I can't stop making games and 2025 was the year that I really fell in love with the process of making games. In the past I have been frustrated with my lack of skills but something has changed and now I appreciate the challenge and the learning that follows.

Unexpectedly, slowing down and appreciating the process has increased my output. It's hard to explain but I feel confident that I can navigate any roadblock I encounter as long as I approach it with the intent to learn.

Here are the projects I have worked on in 2025. I will describe each game I worked on, why it succeeded or failed, and what I learned. Over time, I hope that documenting my work will help me solidify my knowledge and memory so I can grow faster.

Playconomy (Prototype), Fall 2024 - Winter 2025

Meant to be a combination of a store/profession simulator with a sandbox economy. The value-add was multiplayer with persistence AND the existence of a saboteur who could mess with economies. With the saboteur I was thinking of Space Station 13.

The gameplay loop consisted of levelling profession skills and building a storefront using crafted items built by players in the game. When players logged in they would find an empty storefront on the server and claim it. When they logged out, the storefront would be opened for another player, and anything you built in your storefront would be saved and rebuilt for you in an open storefront upon login. Players also had persistent skills and currency. I considered successful implementation to have easy and quick trading and building.

Ocassionally and randomly, a player would be given the option to become the saboteur when logging in. The saboteur could siphon currency or items, could mess with electricty and comms, and generally cause disruption to the economy. Saboteurs could be stopped by law enforcement, but anyone could be arrested which would add an element of "whodunit" to the world. Trials would be held with other players as jurors. Successfully catching and convicting the saboteur would result in bonus currency for all players. Failure to convict would net the benefit for the saboteur instead.

NPCs would also inject currency by buying from players to keep liquidity flowing.

Why it failed - Most gamedevs can empathize with the result here: scope creep killed this game. The requirement of persistence meant having databases and some security. I used mySQL tables and communicated between the data and the game with an ASP.net API.
This was a ton of fun to implement, especially getting the request from a player in the game to show up in a database. However, my idea was too ambitious for just me. I had about half of the baseline systems implemented and the game just wasn't feeling great so I ended its production.

What I learned - Aside from using databases to create and maintain a persistent world, I gained experience making UI for communication and trade, developing dedicated server based multiplayer, and implementing crafting/building mechanics.

DREAMSHOT (Prototype), Winter 2025

This golf-like game was a love letter to Kirby's Dream Course (KDC); an arcade-y golf game where the multiplayer objective is to collect the most points before the course ends. The intention was to have similar gameplay to KDC with power ups and various courses. The value-add was multiplayer (up to 4 players) and a course creator.

The game was turn based and competitive, though it could also be played single player. The prototype turned out a bit janky; the multiplayer was server-authoritative but there were some situations where players would drop out of sync, only to snap back to the server state. This caused minor confusion in some matches, though de-syncs never lasted more than 5 seconds. Good enough for a prototype.

I was able to play some matches with friends. There were some laughs but I think I was being humoured a bit.

The course creator worked pretty well. Players could choose blocks and there were even options for blocks with different bounciness. Creating and modifying courses was easy and the holes and courses saved reliably. The plan was to allow players to share courses with one another. Because of how I coded the multiplayer, players would not even need to download courses to play them; the server would generate the courses and send them the info in real-time. It was awesome!

Why it succeeded and failed - This is a playable prototype. It works well and gets the vision across, in my opinion. There are some glitches but those could be polished out with some work. I think it's pretty fun! That is why I made it in the first place, but...
It didn't get the reaction I was looking for when I played with friends. To continue on the project, I wanted my friends (umprompted) to created their own courses and invite others to play with them. This was my internal goalpost but I figured if I saw that happening then the concept had some sort of staying power that warranted more effort. It didn't happen that way, so I decided to stop production.

What I learned - Some things just don't quite hit and that's OK. I also learned about Client-Hosted multiplayer, turn-based gaming, game mode and its relation to multiplayer, and saving data in Unreal.

Lumberjacks (Working title, prototype), Spring 2025

I was chopping down trees in Zelda TotK and I couldn't stop. All my sharp weapons broke and I realized I had spent about 30 minutes chopping down trees. WHY???

