Hello! I hope everyone's been doing well because I haven't!.

This is a short update post about some stuff that's been happening to me, I'm gonna start with a short paragraph about Act 0 but after that, it's just about me, I don't expect anyone to read it but I feel like I owe this to the newgrounds folk who I only update every three months- sorry about missing the winter one by the way, that was not at all in my plans.

Well, first things first, right?

Act 0's development has been rocky at best, I've been dealing with a lot of engine issues, one of them involved updating the engine to godot 4, a task that (after weeks of trying) i failed, only around mid last month did i decide to start over from godot 4, and just take the assets i might need as I go re-making the game. Lately it's been good but some stuff from later on this post demotivated me a lot and made me not want to work on the game as much as I did- well, some things impeded me, some things made it harder, some things made it slower, and some things made it-- as i said, demotivating.

One last thing before i wrap up this little section, I want to start being more transparent about development from now on and I technically have been, but I've been limiting myself as I've been working with placeholder assets that don't belong to me so, at the moment I can't show a lot and because i want to start being more transparent I guess I'll throw a fact I've intentionally tried to avoid hinting at for a long time out there: Act 0 is an RPG and it's gameplay is inspired by RGG 8 and Deltarune. With this I am done with this section, if you were only interested in Act 0 you can stop here, I will not blame you.

Okay, I'd like to talk a little bit about how I've been ever since I last wrote on here now.

Almost exactly a year ago I wanted to pick up a guitar and learn songs from bands and artists that I liked, I only really gained interest for the instrument itself in the summer and ended up actually getting one in late october, I absolutely loved it when I got it, I still do and have learned a lot ever since then, I now own a classical, an acoustic and a uke. Picking up an instrument has made me really excited about music, so much so that I've started to write songs now- of course I still know jack shit about music production but eh, who cares, I enjoy playing and making stuff up on it, I don't think I'll ever be interested in messing around with a DAW in a serious way again, even if I do know more about music now than i knew back then. What I'm trying to get across here is that 1)This newfound passion for guitars and music has slown down other projects as I've been playing guitar all fucking day, 2) Don't be surprised if you ever see me on the audio portal. To wrap up this part about my new hobby I'd like to recommend a song I've been practicing on the guitar from a band that I like, they're here on newgrounds as a matter of fact, you might've seen them around, they're Good Kid, the song is called Madeleine, even though I love their rock songs, this song has a special place in my heart, even though it is about a relationship it reminds me of my friends, those who i love most. I linked Good Kid's newgrounds page but you can find those songs and more recent releases in their profile's links, personal favorites from them are First Rate Town and Witches- WITCHES, LISTEN TO WITCHES GO LISTEN TO IT GRAHHHH, but I love all of their music. I also listen to Crywank but that can be an incomprehensible can of worms to some people so I won't go into it.

i want to talk a bit about my life here, less about my hobbies and just things mostly out of my control that have just been kind of happening to me, I guess.

This semester has been hitting me hard, remember how I said last time that I run around a kitchen 4 times a week, well now it's three which IS better but now I have six day school weeks instead of five and that with the fact that the only time I ever get out relatively early is friday, I barely have time for myself, I don't want to explain myself on why again so I won't, I've written about this on an NG post before but I'd like to add something regardless, I think I'm depressed as shit. A lot of things have been really affecting me, you can fairly assume that school is fucking me up but, there's a lot more to it, I originally thought I would get into it here but honestly, I've still got to fight some demons, I fear it might be too personal, just know that I do not feel purposeless I just feel without direction, I don't know what path to take to get where I wanna go, it was pretty clear before but now it isn't I guess.

In times like these I like to remind myself that I am not my mental health, that despite the fact that I come back home sweating with the urge to scream at the top of my lungs while playing guitar, I am pieces of the people that I love, I am memories and that I am loved.

Thanks for reading, It's been a year since I started to write these, I'm sorry the one to greet the new year wasn't as climactic as you might've expected it to be. Anyway, I haven't worked on the game for a few weeks now, but now that I've written this, I'm gonna think about it all week, gonna get to it soon, thanks again.