Hello, people. First 2019 newspost, wooo.

I'm fairly excited to announce another side project called The Weird Game. It's a little something I've been experimenting with in my spare time as a way to both familiarize with the RPG Maker VX Ace environment and throw in some thoughts and ideas that would be cool to explore.

I'd recommend reading the following game page if you'd like to learn more, and I also made a dedicated Discord server for anyone interested in the project or is merely curious about it.

Linky link: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10940

See you all in the next update. Stay tuned,

//FD

Good day, everyone.

I'm publishing this digest relatively early today because I'm expecting to get really busy immediately after New Year's, so right now it just seems like the most favorable time to talk about stuff.

With 2018 closing by, I just wanted to thank all of you fans, followers, listeners, colleagues, stalkers, lurkers, and friends for sticking around another long and intense year. Let's take a closer look at what has been achieved so far:

- Updated visual identity and logo. It might not seem like much, but the brand new sparkling logo feels fresh, ready to chew bubblegum and kick ass!

- .defrag has received a massive update, including but not limited to an overhauled custom UI system, custom font and game icon, new maps, reworked and expanded scenarios, updated script, new features and most importantly, no more pre-alpha! While it's still far from done, it's also far from prototypical, so I'm looking forward to keep expanding this project in the coming year.

- The Linear Game was released! A fun little side project I mostly made as an exercise while multitasking. The feedback and exposure it's gotten immediately after its release was unexpected and wholesome. It's definitely not the only side project I have in mind, so expect more short, little experimental "Games" coming out in the future.

- The full shift towards an album-oriented release schedule as opposed to single tracks has been pretty smooth. Since I'm prone to multitasking and commissions often overlap with my own personal projects, I figured this would be a good time to experiment new placement models and keep the workflow as fluent as possible. So far so good, with three soundtrack mini-albums and more to come in the future.

- Speaking of personal projects, there's a whole lot of new material cooking up that I'm hoping to release next year. A follow-up to the first Rust album, an update to the 16 album, and much, much more. I'm starting to sound like a salesman.

- COLLABS! There's a wealth of talented folks that's been under my radar for a long while and I do have something in mind for them. I'm more than happy when it comes to ambient music, while for everything else... well, it'll take longer. You'll have to forgive me if I can't fulfill my part for whatever reason. As you can probably tell, I tend to be just a tiny itsy busy.

- Oh, right! The Underground Collective released its second Volume this year! You should totally go check it out :D

- My own Youtube has been growing and growing, surpassing 500 subscribers and finally getting its own Community tab. It's also been rendered non-monetized and completely ad-free! Wooo! <3

- My Discord server has received tons of important structural updates and our family has been gradually expanding. Exciting times, for sure!

Overall, not too shabby, huh? I'm looking forward to an even more eventful year and getting more shit together~

Happy New Year, and see you all in 2019

//FD

- Release two soundtrack mini-albums that have been hanging for months... Check

- Keep producing my personal albums that are due 2019... Check

- Make more 1-hour ambiances for the coming months... In progress

- Make more .defrag progress... In progress

- Keep up with work... In progress

- Totally mysterious December collab... Thinking about it

- Breathe... Need a reminder

- ???

- PROFIT

This is going to be a relatively short update detailing the reasons for my relative silence of these past few months.

Not much is new on the surface, though IRL commitments have been taking away a significant amount of time I would otherwise gladly spend on my personal works. Such is the state of my current priorities, I'm therefore forced by circumstance to slow down my progress on various projects until I'm able to multitask again.

Despite everything, I still have a few goals I would like to fulfill before the end of this year.

In primis, publishing an official demo of my work-in-progress game .defrag would open a world of opportunities for me in terms of feedback and QA. Getting rid of the obsolete pre-alpha would, indeed, be a nice thing, since it dates back to a time when expanding the game was still a mere afterthought. If you would like to join as a tester, feel free to contact me on my Discord server.

Secondly, since I'm no longer publishing singles unless they are third-party collaborations, personal albums will inevitably take a longer completion time. I would like 2019 to be the start of consistent uploads on my Youtube channel — at the very least on a monthly basis, and keep releasing full album mixes in-between regular uploads. This workflow would allow me to better compartmentalize my projects and make them more approachable to any potential newcomer.

Lastly, there is one more project I have been recently reviewing that I originally co-wrote with X App Studio Group team members and composed the soundtrack for back in 2015. Further details will be revealed once the concept will reach a far enough development stage.

As always, you folks can support me on Patreon,
https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenDawn

Check out my Youtube channel and subscribe for more music and full album videos,
https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenDawnOff

Check my Audiojungle royalty free assets,
https://audiojungle.net/user/forgottendawn

Or join my Discord server to meet all-around awesome creators and nice people,
https://discord.gg/KM44KY5

Thanks for reading and see you soon,
//FD

Summer is here. It's hot. It's damp. It's gross and sweaty and I hate every single second of it, but I'm still here. Somehow. So, what have I been up to since my last update? Plenty of stuff, for sure.

