( On mobile, I cannot put in pics while posting, I will put them in later tonight! )

Part 1 (The Shitpit) : https://gamejolt.com/games/whoisee/340408/devlog/for-you-i-have-my-sappy-tale-of-how-this-game-happened-a-look-beh-j5ndg97g

Part 2 (What is change?!?): https://gamejolt.com/games/whoisee/340408/devlog/part-2-of-how-who-i-see-went-from-the-creation-of-a-depressed-brok-bihkuuvd

The day of the game coming to the front page was here. The morning started out with a couple of follows, each of which filled me with joy. But in the evening, I thought:

Wha……?

Ding. Ding. Dingding. Dingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingding.

I will never forget it. An email notification for each Follow, and my phone constantly dinged. I remember the sounds constantly interrupting each other because of how many emails there were. In the end, I got around 600 follows in the few days that Who I See was the main feature of the front page. Reception was almost 100% very positive, with many people saying they loved the game. Fanart came in, people LPed it, people commented and theorized and everything…..

I thought this sorta thing only happened to more successful people. I thought it could never happen to me, and I thought that I would only ever live a grey, disappointing life. I thought that the PCGAMER entry and the gamejam awards would be the peak. I still thought that video games were made by other people, but not me. I thought my low self esteem was right.

It was wrong.

The Lesson.

Let me say: This did not PROVE that I was capable of awesome things. It altered my perception. It broke my wrong belief that I was mediocre and that nothing would ever change and that life would never get better.

So many times, we HAVE done awesome things, we ARE awesome people, and we CAN do awesome things, but we don’t believe it. Our perception of reality sees that as impossible. It seems like a fact that cannot be changed. But if you take away one idea from my story, I hope it is this:

Life CAN get better. The reality you think is impossible to change, CAN change. Your perception of reality itself can be altered beyond your wildest hopes, no matter how factual you think your perception is.

Your perception of reality can change! And you can change others!

So, the overwhelming success of my game, completely unexpected, convinced me to cast off the graphic design path and focus on trying to get a gamedev job. It’s the most successful I’ve ever been. What I thought of as a distant, naive dream has been revealed to me as a possibility.

After having my hard work acknowledged, and been helped up by YOU for trying, and enjoying my game, I became more optimistic, less bitter, more pleasant, less irritated, more hopeful, less miserable, and more loving. I became a better person. And so can you.

You have the power to change lives. By playing my game and giving your support through playing or following or paying or commenting or telling others about it, every single one of you who has played it has changed my life. You can change your own, and that if others as well.

I still have depression, and I have a lot of dark times. But now I have something I didn’t have before. Hope. And we should all try to give each other that hope. Acknowledge each other’s hard work. If you see something cool, take the time out of your day to tell the creator that it’s cool. It helps them so much more than you may think. If you have the opportunity, bring others up. I’m going to try to do that as much as I can this year, like I do with the fanart and any other fan content I may see.

Your perception of reality can change, no matter how unchangeable it may seem. Life can change in ways better than you may think are possible. And it can change from you, and you can change the perceptions and lives of others. Help each other and acknowledge each other’s hard work when you can. You’re full of awesome potential. You don’t have to prove that, it’s fact. And if you don’t believe it, then I hope something happens to change your perception. And I hope you have the opportunities to help others too.

Happy New Year, everybody. Let’s have a good one. The comic page will come tomorrow. The Christmas page will be delayed a bit, hopefully done around New Years Day.

Thank you so much for reading! Thank you for your support! Thank! You! For! Playing!!!!!!!!!!