2024 is upon us, and with a new year come new year’s resolutions of course! Of course, I’ve set myself the usuals like going to the gym or writing more blog posts, but I specifically want to share what I have in mind for my dev projects this year.

First off, I want to study how to handle Local Multiplayer (as in couch multiplayer) in Godot. Growing up with the PS2 and Xbox 360 I’ve always been a massive fan of split-screen and party games, and even to this day I love games like Smash Bros or Towerfall. So far the most flexible solution I’ve seen is making input maps for every single controller port. Shy of making my own controller input plugin, that’s what I’ll have to use for now. I’ve also come to appreciate Parsec for testing multiplayer games as, with Godot not recognizing my Joy-Cons via bluetooth, using parsec is the best way for me to get extra controllers connected.

In addition, I’m also an assistant programmer in a local dev team working on a visual novel. Not sure how much I can share just yet, but we’ll be taking it to some small gaming and anime conventions nearby, and that’s a first for me. Project Nitro was tested by mostly colleagues and acquaintances, but this time we’ll be getting feedback from complete strangers, and not gonna lie but it makes me a bit anxious haha.

Finally, 2024 might be my last year as an undergraduate, and that means I’ll soon need to think about my course completion work. As a computer science student, it will probably be some sort of research paper, but on what topic I’m not sure. I could use my previous projects in driving simulation as a starting point on machine learning drivers like Drivatars, or shift into artificial life simulations like The Sims games, but there’s still a lot of time to figure that out.

My plan for the blog is to make at least one post per month. Writing these is not inherently rewarding but I still want to document my journey. I also need to update my projects page, and maybe add smaller sections like mods and tabletop games. You’ll be hearing from me soon! 💫