#updates and things

May 18th, 2026

A short update!! Because I have things to share but not tooo much and I'm afraid I'll convince myself not to post later.

As of writing this devlog, I am doggedly trying my BEST to get some more headway on HSD 2. Billie and April's routes are in the prom section of the story--I mentioned previously that game 2 is split into months. In my outline, I have smaller sections for where the script will split up if I'm writing large variations of shared scenes i.e. the college fair, the weightlifting meet, and prom!

With Langston and Ryan under my belt, getting to and through the prom scene is where shit starts to congeal and I'm truly in the home stretch. So, I won't celebrate just yet, but if we all cross our fingers, I'll be posting a "____ ROUTE IS DONE" maybe, hopefully, possibly next month?

I think I'll also start commissioning art assets again this summer so 1) I can resume plugging things into ren'py and 2) start teasing scene again bc they'll finally have the sprites AND backgrounds lol.

I have no idea what now and December will look like however, I've decided that it's okay to voice this goal here: I'd like to have Billie, Ryan, and Langston's routes in early access state by March 2027 and a finished HSD 2 either by Q4 2027 or Q1 2028.

Like...I think I can do it. I've taken lots of breaks in between writing this, battled a lot of internal and external demons, stressed over the storylines, and worried that I wasn't producing my best work. But, I really am proud of this game and I REALLY want y'all to play it and I REALLY am feral to hear feedback and reactions. I'm tired of my own echo chamber LOL!

Here's a scene from someone's prom scene (any guesses??) and I hope everyone has a good week! 🤧

- Gemini

February 9, 2025

Well, well, well, did NOT think I'd be writing one of these so soon!! But I'm feeling a (small) game development break in my near future, so maybe this is great timing.

HSD:JY 2

In case you missed the news, you can now play the full prologue of High School Daze: Junior Year 2!!! Apologies in advance for the wait between now and the finished game, but I *have* to strap down and become one with the blank page. I mean, we all saw how I've struggled thus far 😫

LOVED VN

Giggling because I can never decide if I want to use "Loved" or "#LovedVn" or "Loved VN"! Anyway, sprites are being finalized, and I've been working on plugging in the music tracks and SFX and finishing up all the backgrounds. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things, but yeah!

I've also been trying to come up with extra content for ko-fi but it's been a lot of writing for *me* and not for a public audience. Which completely defeats the purpose. Le sigh.

OH, BOY

We've got voiced lines!! We've got finished sprites!! We've got almost finished backgrounds!!! We're got a barebones itch.io page that needs...Jesus something!!! We've got finished music tracks!! (Which if you keep an eye on the ko-fi page, you might hear something nice...)

I don't have a projected release date other than by the end of the month, since I'm still very confident we'll make the jam deadline, but I hope my lack of updates on this project is okay 🤣(edit to add: I just posted things on Bluesky if you're interested!) It's so short in comparison to my longer games that I feel like everyone will get the most out of the game once it's done.

SECRET PROJECT

StopyellingatmethisideawasinthemakingforawhileandIjustkindasortoffinishedthescriptandnowIhavetomoveforwardwithitwhyareyoulookingatmelikethatstopitIswearImfinesheesh....

For now, all I will say is that this

1) is another shortie

2) older!femme protag

3) romance flavored with yuri and otome routes and

4) has grief overtones lol

It has a name, finished script, a pretty GUI I have eyeballs on (I tried doing one myself and it was a Mistake) and a musical direction I will lock down sometime. It doesn't have an artist though and that's because I have current projects that need those funds. Stupid responsibilities.

I'll probably share more on ko-fi, either as a paid or freebie post, so if this has caught your eye, yes I'm bribing you to follow me over there to know more 🤪

October 1, 2025

Hiiiiiii.

This was supposed to go out last month. But rushing to report everything that's happened since we last talked was not high on my list. Anyhoo, on with the updates.

#LovedVN is out now!

Yep, that's right, if you somehow missed the announcement, no worries! Mosey on over to itch.io, download and play now!

