Completely happy New Yr! I hope y’all have had a beautiful time celebrating New Yr’s (and Christmas! I didn’t write about that both. Oops.). I want you all an ideal new 12 months full of excellent well being, success and a bunch of excellent occasions. Might your issues be few and manageable! Cheers.
The 12 months simply handed over and I figured it’d be excessive time to write down a type of “12 months in assessment” posts for 2024 since I simply couldn’t be arsed to do it in December with me getting ready to go to my household, after which I used to be right here with my household and we celebrated with half my mom’s aspect… we had been 19 individuals in complete over right here for 3 days straight. Jeez. And nicely, now I’ve obtained a little bit of downtime, so I made a decision to simply ramble a bit about this 12 months, I assume.
Notice: The “My 2024” part consists of mentions of some darker psychological well being associated subjects, so tread rigorously. Be at liberty to simply skip forward if that’s not your jam.
My 2024
This 12 months was fairly eventful, I wanna say, however I type of can’t actually say a lot about it. Man, God must get with the time and record all of your sins on the finish of the 12 months. That’d be neat, wouldn’t it?
Jokes apart, I’ve been dwelling at my new place for an entire 12 months and even had web lastly in late January of final 12 months.
It’s been fairly chilly over right here, I assume. I’ve made an effort to go working weekly (in any case), I went swimming… twice… this complete 12 months… and each occasions had been in Winter. Yay. Apart from that, my eyesight obtained barely worse on one eye and barely higher on the opposite, which means each of my eyes are sitting at -5 diopters now. A minimum of it’s an excellent quantity. Makes on the lookout for contacts simpler since I used to be pondering of getting some maybe.
Apart from that, I’ve been drawing a bunch and improved a good bit, I believe, managed to learn a bunch extra (although nonetheless not sufficient) and I picked up the behavior of enjoying uke. My repertoire of miserable songs to play on the “blissful instrument” is rising steadily, from “Creep” and “Zombie” to “It’s Okay I wouldn’t keep in mind me both” and “Solely Everybody Can Choose Me” to “Free Chicken” (yup). Enjoyable stuff.
I didn’t learn fairly as many books as I needed to in my free time, largely as a result of I used to be preoccupied with studying quite a lot of books for college… approach too many books, I assume. Largely partially. However nonetheless. A number of textual content. I did, nonetheless, end studying “1984” by Orwell, made progress by means of “The Will To Change by Brooks”, and I even acquired a duplicate of “Animal Farm” – as a result of hey, gotta learn the opposite factor by Orwell even when it’s apparently not that nice and much much less refined, lol.
Apart from that, although, I’ve managed to go to my household a good bit extra usually. It’s very often fairly draining for me however I’m glad to see my siblings extra and I’m all the time blissful to spend time with my mother and father. It’s fairly vital since I really feel like I’ve missed out on quite a lot of my siblings’ lives by transferring distant, and I don’t understand how lengthy I’ve with my mother and father, so I wanna see them or hear their voices a bunch, principally.
That stated, 2024 has been fairly lonely for me. I’ve struggled with loneliness earlier than (it’s a societal drawback, submit on that one other time) however I don’t actually really feel nice going into 2025. I’ll write one other submit about this one other time (maybe later or tomorrow) however I went by means of a breakup this 12 months and I’m nonetheless not over it, principally. It sucks. Oh nicely.
Apart from that, although, I made mates after which we stopped being mates and I simply don’t fairly know tips on how to make new connections with people offline lately.
In summer season, I went by means of some drama at college, dealing with discrimination primarily based on unfounded rumours and a few supposed allegations (most probably a case of mistaken id). It was actually unhealthy and I got here fairly shut a number of occasions to simply “calling it a day”. I didn’t, evidently, largely as a result of I’d really feel unhealthy about leaving my household behind… however I referred to as a quantity a good few occasions each time I went to these darkish locations.
However then ultimately that obtained kinda “cleared up” and I used to be simply depressed earlier than ultimately being sick for a number of months and now we’re right here.
Look, it’s been a shitty 12 months. I would write a submit about the entire allegations factor sooner or later as a result of I’d think about there’s some convos available over that subject. The best way that was dealt with was atrocious and the best way the entire state of affairs made me really feel and the darkish locations I’ve been to due to that… not nice.
And I say “cleared up” as a result of nothing actually has been resolved. In actuality, I believe they simply toned down the extra apparent mistrust and dislike after I reported the info safety problem and somebody obtained punished.
