1st Anniversary / Retrospective, Future Plans, Bonus, And Thank You

It’s been a whole year since Garenburg Penitence: The Riflebird released.

How.

How has time flown by that fast.

I was planning to do some cool stuff and release it for the anniversary but unfortunately life has had other plans with throwing a ton of things in my way. I haven’t really worked on any projects since Archival Anemoia dropped on Steam in late January (it's a free game collection of almost everything I've made available and filled with development commentary, including commentary on this game). But I’ll get back into things soon, I will have more free time than I have ever had to make stuff starting in late June! And I will still do those two things I wanted to do for the anniversary then!

But that aside, I’d like to talk about for a bit just… being a year out from the game release and some of the weight that’s kind of come with that. A lot of my perspective on the development of the game is already documented in Archival Anemoia but this is a little bit of a different retrospective.

First, I want to talk about sales. The game has moved 190 units, 15 retail units (via key activation, so copies I gave for free), 4 returns, and made a net revenue of $440 USD. It also got 19 reviews, though only 15 count toward the review score, and one negative one. The revenue is just a little over half of the money I actually spent making the game (not counting opportunity cost of spending the time on a real job or something), and these numbers are… not super amazing. It does not change my life in any way. It does not mean I can quit my day job. It does not mean I can get a new house or something. If I was trying to go for big financial success, I failed.

But that’s actually fine. These numbers are more than I actually expected or hoped for. I want it to be clear: I do not care about sales. I do not care about being famous. I do not care about making profit. This is a game I made for myself and only me, my dream game. Everything after that is a bonus. These statistics do not really matter that much, honestly.

If you didn’t see it, I also published a novel adaptation of the game! Garenburg Penitence: Unarchived is available as both a PDF on Steam and separately on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, with a paperback version on Amazon and hardcover on Barnes and Nobles. It has made $42.44 on Amazon with 7 copies sold (6 paperback, 1 digital), $5.72 on Barnes and Nobles with 2 copies sold (both hardcover), and $25 on Steam with 8 copies sold. That is… also more than I expected? It paid for itself, I had to buy copies of it for test prints so… that money is back to me! Woohoo!

But yeah, these numbers just do not matter. If I see bigger numbers one day, hurray! I just treat it as a little bonus where I might see extra money sometimes to spend on something or reinvest into more development. Ultimately, this does not matter. I’m happy no matter what happens.

And now to the more substantial part of this reflection.

Making this game is one of the best choices I have ever made in my entire life.

This game has a story that took 8 years to finally publish. The drafts of the original story date back to early 2017. It kept being refined and had attempts to be made back then under a different title that never got very far. It got other games releasing that flesh the world out more and built up to this. It took 5 years of active development, from early 2020 to mid 2025. And now… it is here. It was released in 2025 as a complete product. I cannot put into words how satisfying it is, to see this world that has been stuck in my head since middle school (yeah I’m a zoomer bleh) be put into something tangible and finished and out there for people to experience.

I’ve learnt so much because of this. I improved my writing skills so much over those years. I’ve figured out many more things about how I write, how I think about stories and media and games, what I want and why I do what I do. I’ve had so much growth because of making myself do this. I cannot put into words how much it has changed me as a person for the better.

I got a lot better at all sorts of skills, from C# to scope management to learning Unity for this (this is technically the first Unity game I ever started working on), I had a failed attempt at a New Nintendo 3DS demake (you can play a PC port of that in Archival Anemoia if you want), I had to learn so many techniques and creative tricks to get my goals, I’ve pushed myself so far to get my dream a reality and I never would have if I didn’t have a burning desire to get that into something tangible.

And then, in the aftermath?

Yes, the game had very few people playing it. That’s fine.

But I will always, always be eternally grateful for the people who did.