Also...in writing that sentence and checking the navi post, I just realized some of the links are wrong (either directs you to Crushed or to HBG main itch page, whoops.)

Not that this is a secret, more just me bringing it up every other chance I get, BUT DEVOTED IS NEXT!!! YIPEE!!! Now, that said it's still very early days and the outline is frustratingly incomplete, but it's still just nice to sigh and go "Man, Keegan and Oke get their story next. Hot dog. Life is good sometimes."

Also I commissioned art for fun and Bluesky peeps got the pleasure of watching me lose my mind right after seeing the sketch. Can't wait to share the finished piece with y'all!

Also...I p r o m i s e that dang postmortem will go out this month! Like probably soon after this devlog goes live. I'm just sitting on the post and it's not doing any good unpublished.

HSD:JY

A few things to say concerning this series. One, I am back to working on game 2, April's route to be specific. I'm at the halfway point, and tbh it's because I swallowed the bullet whole and switched back to Google Docs (while work continues for HSD 2 and only for HSD 2). I just...was not having the best time transition to to Ellipsus. It's an amazing program if you're starting a new project there. If you're importing from elsewhere, it's very demoralizing lol.

With that said, I also want to put out that I think if I play my cards right and balance things okay, my plan is to have all 6 routes drafted by the start February 2026. Whether I make that goal remains to be seen BUT I do know that by next year I'll have a closer guess as to about when HSD 2 will release in it's entirety. There's still things like the art assets to commission, but with a completed (written) game, I'll know exactly what's left to tackle.

Also...y'all are gonna laugh about this (I sure did). High School Daze: Junior Year *1* was delisted. Yep, you read that right!!! Could not tell you why. So if you're looking for the first game and confused, please don't be. It's not showing up in searches lol. I already sent an email a while back but who knows when it'll be opened and addressed. In the meantime...*shrugs*.

Miscellaneous

Alright, buckle up, I'm gonna start ticking things off:

My laptop tried to die on me (RUDE) but it was just dramatic and we can all thank Father Gemini for saving it's ungrateful, electronic ass.

I'm working on a piece for the Finish the God Damn Game (Jam)! It's not the original WIP I selected, but it's okay because its replacement is coming together nicely! It's also a bit slow going because I'm commissioning more things than I have with previous projects. Stay tuned for more on that.

Ko-fi, babes...we shall try again in 2026 LOL! I fell off the wagon again *shocked noises*, but I hope once I get more progress with HSD, I can once again return to making the tip jar a party.

THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY GOOD GAMES RELEASED?!?!?! I'm genuinely excited for my wrap up this year. I am not excited for all the reporting I will have to do to cover everything I want to cover...lol

I had a birthday a couple days ago! Be a peach and play Carrot's new game demo, Where the Day Springs Red. It's so gooooood.

Okay.

You've been updated.

Have a cool week, y'all!

June 2, 2025

It's so rude opening up my HSD 2 docs each time only to see that there's nothing NEW there!! Who the hell is writing this damn thing???

🤨

On the Topic of HSD:JY 2

...I have to completely dismantle Lydia's route. I'm 90% sure the prologue is safe (aka what's in the public demo) but everything outlined and even drafted after that has to go. I keep trying to salvage parts and pieces, but I think I need a clean slate. There's a direction Lydia's route has to go in that's different from the other 4 love interests and I've got to stop being scared and just...do it.

Smh.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have 2 other more pressing things that should have my attention, which means I shouldn't be stressing out about**this**.

In better news...I switched over to April recently AND IT'S SO MUCH FUN!!! God, I love writing April x MC (and Billie). Their dynamic is so fun to explore.

On the Topic of Loved

LOVED AKA CRUSHED #2 RELEASES ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 3RD!!!

So. Mark your calendars, tell your friends, start your countdowns, etc., etc., 🤣 (Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈)

Miscellaneous

Honesty hour: Y'all...I'm exhausted 🙂

I've found myself in a team for the upcoming Josei Jam(--don't worry I'm NOT in charge!!!), and of course I still have Loved to prep for release, but I should rest.

