They said it couldn't be done! It was too hardcore!

Welcome to the 25th edition of www.onegameamonth - I'm so proud of what we've accomplished in the last two years and hope to make things even better in 2015.

This month's 100% optional theme word is RESOLUTION. Do you have any plans for the new year? Any favourite pixel sizes for your games? Resolve to join the #1GAM adventure, and adjust your sights to keep focused.

As we head into the third year of #1GAM, I'd like to talk about this crazy challenge and how it started. Did you know that it began as a joke?

Everyone laughed and told me it was impossible when I committed to make 12 games in 12 months. Well, I did it; 24 months in a row - and so did a tons of other people.

This should be proof enough that YOU TOO CAN DO IT. The #1GAM stars at the top of the leaderboard aren't much more creative or talented as you are. They've just successfully made it through multiple months of this awesome bootcamp that is #1GAM. We're not all a bunch of ultra hardcore gamedev with infinite hours to spend and no day jobs or families! You can pull this challenge off by joining a game jam from time to time!

So put a weekend into pursuing your dreams. Into building your skills. That's all it takes to get better.

I know it sounds like a cat poster, but it's true.

The secret to actually pulling it off and not getting burned out is keep a punk rock or jazz mindset: work lightheartedly, without perfection as a goal, like a punk rocker. Think Jackson Pollock vs Michaelangelo. Pollack could make a masterpiece in 60 seconds, while Michaelangelo would sometimes spend a whole year on one painting. Sure - sometimes it definitely turned out better - but for #1GAM you want to focus on the fast and imperfect style of artistic inspiration.

Don't aim to make your masterwork. The games you make for #1GAM should be like the hundred pages in Michaelangelo's sketchbook, with ONE of them taken to fruition on a huge scale.

Remember Ira Glass's sage creative advice about getting good at what you want to be good at: don't get discouraged when the first few games you make don't become billion-dollar hits. Each game you make brings your skills to the next level. Create a body of work, and watch as you get better at doing it.

These are training exercises - so take risks! Try a new game engine! A new tool! A new genre of game! Make something as a joke, or with a punk-rock attitude.

#1GAM is like a dojo. A gym. A training ground for aspiring game developers. For us pros, it's a way to keep our chops up and try new tools with small prototypes. To learn new things. To connect with your peers.

And most important of all: making games every month is FUN! It helps your career. It levels up your gamedev skills...

Keep on levelling up. Join game jams. Make experimental games. Prototypes. Iterate on the ones that your friends love! Turn one or two of the next dozen games this year into polished commercial titles. Allow the rest to just be fun items to add to your portfolio. They don't have to be perfect.

Looking forward, #1GAM is going through a huge transformation. We're going to put a stronger focus on the PEOPLE behind it. The gamedevs. You. That's what this whole community is all about.

So beginning this month, I will be putting a spotlight on selected #1GAM success stories and spreading a little more love in the community.

There was a lot of negativity in the game industry social media last year, and in response, instead of shutting down all my sites in discouragement and walking away from gamedev or whatever, I've decided to try to put out a little more positivity. We can all do this and watch as the industry improves in the ways that we hope it will.

My goal is to encourage others to become gamedevs. To impart a little wisdom that I've learned in my 20 years of gamedev. To highlight some amazing people and maybe give them a high five. So instead of sharing all the bad stuff, my goal with this website is to focus exclusively on creating "good news" stories in the game industry.

Help me out, will ya? I do this just to give back - no ads, subscriptions, spam, or crowdfunding. #1GAM is still, after 25 months in a row, growing like a wildfire, completely uncommercial, just because it's all about the love of making games. So join me if you love to make games. Or if you want to start making games, here's the best place to begin.

Happy new year, everyone. Thanks for joining me on this quest to level up our gamedev skills. I'm honoured to be exploring this new landscape along side you.

What's that? A misty castle in the distance? Let's go check it out!

- Christer McFunkypants Kaitila
- twitter.com/McFunkypants

Music by DST of Nosoap Radio (CC)