A new year is just around the corner, so I think it’s a good idea to review my year as a game developer. If I had to use a single word to describe 2013, there is no doubt I would pick the word “awesome“! 😀

The year 2013 went by so fast that I barely noticed. At the beginning of the year, I started working on my projects for One Game A Month. I managed to work on 1GAM until June, when my university tasks consumed all my free time. I was really motivated to publish 12 games in 2013, but I’m proud to say that I’ve published 6 (six!) instead: Blacksmith Dash, Squared Puzzle, Spell Cracking, Madly Angry Cat and Invade Pirates. It was an outstanding experience: I’ve met new gamedevs, exploded in ideas, learned new tools, sharpened my skills and a lot more! I strongly recommend anyone to try 1GAM in 2014.

Compared to 2012, when I released just a single game, 2013 was a success. It had 500% more games released and a lot more developed. All over the year I also wrote tutorials for the Game Development section of the Tuts+ network. I covered several topics, such as steering behaviors, FSM, network programming and how to deal with cheaters. I even had the happy opportunity to share my own trajectory as a game developer. The Tuts+ community is great and I owe them a huge thank you! Thanks for all the feedback, comments and suggestions. You guys rock!

In November something beyond my wildest dreams happened. I’ve been following OUYA development since their very first day, when the idea was nothing more than a Kickstarter campaign. I really admire Julie Uhrman and her team. It’s not easy to insert yourself in a market dominated by big players, specially when you have to attract game developer along the way. After watching Julie’s talk at the XOXOs festival I emailed her. She answered my e-mail (how cool was that?) and they sent me one OUYA! Oh man! I never asked one, but she decided to support me as a game developer! A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

I was already reading about OUYA gamedev, but that was a real boost. I integrated the console in all my plans, including my gamedev classes (see the video above). I have no words to say how much I am thankful for that. Thank you, the OUYA team, thank you so much!

I can’t forget to mention the Flixel Community project. It was my very first “real” open-source project, with users and other developers to talk to. We did a hell of a job hammering lots of bugs and in November we announced our first released under the community label. I’ve learned a lot during the process and I’m sure we will bring tons of new features to the engine in 2014.

In 2013 I also did some cool things that are not related to code. I’ve bootstrapped a new series called game dissection here at As3GameGears. It allows me to motivate other developers (including myself) showing how a game was made and, at the same time, it helps me get in touch with amazing people. I was also invited by Ben Whitman to join his Indie Interview Series. That was so cool! Several game developers I admire are there too. It was a huge pleasure to me to be side-by-side with them. It was my very first recorded interview in English (bare the accent!) and a great opportunity to make something different from coding. Thanks, Ben, for the invitation!

My 2013 as a gamedev year was pretty busy. Unfortunately the day has only 24 hours, so I had to put several idea in hold. On the other hand, it motivates me even more to make 2014 another great year. Now it’s time to rest a bit and enjoy the holidays, 2014 will be awesome too!