DEATH TO TWITTER!

Hello, it's me, Levi Ramirez, Game developer extraordinaire. If you have been using twitter anytime between the last month to within the last few days I bet you've probably seen all the "commotion" going on. It seems that everyone's mom is screaming that Twitter is going under, is it true? Probably not.

Look, I hate Elon as much as the next guy but realistically he either sells his stock in the company to someone else or actually does make it at least usable again. I don't think twitter will go off line within the next few days, or months, or even years. I know it's hard to believe this but not everyone who uses twitter is an artist or game dev. or mentally ill, a lot of people just have it to look at news or check sport updates, I mean my dad uses it to send our family groupchat dog videos! But honestly, twitter just isn't really enjoyable to use anymore, I mean it never was but the ease of just scrolling through twitter was addicting, it's on the same level as TikTok if you've ever used it. And just like TikTok I realized that I gotta get the hell outta dodge! So, if twitter does or doesn't sink I'll be ""permanently" deactivating my account on November 30th, 2022 (I even removed the link to my twitter on my NG profile page already). I say ""permanently"" because I just don't have the courage to out-right leave and never come back, Twitter is at the very least the best place to get a bunch of people to share your stuff around. Other than that, the whole website just has me kinda feeling lethargic, like I ate too much Mcdonalds or Burger King. it's hard to explain, but for those who are in the loop know exactly what I'm talking about. Social media that revolves around quick content feels like that, fast food, and eventually you just get sick of it, physically and mentally.

So what now? Besides Newgrounds, Twitter was where I had my largest reach? How are people gonna know about my projects? The answer isn't clear right now, but I think I've gotten to a point where I really don't care. People who want to see my stuff will find a way, I have no interest in appeasing the masses so I won't reach out to them. It's scary to think about, especially as I start to plan/work on my next big project, but it's just reality I suppose. Hopefully this next game will be so good it'll spread by word-of-mouth instead of me just shoving it down people's throats, a luxury that SHOOT TRIP DIE didn't really have. However, I'm not gonna just log off the internet, I'm gonna try something so stoopid it JUST might work!?

Tumblr.

Yup, I made a tumblr. From the looks of it, it seems like a lot of my mutals/people I respect migrated to tumblr. I thought this website was dead-in-the-water but I guess it's gotten better over the years. I wish I woulda taken a screenshot but I actually logged into my old tumblr account that I used from when I was 16. I know this is hard to believe but it was pretty cringey (you might have to suspend your disbelief to picture something like that!). Mostly just me and my boyfriend at the time (who was into runes, and crystals, and tarot) just liking each others posts. No harm no foul I guess, and from the looks of it it's all deleted. So I just spruced it up and got to where I want it now.

What are my plans with this? Well, it's quite simple. I'm gonna do monthly/bi-monthly blogposts! I'll show off what I'm working, show clips of development of projects, talk about my personal life and stuff, and just say things that are on my mind! I know the short-form thoughts of twitter are more widely liked by the brain-dead masses (myself included) but it's also nice to just actually sit down and READ something every now and again, it makes you smarter ya know! I also wanna talk more in depth about what's going on behind the scenes, and maybe educated people on just how much work goes into video games, especially when doing it independently.

Also! On top of tumblr, I'll mirror the posts here on Newgrounds! So you'll be able to read them on BOTH SITES! I have a feeling I'll get more interactions here, but it's nice to have options! And for the few people who find me on Tumblr can be indoctrinated over to Newgrounds... it's all part of my SICK PLOT!

And to top if all off, I might also do "Summarized videos" on said posts, especially the development stuff. Game Dev. gets a lot of eyeballs on Youtube, but editing takes too much time. If I basically just read off my blog post and show clips ALREADY in the blog post and just condense it into a 5-10 minute YouTube video people would eat that shit up. This idea is really basic, but also inspired heavily by the short dev. logs posted by @Plufmot on his YouTube. Although it's mostly just other NG peeps watching it, I know one of those videos will seep into people's recommended and they will blow up! The videos are just so interesting and easy to watch, and it cuts out the 'LOLZ SO RANDOM EDITITING XD" crap like other YouTube game devs do.

Anyways, yeah, if you wanna check out my Tumblr than click here. All that's really on there atm is a link directing to my Ko-Fi, Newgrounds and Youtube.

New Projects!

"Alright enough FUNNY BUISNESS! Where are the damn games Levi!"

Well, there aren't gonna be any new games coming out this year! Gappy 3 was the last of what I wanted to get done this year, and I'm glad you all liked it, if you haven't played it than check it out below!

BUT! Something is gonna be coming very soon at the start of next year, specifically for Pixel day 2023! I know we still have November and December to get through, but I'm bursting at the seams to show off this new project I'm working on, but I know waiting till it's a bit more cooked will make people as excited as I am. To tease some deets now it will be my NEXT steam game, and probably will take about 2 years to finish... HOWEVER, I plan on releasing a little prototype to show off the gameplay and to get some feedback on Pixel day!

I wanna talk about it more but that's all I can really say right now, you are just gonna have to wait! Trust me, it WILL be worth it! >:)

SHOOT TRIP DIE / BIRTHDAY SALE! / BIRTHDAY!

As I'm writing this I realized that I didn't make my birthday post :-(

I turned 21 on November 16th, and I went out to drink with me ol' man! (Cool Guy he is)

(My girlfriend also bought me that Kirby Sweatshirt! Very sweet of her!)

I also ate big slices of cake, got lots and lots of presents, went to an abandon K-mart and even got some fanart which was VERY cool! I think most of it was on twitter (how Ironic) but here is a piece done by @pasteluluu <3

Anywho, I also put my game SHOOT TRIP DIE on sale for 90% off! starting the 16th of November, all the way through November 30th! It's .99 cents atm so if you haven't had the chance to pick it up then there is no excuse! It got an update recently too which added a lot of new items and ANOTHER coat of polish on one of my most polished games I've made (thus far) So BUY SHOOT TRIP DIE ON STEAM please please please!!!!

But anyways, that's all I gotta say...

Bottom line is, I'm gonna be straying away from posting on Twitter even if the website sinks or swims, and instead focus more on long-form, blog posts that will be very, very wordy. I've made a Tumblr so it'll be another place you can find the blogposts if you so wish to read them on there. Rest in piss twitter, although you were funny at times, you were also a big waste of my damn time. May those who do not have Tumblr and Newgrounds who liked my stuff somehow find there way back to me, I want your damn money stranger! Also, BUY SHOOT TRIP DIE (It's on sale!)

-Levi Ramirez