I can confidently say that merely being "busy" would be the understatement of the century, or at the very least decade.

I've been working on commissions left and right for various folks, all busy with their own game projects and ideas. All of them have long-term development plans which means that 1) the likelihood of their collective schedules inevitably slipping into Valve time units has a tendency to exponentially increase throughout development (much like entropy), and 2) they are entirely dependent on their own pockets when it comes to financing their goals, and by extension me as a composer/audio guy.

Let's just say we're all on the same boat. I am still developing my own game, they are as well; I am busy, they are busy. You know the drill by now. Speaking of busy, real life hasn't been exactly gracious with me either, what with school and some pretty habit-changing health issues along the way. They just love piling up, don't they. Don't worry, I've been much better now, despite summer-induced lethargy and occasional insomnia, but that's fine.

I'd like to think the worst has gone by and I'm trying to keep a somewhat positive attitude towards the future. I've been mostly prioritizing thesis writing for my impending graduation. Not like I have a choice, I just have to, really. Won't go into details about it. Just know that my irons are plenty full at the moment.

What else is there... Oh, of course, soundtracks. So, there's some pretty exciting things down the pipeline. I have been slowly converting to the sample OST mini-album release model as a taster pack for what's to come, i.e. the full soundtracks. If you're worried about the new model potentially diluting the quality of my output somehow, think about it this way: as explained earlier, my VGM work has a tendency to be paired with forever-in-development projects, with little to no end in sight.

I legitimately do not know when these games are finally gonna see the light of day, if they ever will. So, I thought, what if I were to release just a small bite for now? It's better than having to keep all this work for years without being able to publish it because those games aren't finished yet, right? I'm happier because I can finally publish some of my own work, you're happier because you finally get to listen to some new music from me, and my clients are happier because they can get some buzz as a result, too. Everybody wins and I got nothing to lose, anyway.

So, that's something you can expect before the end of this year. I have the grand total of three sample soundtrack albums down the line. That's right. It's official. They're pretty much ready, I'm just waiting on their artwork to get done, which might take some time still. Hopefully, it won't take too long.

As for me, I also have a bunch of personal albums in the works, ranging from wait this is still music? experimental, to purely ambient, to something more complex and melodic. It's exciting news because I try to bring a lot of variety to my own output, so even if you end up not liking a certain album, there's always something else you may look forward to and enjoy.

Finally, while I'm usually up for audio collabs, my slots are already taken for now. It's just too much to handle, as you can probably tell. If you'd like to use my music somewhere on Newgrounds, it's not mandatory, but it'd be nice if you shared some of that nice revenue or at the very least credited me. :)

As always, you folks can support me on Patreon,
https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenDawn

Check out my Youtube channel and subscribe for more music and full album videos,
https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenDawnOff

Check my Audiojungle royalty free assets,
https://audiojungle.net/user/forgottendawn

Or join my Discord server to meet all-around awesome creators and nice people,
https://discord.gg/KM44KY5

Thanks for sticking around and stay tuned,
//FD

April. Spring has kicked in, sun is shining, flowers are blooming. So, what have I been up to?

When it comes to game design, I have been experimenting around and better organizing my own ideas. I haven't been in a .defrag mood lately, but I'm expecting to resume development at some point this year. I have been preparing other short games, like The Linear Game, that I may or may not unveil in the near future.

Here's a mockup:

Such "games" are more like passtime projects for me and they kinda represent a transient mood than an actual game with, you know, conventional mechanics and objectives. They definitely have a story, but there's no win/loss condition, as you can only walk around and interact to push the story forward and that's pretty much it.

I'm not gonna lie they're fun to make, even though they take enough time from my schedule.

Speaking of things chewing my time off, music.

I have just recently made my Youtube exclusive 1-hour ambiances downloadable on Bandcamp, if anyone's interested. I'm planning on making more 1-hour videos, among other things. Links:

https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/track/1h-001-dark-ambient-lo-fi-music
https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/track/1h-002-lo-fi-space-ambient-drone-music
https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/track/1h-003-lo-fi-relaxing-ambient-meditation-music

More personal albums are also on the works. Slowly, but steadily.

I have been working on soundtrack commissions for the most part. I can't share any of these, unfortunately, but they will be available at some point in the future, when those projects will finally be released.

Now, another thing I'd like to get off my chest.

I have been asked many times if people could buy my albums or support me in some way or another.

- I always put download links whenever possible, especially on my Youtube videos.

- I always give people the option to pay any amount they want, if they so desire — they can still download my personal albums for free. I'm very lenient when it comes to pricing or value perception, as I believe everyone should think with their pockets and pay with their conscience.

- I even have a Patreon in case you'd like to donate even as low as 1$ every month.

- Furthermore, you may also buy my soundtrack albums in my VGM Bandcamp, or even stock tracks from my Audiojungle.

You guys have plenty of options and they're often within a mouse click's reach. I'm not asking anything from anyone, but these are the facts.

Till the next update,

//FD