out something new for her again and came with another redesign:
This is Nageru's current iteration: Brightening her colors a bit while giving her a more ninja-ish look.
With bandages on the front of the arms, an extendable inner shirt that can go over the mouth, and a hair binding with a fire crest, to reflect her bond with Steef.
But despite the changes made, I still like to keep her flexible, so she can appear in any form if she desires.
Over time, I've liked to see Nageru in more different outfits, sometimes even cosplays and transformations. It's very fun to have a base design and see it transform and alter in many ways.
Nageru has also a rivalry relationship with Althaea the Alraune, and Leaf the fairy. So recently she also has a bit of a plant-like theme going on:
Which makes me come back to HertenHeld...on the gamedev section
Year of the Plant!
..Or was it year of the snake?
There are days where I'm staring at a screen and losing my connection with my mind:
Recently, I've also been trying to pick up a notebook instead of a phone and trying to draw a bit more inbetween times where I've nothing to do.
I'll really recommend it, even if it's not just for drawing but just writing things down what's on your mind. it feels much more relaxing than trying it on a screen.
--- Gamedev ---
Well...I've been working a lot on finishing off the update to HertenHeld.
And with result, HertenHeld is now feature complete!
The amount of things done at this point has been so expanded that it has quite grown over the initial idea, so the title "Overgrowth" is quite fitting in that regard.
Right now, all that's left is testing and fixing the little things...it's a lot of little things...
But in the meantime, I can showcase what's done last month:
The Alraune has gotten revamped sprites and is now more lively:
Nageru's double jump is now replaced with a Wall Jump, making the game thematically more difficult:
And background objects have been drawn and added to every room:
Including like 14+ flower sprites:
It feels close, but despite that, I don't like to set up a release date just yet.
I was aiming for HertenHeld's original release date, but that feels too close to give it some proper tests and preparations.
I'd rather not stress over it if it's not required.
Still, it was a subtle deadline, and I'm glad that it lead to me making this much progress, to been close to complete at the moment.
And that's all for now, hope you all had a great start this year. onwards to the next!
For this time I'll start with Gamedev news first because it is taking the highlight.
---Gamedev---
I'm happy to announce that HertenHeld 2.0 has finally been released today!
This update has focussed on several visual effects, gameplay tweaks, and a new gamemode featuring an Alraune boss!
...As you all know because I've also been highlighting this on every monthly art batch the past year.
You can read a full overview with all the changes, along with the download, here:
Hello everyone, After almost another year working on this project, I'm happy to announce that HertenHeld has received a new content update! This update focusses on better visuals to the base game, whi...
ppowersteef.itch.io
Besides the new addition, there also have been updates made to the original game. So I'd recommend to play through the original game too, even if you've played it before.
But if you've reeaally want to try Nageru's game, then you can type out "Nageru" on the main menu to unlock it automatically. It's a secret to everyone.
---Artworks---
Well...I have only been busy preparing the final tweaks for HertenHeld this time around, so anytime spend drawing was done for the game.
A lot of time I was thinking about "Plant Polish" whenever I had to tweak the Alraune.
Essentially I took this in as just part of the gamedev life cycle, just like watering a plant is to be expected.
Therefore, plant polish has become a recurring thing thoughout it's development:
5-februari-2025 was the day HertenHeld released 4 years ago!
As Nageru took part of the extra mode, I did had to consider that Nageru also becomes part of HertenHeld itself, rather than Terraria or her own thing.
While it sounded odd at first, I do think it made more sense later on, as the Alraune was already part of the forest lore, and Nageru is also green colored to blend with the forest environment. So she might become a part of the deer club now, whether she's aware of it or not.
And the single, non-HertenHeld doodle of Casual Alpha.
This month went by quick, understandably so because it was februari.
Originally the idea was to release HertenHeld on 5-februari, the 4th anniversary. But it was not balanced yet and it would've turned out to be the hardest alraune fight ever. And there would've been some critical bugs left in the game too.
I'm glad that I took the time to balance it out and not rushed it off. Now I could've release the game with satisfaction.
Despite the time it took, I can look back at it with a smile, the improved development I've gone through Game development have really payed off.
But it has also made me weary, and it's also weird to see things age by, and now 3 people I know closely are in expecting of a child.
I think I want the following months to focus on some advancements of my own, looking for a house of my own would be a great goal to look forward to.
With the lent period aligning pretty great, I think this is also a good time of a break. Things are feeling good now.
Initially I didn't wanted to update it monthly to not give myself the pressure to prestate.
And as result, I havn't really been drawing much aside from personal stuff.
But I want to give a little headsup what I've been doing since.
--- The Other stuff ---
Since March I've been looking for a house of my own now! I think that's a good step into the next phase of life.
Xenoblade X was also released, and have been playing that for a while this month. I don't play it as story-driven as other Xenoblade entries, so it's pretty much my comfort game when I've nothing else to do.
As of June I've also gotten back into Age of Empires 4, by making recordings of my own sessions, that way I can also watch back what went wrong at more control than watching the duration of the replay. I also uploaded them on Youtube as an unlisted series, so if that's your thing, feel free to watch: Delhi Road to Conquerer
Though, I've noticed myself that I don't really watch old videos back, so instead of going through the process of uploading, I'm reüsing Twitch again to stream my AoE4 series instead.
