Back to GameMaker After Six Years

We're coming to the end of Silver Week in Japan and I've just updated my 2019 game, Shisensho Solitaire, for the first time in six years.

Why did it take so long?

I published version 2.0 of the game in 2020, but later that year my hard drive died and I lost all of the graphical and audio assets. Needless to say I was disappointed.

I did have the code backed up on BitBucket which is where it stayed until earlier this month.

Gemini to the rescue!

AI, despite its threat to humanity, has been a game saver! Not only did it help me get Shisensho running on the latest version of GameMaker, but it also helped me make Japanese and Chinese translations for the game - something I've wanted to do for a long time. And since the lost assets were still available within the game itself, I was able to push the updated game to Steam.

Back in the driving seat

Throughout the process, I've been able to familiarize myself with GameMaker again, and have a good idea for what my next game will be. I realize that game dev is something I truly love doing and can be positive about, so I'm going to give it a serious go.

There's a growing market of older gamers out there that love simple puzzle games like Shisensho, and I'm one of them!