My 2024 in Content material Creation
In terms of content material creation, although, 2024 was fairly nice.
I’ve been streaming often on a schedule and our neighborhood over on Twitch has been rising so much with many cool individuals from all around the world hanging out and me with the ability to showcase varied indie video games often, doing artwork streams every so often, and even simply chatting for hours upon hours on stream… simply yapping, y’know.
Apart from that, I’ve been performing some YouTube stuff with playthroughs and showcases of assorted indie video games and roguelikes. It’s been fairly enjoyable to take action. I nonetheless don’t know what I’m doing with regards to intros and outros, for example, or anything I might do, however I’m principally simply importing movies which might be like those that I like to look at if that is smart.
And that’s been kind of my credo for the previous few years. Create content material I’d eat myself. My streams are the best way I like my streams. My movies are the best way I like my movies. Stuff to go to sleep to, stuff to run within the background, stuff to eat my meals to… a number of stuff principally.
Apart from that, although, and maybe extra importantly: I’ve had a droop with regards to running a blog.
I imply:
- January – 3 Posts
- February – 4 Posts
- March – 4 Posts
- April – 2 Posts
- Might – 3 Posts
- June – 2 Posts
- July – 3 Posts
- August – 18 Posts (extra on that later)
- September – 2 Posts
- October – 5 Posts
- November – 5 Posts
- December – 8 Posts
In 2024, I revealed 62 posts and a complete of 110.000 phrases. In August, the outlier right here, I’ve tried to push myself for the sake of Blaugust however between exams, my deteriorating psychological well being, the drama at college, the breakup, my well being points, and the power ache, I simply couldn’t write as a lot as I needed to. I imply, I nonetheless managed to add movies each day onto YouTube for all of August after which some time afterwards however initially YouTube was simply kind of the extension to Twitch and Indiecator, much less so its personal factor if that is smart.
The battle right here was largely simply me desirous to do all of it. I needed to write down about some subjects I actually care about, together with some political and socio-critical stuff, however in the long run, I didn’t get to do both. I needed to write down extra evaluations however the added stress of an increasing number of e-mails coming into my inbox with an increasing number of devs and publishers and PR individuals reaching out, offering keys, inquiring about previous protection, and so forth… I simply obtained very overwhelmed.
I put quite a lot of stress on myself, principally. “I’ve to write down about this”, “I nonetheless have to complete the draft on that submit”, and so forth. and so forth.
It was all of the sudden much less so about “wanting to write down” and extra so about “having to write down” and I simply misplaced all pleasure I had for this passion of mine.
However! Beginning in October, I began to write down extra about these subjects and I’ve been having fun with myself a bunch. I wrote some evaluations on video games I actually loved. I’m hoping to write down extra all through 2025, not due to some kind of obligation however reasonably as a result of I need to.
I wanna showcase cool indie gems, I wanna speak concerning the issues that curiosity me, and I wanna use my platform for one thing. Does that make sense?
Again in 2013, I hurried residence from college every day to spam F5 on this weblog referred to as PetesbackWelcome by derLoarp in hopes of a brand new submit popping out, and I had a blast studying his evaluations and different articles each time there was one thing new revealed. From anime and indie video games to Gundam fashions to monster hunter associated posts, there was all the time one thing fascinating up there. I consider he deleted his weblog sooner or later after no writing for ages. At one other level, there was additionally this weblog by him round and you may nonetheless give stuff over there a learn but it surely’s all in German, so uh higher begin studying, eh?
Anyway, that man was kind of at fault for me beginning to write weblog posts again in 2018. I wrote these tremendous lengthy (3-5k phrase) evaluations again then in German earlier than not having the time to take action anymore after an odd month or two. Oh nicely. After which again in 2019, I began running a blog once more… on right here… And I’ve been doing that ever since.
I believe reminiscing about how I obtained into running a blog (and in addition having to pay for my plan in WordPress in addition to the area) made me suppose a bit extra about why I write and what I initially loved a lot, so, I’ll attempt to write semi-regularly on right here in 2025. No stress or something, simply at the least as soon as every week if I can discover the time.
My 2024 in Gaming
So, I performed a bunch of video games once more, largely as a result of I used to be purported to stream some or as a result of I began a playthrough on stream or I simply replayed the identical video games I all the time play. Nothing new there. Should you wanna get a deeper look into the psyche of the gamer referred to as Dan Dicere or MagiWasTaken, right here’s my Steam Yr in Evaluation hyperlink.
