Hello everyone! Today is the first anniversary of the release of Barachoda Bloom's first build! This makes it much more awkward that it's currently on hiatus. Listen, I didn't mean things to happen like this but life just happens and it's hard to make time for these things. But eventually, it will stop being on hiatus. I swear by it. Just please be patient. Also sorry for not making any new blogs in a while. The last pure blog I wrote got me into some trouble so I've been a little demotivated to write them lately. 

Anyways, after having developed By Your Hands for a few months I've been thinking about what I want Barachoda Bloom to be. I've already explained why I made it in the first place but essentially the point of BB is to have a light-hearted experience that includes stuff I wanted to see in a story. That's really just it. Hot guys that don't conform to mainstream standards of attractiveness being cute. So then why do I feel disappointed when a reader has a bare-bones impression on the VN? I'll admit, I have a fear of my work being forgotten. Just being "okay" and then being forgotten. I say that, but then I don't have a clear idea of what BB is supposed to be beyond its core premise. That's partially why it's been on hiatus for so long: I wanted to sort out some of the ideas. Beyond its initial concept, the intention of the game is to give a feeling of a future that never was. Feeling nostalgic for something you've never experienced. And grounding those feelings into reality, what you want the present to be like. There's a music genre called City Pop. It's a genre that was made popular in 80s Japan when its economy was booming but subsided in the 90s when the Japanese economy declined. It's a genre that speaks both nostalgically of the past and optimistic about the future. The anime that aired during that time either also had those same vibes or they focused more on science fiction that explored topics about the future. The genre resurged in popularity outside of Japan thanks to a couple of Vaporwave and Future Funk albums that sample some songs in the genre. I want to convey those feelings that City Pop gives into Barachoda Bloom, as I really love the genre. I also want to replicate the style from 80s anime in the game as it's not a style that gets used often today and I find it really beautiful. I also want the UI to resemble those old anime PC-98 games.

Another reason why it's been on hiatus for so long is that I sort of got a bit too excited by it. I talked a lot about the game with other people and hyped myself up for how great it would be. Unfortunately, that made me lose motivation for the game as I already got approval from other people without actually doing the work. So when I first started actually putting out builds the output I was doing and reception I was getting, while good, wasn't to the level that I had when I was simply just talking about it. Compare that to By Your Hands, which completely blew my expectations on its reception and motivated me to work on that. I think what I should do now is to try to remember why I wanted to make this project in the first place.

While BB isn't my most famous work, it's definitely a project that has helped me with my work ethic and decision-making for BYH. It taught me a lot about having a monthly update schedule but unfortunately, it started in the wrong time and place. There was just a lot of stuff I wanted to do with the game that I didn't have time to do while working on it. Once I tackle some of those things as well as deal with some things I've been meaning to do with BYH, however, I will get back to working on it. It's not going to be a monthly thing, but more so a semi-episodic thing. I'm also going to redo some of the writing and art of BB when I get back to it, but it's not going to be anything too major inshallah. It's going to take a while for BB to get off hiatus, not going to happen in at least a few months, but I promise I'm getting there. Just please have faith.

That's all from me. Have a good day and see you later!