I am really excited to say that As3GameGears turned three years old in May! The better way to start this post is by saying a huge, a colossal THANK YOU! Thanks for supporting this site with comments, suggestions, re-tweets, e-mails and all other manifestations. Even the smallest mention boosts my fuel to keep it all running.

Looking back at the very beginning, As3GameGears was yet another WordPress blog on the internet. It had just a few tools and not so much to offer. As time went by more and more tools were added, new categories were created and today there are 443 tools available. Lots of them with code samples, development activity stats, link to code repository and info about the author (e.g. Flixel). I’ve seen As3GameGears being listed on a variety of sites, from personal and obscure blogs to famous portals as Stackoverflow and Gamedevtuts+ (I almost pissed myself in excitement when it was listed there, thanks Michael =).

As3GameGears started as a place to help Flash game developers to easily find tools, a problem I had myself. According to the community feedback, I think this goals is being achieved and I’m really proud of that. I’m glad to help and be able to give something back to the community that gave me so much. But it’s not about tools and libs anymore. After I left my gamedev company in 2011, I changed and so did As3GameGears. I’ve been using my free time as an indie game developer and it’s been an extremely awesome ride!

The site allowed me to get in touch with several game developers, specially the indie ones. People started to know me, mostly because of As3GameGears or what it influences me to do, such as indiegoodbye.com. I’m not able to describe how happy I am to have so many developers among my followers. You guys rock! I learn a lot from you everyday. It’s incredible that some of those followers are the very same developers I followed, the ones I see as my inspiration. As3GameGears started as a place to list tools, but I feel it’s becoming something more. That’s really cool!

Despite all the Flash is dead talking, my numbers show developers care about great tools. The Flash platform is not perfect and it has limitations, but it’s a rich ecosystem, full of talented developers. I plan to keep As3GameGears alive, adding new tools and writing about them. I have a lot of ideas I want to implement, so stay tuned.

Once again, thank you all for everything! Three years ago I could never have guessed As3GameGears would become what it is today. That’s outstanding!