I needed to make use of ManicTime, really, all year long to trace my PC habits and like maybe even scale back how a lot time I spend in entrance of screens however I’ve seen that I not solely all the time neglect to look into setting it up (or reasonably I hold forgetting to set it to start out once I begin up my PC) however I additionally did horrible in so many areas of my life and gaming was bliss, so screw having much less screentime. I’ve obtained blue gentle filters in my glasses and my display turns orange after some time, so all good there, I’ll do higher one other 12 months.
That stated, Steam solely tracks my Steam gaming habits, so let’s speak concerning the different launchers first: I’ve performed a little bit of League however not all that a lot. It’s been enjoyable each time I obtained to play some however like… I don’t do it a lot. I additionally performed a shitload of Legends of Runeterra, grinding the PvE mode (aka the primary mode these days) which has been good enjoyable.
Apart from that, although, I performed by means of Name of Cthulhu: Darkish Corners of Earth and recorded my complete playthrough. That recreation crashes any time you hit the home windows key or tab out, so it was painful, to be honest… but it surely runs significantly better on GOG than it does on Steam, so I’ve spent quite a lot of time on that. I can’t verify proper now how a lot time precisely but when my math is appropriate, it needs to be round 16 hours.
Should you wanna see my playthrough a recreation I by no means obtained too far in as a child once I first performed it on the unique xbox, right here’s the playlist with all of the “longplay” elements.
That stated, I additionally did dabble a bit in emulation. I performed by means of Shadow of the Colossus for my very first time this 12 months however emulating PS2 on my PC (in-built 2019) made it kind of gradual. Improbable recreation, although! Like, rattling. So, there’s 19 hours proper there, too, that I nonetheless wanna edit after which add someplace. I additionally did my first-ever Nuzlocke (nicely, Artlocke) in Pokémon FireRed this 12 months, and managed to beat all of the difficulties up till S-Arduous in Pokémon Puzzle League.
So, I performed a little bit of every part right here and there all year long, on high of some Pokémon TCG Pocket, Service provider, and different video games on cellular.
However I primarily performed video games on Steam. In 2024, I…
- performed 210 video games
- 147 of which had been new! I additionally participated in 7 playtests and performed 64 demos however I’m not sure if these are counted individually or not
- unlocked 1847 achievements
- performed totally on mouse and keyboard (79%)
Most of my playtime was spent Helldiving, Monster Searching and Retiring. Like, I’ve had Rusty’s Retirement open for bunch which ended up counting for 9% of my playtime. Helldivers 2 and Monster Hunter Rise supplied me with that further little bit of motion and fascism that I simply wanted in my life, I assume.
However actually, my recreation of the 12 months was both Webfishing, Cryptmaster or Echoes of the Plum Grove. For Cryptmaster, possibly take a look at my assessment over right here, since I’ve not written concerning the different two simply but.
Webfishing is nice. It’s a 5 greenback recreation on Steam about fishing. You’ll be able to play it solo/offline, in non-public or public lobbies, and also you carry your progress wherever you go. You fish, unlock upgrades, purchase cosmetics and you may /wag in chat to make your story wag. It’s an ideal recreation. I genuinely liked how a lot I obtained to simply calm down with this one and the few interactions I had with others (I largely play solo, tbh) had been extremely healthful and cute.
And Echoes of the Plum Grove is a farming sim that’s set within the early 18th century the place you begin a brand new life on stolen land (actually the colonies in america) after giving a center finger to the Crown. It’s like Harvest Moon however extra hardcore… Hardcore Moon? What I imply to say is which you can die on this recreation from previous age, the Plague, starvation, poison, and extra. There’s a number of NPCs that may have youngsters and grandkids and whatnot. You’ll be able to marry people and have your individual youngsters and they are often despatched to work within the mines… or your farm… or apprentice someplace else. If you die, you are taking over as your child, btw, in order that’s neat. However the recreation has much more than simply that to supply and should you’re extra of a comfortable gamer that desires to get pleasure from a 2.5D life sim, you can even merely flip off ageing, dying, starvation and the software sturdiness stuff. I believe taxes had been additionally one thing you might flip off however I married the mayor so I didn’t must pay any taxes for ages.
