Developer Diary #1 - January 3, 2026

I'm MicalPixel, the solo developer of May and the Amazing Bouquet ("MATAB")!

This is the first of what I hope will be regular updates on the game's progress in 2026, in a longer format than sites like Bluesky or Mastodon can handle.

I also wanted to share the game's wishlist numbers so far! 🙂

Summary

TL;DR Lots happened in 2025.

Goal is to have a playable demo in 2026.

After 3 months of having a Steam store page, game is currently at 139 wishlists!

2025 in Review

To recap, development started on May 1, 2024.

2024 was an alpha/experimentation period. I had to figure out what the game would be about. I had to learn a game engine. And everything in between.

Graphics were placeholders. Here's the *final* (yes, final!) screenshot I took of the game in 2024 (December 1).

And here's the first screenshot from 2025 (January 2). So, a full month with no screenshots. But a major visual upgrade.

Internally, I referred to this part of development as "Version 0.1." Here's the final look at its world map at the time. Lots unfinished. Lots using older (and some even OLDER) placeholder graphics.

Adding Player Abilities

January 2025 saw a major change to the game. Before, gameplay involved avoiding enemies by walking around them.

May had no abilities. I'd previously planned ability-granting items but axed them. This was my first game and I wanted to keep things simple. Just get something finished. But gameplay didn't feel right.

Around this time, I was playing through the Spyro trilogy for the first time. Spyro has two main abilities mapped to two buttons: Breathe fire and dash. Levels, enemies, and collectibles were all designed around these abilities, and there was a rhythm to knowing when to use which ones and when. The gameplay felt fluid, dynamic, and fun. There was player agency.

And after going over earlier notes, I game May two abilities. Not via items, but from the very start of the game: jumping, and whistling.

One was movement-based, the other effect-based. And I liked it. Whistling could pacify enemies, keeping with a cozy nonviolent theme. And both abilities could be used to avoid enemies, possibly as a last resort. This opened up so many more possibilities with enemy variety and puzzle ideas. It changed the game, so I referred to it as "Version 0.2" from then on.

Version 0.2 didn't last long. I realized many more changes were needed to accommodate the abilities:

1. Enemies had to be re-balanced with stunning and jumping in mind.

2. The game needed a tutorial area where these abilities could be taught.

3. All maps needed to be reworked (ie, deep water was no longer impassable; May could now jump over water.)

4. The game could be a bit longer, since these abilities will keep the gameplay fresher for longer.

5. Due to #2 and #4, the world map has been enlarged (from 6x6 rooms to 8x8).

And so Version 0.3 was born shortly after and has continued since.

The Rest of the Year

Lots of other features were added in 2025.

Including minigames: checkers, fishing, mazes, and more:

Steam post image Steam post image

Overworld graphics were given an upgrade in July. The trees now have striped patterns instead of dithering. (Nothing else in the game used dithering, so it felt out of place.) Patches of grass now appear all over the, uh, grass, making things look less same-y. Old version left, new version right:

Steam post image Steam post image

The story was reworked into several independent arcs. Existing characters were changed, and new ones were introduced.

Side-scrolling rooms were added. Albeit with placeholder graphics.

Lots of work has gone into the game's menus, organizing them and allowing for lots of customization, including inputs. There's an achievements system now too. The menus have gone through so many changes.

I liked the protagonist's hand cursor shown in the checkers minigame above. I decided to re-use it for the minimap screen. And then other menus too, as part of an overall theme where the protagonist, May, is actually looking at her notes and deciding what to do next.

The game also got fully remappable controls, both for keyboards and gamepads. You should be able to use either of them without any trouble. I made a video demonstrating all these features with several input devices:

I created several fully functional cutscenes as well: the game's intro, the introduction to the minimap, and some others relating to the garden arc.

I also began using FurnaceTracker to make the game's sound effects and audio. I finished two simple songs and added sounds for jumping, whistling, and many menu sounds.

And of course, all the social media posts I made this year too, on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Tumblr. I've never been very active in making regular posts about anything like this, and it took a lot of getting used to.

It's been a busy year, and I'm excited for 2026!

Goals for 2026

My main goal for 2025 was to announce the game's name, create a trailer, and put up a Steam page.

