Welcome to the new year, my Creative Garden Club!
If you've been here from the start, I can't thank you enough for being here! 💜
If you're new here, welcome in! Get ready to play some tiny games, read stories about awkward lesbians, take a whirl at interactive fictions, experimental print-n-plays, and whatever else I can think of creating.🌱
Aaaand if you don't want to stay updated anymore, click this link here for detailed instructions on how to be removed from my Buy Me a Coffee follower and email notification list. I know it’s kinda silly on my end to show you how to unfollow me, but people should have choices! 🫡
2022 through 2024
Looking back, there were heavy things in my life that made it very…difficult to be a person in.
But I still wanted new experiences for myself. I got back into blogging by starting this page in 2022, documenting my first steps into the video game indie scene.
(And starting a game dev YouTube channel that I don't post on much right now.)
Then came October 2023. Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Cop City, and so much more became my focus. In the previous years, I was already becoming aware of global happenings, but this forced everything to the forefront.
The last game I made before my unplanned break was Watermelon Match. I wanted to create a game in response to the Global Day of Ceasefire for Palestine back in December 2023, and wanted my portfolio to show my support in some way.
(Looking back, I wish I knew about the text-based game engine called Twine at the time.)
Game development took a back seat as I became involved in my community locally.
My heart wasn’t in the pixels, and my anxieties were through the roof. I was a mix of shutdown mode emotionally and mentally, but activated in my spirit and body for people and liberation movements.
Honestly, 2023-2024 is kinda a blur. I’d have to go back through my personal archives to recount everything. I did a lot of new things those years.
I was listening to unique podcasts, reading books, making more phone calls than I ever did, attending wonderful teach-ins, going to local community art-making days, getting to know my elders and extended family members, making a ton of Covid awareness art, stepping into the world in ways I didn't before, and looking inward in myself.
Honestly, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the ways that I’ve pushed myself to grow.
A little up to speed in 2025
The game I made with one of my younger siblings is my proudest of 2025! Yarns and Yums was a game jam entry at our local library. My younger sibling drew our game art, and I’ll share more about it in a future blog post.
The second game I was a part of making last year was Phantom of the Idol, a team game jam where I was the primary background and UI design pixel artist. A good programmer friend of mine recruited me, and I learned a lot about myself during that project.
What was truly awesome in 2025 was that I had my first PAID public speaking engagements!! One was offered to me by a close friend at an LGBTQ+ youth outreach organization. The other talk I presented was at Game Devs of Color Virtual Expo, and it will be on YouTube sometime later this year!
Both of my talks were about making art through times of fear and uncertainty, and how being in and building communities strengthens you as a person and can encourage you to keep going in ways you didn't realize.
No matter how alone we may feel, we cannot do this alone; we are not meant to do this alone, and you don't have to.
Starting back up in 2026!
Through my creations, I'm showing my existence; my resolve, my right to life and to love wholeheartedly, my writings, my storytelling, my being.
I'm currently writing a short interactive fiction experience, where you can click inside the words and paragraphs to discover more of the story I'm telling.
It's inspired by a conversation I had with my dad about trans people. As uncomfortable as that conversation was (but not as it used to be), I embrace finding inspiration in conversations. I'll share that with y'all once I upload the first build on my itch.io page!
Upcoming in my creative endeavors:
What I'm looking forward to this year is creating more works of writing, as I've gotten back into a writing habit. I've been learning text-based game engines like Twine and working on my HTML/CSS skills for it.
I want to write about being an awkward lesbian through my dramatized characters who are also awkward lesbians. I want to create interactive fictions and projects. I want to collaborate with others to see their stories come to life, I want to do more public speaking gigs, and make more games about how I see and move in this world.
Most of all? I want to be seen and continue to embrace the fears of being known, and the joys of being part of something more than oneself.
I am here damnit! I’m here because my people before me survived, learned to thrive, and created along the way.
I will live, live, live.
And well, you’re here too! To witness my messy and often rambling blog posts, the various creations my curiosities lead me to, and the passion for art and people drive me to make, and these little snapshots of myself that I share with you.
To all that I have created and have yet to create, for you to bear witness in all that I long to become,
🌸 Bloomzeye | (They/Them)
Sharing my blog posts is the best way to support me as a creative developer and artist! Even if you can't dedicate a monthly subscription to my Buy Me a Coffee page to help fund my work, sharing my work with others helps me reach a wider reader base. Thank you! 🌸
Find me on the interwebs!:
🎮 My games on bloomzeye.itch.io!
🦋 Catch me on Bluesky!
🌙 Find me on Pillowfort!
🎨 Games and Art Portfolio!
📹 My YouTube Channel!