Happy 2 year birthday Pibbles Dressup!

Two years ago, I released Pibbles Dressup on Itch.io. It was a great feeling to put out my first game.

From a very young age, I started playing with game dev; I used to make these little mods for a game called Blockland. It was a creative sandbox, like if Garry’s Mod was mixed with Roblox. I started doing simple face texture replacements, and over the years, it evolved into me making fully realized game modes. In a way, I was already making games. Eventually, I moved on to modding other games: Starbound, Binding of Isaac, and now Fallout: New Vegas.

I always struggled with the idea that what I was doing wasn’t “real” game development; I was editing other games. I always devalued everything I did, making me a pushover or a yes-man. It took a lot, but I think I got over this and realized that what I was doing was what my heart has always been in – game development and design.

Pibbles Dressup stemmed from when I struggled through this weird self-confidence issue with not being a “real” game maker. I was also in the middle of rediscovering myself; I was working through bad friend groups at the time and realizing who I was, how I wanted to express myself, and that it conflicted with many people around me, especially my family. I think I was just a year into living alone after forcing myself to move out when I put out Pibbles Dressup.

I knew it wouldn’t be significant or groundbreaking, but I felt that I had to put out some game, and Pibbles Dressup is what that ended up being. I did it to prove that I can make my own game and to show off my personality and self-expression, which the Pride Update reinforces.

It represents how I was redoing my wardrobe at the time; I was still very much closeted, but today, I’m openly a nonconforming guy; it took a lot to accept the simple idea that I’m a guy who likes to be pretty.

I’m still struggling with a lot today, but I have become a much better person and made strides to fix my life where my family neglected me. Among other things, I’m going to college now! I’m going to learn to be a professional game developer.

So, what’s to come for me and my games?

Unfortunately, I no longer have much time to work on personal projects. Maybe between semesters, I will be able to. I consider Pibbles Dressup to be finished, but maybe I’ll update It one day.

I have lots of ideas for games and mods, but most of them only exist as basic tech demos or, in my head, as concepts. I need to work on that in the future, jotting down ideas instead of holding them in my head. I have like 8 of these basic demos that are barely developed.

Something simple I had thought was going to be my game after Pibbles Dressup would have been Crispy Petter. It was a basic Cookie Clicker clone where you had to pet Crispy the Cat by clicking on your mouse! It would have generated points, and you would get cute cat-themed upgrades. I never really started working on it, though.

It could be fun to develop Snowshovel further. That game is another thing I could write an article for, but that can wait. There are some game mechanics that I wanted to add but had no time for; I could see a substantial update being made for it one day that adds these mechanics and some more and develops it into this cute little 20-level puzzle game.

Shoveldude digs to the cabin.

Another idea I’ve been kicking around has been to bring back this old lost gamemaker project I made as a kid. You played as a character I dubbed Jumpdude, and due to a limitation of the code I was using and my inexperience with a platformer demo I was using, you couldn’t move left or right after landing from a jump, so I developed a little game that made this into an actual game mechanic. I could totally JUMP into this idea and develop it further; I wish I still had the old game, though.

Recreated from memory.

Platformers are a childhood passion, and I used to play Super Mario World and mods for it so much. A game that evokes feelings like this is something I want to make.

Prince the Cat stars in his own platformer!

I have also been wanting to make roguelikes. I love the emergent gameplay and depth these kinds of games allow for. Right now, I have thoughts on an action-adventure top-down view roguelike starring Pibbles. I also have this idea for an auto battler featuring cats with procedural CPU encounters.

Right now it’s more Survivors style, but I’m not sure I want it to be like this.

:3

I also wanted to make a mining-focused game, like an old game mode I used to play and enjoy.

Prince the Cat is here as a placeholder.

I may have rambled some, but I hope you enjoyed reading! Right now, game dev is just a hobby of mine, but I hope to make it a job one day. If you want to pitch in to help me buy a coffee, please buy the game at any dollar amount you want and it would be most appreciated, or donate to me via my links at my carrd. Thank you so much!