Whoever worked on that mechanic did a great job. It is so satisfying to chop down trees. What if I made a game that revolved around that? This was the genesis of Lumberjacks. I was thinking rogue-like, Risk of Rain 2 style. Isometric view a la Hades. The loop would be to chop down trees in a world that can't get enough of them. The more trees you fell, then angrier the denziens of the forest, and even the forest itself, get. They pursue the player and 3 friends through different biomes until they arrive at their destination: the City. That is where the final showdown takes place with some lovecraftian nature-horror. Hopefully the players have a strong "are we the baddies?" moment.

Players would upgrade their weapons at cabins acting as checkpoints. NPCs taking refuge from the wildlife would offer optional sidequests. Perhaps this seems like a lot to make...

Why it failed - I was way too ambitious again. As I began to develop workflows, I ran into a huge timesink boss: 3D animations. I spent so much time just to get a few animations to work...and they were pre-made animations that I was applying to other models. That alone would take a monumental amount of time. This is before I mention the spell system I created, which I liked a lot. It was a component that could be added to anything, even the trees! Getting it to work in multiplayer was doable, but really time consuming for me. Then there was the level design, particle effects, tree modelling and animation (wind sway!!!) and so many other things that I became overwhelmed. One day I would like to revisit this idea but I would need a team to help me.

What I learned - Ok, for real this time, I learned to keep my scope tight and attainable; I am but one person. I learned about 3D modelling and UV mapping, implementation of spells, abilities, and health, shader techniques, particles, and client-authoritative systems. I learned that I prefer working with pixel art.

Rupert's Delivery, Summer 2025

I have no idea where I got the inspiration from, but I wanted to make free content for Kiopioke. In about 2 months, I created Rupert's Delivery. Players play as Rupert, an elephant determined to deliver any package to its destination. I wanted the gameplay to be familiar to Kiopioke players but much more accessible. Rupert's design is very simple. Whereas Kiopioke can jump, dash, climb, wall jump, poke, hold, and launch, Rupert can ONLY grab and automatically launch. This makes timing and grab angle very important for Rupert. I wanted the addition to be short and enjoyable; something most people could play in an afternoon.

Why it succeeded - I kept the scope realistic and focused. Hey, I learned! Paired with a sale, units sold saw a notable increase. A success, even if a small one.

What I learned - Keeping the scope tight really works; I was able to check all my boxes in a reasonable time while keeping quality high. I solidified my knowledge of Steam's publishing environment. I also learned a lot about planning and tracking work for projects. I now have a better understanding of how long tasks take from conception to release.

Miscellaneous, Summer - Autumn 2025

Various forays into developing certain skills took place in the latter part of 2025 including:
Client authoritative movement and abilities, custom analog stick calibrator, 3D modelling in Blockbench, dynamic pixel art sprite colourizer.

I regularly post these things to my Bluesky, so follow me there to see what I will get up to next!

What's next - 2026

I'm not yet ready to talk about my latest project. I've been working on it for a few months now and I think it has "it". I believe this will consume my development time for the foreseeable future so next year's retrospective might look a lot different!

I do know that my apetite for learning new things within this discipline has not waned. My desire to produce more things is not yet sated. Also, uh, let's keep our scope focused, alright?

-DevDave@HardieSoftworks

I am really excited that the game and album have been released. If you are interested in checking them out, the Kiopioke site has all the links.

Some skills I picked up or improved along the way:
-C++
-Unreal Engine
-Pixel art and animation
-Songwriting and Music production, particularly using MIDI
-SFX creation
-uhhh, Marketing (lol)
-Steam and Itch.io approval, onboarding and product pages
-Video Production (exhibit 1 | 2)
-Trailer creation (exhibit 1 | 2)
-API creation
-Event management and content creation (SixOneIndie Showcase Selection, Spring 2024 & Steam NextFest Summer 2024 & Launch Date Special)
-Localization (planned): French, Polish.
-Building and managing relationships with content creators
-Community management

Thanks to everyone who was following me and the game. Now, I plan on taking a little break. After that I plan on starting the next game. The best way to follow my progress is to join the Hardie Softworks Discord.

-Added 3 projects to the Projects page: Kiopioke, Songbird, and Kiopioke Climb!
-Updated the Kiopioke Site, much cleaner now.