One Year Standing

Hey everyone! In case you didn't know, today — unofficially — the studio turns 1 year old!

You might think today should be a day of celebration, right? Well, yes, but... I'm not quite sure how to process it either. It's been a curious year, I won't deny that. I'm happy to have kept everything going so far, to not have thrown in the towel, and to keep working through the problems that constantly come up.

Life has a sharp and very good sense of humor. In the very same week I took the first step and decided to embark on this odyssey — literally, that same week, out of nowhere — plop, my drawing monitor decided to call it quits. No drops, no apparent reason, it just stopped working.

Right then I knew the road ahead would be quite challenging. And inevitably, setbacks like that make you constantly question your reasons and whether it's all worth it — because this is an endurance race toward infinity where every hit tries to leave you more exhausted than the last. But fortunately I'm a little stubborn. Well, let's call it persistent, that sounds better, haha. So I held firm, and from the very beginning I had to completely reorganize the project.

Why? Because the idea of conceptualizing the art first was off the table until I replaced the monitor. I reshuffled my budget priorities, and until the new one arrived I focused purely on code-level development, using pretty simple placeholders for the visual elements. What I can say is that the plan worked.

Two interesting things came out of that. First, the new drawing monitor was the studio's first professional piece of equipment. What at the time seemed like a short-term stumble was, in hindsight, an early push forward — and a positive one, because the upgrade was substantial. Second, because of all the schedule changes, I spent practically the entire first few months without showing anything visual from Proyecto Neural, but communicating technical progress that, while invisible, matters a lot.

The Birth of LAGE

I was so focused on the technical side that a custom tool emerged almost naturally — one I've named LAGE. It still needs some polishing but it's close to its final state, and I'll talk about it in more detail soon.

Those early months, despite running into a lot of bumps and as the project developed, I realized that in something of this scale the foundational approach can change everything. The development cycle has been Proyecto Pétalo → LAGE → Proyecto Neural, and I think that sums up the evolution pretty well.

A Necessary Restart

In September 2025 I completely overhauled my setup while continuing to strengthen the studio with new tools. With all those months of accumulated experience, I made an important but essential decision: rename the project to avoid confusion and better reflect its themes. That's how it went from Pétalo to Neural. But this wasn't just symbolic — it was real. A full restart. I refactored all the code, unified structures, and built everything more cohesively.

In hindsight, it was absolutely the right call.

Looking Back and Forward

I feel like the year flew by, and I wish I'd prepared something special for the occasion. I'm so deep in development and following my roadmap that I didn't even notice. I'm glad I didn't give up — this is no walk in the park and every day brings a new challenge to overcome. But you know what? Every day that passes, every small step I take, every new challenge I clear... the more certain I am that this is the path I want to walk.

We're making good progress and it's only a matter of time before I can start showing visual updates over the coming months. Because after a full year of ups and downs, after refactoring the entire project and practically starting from scratch, we're nearing the 50% mark.

For now, this first year closes with the studio standing, the project moving forward, and more motivation than ever. And hey — you don't have to wait twelve months for the next update. On April 1st, Proyecto Neural turns one year old, and on April 15th there's a new post. So there might be something to share sooner than you think. 👀

Thanks for reading. See you next month!