It's times like this where I'm reminded that doing game development full time would actually kill me, lol.

I won't get into what's going on outside of gamedev, but just know that as a Black American woman, this is not the adulthood package I signed up for.

In general HSD news, I'd like to make an android build for HSD 1 (and eventually, or soon??? Crushed and Loved???). I...started the process and then got super confused. Granted, I was trying to start learning a new thing at 1 AM but that's neither here nor there!! BRUH I FIGURED IT OUT!!! So. Another test run and then android builds will start rolling out this year. Late this year probably.

In theory, I'd like to figure out how to accomplish this by the end of the year as I think it'd be nice for players to have an additional way to play these games. Also, HSD 1 and soon to be 2 are just too long to make a stable enough browser experience for me 😭 I considered it, especially since i know how to make web browser builds, but yeah. Time to learn something new I guess. I could just delete this but I want to see for myself the difference in pre-drafts verses final post lol.

December 28th, 2024

And just like that, I'm writing and posting the very last devlog of the year! I wasn't sure what 2024 would bring, and yeah I did get sucker punched more than once, but I also had some nice and welcomed surprises.

So! What now?

HSD:JY 2

...I'm not playing. I really need a devlog dedicated to solely High School Daze stuff. 🤡 Just need to decide what's not spoilery and what's not (too) ranty.

KO-FI RESUMES! AGAIN!!

Given that I wasn't producing anything of note, free or worthy of money, I paused billing again LOL! Fun stuff going up again in the new year! 2025 will be me figuring out how to continue to be consistent *and* decide what kind of content I want to post there versus elsewhere.

LOVED VN

T'was not meant for this game to release this year buuuuut I'm really hype for Summer 2025 now! #LovedVN is a summer tale, and I find myself thinking about these characters a lot. Depending on where I am, you might get a sneak preview during the Amare Fest, but I promise I'm making this project worth the wait for all of us.

OH, BOY

Yeah, no, I really wrote this game for me AND IT WILL SHOW BUT I DON'T CAREEEEEEE!!

My teammates for this project are amazing??? Absolutely fantastic humans??? The best of the best???? And they too are in love with this story (and the main characters) as much as I am??

"Gemini, you keep talking about this game like we know what you're talking about." Okay. Fair. Oops.

Oh, Boy is a bite sized, romance flavored game with multiple endings about college sophomore Janella who's Going Through Things™️ with her friends and decides to go to a concert on campus. There, she sees the guy she loves to hate (...or is it hates to lo-- *BANG*) Kendrick, and you, dear player, determine how the night ends!

(BTW it's SFW game so like...yeah. But! There will be bonus content shaped something of the 18+ variety so stay tuned if you're freaky like that???? 🤣)

Aaaaaand there will be partial voice acting!!! I casted both roles and my GOD they are Janella and Kendrick??????? It's insane how much giggling I've done going over the script and realizing their voices will be saying the lines. Like......this is probably my fave project idea to date because of the trope involved (bickering to lovers, yes that's totally a legit trope, leave me beeeeee.)

Mmmm what else can I share with y'all...

The new tunes!!!! Have a sneak peek of one of them:

I want to get permission from my artists to share art tingz first, so maybe that'll be a next month task! (Janella is so cute and Kendrick is definitely the star of homegirl's dreams! Also we're getting CGs which is SO!! EXCITING!!)

A fun development fact: when testing this game before I rejoiced that I'd have a designated programmer, I wanted to ensure all the endings were achievable. But I had to make a whole ass GUIDE because I kept getting the same two endings 🤡 I'm still in awe at how much I struggled.

ENDING NOTE

I have no idea the posting order of things, so if my yearly game review post is live, check that out! If not, I have 3 more days left in the month to post it!

Thank y'all so, so much for another year of sillies and games and blogging and creation. 💛 Hummingbird Games turned 4 this year and I'm a little sad that I can't call myself a toddler dev anymore. I'm a whole kid now, and ehhhh, "kid dev" just doesn't sound all that good to me 🤣

I'll workshop it!

Happy New Year from yours truly,