And the funny thing is that the delay says more about this month than anything else I could write.

A year ago, Proyecto Neural's development was just getting started. I pictured this moment very differently, to be honest. With concepts to show, with LAGE finished, with something substantial to celebrate. Instead, here I am, arriving late to my own anniversary and announcing yet another project. Life has a very fine sense of humor.

But for the record: it's not a whim. I'm just as motivated about Neural as ever. The thing is, April has been one of those months where life reminds you that you're not the one running the calendar. I won't go into details, but between one thing and another I was barely home. And unstoppable drive, it turns out, isn't quite so unstoppable when you run into immovable obstacles.

The good news is my brain doesn't know how to switch off. In the gaps I've had, I've been sketching out something I've had brewing for a while, internally named Proyecto T. I can't say what it's about yet, but there's something quite interesting there. There'll be a moment to tell it properly.

As for Neural, the anniversary I actually want to celebrate is the launch one, so I'm not going to be too hard on myself. My forecast: May probably won't see much progress either. But June is a different story, and I have a feeling this summer is going to be a big development summer.

Oh, almost forgot: I've picked up a new license for a sprite animation tool I've been wanting to add to my workflow for a while. Not a major milestone, but it's a missing piece that opens up possibilities for when it's time to work seriously on Neural's visual elements.

It's been a short post, I know, and it leaves more questions than answers. But I'd rather show up late than not show up at all. When I can get everything back in order, I'll catch up properly and go into more detail on Proyecto T and Neural's status. Thanks for reading, see you soon!

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!

If you read the first entry of this blog, you'll remember I mentioned I've never been someone who organizes everything all the time or structures their day like it's a narrative chapter. I've never approached life as a "diary," but this year I want to experiment and change my approach a bit. I'm going to start scheduling tasks and structuring objectives and goals to complement other day-to-day activities.

For many of you, this will seem normal, but during my student days, I didn't even touch an agenda. I've always been flexible and improvised as things came up, but now, both for myself and for you with this devlog, I'm even going to start measuring actual development time with an app. And I emphasize "flexible" here, because I'm not going to go crazy with this either—I'll try to integrate both philosophies and see how it goes.

Why now? Because my usual way of working has always been to dive deep into a project until it's finished, with super long hyperfocus sessions until it's done. But of course, Proyecto Neural isn't something you finish in months. It's a multi-year project with multiple fronts constantly open, and maintaining that pace might not be the healthiest if I want to make a living from it long-term.

Plus, I've always been curious about these time-tracking and agenda apps, so I'm taking this opportunity to experiment and see if they really help me get better precision on how much time I dedicate to each weekly objective.

I'll tell you in future updates how this goes, because so far I've only been doing it for a couple of days.

Speaking of progress...

February has been surprisingly productive considering I've technically only had half a month of development (I spent January closing the holiday event and setting up this blog).

I've completed the main game menus: settings, pause, and the whole navigation ecosystem that players need to configure their experience. I've also finished mapping controls for both keyboard and gamepad, with a prioritization system that avoids conflicts when multiple actions compete for the same button.

Additionally, I've been working on the dynamic illustration system that changes based on the protagonist's state. I can't go into details yet, but let's say the player's decisions will have a visual reflection in it.

Looking ahead

With this new work methodology, I'm considering expanding organization to other areas of my life. I've been practically sedentary for over a year and I think it would be a good idea to resume training. I don't know if I'll include it in future updates because the blog's focus is mainly on development, but at the end of the day, it's also my personal blog. And who knows, maybe I'll crash the app's agenda with so many tasks that I end up training at the same time as developing, and something like that deserves to be documented somewhere, right?

I also have a couple of game development books that were gifted to me and are waiting for me. Maybe for the next update I can recommend one if I have time to read it.

As for social media, I'll gradually resume activity. I'll probably start with Instagram (@rubfuertes) sharing some concept art and sketches in stories. Nothing too elaborate for now, just showing the process in a more visual way. You know I take things calmly, so patience.

Well, I think I've rambled enough for today. We'll see how using a time management app goes—this month up until now I think I've been quite productive without it, but... will I notice the difference now that I'll start using it? 👀

Don't miss the next publication on March 15th! Plus, it'll be Livaik Studio's first anniversary, so there will be news.

Thanks for reading and see you next month.

Cheers!

You know what? I've never written a blog before. I'm not the type of person who's constantly organizing everything or structuring their day and writing it diary-style, as if each day, week, or month were a chapter in which a narrative arc unfolds. Truth is, I'm pretty bad at managing my social media and actively posting content.

But here I am, writing my first entry. And why now, you ask? Well, ultimately it's because I'm looking to organize and document the adventure of building my own studio and working on projects that take years to complete. In a world where social media increasingly based on scrolling and ephemeral content dominates, the algorithm has turned everything, in a way, into disposable content. They're terrible at organizing information, they've become excessively brief capsules, and I don't think they're very good for maintaining order or a consistent thread for people who are genuinely interested. Publishing a blog on my own website gives me exquisite flexibility to organize things my way, write as much as I want, and take that breath against the rapid pace of current content.

This isn't really new. By mid-2025 I had already started the adventure of publishing a development log adapted to different networks, and I felt it wasn't enough or that it deprived me of my own voice.

Since the year just started, I thought it was a good excuse to make some changes, adjustments, and complement everything with my own personal blog. When I look back, I see that time flies by! and 2025 was no exception, so I'll try to briefly recap how the year went and how I'll approach this new 2026.

Last year was the year I finally took the step to build my own studio (Livaik Studio) to develop something I've always wanted to do: video games. I felt it was the right time after more than a decade illustrating, designing, writing, and programming. But it's not that easy, not just because projects like these are highly complex and ambitious, but because of my way of being based mostly on hyperfocus to perform well, the first months were transitional and I started finishing many professional and personal projects. This led me to drastically reduce content publication if I wanted to simultaneously advance on the project.

And for those who don't know, I've been a content creator on Twitch for years. Well, maybe not like the typical content creator, since I'm someone who doesn't interact much on other networks, I'm not constantly posting so the algorithm doesn't "penalize" me, bringing trendy or fashionable content, or obsessing over the number of followers or likes I get. It seems contradictory and somewhat bland to me if you consider yourself a "creator" to be basing your content on that type of external stimulation.

But it's true that during these years I've formed a community around my content which, despite the years, remains active and supportive. After almost all of 2025 without bringing content, December arrives where I do a long New Year's event and there they are, embracing me. This year, although I'll do what I can, I'd like to, now free from many other projects, manage it differently. Be more active and show from the inside how development happens, or at least, how I develop the project I have in hand. It's one of my goals, starting with this blog which I'll try to maintain with a monthly publication.

I've also taken the opportunity to unify my social media presence. If you want to follow the development more closely, you can find all platforms in the Networks section.

There's still a long way to go, we're practically starting over, but step by step, grain by grain, I trust in building something worthwhile. And here begins this new journey.

I think for a first post I've probably rambled on enough. In the next post (February 15th) I'll talk about the progress of Proyecto Neural—which by the way, already has almost 700 hours of development—, the tools I'm creating, LAGE, and whatever comes up. Because as I said, for me, a post should flow and not be an immovable narrative closure.

Thanks for reading and see you on February 15th with some juicy news.

Cheers!