Site Updates

Second Anniversary Status Update

2/28/25

I wish I could give an exciting anniversary announcement or something like that, but I can't, at least not exactly. I've been putting off giving any updates because I'm not sure what to say. Here's the deal:

• – First off: this project is NOT dead. Despite how it may look, it's been in my mind constantly. Unfortunately, that doesn't equate to progress being made. I finally graduated in December, but only after a hectic final semester where I had to take the most credits I ever had to finish without running out of money, while I was (and am) also dealing with some ongoing health problems. All my free time was spent recovering from things, and it didn't leave much room for the more fulfilling but also draining experience of creation. You may be thinking: is it really that hard to spit out a single MS Paint panel once a week? Did you really have no time for that? And the answer to that is no, but...
• – This comic started out as an intentionally low-effort exercise in venting my creative urges. But it didn't take long until I found myself extremely invested in it. Naturally I got to a point where I became frustrated with my own low drawing skill potentially sabotaging my new artistic aspirations, but I was trying to stay on a schedule. And when that schedule slipped more and more, I eventually realized something:
• – Webcomics are not the medium for me. You'd think I'd have learned that with my first one, but sometimes it takes making a mistake twice for me to learn my lesson, and it's better I acknowledge this than try to ignore it and push through. An ongoing format where you're committed to putting something out on a regular interval indefinitely is not to be taken lightly. And that aside, I also began to feel self-conscious about the fact that I can count the number of webcomics I've read on one hand—making something in a medium you don't engage with feels less than ideal.
• – So, where does that leave 212? Well, I do want to take the story I've developed to completion, but I have to start from the ground up, in a medium I'm more familiar with. Given the slightly interactive nature of the story so far, there's only one that makes sense: video games.

So, perhaps you can consider this the announcement of 212: the video game. But I'm trying to be more pragmatic this time. I don't want to say "I'm releasing a video game soon!!!" when nothing beyond plot outlines and preliminary character designs have been done. I have NO idea how long it will take, and how much help I'll need, or even how I want the final product to look. In an ideal world I would have prepared some sort of teaser trailer for the anniversary, but I think the best thing I can do is be transparent about this.

One of my biggest sources of hesitation here was shifting the story from ongoing to something that will be worked on privately and released all at once (or possibly more realistically in a few parts). I hope this doesn't come as a betrayal. But I know it's for the best. I can't give guarantees, but I'm serious about getting this story out somehow, no matter when or how. Once something resembling dedicated development starts I'll have much more to say and show. These past two years have only been the beginning... I hope you'll stick around for the ride!