It's been 6 long years since I started work on Project Heartbeat, from a heartbreak in late 2019 I managed to create what I consider to be, so far, my magnum opus.

Project Heartbeat is not a traditional game, it's more of an application, it's not gonna win any prizes, it's niche within a niche, yet it's still a neat piece of technology, written by a guy who knew nothing about digital signal processing or making games properly, I think given the circumstances I did an okay job.

I however cannot help but wonder how different things could have gone.

What if we had a proper budget?, in its 5 year early access period the game never turned a profit, yet it was the catapult to me getting an ordinary game development job, so maybe it did turn a profit. What if we had enough money for paid sponsorships, big licenses, 3D animations, for a team? Who knows, despite my acidic personality I've never wanted to do the obvious and "hire" people for an unethical amount of money to work on the game, I only accepted lino because he kept pressing on and convinced me, I'm not a Roblox developer.

What if my personality was different? It's not news I like playing the role of the villain, this is not because I genuinely mean harm, it's just my nature, I've been like this my whole life. I sometimes do not understand myself, and I try to only take part in petty controversies because I find it fun, but I wonder how detrimental it was to PH.

I also have to admit I am not very good at working with people, and while I don't like to blame outside factors for it, my health is a pretty big roadblock for me, but I still can't blame it entirely.

I'm not a game designer, so most things PH has over diva are mostly system improvements, since all my time was focused on code.

The biggest shame is having this game's codebase not find a second life outside PH, I tried to pitch it to various companies, particularly vtuber agencies who already had 3D assets and mocap data that we could reuse to make a relatively cheap game. This unfortunately never resulted in anything other than being ghosted, I don't blame them though, it was a hard sell for sure.

I also struggled with burnout for sure, I was obsessed with making a more traditional game, I've tried many times and even my current "side project" is starting to create doubts in my mind. Why do I always fail to come up with something I can do that will be fun or interesting? I wish I could give an answer. I just couldn't accept the fact PH may be the only "proper" game I create in my life.

I however am not ready to give up just yet, I think I am only getting started. I may fail at getting another game off the ground, but I sure as hell will die trying.

Although I don't plan to end Project Heartbeat's development this is obviously the end of an era for me and for the game, and I quite enjoyed playing game developer for a while, I am not a businessman, and never will be, I just really enjoy writing code.

I go to sleep knowing I achieved what I set out to do, mission accomplished.

Let's make the future of Project Heartbeat shine as bright as we can!

- Alex AKA "EIREXE"