Looks like I started a new secular tradition last year with the summation of 2012. Let’s take a look at 2013 through the promises I made at the beginning of the year.

plan A) Is to create 4 games this year, these are, in chronological order: Daymare Town 4, 10 gnomes in Dubrovnik, Submachine 9 and Where is 2014?

Well, almost. Submachine 9 didn’t happen this year, but Daymare Town 4 was exceptionally big (as in: biggest game I’ve ever done).

Besides this I also intend on doing Rewolucje 8: in Space (Rewolucje w Kosmosie) of which I have already 46 finished pages. I could call it a wrap and just publish it as it is. I could. But I won’t. This album needs another 40 pages or so.

Yes. New Rewolucje album was finished and released in December. A bit late this year, but that’s because DMT4 took so long to finish. That game really took a major chunk of time this year. Turns out this album needed 36 additional pages, so I was almost right with my blind calculation. Since we’re talking about comics, there was also another album released in May – Tetrastych. But that’s the fallout of insane number of 118 pages created in 2012. To put that in perspective – this year I made only 37 pages (one being a short comics about Blaki for Zeszyty Komiksowe).

plan B) Once I’m sure that plan A will be fulfilled, there are other smaller side jobs. Those include: further expansion of the subnet,

Yes. In fact, that expansion happened right there in January 2012. Since then the Subnet got rebranded to Submachine Universe, and as of now is dormant, but this will change in 2014. More on this below.

creating specific series oriented websites for all major ones, such as Covert Front, 10 gnomes, Daymare Town etc. I’d like to move away from the regular online games portal and create game hubs for each series. The one I did for the Fog Fall was received warmly and I think it’s a good direction for the future of our catalogue,

Yes! That happened too. Not only that – I moved away from the pastel stories brand and now all my stuff is under my own name on mateuszskutnik.com, which is the most logical progression I can think of. Pastel Games got redesigned by me as well. All games have their own cozy little homes. There are no doubles anymore – if you want to play my games from under pastel games website – you just jump over to my site. Simple as that.

releasing HD versions of older Submachines, starting with Submachine 6 HD,

Yeah, that… Starting and finishing with Submachine 6 HD. Not that I couldn’t release more, in fact I’ve got two ready – was just waiting for a good release time which kind of didn’t come in 2013. More on this below.

finishing the “mission to…” series,

Lol, nope. Not even close.

other small games (also trying to empty my to-do catalogue).

Yeah, right. Emptying my to-do catalogue. Well, one thing happened, and a significant one. Daymare Cat was a major success, despite being a small off-the-main-series addition to the daymare lore. I attribute that to Cat Jahnke, who created this beautiful song to be used in game. Without it – the perfect storm wouldn’t happen and this game wouldn’t sail as far as it did.

plan C) If time is kind enough I’d like to start painting another Blaki comic album. That would be fourth of the series and I’ve got it all written and sketched right here in my notebook.

Lol, nope. Time wasn’t kind. Or maybe it’s me just getting old. I know that I’ve done significantly less work than year before, but I feel that it was more tiresome. But that only means that I’ll create this album in 2014. In fact – right now. I’ll be making it simultaneously with Submachine 9 in January and February. Well, I already started talking about the future, we can stop with those settlements with the past and talk about what’s going to happen next.

Ok, let’s talk business.

1. game wise:

• Submachine 9, obviously. It’s already somewhat developed, so I should finish it in January (or February, don’t hold my word for it);
• further expansion of the Submachine Universe. Yes, as before – more locations. It’s at 90 locations total right now – I want to go up to 100 and then stop (for a while at least). Maybe add another layer of puzzles to it. Who knows (well, me in the future knows).
• Where is 2015? Am I being held hostage to making one of these each year till the end of my time? Well yes, yes I am.
• HD versions of older games, starting with DMT3 and Sub5. Both are ready to ship, I’ll probably release one  around the 15th of each month. The plan covers DMT2 and DMT1 (in that order) and also going down the list of Submachines. Sub4 – for sure. Others if I have time. Oh, almost forgot – I’ll be releasing Sub5 Hd as is, without additional puzzles or graphic changes – I just can’t spare time for the possible changes.
• Dare I say smaller games? Like, maybe more mission to… games? Yes, I dare.
• Submachine 10: the Exit. The last in the main series. I want to at least start making it this year. I don’t believe I’ll finish it in 2014, but let’s just wait and see.

2. comic book wise:

• Blaki 4 (60 pages)
• Rewolucje 9: under the Snow (at least 46 pages)
• If I’m healthy at the time – I want to attend another 24 hour comic book event. That’s in October.  This year I’ll be making Blaki 5 – another Blaki album which is being written and sketched right now. Who’s writing it? Well me, naturally. Why this choice for 24hcd? Because it’s black and white and it’ll be easier to do than then full color comics I was doing previously. Too much hustle with all them paints, waters, papers, brushes and what have you. Painting Blaki in black and white will be swift and clean, ninja style.

So the plan is simple – do all this and be happy.

And here we are, 2014 – another transitional year. Another year of closure and waiting for bigger things to come in upcoming years. Well, waiting is a bad word.

Once again – happy 2014. It’ll be a good one.