Blog of 2013

At the end of every year, I look through my blogs and pick out some of the most memorable events. So here’s all the stuff that happened to me in 2013, in roughly chronological order:

• Went to visit my brother in Sweden, during the coldest month. Saw Stockholm briefly. Most time was spent in Luleå, but also visited Abisko. Much snow. Northern lights. Dog sledding. Parties with the exchange students every day. Tried skiing (never again). Tried sledding down the ski slope instead (awesome!). Saunas and hot tubs. Played ball games in the snow for laughs. Made tons of friends. So much feels.

• Finished Epic Battle Fantasy 4, my biggest game ever. It was the best rated game on Kongregate and Newgrounds for a few months, but didn’t get as many players as I wanted because…

• The web game market started shrinking, as more and more people were playing games on their mobile phones instead. I started looking at other platforms to make games for (phones and Steam).

• This year’s summer was glorious. Sat around in the garden almost every day. Bought a bicycle and actually started using it quite a lot. Managed to cycle 50km and run 5km.

• Had my parent’s house to myself for 3 weeks. Having so much space is awesome. Was forced to learn how to cook. Had a fun BBQ with buddies.

• Started watching Adventure Time, which is now one of my favorite TV shows.

• Collected too many chili pepper plants. I’ve got more than I care to look after now, and most of them are too spicy to eat in any way. Also grew some tomatoes in the garden.

• Did a talk about game development for a highschool class. Then I did it again.

• Went to visit my brother in Sweden again, in the middle of summer. Didn’t see night for 10 days, which felt amazing and surreal. Ate moose and reindeer. Went to some festival in Luleå, which included a heavy metal gig. Tried slacklining and dumpster diving. Visited some small farm village and browsed through some interesting souvenir shops.

• Went to Mochi London to meet up with Flash game developers and to give a presentation about EBF4. Conquered my fear of public speaking. Got better at backpacking. Met childhood heroes and awesome people from the internet. Saw a bit of London, including the Natural History Museum.

• Got my driver’s license! Failed my theory test once, but things went well otherwise.

• Got my first car! Yay! I almost feel like an adult now! Still learning how to use it properly though.

• Started using Twitter regularly. It’s actually really good for meeting people who work in similar areas to you.

• Made my first mobile game; Cat Cafe. Learned about designing for mobile phones, hardware acceleration, native extensions, scripted tweens, time-based animation, and lots of other stuff that makes Flash more powerful.

• Went to Poland to visit family, and just to relax for a while. Went to some speedway competition, which was my first time at a sports event. Went mushroom picking for the first time. Got a personal tour of Kwidzyn Cathedral.

• Been going to every networking event that I’m invited to, even if it doesn’t sound like I’d fit in. There’s usually free food and lots of interesting people to talk to, and it’s good to hear about what people are working on.

• Finally made a website for myself; KupoGames.com. Played around with HTML and CSS for a few days. I think it looks pretty good now.

• Started indoor-climbing to keep fit in winter. It’s pretty fun!

• Started playing around with more Google products, including AdSense, AdMob and Analytics. Stats and advertising are cool.

• Breaking Bad finished, and the last few episodes are probably my favorite bit of TV ever. Dexter also finished, but the last season was terrible.

• Got EBF4 Greenlit for a release on Steam, and started working on an expansion pack for it. Kind of a big deal. Might start making paid desktop games instead of free web games, if things work out.

• Literally spent a whole week playing Pokemon Y non-stop.

• Started playing a lot of indie games on Steam, for “market research”. Some favorites include: Spelunky, Jamestown, VVVVVV, Intrusion 2, and AVGN Adventures.

• Started online dating, which has mostly been a waste of time. But I think I’ve finally found someone worth holding on to. We shall see how that goes.

Well I think that’s everything. It’s going to be challenging to make 2014 even more interesting!

Wow. So noble. Such grace.

Wow. So noble. Such grace.

16 thoughts on “Blog of 2013

  1. ChaosSorceror Davidicus

    [a] You look EXACTLY like your character! Holy balls alive! I shouldn’t be surprised, really, but my main character, Davidicus, looks NOTHING like me. I don’t think I’m photogenic enough to make a character out of.

    [b] Matt needs a Wolf Hat in a future game, like the one in the picture. No idea what it would do, but I would support this inane idea to the letter! :stars:

    Reply
  2. kretenxd

    that is the bes picture for any ocasion
    ➡ boston tea party
    ➡ any and all technological evolutions
    ➡ dinosaurs
    ➡ WW2 oh wait SHI- :skull:

    Reply
  3. Ralo

    When you said “met your childhood hero” I thought “you meant that you remember them now” or what do you mean by that? ❓

    Reply
  4. pgfreak

    Sure seems like your life has been eventful, but what about the other seven of so months not accounted for in this post? (Meaning seven months of days)

    Reply
  5. frog

    My god, I’m so boring by comparison, but congratulations on doing lots of (hopefully) fun stuff.
    I’ll be checking this site constantly until the steam release! Good luck on sales! :yay:

    Reply
  6. a good fan of yours...

    :yay: that hat looks JUST like MINE! (my one has pockets) :hurray:

    ➡ ➡ ➡ ➡ EBF4 price? looked at the discussion yesterday and I think we all agree on £10-£15 :wut: :wut:

    Reply

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