As 2023 has drawn to a close, we're left feeling immensely grateful for all the support and progress we've made over the past year! From Restitched developments to a new issue of Cpt. Stuffy, we're excited to look back at all we've accomplished!
Restitched: Recapped!
With 12 editions published, 2023 was an exciting time for Restitched development updates! A lot of progress was made over the year, with several major systems being improved or rebuilt for smoother development and a more stable game going forward.
What sort of stuff did we get up to in development? Well, for starters, we've:
Created loads of new assets (backgrounds, props, cosmetics)
Created a new UI system for popup windows and a main menu
Added visual effects like particles, wind, etc.
Optimized the game across all areas
Expanded our physics system and added more depth to gameplay
Created loads of new concepts for future plans
Added new features and quality-of-life changes
Fixed a countless number of bugs
...and most importantly, laid the groundwork for an exciting 2024!
Catch up on all Restitched: Recapped! posts so far:
Asset Previews
We published 10+ Asset Preview images this year. That's a pretty decent batch of assets to look forward to using in-game! These previews cover multiple asset types, including Cosmetics, Outfits, Building Materials, Props, and Stamps.
Browse the full gallery here:
Restitched Modding Statement
One of our most commonly asked questions is about our stance on mods in Restitched. Do we support it? Will there be tools? How does moderation work? While we understand the appeal, we do have a bit more to say on the topic.
You can read our full statement from January here:
Restitched: Monthly Screenshots
Introduced in 2023 were Monthly Screenshots from the game. We released quite a few of these this year, all from early development builds! While this isn't all of them, here's a very pleasing collage of some of our favorites:
Discord Server Changes
Our official Discord server saw a few changes this year, like the retirement of our Question of the Day event, new roles and icons, a private trixel+ channel, improvements to pings, an off-topic forum, a social media posts channel, and more.
Trixel Creative, LLC's First Birthday!
On February 7th, we celebrated the birthday of Trixel Creative's incorporation. While we have been around much longer than this, it was our first official birthday as a proper software publisher and game development company!
As a small treat, we released (for free) a post showing our recent rebranding: https://www.patreon.com/posts/trixel-diary-75037905
Restitched: Field Guides
We posted just a couple of new Field Guide posts this year, but have more yet to come! These posts are bite-sized pieces of information about the game, including its terminology, mechanics, tools, and features.
Restitched's New Key Art
We wanted to refresh the Restitched cover artwork in 2023 visually, so we did just that! Now boasting a more vibrant and eye-catching look, Stuffy leaps ahead into new adventures.
Cubold Podcast Interview
In April, we announced we were invited to the Cubold Podcast!
Episode 91 featured Lead Writer Billy, Lead Programmers Michael and Raphaël, Lead 3D Artist Ozy, and 3D Animator Luke! We discussed and revealed new information about Restitched, as well as ourselves and Trixel Creative as a whole.
'Road to Alpha' Announcement
In late July, we posted an official update of our internal plans for Restitched development. We're considering this phase of development our "Road to Alpha", meaning we need to hit certain stepping stones along the way!
In this announcement, we shared new information on our intentions for handpicked private testing of the game's core building features, as well as production plans for a second promotional trailer that aims to show off our recent progress.
As a thank-you bonus, we also unlocked several formerly exclusive Patreon posts so that everyone can enjoy them for free and get a better look into our development process!
Read the full post here:
'The Grandiose Tales of Cpt. Stuffy' Renewed
Our spin-off webcomic has finished its first issue with a total of 24 beautifully illustrated pages! In the first edition of this story, we see Cpt. Stuffy and Puddles team up for the start of a daunting new adventure together.
Shortly after we wrapped issue number one, we decided to renew the comic for another issue. In this forthcoming adventure, you can expect to see more of the same great content! Maybe you'll even spot a Restitched reference or two along the way?
Check out the full comic here:
Unity Statement
In September, Unity rocked the games industry with a disturbing policy change. Because Restitched is built in the Unity game engine, we released a statement about our thoughts regarding the situation.
Unity has since reversed this and reshuffled its plans, meaning the development of Restitched can continue as planned.
Trixel+ 3rd Anniversary Celebrations
In October, we celebrated another exciting anniversary for trixel+! Can you believe it's been three years already? With a jam-packed monthly schedule full of exclusive news, bonus posts, sneak peeks, and more, it was quite a month to remember... and our most productive Patreon month to date!