Much to my surprise, the game ended up with a small but dedicated fanbase. I’ve seen so many comments of really positive thoughts on the game, pieces of fanart, memes, there’s even a really cool fanfic on AO3, a segment in 100 Indie Games You Should Play, and more. I’ve had people tell me they cried playing it, I’ve had people tell me that it was inspiring to want to go and make their own stuff and projects. And I just…

Again, I make my games for myself. They are things I want to do and make. That is the priority. I was expecting very little fanfare at most. But I don’t know. There’s just… I don’t know. There is a different feeling to realize that something like this ended up being impactful, if that makes sense? Video games are something that have played a huge part in my life. So many games have impacted me so much in changing my life in ways I could not expect. I just never really thought I would possibly do anything like that myself. I don’t know how to put it.

Every single hour put into this game that only 190 people in the world have in their game library, every single time I sacrificed resting to chip away at this, every dollar I spent to produce this and every headache of wondering why the code wouldn’t compile was worth it for just that little few that enjoyed it as much as they did. If I died tomorrow in a mysterious accident, I could rest knowing that I’d at least done more than I ever could have dreamed of. I mean it. I am so thankful for all of that and words cannot do that feeling I have justice.

Also look at these play stats!!! That's so cool!!! That's so many hours invested in the game!!!

It’s been a year now, and I’ve thought about that a lot. I just… I don’t know. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read this and even hear what I have to say. I’ve written “news” posts for my projects for over half a decade on news.garenburg.com, fully thinking that they would never have anybody’s eyes on them but me. I don’t know how to even explain how it feels to realize that things have changed. I look at everything. I read every review, every comment, and every message. Even if I don't reply to everything, just know that I care.

If I had the opportunity to do things differently, I wouldn’t take that chance. I have no regrets. Every mistake I made was worth it to end up where I am, and I am so happy with what I’ve come away with.

So, thank you. Really.

I guess that leaves the question… what now?

Where do I go from here?

I’ve mentioned it a few times before but I am working on a 3D remake of The Möbius Strip, a 2019 RPG Maker puzzle game that is heavily tied to both Garenburg Woods and Garenburg Penitence and kind of heavily foreshadowed both. I want to bring it to a higher standard of quality, so I’ll be working on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a 2027 release though… We’ll see how it goes. I've done a little bit of experimenting on it, the artist for the portraits of the original game is returning with brand new art portraits and art, and things are going well there! If you want to play the original game though, it's included in Archival Anemoia for the low price of free.

Beyond that, I have other things lined up. I am still drafting and planning out a game called A Waltz Upon Tearless Shores. If Garenburg Woods is “Garenburg 1” and Garenburg Penitence is “Garenburg 2” then this game will be “Garenburg 3.” It will be a standalone sequel to both. It is also extremely different from both. I think, if I can fulfill my vision for it, that it will surpass this by a long shot and I have to make it in my lifetime. But it will take a while before that game ever releases, sorry. You'll have to wait longer before Lilliane takes the stage.

More immediately, I have plans for updates for this game. I have planned a music video for the game. I have an anniversary trailer I am working on. I have a planned free content update and I want to eventually do DLC with a new campaign and bunch of bonus stories that flesh out it a bit more. But that will also take time. But, as a consolation for not being able to get much out for this anniversary, here is a little preview of a character in one of the bonus stories...

Still a ways away, and the DLC probably won't be this year. But I'd like to do it.

And finally, I do have two shorter projects planned for this year. I intend to make another short standalone Garenburg-related game within the next two months, one that will be free and for a game jam. We’ll see how that goes soon! It is probably both closest to being like bygone snow but it’s a bit… more rough in tone. I would argue that bygone snow is a somewhat happy game (well, it's more bittersweet), but this one is not. I'm sorry, it's hard to write happier titles, and this one came to me in a dream. Beyond that, I have a gameplay-focused collaborative project that isn't Garenburg-related that I’d like to get out later this year; it is being worked on with two other people and will be free on Steam and also open source! If you like the gameplay of Garenburg Penitence, this is very similar.

But for now...

Thank you.

For being here, for reading this…

It means the world to me.

I’ll keep making things as always, and I’ll hopefully be able to show something interesting very soon.

I’ve got just one last little thing here, for those of you who saw the game through to the end; it’s just a little small thing while the more important stuff remains in the works.

[dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHh98_uqE5o"]

Bye for now! See you next time!