dev diary: animation and... books maybe?!

i'm still on a break from gamedev, so i've mostly been working on comic things. this'll be another somewhat rambly update, so i'm sharing a little gif i made with it this time :)

animation is fun!

i stumbled on this really great youtube channel recently that teaches animation basics in a really fun and approachable way. their attitude is like, "there's no wrong way to animate something! just do what works or makes sense for your idea" and like, it's so refreshing to hear that sort of thing when it comes to art. it's very freeing not to put expectations on yourself, and just make something you like. it gave me the motivation/inspo to try animating something again!!

i went to school for 2d animation (a whole decade ago, wow!!) but i rarely animate in my spare time. half because it's so time consuming, and half because i don't often get ideas for WHAT i want to animate... like it's harder for my brain to come up with that sort of thing. but i like doing it when i think of something good! and making games has given me the excuse i need to animate specific things (though that usually just means sprite animation haha)

anyway, i saw that comicfury (the site currently hosting another piece of candy) supports gifs, so i started making the one above! i don't want to go too crazy with gif updates (because i still want to do a print version and physical books don't support gifs lmao) but it's really satisfying to make things like this, and i want to do more :)

printing plans...!

speaking of physical books...! i recently talked to a friend with a lot of experience in that area, and got recommendations for what printing service to use and things like that. so i spent some time this week assembling another piece of candy into a pdf using one of their templates (just to see what it's like, ehe)!

a couple things about this... i'm not sure how many books to order, when exactly i want to set aside time to ship them out (and the logistics of all that), or which series i actually want to try printing first (leaning on just going in release order????)

so my current plan is to post on itch.io at some point, and do a big poll asking everyone if they'd want to preorder (so i can guess the right amount to print) and maybe what they'd want first (between delicacy and mirror call). i think it's best to save another piece of candy for after i get more printing experience since the pdf is already like 36 pages... ohhh there's so much to think about.....

anyway, probably gonna save planning the rest of this until after the holiday season ends, since trying to mail anything during christmas seems like a recipe for disaster. i mostly wanted to say i'm making progress on this, and that if you guys have any thoughts or questions i would love to hear them!!

navigating the US healthcare system for my partner

i won't go into TOO much detail here because it's unrelated to what i make, but it's something i spend quite a bit of time and energy on outside of gamedev--my partner suffers from chronic pain due to a condition that makes her joints work like garbage, and we've really struggled to get good care for her in the past few years, what with the ongoing pandemic and the time i spent working for (and then not working for) my previous company where i was bounced between insurance plans like 3 times before losing coverage completely.

because i've only been doing patreon/my own projects full time, i've had the mental energy to get my partner 1) on a state insurance plan that covers the doctors she needs 2) regular appointments with physical therapists and 3) rides to those appointments because we don't have a car and have to rely on a state program for transportation.

this month has been our first bout of regular physical therapy appointments, and we've already gotten so much help from them. seeing good doctors and specialists makes so much of a difference...! all of my patreon income goes directly to our living expenses, which means YOU are in part responsible for my partner having a better life. it really means a lot to me ;_;

thank you!!!

i feel like... my life used to be a lot more stressful until now. things are really good currently. so i'll keep making lots of stuff that i hope everyone will enjoy :)

<3 nami