Watching AI turn game development into something people claim you can do with a single click has made me question the years Ive spent learning to make my game, specially after life nearly took away the person I share it with. I’ve been quiet about Gummy Nightmares for a long time. Behind that silence were my wife illness, two children who needed me, bills that still had to be paid, and a game I cared deeply about but couldn’t find the strength or time to work on. Two weeks ago, I started working on it again! Before I talk about what comes next, I want to explain what happened. To everyone who has been waiting, asking about the game, or messaging me without getting a reply: I’m sorry. I’ve always preferred to keep my personal life private. For a long time, I didn’t know how to explain my absence without opening up about something I wasn’t ready to share. In June 2024, I announced Gummy Nightmares after spending roughly a year working on it. I learned Unreal Engine from scratch. I learned Blender from scratch. I hired voice actors, artists, 3D modelers, and animators to help bring this world to life. I handled the development in Unreal Engine, the cinematics, and the environment modeling, while my friends and collaborators helped bring our agreed character designs to life. There was so much to learn, and I put everything I could into it because I loved what I was making. At the time, mascot horror was constantly being dismissed as “slop.” I wanted to create something people would enjoy, with care behind it and a story of its own. Looking back, I can admit that I made some mistakes with Gummy original design. His blue color immediately drew comparisons to Huggy Wuggy, and the robotic plushies drew comparisons to FNAF. I always been open about being a big fan of those games anyways. They inspired me, but I wanted to build something with its own identity. I understand why the design didn’t communicate that clearly enough. That’s something I can acknowledge and improve. What was harder to understand was how personal the backlash became. I received death threats. People wished cancer on me. People wished I would die over a game I was trying to make. I kept going because I loved the work and believed in the project... Then after, I released the demo, and many of you gave it a chance. The overall feedback was really positive, and the demo alone brought in over 3,000 wishlists. Seeing people enjoy the game, explore what we have made, and ask for more meant so much to me. It gave me more reasons to keep going. About two months after the demo was released, my wife’s health began to deteriorate severely. She was diagnosed with echinococcosis, a parasitic disease that became life-threatening in her case. Some people close to me already know about this, but I haven’t spoken about it publicly until now. What followed was around a year and a half of multiple surgeries, fear, and trying to keep our family going. During her lung surgery, she nearly died. It’s difficult to explain what that period felt like. I was trying to take care of her, look after our two children, and keep working on YouTube because we still had bills to pay. I was in a very bad place mentally, and I had almost nothing left to give to anything else. The game had been such a huge part of my life, but I couldn’t bring myself to focus on it. I didn’t even update the January 2026 release date on Steam! I know that caused confusion, and I’m sorry to everyone who was waiting for news. When your messages came in, I didn’t have a development update to give you. Explaining why meant talking about my wife health and a part of our lives I was struggling to process myself. So I stayed silent, and the longer that silence lasted, the harder it became to break. Eventually, things started getting a little better. As life slowly became more manageable, I began thinking about how to return to Gummy Nightmares. I planned to redesign Gummy. I also decided to cut some content so the remaining work would be more manageable and I could finish the game without adding even more delay. I wanted to move forward with something I could realistically complete and still be proud of. But coming back has also meant facing how discouraged I’ve become by what I’m seeing with AI. When you’ve spent years learning tools, working through mistakes, and carefully building something, watching people present that same process as a one-click task can make your effort feel meaningless. There have been moments when I’ve looked at everything I’ve put into this game and wondered what it was all worth. That’s honestly how I’ve felt. I don’t want to pretend otherwise. But I’m still glad I learned those skills. I’m still proud that I gave this project a chance. And I’m especially grateful for the people it brought into my life. Through Gummy Nightmares, I made some wonderful friends who have never let me down. They’ve stood by me, helped with the game, and kept encouraging me through everything. Whatever happens with this project, those friendships will always mean something to me. And I still want to finish this game. I resumed development two weeks ago. Things at home are getting better, and I’m finding my way back into the work. It's slow, but progressing, good things take time! I’ll do my best to finish Gummy Nightmares as soon as I reasonably can. I’m not ready to promise a release date. I’m one developer handling the core development, with talented friends helping along the way when they can. I’m building this game by hand nearly alone, and it takes time. After everything that has happened, I want to give you a date only when I’m confident I can meet it. To everyone who played the demo, wishlisted the game, sent a kind message, or kept checking in: thank you. Even when I couldn’t answer, your support mattered. I’ve had to step away for longer than I ever imagined. There’s still work ahead, and getting back into it will take time. But I’m here, I’m working again, and I haven’t given up on Gummy Nightmares. Sorry this was a long one. Thank you for hearing me out. More updates soon. BBZ Out.