I'm aware I have been quite silent lately, probably more so lately than before. I had initially wanted to make this update in the form of a video to be posted on YouTube, but now I've decided to just write it up as a post here instead.

The state of things

In previous update posts, I've often mentioned my personal struggles and vague real-life hinderances that have kept me from completing all these FNAC-related projects. I don't know the best way to write this, so I'm just gonna ramble:

TW // depression

There are two sides to this coin; what I've been through all these years, and why I've been through them. Through all my life I've lived with something called "hypersensitivity", which has greatly affected how/what I eat or drink, as well as generally making my life physically uncomfortable. This general state of living was something I only up to maybe 4 years ago realized was not how everyone else was living. Anyway, along with that I'm also on the spectrum, which comes with a boat-load of problems, but mainly my mental state has over the past 5-6 years spiralled into a form of depression that appears to also have worsened my hypersensitivity issues.

Apart from the relatively dishevelled professional help I've been through, the best way I've found to live my life is to find distractions from the mental and physical discomfort. Like I've stated before, game-dev is THE passion of my life. I have no idea what I'd be doing without it. So while I've also been heavily burnt-out from FNAC, POPGOES, the Clickteam Fusion engine and all that, I've still tried to strengthen my dev-skills through smaller experimental projects, most of which I have only shown off in smaller online circles. Here's a handful images of some of them:

I'm thinking I'll show off more footage of them on my Bluesky account for those interested.

My primary drive for years now has been simply:

MAKE. A. GAME.

Small game. Big game. I don't care, it just has to be something fun and interesting! My mantra has always been to make games that I want to play, and that is really difficult when I am restricted and/or without ideas! But don't think that this is all something that has replaced FNAC content.

It has not.

These have been ways for me to hone my skills and expand my knowledge, as well as keeping my mental state from drying out like a sponge. I am currently not in control of what I have motivation to do, so I just try to make games.

But what does this mean for the FNAC series?

Honestly, I have no idea. Probably nothing. I still want to complete the series and get those ports done, but due to the aforementioned personal problems, as well as through the magic of Executive Dysfunction, it's been a priority I haven't been able to uphold as much as needed.

My plan was initially to simply "clean up" the first three games (fix bugs, fix balancing, maybe some quality-of-life improvements). The original games were all coded made with Clickteam Fusion 2.5 (CTF 2.5), a game engine I've used for a decade now, and which I've grown to find quite restrictive. As you already know, I had to move development of FNAC FUR from CTF 2.5 over to GameMaker, and this was for two reasons; fewer restrictions with the general implementation of the game, and an easier time handling the actual porting of the game.

Easy, so then I just gotta port the three games, FNAC R, 2, and 3 with CTF 2.5 right? Well, throughout my time working on porting POPGOES Arcade, a game similar to FNAC FUR, numerous advanced technical issues came up and took a long time to fix and/or work around. I'm not gonna go into details there, but it had me realize I'd need to tackle those exact same issues for each of the FNAC games. Along with that, FNAC R was recoded from the ground up, so its code is "well maintained". But the code for FNAC 2 and 3, but mostly 2, is an utter mess. I never imagined going back to the code after this many years! Plus FNAC 2 has its own problems that I think lie closer to its design rather than its bodged implementation. I thought then, why not try and... recode... the game... in GameMaker...?

Yes, I know.

But I managed to recode 95% of FNAC 1 in one week(!) when I worked on FNAC R back in 2019, so maybe I could do this fast too? Plus, further technical limitations with CTF 2.5 and who knows what else. I want this post written and out today, so I have to spare all the details, but I've ended up moving all the FNAC games to GameMaker. This is not a recent decision by the way. This happened over a year ago by now. These are planned to be the definitive versions of the FNAC games, hence their new logos as well, which I will show off for the first time:

This means the definitive ports/re-releases of the first three games will have the postfix "DX" (note how FNAC 4 does not have one, because it is not a re-release! And keen eyes may have noticed a while back, that the game-page for FNAC 4 had its "working title" removed. I had an idea for an alternative title, but I scrapped it and decided to keep the game simply as "FNAC 4")

The DX postfix makes it easier to distinguish them from the original releases, which will of course remain here on Game Jolt. FNAC FUR does also not get a DX because it is FUR.

I think that is all I wanted out. My reasons for keeping everyone in the dark about this was A: it being private, and B: me thinking I'd get past it earlier. Alas, we are now in 2025, and already 1/6th of the way through. Just like the exponentially increasing expansion of the universe, it also feels like time is always speeding up. I've been unable to clearly see the road ahead for years now, and all I can do is to just hold onto the steering wheel and make sure I don't crash. Thanks again for your patience.