I've also gotten back into Deltarune again now that Chapter 3 and 4 are released, and they've been a blast.
I definitely recommend them, but as the forums already have turned into the Deltarune Community Forums, I think you already know that by now.
And I've also gotten into a Chess tournament right when the Switch 2 was launching, and I think that scenario was pretty hillarious to think about:
--- The Artworks ---
A little gift art made for Shadouette:
Which surprisingly I think is not part of the forums, so I'll link her BlueSky instead:
Hey! Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to grab a drawing- we have terraria, pretty girls, ocs and more. Make yourself comfortable! 💕
bsky.app
I've been visiting an old-colleague/friend a lot, and always enjoy their living room. With both friend and girlfriend been gaming dorks, but also having 3 cats in their appartment.
It has been his birthday the past few months, and I've wanted to draw something for them:
Usually I prefer IRL stuff to remain personal, but I think this is anonymous enough to share:
Little doodles I made during Lynte's "Void Stranger Fridays" series, it's as much fun to watch someone else play and discover as yourself:
(Though, I still recommend playing the game by yourself first)
More Shadou Shenanigans
A scrap for Xenoblade X Noctilum's area that I no longer intent to finish:
Discord Chess Shenanigans:
Non-Spoiler Deltarune:
Deltarune Chapters makes for surprisingly good milestones to reflect back on life, where I have been, and where I am going.
And looking back at it, I remember that I was pretty demotivated that there weren't many good games out there, with Deltarune been pretty much the only game I had to look forward for. where the time of great AAA games has been long gone.
Since then, I've gotten into the Xenoblade Chronicles series and other games like Void Stranger, and my eyes have been opened.
Discovering master piece after master piece, been amazed and interested in whatever came next and what other stuff can happen.
I felt like both a kid experiencing something new and fresh, and an adult for understanding the heavier themes they went under.
Just reading through them all, remembering every moment a certain quote happened, it gives me chills...
Now that I've played Ch3&4, I can say that Deltarune is still an awesome game that holds up really well, but I'm also glad that it also has some contenders now.
I also got into Age of Empires and was interested into how deep the gameplay actually went, and it went from a game of casual "defend and survive the swarm of armies" to a masterful game of Real Time Chess, where every choice has impact. It's so in-depth and the community is great. And AoE4 has now become my second most played game. (and still only half the hours of Terraria, can you imagine)
Meanwhile Masahiro Sakurai has gone through the extremely based gamedev youtube series that I've got to learn from as well.
And a music teacher (known as BestMusicCoach) who listens and analyses the music of Undertale, Deltarune, Xenoblade Chronicles and more, also have kicked off since 2021's Deltarune Chapter 2. Who is also a very entertaining guy to listen the OST with.
2021-2025 may not seem much, but if you stood still and think about it, a lot has happened inbetween, a lot that I can also be thankful about.
There's also another thing I've been working on.
One that inspired me after @Meowlegend 's post on my profile (which is still pinned), and that's to make a compilation of stuff and things I do and use when drawing.
Where I like to talk about the workspace and tools I use. What my drawing process looks like, and what general tips I can give to help one on their way to draw.
Looking forward to share more when it's done!
--- Gamedev ---
HertenHeld has received a new game cover now!
HertenHeld: Overgrowth has been well received since, I've given it a little balance patch and left it alone for a while.
I've wanted to look into some post-release changes, but didn't felt the need to make big ones, so I left it at some fixes and kept the game as is.
That was...until a certain japanese blue cat suddenly discovered the game and went praising it last week.
Meet catlover_mimi, a japanese streamer that plays random games from Itch.io.
He actually was one of the people that have played Fallen Star at release, and also made a video on that one.
He's very skilled and could beat my game in an unbalanced state at his first try. While also been very enthusiastic about it.
It's pretty entertaining to watch, even if I've to rely on translations what he actually says.
His stream of HertenHeld had gained new interest, and it's been fun to talk about it again.
That been said, I probably don't intent to do more on the game now than have been done.
I've been looking forward to work on new ideas, and that can't happen if I keep looking back.
Well, and that's about it.
That's about the summary of 4 months together.
Currently I've plans to join Art Fight during the vacation, along with a few other artists like RunicPixels, and am looking forward for that.
I'll also probably still be streaming Age of Empires 4 for the time beiing.
But with the house hunting, I should get used to that free time becomes more valueable, and that it needs to be spend well.
Nowadays, I value to spend that time more with local friends than on social media.
So there's no guarantee that I'll continue the 'monthly art batches' as monthly as usual. But I do like to talk about stuff when I can.
So I'll probably post them whenever I'll feel like to, still at the end of a month. Until I've found a proper alternative.
And as closure, the profile picture I use was a long-time commission.
It was from the artist/Owner of WoodenPlankStudios, the creator of the "Everyone is Home" Smash Bros Ultimate comic.
I found it a cute thought after him making so many references to other game franchises, to have mine included in his style as well.
(This also may have helped sparking interest on the game again, now I think about it)
And that's all for now, have a great July, and hope you all survive the heat!
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antan
