Well now... eight years have passed since I first joined GameJolt... what a ride it's been, lol.

I've been through a lot, met some great folks, and generally got to make a lot of people happy, excited, scared, the works. It means a lot that I've been making people feel various emotions throughout the years.

I've decided to not quit making .EXE games. They mean too much to me, and to abandon them feels wrong, honestly. I have been struggling with my emotions and feelings lately, and they've dampened my motivation a lot, but I know eventually I can push past that and create some truly memorable games going forward.

On that note... how far I've come?! Like... going back and remastering some of my older games, I notice how... well, put together with duct tape they all were, for lack of a better analogy. Even my more recent games started with that awful programming, such as Oldum77.EXE. Every game since has been much more refined, using all the coding skills I learned from going to college.

Segueing off of that topic, may I just say... I started these .EXE games from my old Windows XP computer and my middle school's library's computer at the back. I was only 14, the year being 2014. I secretly installed Game Maker onto it, and would every lunch go there and program the original version of Sonic.EXE: The Creepypasta Remake on it, even getting in trouble once (since it was meant for schoolwork and the teachers thought I was playing games lol).

Fast forward to 2018, and in Grade 12 at high school I dropped one whole course so I could have a free period dedicated to working on TOYSTORY3.EXE. I remember bringing my laptop to school and working away at it, sitting in the presentation hall, where no one else was with me. It was a soothing experience I miss quite a bit. The final background against the boss fight with Woody.EXE and Respiro, the silver maple trees, was a doodle I made looking at the giant silver maple tree outside the window there.

And lastly, in early 2019, I remember taking my laptop to college I went to and working away the game's update (with the challenge level), Oldum77.EXE on its various cutscenes, and even later, I remember in early 2020 working on TOYSTORY3.EXE: Crazed Edition in the cafeteria one morning, in which I came in early during a storm, but school was delayed and I had no way back home, so I just stayed on worked away.

Apologies for rambling, I was just reminiscing about the old days. Back when things were simple and I was happy making these games. Life for me now is tough, I'm 22 and I work a minimum wage job, which is very stressful for me. I live with my brother in an apartment, I moved out earlier this year, which was stressful in its own right. Things have really changed since I started making these games, but I don't want to stop.

Please look forward to all my future projects. Larger projects will either be cancelled completely or scaled down in scope, to suit my dying motivation. I can't work on too big a project otherwise I'll get discouraged early on and give up.

Thank you all so much for being here through these last eight years; what a crazy ride it's been! I wish you all the best of luck, and a wonderful day today. Love you all.

~Oldum77