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In February, guest writer @squimmy wrote about nebu soku's ingenius puzzler Magicube. We also spoke with nebu soku about making thinky games!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-13-Magicube.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-17-Interview-with-nebu-soku.html

Played through the nostalgic 里山のおと 夏草こみち (Satoyama Note: Natsukusa Komichi) and interviewed developer satoyama note! Super charming world and characters

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-14-Satoyama-Note-Natsukusa-Komichi.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-18-Interview-with-satoyama-note.html

We played Matsuro Palette (at the time, titled Death Palette in English on the Google Play store) and spoke with Sleeping Museum! Game has since gotten an English loc, check it out!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-20-Death-Palette.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-24-Interview-with-SleepingMuseum.html

2023 was the final year for the cherished #フリゲ (free game) event, where people would nominate and vote for their favorite free games of the year. We spoke with Yatarou Akamatsu about running the event since 2008(!!)

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-02-28-Spotlight-on-Furige-20XX.html

In March, we played 3文字限定・対戦クロスワード (Three-Character Limit: Battle Crossword) and interviewed developer Motteke about making puzzle games!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-03-23-Battle-Crossword.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-03-23-Interview-with-Motteke.html

We played the #PICO8 prototype of MOTION●REC by Shoma and spoke with them about developing the full game (releasing next year!)

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-03-26-MOTION-REC.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-03-29-Interview-with-Shoma.html

We visited Asobiba, a board game cafe, and picked up a fun title called SIGN! We also spoke with Naoki Sekino about making with the other staff members!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-04-20-SIGN.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-04-24-Interview-with-Naoki-Sekino.html

We careened around in our trusty kei truck in the appropriately titled DriveCrazy, and spoke with Takao about working on this game in Early Access!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-04-27-DriveCrazy.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-04-28-Interview-with-Takao.html

We were proud to have guest writer @gosokkyu go over the wonderful library of nizakashii, and spoke with them about their obvious love for playing and also making games!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-04-06-Developer-Spotlight-nizakashii.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-04-07-Interview-with-nizakashii.html

In May, we went to #TokyoGameDungeon 5 and checked out a ton of games! Here were fifteen of our highlights:

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-05-28-Pickup-Tokyo-Game-Dungeon-5.html

We looked at the extensive and gorgeous #PixelArt games of Kazu and @to_nyoko! We also got to speak with this husband-and-wife duo about doing #GameJams together!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-05-12-Developer-Spotlight-Kazu-and-Shibo.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-05-14-Interview-with-kazu-and-Shibo.html

We loved our time with Five Years Old Memories (also out now!!) and speaking with @komi_tsu about making games that speak to the child in all of us

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-06-16-Five-Years-Old-Memories.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-06-16-Interview-with-Komitsu.html

We played through the demo of Rumia Throws, an upcoming puzzle platformer with open-ended solutions to getting through the levels, and spoke with Tosa Laboratory!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-06-29-Rumia-Throws.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-06-29-Interview-with-Tosa-Laboratory.html

We played through Magic Story 2, a super charming dungeon-crawling turn-based RPG, and spoke with developer @rukaka!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-08-05-Magic-Story-2.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-08-05-Interview-with-Rukaka.html

We looked at YOUNG TEAM SOUNDS, an upcoming novel game by POST COMMERCIALS ALLIANCE. We also spoke with Hajime Kasai of PCA about working on this striking title

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-08-28-YOUNG-TEAM-SOUNDS.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-08-28-Interview-with-Hajime-Kasai.html

We checked out the fantastic looping VN/roguelike/deckbuilding card game Toroidal: Awaiting the Spring by SameSameSummation, and spoke with samesamekun!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-08-31-Toroidal-Awaiting-the-Spring.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-08-31-Interview-with-samesamekun.html

We played Missile Dancer 2 and spoke with developer Terarin about loving and making STGs of all stripes! We also spoke a little about making Crystal Breaker (out now!!)

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-09-14-Missile-Dancer-2.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-09-14-Interview-with-Terarin.html

We checked out the super unique 1D turn-based roguelike with charming hand-drawn art and intriguing story Yumeiri, and spoke with ishinoura!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-10-26-Yumeiri.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-10-26-Interview-with-ishinoura.html

We explored the world of Monstrous Park and its unsettling inhabitants, and spoke with Kanna about wrangling such a huge and charming cast of characters!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-11-18-Monstrous-Park.html

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-11-29-Interview-with-Kanna.html

Guest writer @mojilove was kind enough to share his thoughts with us on translating Operation STEEL (an STG by Undermog Games) into Japanese! A great look into the process of game translations

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-10-15-Operation-STEEL-JA-Translation-Postpartum.html

And finally, rounding off the year was an incredible writeup of Rodem the Wild by guest writer @misty! A real hidden gem of a release from the 90s era of Macintosh games with some incredible visuals and hand-drawn charm!

https://indietsushin.net/posts/2024-12-27-Rodem-the-Wild.html

Without getting too into the weeds, 2024 was not a great year for me. I struggled to focus on updating the site much, which I think you can see in the marked decrease in articles from 2023. I would like to sincerely apologize to my contributors and interviewees for my slow pace this past year

THAT SAID, I have big plans for 2025, and am really hoping I can get my stamina up in order to carry them out. For starters:

- Get the Year 2 ebook out!! I already have the cover art, I just need to compile it!
- Finish up the three (!!!) interviews in my inbox and accompanying game profiles

- Get the 2025 Winter issue out (and hopefully get back into a more regular update schedule, if not monthly then at least bimonthly)
- Be more consistent about streaming Happy Hour (again, sorry for the many ドタキャン this year)
- Find more J devs on here and move away from Twitter for good LOL

I'm excited for 2025 and talking about more games! I hope you all are having a restful end-of-year holidays, and hope to talk more about indie games and developers from Japan in 2025!!

P.S. Over on my personal account, I wrote a thread with some of my quick thoughts on the entries to the 30th #3分ゲー contest! (This might get recycled into a full article on Indie Tsushin if I get the chance!!)

https://gamedev.lgbt/@renkotsuban/113746235050641416