Last month was a weird one: we had a bunch of delays with our work and ultimately weren't able to finish planned tasks in time, got some bad news when we were counting on the good ones, but also got the awesome news faster than expected right after.
At the beginning of October we've announced the winners of the js13kGames 2021 competition during the online Awards Ceremony, and were steadily sending prizes and preparing the swag through the rest of the month.
September was quite intense when it comes to js13kGames, especially the first half of the month. It wasn't only about the competition though: I've updated an app, attended two meetups, and submitted a lenghty CFP.
The NSHex Counter app that launched two years ago, which serves Neuroshima Hex board game fans with the ability to keep track of the tiles used by them and the opponent, got its second update with the newest army - Beasts.
Another month entirely focused on the js13kGames competition.
It's that time of the year again - preparations to the js13kGames competition are in full swing. It runs yearly since 2012, so this edition is actually the tenth.
We've focused on completing the Grant for the Web project and publishing the final report through the first half of June, and spent the other half of the month catching up on the rest of the work.
Wait, what? Yes, you read that right: there's going to be a one-day Forest Cuties tournament where the main prize is 50 NEAR.
It's been almost a year since our Web Monetized HTML5 Game Development grant project was announced in July 2020, and even though we had quite significant delay of four extra months on top of original six, I'm really happy with how the project went for us.
This game's story started a couple of years ago on a wall above our daughter's bed as a cute poster, only to evolve into a physical card game, and then a mobile one that implemented Web Monetization's receipt verifier service, and even offered an NFT to the mix.
The beginning of May was all about the Gamedev.js Jam 2021 results, while during the rest of the month we were wrapping our already-too-many-times-delayed Grant for the Web grant work, which included NSHex Roulette, Body Guard, and Forest Cuties.
Demo of the Body Guard game was prototyped more than three years ago during Global Game Jam 2018, and right after that tossed into a pile of unfinished projects. Since it is a game where you fight against viruses, we've decided to bring it back to life, finish and release it as part of our Web Monetization API experiments, and support Artist Rescue Trust (and Phaser) thanks to the Grant for the Web program as well.
We've wrapped the second edition of the Gamedev.js Jam last week, so it's time to do a little summary of how it went, especially given it ended up being way bigger than initially planned.
We're big fans of the physical board game Neuroshima Hex, and NSHex Roulette is a digital expansion to that game. We are offering a unique experience to all the fans, and it's free thanks to implementing the Web Monetization API as part of the Grant for the Web program.
Most of April revolved around the Gamedev.js Jam 2021 - it was suppose to be a short and simple competition, but I wouldn't be me if I haven't tossed in two new categories, challenges, dedicated experts, partners, and $20k worth of prizes.
After announcing the Web Monetization category in the upcoming Gamedev.js Jam 2021, now it's time to reveal the second, Decentralized one, organized in partnership with Protocol Labs and NEAR Protocol!
March was a crazy month on so many levels - we were extremely busy, had health issues, unexpected problems, and couldn't work as much as we wanted. We didn't even have the time or energy to celebrate Enclave's birthday that happened March 10th, but I do hope April will be better.
We're happy to announce the Gamedev.js Jam 2021 that will run online between April 13th and 26th 2021 will have a Web Monetization category this year, with cash prizes and Coil memberships for the best entries.
After a whole month of gathering responses, and a week of preparing results, we're happy to publish the report containing answers to 26 questions submitted by 437 developers.
The Mozilla Festival 2021 is slowly coming to an end, and so we decided to recall last year's MozFest Arcade experience and prepare a totally subjective list of five games that utilize Web Monetization API you can play right now and support its creators.
We're starting the countdown to Gamedev.js Jam 2021 - an online competition for HTML5 game developers, running for thirteen days between April 13th and 26th. It's the second edition after the Gamedev.js Jam 2020 hosted last year.
If you follow the competition for long enough this is absolutely no surprise - printing of the swag from js13kGames 2020 was delayed a few times, similarly to the previous years. It's finally done though, and all the packages were already shipped!
February was all about working on the remaining Grant for the Web program grant projects - we've already got the deadline extended, so we have to finish our work as soon as possible.
We're conducting a Survey as part of the Gamedev.js initiative to learn about the current state of the HTML5 Game Development in 2021 - where the developers work, what tools do they use, how much do they earn, and much more.
January was full of various activities: from publishing the Yearly Report, through two js13kGames videos to watch, and Enclave Phaser Template being updated to 3.50, to the Global Game Jam 2021 invitation. And most of all, the work on the new js13kGames website moved forward significantly!
This year's Global Game Jam, given what's happening around the world, went entirely online. The good news are you all are invited to particpate however and wherever you want.
Since the latest Phaser release was the biggest one ever (not counting the major versions), I decided to give the Enclave Phaser Template an update as well.
There are two interesting video materials about last year's competition that are worth spending some time on: showcase of all the 36 entries from the Web Monetization category recorded by Jupiter Hadley, and overall top 20 best games with their source code explained by Ania Kubów prepared for freeCodeCamp.
Even though 2020 was overall a terrible year, we are really happy with how it turned out for us, given we received a grant from the Grant for the Web program to work on our projects.
December was quite intense, especially from the tech speaking and networking point of view - I was actively testing my new audio/video setup.