2025 Retrospective
Here we are at the end of 2025. Time for an update and recap on another year gone by!
Plato
It was a busy year at Plato. Of note, we launched a new Poker game (playable within the Plato app), and ported our game runtime to the web, allowing players to experience our flagship Ocho game.
7DRL
I participated in the 7DRL Challenge again this year (and failed to write about it), which brings my 7DRL streak to 6 years in a row.
This year's entry was Odin's Favor, my take on a very traditional roguelike. I'm fairly happy with it, but I could have done something more creative with the mechanics.
Catacombs (2020) and The Razing of Plum Parish (2024) are still my strongest entries, I feel.
Writing
I've only managed to write one blog post so far in 2025, which is quite embarrassing considering it was a recap of work I did back in early 2024 (!) on the Watt-Wise Game Jam and experiments with the Odin programming language. Better late than never!
Travel
My family visited and we took some local trips around Colorado, visiting the Royal Gorge Bridge and Railroad, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
We all had a great time and played plenty of our favorite board games as well, namely Terra Mystica and Puerto Rico.
Moving
One of two big pieces of news this year is that Iris and I decided to relocate to Southeast Asia to do some traveling around this part of the world and experience some new and different cultures.
The latter half of 2025 was extremely busy with logistics and prepping for the move, but we made it intact, with the cats! We've been here just under a week so far, and looking forward to exploring in 2026.
Otium
The other big news is that I will be taking a sabbatical from Plato for six months starting in January 2026. During this break we plan to travel, and I will be working on some of my own creative projects.
Otium is a Latin abstract term which has a variety of meanings, including leisure time for "self-realization activities" such as eating, playing, relaxing, contemplation, and academic endeavors.
This word sums up my intentions for the break very well indeed.