🎉 Mission successful! 🎉

My main goal for 2026:

Release a Playable Demo.

On Steam. Which will feature one of the game's main arcs from start to finish.

I keep coming up with new ideas for the puzzles/story/enemies aspect of the game. And so I want to give them more time to stew in case I want to make any big changes. That's why I've focused more on menus lately. Working on menus has also given me a chance to think about the game's controls, and whether any changes to the gameplay might be needed. Such as accessibility concerns, how to handle saving (autosaves VS save-NPCs VS save via menu?), and art style.

Lots of things need to be done for a demo:

• Finish the actual maps with NPCs/enemies for the story arc.

• Finish the menus.

• Implement saving.

• Fishing minigame (yes this one's important!).

• Make sure all options work.

• Music and sfx! This is a big one. I want to spend more time studying other games and such. This is the one area that's still very new to me. I realize chiptunes are not everyone's favorite type of music, so I want to make sure it's enjoyable to listen to and not, y'know, grating on the ears.

• General graphical touch-ups and bugfixing.

And also playtesting, of course. I want to get this game into the hands of a few people I know and get their feedback before releasing the demo to everyone else. So, Discord server.

Wishlists

The Steam page went up on September 27, 2025. So, October-November-December = 3 months.

Alright! Want to know how many wishlists MATAB has gotten?

(Let's pretend I didn't already reveal it in the TL;DR)

✨ We're at 139! ✨

I wanted to do something special for 100. But I kept working on the game instead and well... here we are! 🙃

And I must say...

♥️ THANK YOU! ♥️ It is incredible to think that over 100 people are interested in what I'm making. I really appreciate it! And I really do want to make something that you all will enjoy.

I also want to add that: This game will be finished regardless of wishlist numbers. It's a hobby project for me. I have a story that I want to tell, and it's going to get told, no matter what Steam's stats say.

Musing on Wishlists and Niche Games

One thing that initially shocked me was seeing posts from developers whose games got 10x the wishlists in their first week that mine did in three months. It's easy to see such posts and wonder "What am I doing wrong?"

After thinking about this, I've realized there are two types of things which can affect a game's popularity, from a developer's point of view:

• Things you're willing to change.

• Things you're not (or can't).

MATAB is a niche game, in many respects. It's a 2D pixelart game whose style is based on a 20-year-old portable gaming device with the processing power of a graphing calculator. It's not flashy. It's not fast-paced and heart-pounding. It's not a game that can hook people in the first two seconds. It's not in a currently-trending genre. It's a game where pink and flowers feature heavily in the theme and marketing - Things that don't typically catch the eye of people seeking action-adventure games. (I'm also a complete nobody in this industry with no connections and no past games whose playerbases I can market to. 😅)

It's a niche game, and barring a black swan event, it's going to get niche player numbers. (no Fortnite killer here lol)

I could change these things to make the game more mainstream.

But to do that, the game would lose its identity.

There are things I AM willing to change though. Fixing bugs, adding features which make the game better without compromising its core, maybe feature longer cuts of gameplay in the trailer so the game loop is clearer. YouTube Shorts and TikTok videos are evidently one of the best ways to get the word out about a game. And I haven't done that yet (since I want to work on the game's audio first). A playable demo seems to have a huge impact on attracting wishlists especially during Steam events (and streamers who can play your game and give it free advertising), which is one reason why a playable demo is my next main goal.

These are things I can and do want to change.

But not those other things.

I also like to think that there's a lot of things I am doing correctly. Enough, at least, to pique the interest of 140 people. ♥️

The lesson here, I guess, is to figure out what sort of game you're making and set expectations accordingly. Most comparisons to most other games will be comparing apples-to-oranges. Just have to keep researching and tinkering with what can be improved and changed without compromising the game itself.

Closing

I think that for a niche game like this, spread via word-of-mouth will be critical if it is to reach a large number of players. And for that to happen, the game needs to be good. Fun, memorable, funny, good writing. It needs to be good enough to surprise people who expected otherwise, in as many ways as possible.

This is also one reason why the current plan is to release the game for free, so people will be more willing to give it a chance.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to post another update soon. In the meantime you can follow weekly-ish updates on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Tumblr.

And thanks for your interest in May and the Amazing Bouquet!

Later!

-MicalPixel