We even released a calendar so supporters could get a full look at the month's post lineup. It was truly filled with goodies! For those of you that celebrated with us, which was your favorite anniversary month post?
Q&A with Trixel Creative
During the trixel+ Anniversary celebration, we hosted a private Discord thread so our subscribers could ask us any and every question for a full day. Multiple team members responded throughout the event, and we shared some personal insight into the development of Restitched, as well as tidbits of our plans and intentions going forward with the project.
A couple of these responses were already featured in October's Restitched: Recapped! post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/restitched-2023-90777434
Exclusive Content for Restitched
Although a bit premature in development, supporters have been asking that we properly announce our plans for exclusive content in Restitched. We heard you loud and clear, and got busy putting together a special item worthy of Stuffy's approval!
During October's anniversary celebrations, we unveiled the Trixel+ Exclusive T-Shirt item alongside our early thoughts and plans on distributing it: https://www.patreon.com/posts/exclusive-trixel-90600295
Trixel Creative Store Returns
After an extended absence from our website, we've listened to the community and have relaunched the "Store" page - now with new products! While this is just a small way to support us, we appreciate the representation and think it's neat to offer a physical piece of our game development journey.
You can read the full post here: https://www.trixelcreative.com/post/trixel-store-returns
Return to Carnivalia - End of Service
In November we were made aware of months-long issues with legacy content from a former team under the Trixel Creative name. Control of this content is still in our ability, though we no longer support it.
We're immensely proud of all the work done on Return to Carnivalia and the impact it's had on so many aspiring creators and creative teams. After investigating the issues and attempting a fix, we decided to indefinitely lock the adventure in-game to preserve its legacy and avoid unintentional harm to player profiles due to instability.
You can read our full statement on the discontinuation of this content here: https://www.trixelcreative.com/post/rtc-eos
Soundtrack Previews
Several thirty-second previews of the Restitched soundtrack were released throughout the year on trixel+. At the end of the year, we decided to publish some of these to our YouTube channel for the wider community to hear and enjoy!
You can check out the playlist here for all currently available Soundtrack Preview videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8TkimbxG14&list=PLmZZRXuLeStz0nWLwe_BsuRKkwkTVL51z&pp=iAQB
Trixel+ Subscribers
We closed off the year with around 300+ Patreon members! We're very thankful for the support, and look forward to continuing to provide updates - both exclusive and free - throughout the rest of our development!
Trixel+ Content Count
To date, trixel+ now has 279 posts! That's a whole lot of content throughout development, so be sure to check it out (including freebies) if you're the type that's interested in more in-depth updates and behind-the-scenes action!
Check out what trixel+ has to offer:
Popular Posts
Every so often, we try to share spontaneous updates and tidbits through social media accounts. Sometimes these posts reach far and wide! By year-end, our most popular posts included:
Future of Restitched
In 2024, we plan to continue development as usual! We have a lot of big plans and we've been busy narrowing them down into something more immediately achievable.
We're currently busy finishing the final touches on our long effort to restructure the game for 3D physics support. While this has allowed us to add more depth to the gameplay, more easily develop for Stuffy and related systems, and solve longstanding problems, it has also set us back in some areas. This is a natural part of development, and one we're already in the final stages of fixing - as shared in recent Recapped! posts.
Sticking to our Road to Alpha plans, we intend to tackle any remaining tasks for the private testing of our build tools and our second trailer. Development on the second trailer has already begun from our art department, and the private testing phase is content-ready in terms of assets. However, we're waiting for our team of coders to sew together the final tasks before we can continue.
Once we've released our second trailer, we expect to be in the alpha development phase soon after. This phase of development is expected to be much faster and more efficient than previous phases, as we'll have already laid the framework and documentation needed to work efficiently while having a solid picture of gameplay and level editing.
We look forward to sharing more with you as we approach those exciting milestones! We'll continue sharing updates on trixel+, social media, and in Recapped! posts, so keep an eye out!
Wrapping Up...
While this isn't all we got up to in 2023, these represent some of our bigger announcements and milestones. We're excited for what's yet to come, and even more excited that you're part of the journey with us!
Restitched has seen substantial developments this year, even with our hobbyist approach to development. We're very proud of the groundwork we've laid, and can't wait to build upon it for the extra-fun stuff that's sure to lie ahead...
Here's to an even better year in 2024!