Turns out I would change some things

Last time out I called it 1.0 and said I wouldn't change a thing.

That lasted about as long as you'd expect.

The moment you stop building something you start seeing it clearly, and I've got a list now. Stuff aimed squarely at the moment-to-moment of actually playing this thing — more variety, more surprises, more reason to go one more round. I'm not spoiling it. But if you played it and thought "yeah, this is fine," I'm working on making you wrong about that.

On the personal side: I said a month, I went a week, I left on my own. It is what it is.

On the build side: Opus 5 landed. I've moved every pipeline I run over to it — the game, the sites, all of it. They work. Properly work. The system I tore down and rebuilt last post has been running on it since and it hasn't told me a comfortable lie yet, which is a low bar I've learned to care about a lot.

I've also been busy in the other direction.

There's a portfolio site now — develop-ed.com. A real one. Case studies of client work I've actually delivered, testimonials from the people I delivered it to, the professional presence and the LinkedIn to match. If you ever wondered whether the guy making this game does anything else, that's the answer.

And there's iziwerk. My own product: one place a freelancer runs every client — proposals, invoices, files, messages — where they keep 100% and the platform never takes a cent. It's functionally complete and its security is proven. What's left is company paperwork and a launch, not engineering. Full write-up's on the portfolio if you want the detail.

Which brings me to the part where I ask for something.

I love building. I could do this half forever. The other half — advertising, pushing product, making content, getting anyone to actually look at any of it — is where I fall down.

Not for lack of trying it. I ran a YouTube channel for a while. But that was making videos, and making things is the part I'm fine at. Pushing a product is a different job and I've never done that one. I'm also flat-out burned out on social media, and I'd be lying if I said I was itching to get back on it.

So: if that's your work, or you know someone whose work it is, I want to talk. Someone running social, making content, getting word out. That could be hiring, it could be a stake, it could be investment so I can afford to do it properly — I'm open on the shape of it. There are countless ways to reach me and I'll answer all of them.

I'd rather name that gap than pretend it isn't one.

Otherwise, I'm alright. Some of this year has gone nothing like I planned it. Life's life. It is what it is, and there's more of it coming either way.

Thank you to whoever's reading this. Thank you to whoever's playing. Thank you especially to whoever's sent feedback — I read all of it and I value it more than you'd guess for a game this size.

Stay on the lookout. Who knows what I do next.