Goodbye, 2025.
It’s strange to think that 2025 is over. Since about 2022 it was synonymous with The Distant Hypothetical Future for me. Specifically the future year when The Beekeeper’s Picnic would finally be finished.
I spent the first quarter of the year frantically editing voice lines, squashing any remaining bugs and making all those last‑minute tweaks that always appear precisely when you think you’re done. And then came March 27th: the day I sat down at my computer while physically shaking, stared down the big intimidating Release button in Steam, and clicked it.
Click!
(Reader, I lived.)
Of course, just because Beekeeper’s Picnic was now all grown up and out in the world, didn’t mean that my job was done. I was juggling bug fixes, creating Steam trading cards, giving interviews to press outlets, writing game guides, all while experiencing general “oh no, people are actually playing this now” adrenaline.
The rest of the year became a delightful whirlwind:
221b Con in Atlanta, Georgia — This gave me a chance to tick “be a guest at a convention” off the ‘ol bucket list. I arrived slightly worried that conventions might be like the horror stories I’d heard circa 2012. Fortunately I was not asked to spend an extra hour in the ball pit. Instead, I met an entire hive (‘cos bees, gettit?) of warm, passionate, brilliant people and had an absolutely wonderful time.
Develop in Brighton — I showcased the game at the (appropriately brilliant) Brilliant Indie Treasures event. I worried I’d be exposed as Not A Real Game Developer™ among all the industry pros, but instead I found kindred spirits everywhere—and even met some of the game’s voice actors in person for the first time, which was surreal and lovely.
The Beekeeper’s Picnic Picnic — A group of lovely fans gathered in Regent’s Park, wandered about, made beeswax candles, and ate food outdoors, which always makes food taste better.
AdventureX in London — A dream event for an adventure‑game nerd like me. I got to meet people whose work I’ve admired for ages, and it was genuinely special to put faces to names (and sometimes voices to faces).
Somewhere in between all that buzzing around, I tried to take some time to decompress. I played some games for the sheer joy of it, and contributed to a Sherlock Holmes anthology about queer domesticity, because of course I did.
I’ve spent the past few months* taking those tiny, tentative pre‑development steps toward my next game, which at the moment is called The Museum of Everything. Will it remain called that? Unknown!
*Not December, unfortunately. A combination of getting the flu and being knocked out of commission for a couple of weeks and taking time off to visit family and friends at Christmas meant that I decided to put a pin in it. And yet I’ve been having unbidden creative ideas anyway, funny how that works.
I did record a little holiday message for the Adventure Game Hotspot, though! I’m opening for Blockson from Fogtown!
So, what am I taking away from 2025?
Perhaps appropriately for the themes going on in Beekeeper’s Picnic, I think the overriding joy for me this year has been in friendship.
Here’s something that I’m always embarrassed to admit: I’ve never had a lot of friends. I’m a supremely bully-able neurodivergent dork who has spent a lot of my life moving around, I think I had the odds stacked against me. I left my 20s with a very small number of very dear friends who I didn’t make enough effort to see very often.
I was worried I’d missed my chance.
They say it’s difficult to make new friends in your 30s.Turns out you just need to get obsessed with a fictional detective and get fixated on a huge creative project. Both of those things have resulted in me making new friendships, some of which I’d put money on being lifelong ones.
I’ve also been trying to see old friends more, and making the effort to reconnect. I’m not always as good at keeping in touch as I want to be and I know I still have work to do , but I think I’m heading in the right direction.
So, cheers to a 2026 full of friends and creativity!