GOTYs apart:
Apparently, the median for achievements collected, video games performed and lengthy streaks of enjoying video games is fairly low, so it shouldn’t be too stunning that I’m above common. My longest recreation streak was 32 days. Once more, not too certain if that simply signifies that I performed one recreation for 32 days in a row or if that simply signifies that I performed a recreation on daily basis for 32 days… which might take a look at for Blaugust theoretically? No thought.
49% of the video games I performed had been new releases that got here out this 12 months (checks out since I write about video games, eh?), whereas 12% had been “basic video games” aka titles that got here out 8 or extra years in the past… I obtained again into FTL, you realize? And nicely 39% of the video games I performed got here out within the final 1-7 years. Honest.
As per typical, I largely spent my 12 months enjoying roguelikes and roguelike deckbuilders in addition to video games about stock administration, farming and fishing. No surprises there, to be completely trustworthy.
Rusty’s Retirement was kind of the sport that I largely performed all through April, Might and June with 72% of my playtime in Might being devoted to this farming recreation the place robots from Haiku the Robotic care for crops to show them into biofuel. Huzzah!
Helldivers 2 was this huge factor this 12 months that I really loved excess of I believed I’d, particularly as I had no clue what it was like resulting from its advertising and marketing being each nice and shit on the similar time. Again in March, it was my birthday present to myself since I actually needed to play it with mates. Consequently, I ended up being hungry for many of March. Taking pictures bugs made me neglect concerning the starvation although. I performed largely this all through Might and April however then didn’t play Helldivers 2 a lot afterwards since I simply didn’t play many video games from Might onwards. I assume inflicting genocide on alien planets doesn’t go nicely with heartbreaks. That stated, I picked it again up once more from September onwards and have been having fun with it a good bit. I simply want I might convey extra mortars with me.
And nicely, Monster Hunter Rise is a cool recreation that I’ve performed approach an excessive amount of of in 2023. In February, March, August and September of this 12 months, I ended up sinking extra hours into this one, too, though I’ve stopped enjoying recently since exams are approaching once more, haha.
Danger of Rain 2 ended up taking on most of my summer season this 12 months with me diving again onto Petrichor V, largely as a result of I get that RoR2 itch every so often but additionally since there was that complete DLC and a few updates, patches and fixes. Look, it’s an ideal recreation, alright?
Apart from that, although, I’ve additionally performed a good bit of a cute little roguelike recreation referred to as Proficient (which was launched into its 1.0), began a brand new Stardew Valley playthrough half a 12 months in the past that I simply by no means returned to after the primary 12 months was over, and performed a ton of Palworld when it launched. On high of that, although, I’ve performed approach an excessive amount of Earth Protection Drive 4.1 this 12 months and I don’t remorse something. That recreation made me stronger. I’ve captured 8 spiders alive this 12 months alone to then carry them outdoors reasonably than killing them. Oh, and I performed by means of Bandle Story, obtained again into Dome Keeper, loved Nova Drift and Megaloot a bunch, performed by means of Critical Sam 3 lastly, obtained again into Cultist Simulator and Unrailed, performed by means of Sonic Journey DX on stream, and I made a multi-armed axe-wielding mutant decapitate lots of people in Caves of Qud.
This 12 months in gaming was fairly nice and similar to this submit, it was fairly chaotic.
Neat.
Resolutions
Not gonna lie, I’m gonna be spending a lot of the 12 months making an attempt to determine shit out for myself. I wanna make good recollections, achieve some extra weight, begin figuring out once more (on high of my typical jogs) but additionally spend extra time with my family members, give myself the time to heal, and simply take every part one step at a time.
Apart from that, I began studying Godot final 12 months and needed to presumably get into recreation dev this 12 months and truly making a (easy) recreation as a aspect venture. By way of content material creation I wanna write extra evaluations, share my ideas on extra topics, construction my content material on Twitch higher, and make time for the easier pleasures in life.
Since obscure targets may be fairly hit and miss, I figured it’d be a good suggestion to incorporate some extra exact targets with out including any stress or something.
I wanna:
- make a recreation
- be round my ultimate weight for my peak once more, so roughly ~95kg
- name my family members extra usually
- attain out to people extra usually
- begin figuring out once more and stick with it
- make strides in my schooling and end my internships that I nonetheless gotta do
- benefit from the small pleasures in life extra
and extra.
I believe these are fairly possible.
This submit was initially written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
Should you see this text anyplace else apart from Indiecator.org then this text has been scraped. Please let me know of this by way of E-Mail. Apart from that, be at liberty to cease by my Twitch streams should you wanna!
