State of Drillimation: Winter 2025

I want to thank all of you who supported us throughout 2024. Welcome to 2025. This website also experienced a growth explosion and our website conversion rate tripled over the past year, and I hope to keep reeling in the same amount of traffic throughout 2025.

Monthly Update Cards of 2024

The above gallery shows all the Monthly Update cards from every month in 2024. As expected, things have changed. Let me explain each one as usual:

• January: Same as usual but hand-drawn once again.
• February: Chinese New Year once again fell in February. In fact, the boss Tenryu from Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria debuted in 2024, which was the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac.
• March: I was finally able to draw a proper sokutai and junihitoe for Driller and Kagami thanks to my hand-drawn art direction. This was also the first one to debut with ZUN-style eyes.
• April: Continued the same treatment for school as in September of 2023.
• May: Same thing as last year, but now hand-drawn.
• June: Roughly the same as 2023.
• July: Debuted a new shading style inspired by that of Ken Sugimori’s original designs for the first two generations of Pokémon. Summer festival theming still kept.
• August: Features the duo’s original outfits but in the Ken Sugimori shading.
• September: Now their school uniforms get the Ken Sugimori treatment.
• October: Changed things up by decreasing the hue of the darker shade by 30 degrees. It definitely gives the characters more color!
• November: Did their autumn and winter outfits again but with the Ken Sugimori shading.
• December: Their royal ball outfits have gotten a royal shading with the Ken Sugimori shading applied. They now look more ornate.

What Were Your Achievements in 2024, and What are Your Goals for 2025?

It’s tough to get around when you see snow on the ground, and our energy consumption in the Northern Hemisphere truly rises after the Winter Solstice. We hope all of you are enjoying your new year. Drillimation had continued to plow forward in 2024. We launched a brand new franchise that year: Mythos of Phantasmagoria. It was tough trying to develop its sequel as I had to triumph over the wind and rain trying to put it all together, and I have made many achievements and learned new things along the way. I must say that this year was a lot of hard work and perseverance. I will have confidence in the future.

2024 shows that we have fully transitioned back to normalcy from the pandemic. Steady progress has been made on our next project from high-quality development. Our development tools have been further upgraded. We have raised new pillars in the Drillimation Danmaku Universe. The graphics have become clearer and the music has become more harmonious. New advances are being made to make the Drillimation Danmaku Universe experience better than the older ones. New progress has been made in vitalizing Chuhou Joutai’s past. Plot holes are being filled in, and Studio Emiko is helping us embrace new development opportunities. Seeing the effects of post-pandemic life, it is clear the world has become more resilient and dynamic than before.

We marched forward with robust steps in 2024. Thanks to years of my dedicated efforts, Drillimation’s innovations have become more diverse. Over the past two years, Mythos of Phantasmagoria and the Emiverse have begun their missions. They are a new testimony in our development process. In every corner of the world, players are scaling new heights with determination and providing us inspiration for new and innovative creations.

Our target markets have also marched forward with triumphant spirit. America and Japan topped the gold medal counts in the 2024 Olympics in Paris last summer. It was full of tourists during that time, though two of the biggest gaming mascots were missing that year. That said, athleticism has made our lives richer and more colorful, and marked an example of the returned life across the globe.

We have marched forward with confidence. The video game industry is a great field of entertainment. Across this wide landscape, sandy deserts and tropical rainforests invoke fond memories of many decade-old interactive stories. Mario and Luigi never fail to inspire us. Discoveries of the landmarks of Gensokyo tell us a lot about the myths they conceal. Each game that receives a nomination at the Game Awards bears witness to the evolution of the industry. Everything stands as a testament to the history of the late 20th century and early 21st century and the splendid explosion of the electronics industry. All of this is the source of our players’ confidence and strength.

While pursuing the expansion of the Gensokyo Continent, we also embraced how danmaku can become a major field in the realm of gaming. Before the Olympics in June, we returned to Ireland to find inspiration for the environment of Touhou Kichouden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2. Drillimation also debuted at the inaugural local Erie Anime Fest to spread the word about our products and games, and we have exhibited a total of three times in 2024, in March, August, and November respectively. From there, I was able to meet people from a variety of backgrounds and reunite with friends, both old and new. I shared my vision and philosophy with them. No matter how the anime landscape evolves, cooperation with our international partners is a mutual benefit that we can deliver.

Along the way, we were bound to encounter a number of challenges. Some of our players had a tough time. Some corners of the world were hit by floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, war, and other disasters, either caused by Mother Nature or a mercenary of the Master of Antics. We’ve seen players be cut off from Steam and itch.io. These always become the forefront of my goals. When I see players succumb to such occasions, we help our players overcome these challenges with adversity. I am deeply motivated by such things I want to tackle upon sight. From the farmers working in the countryside, to entrepreneurs like me lighting the trail of culture, and service members guarding their country or the world, we stand with you to prevail over all the challenges we can.

2024 marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of Drillimation Systems. In our second decade, we will steadily advance the modernization of our products and apply a new philosophy on all fronts, speed up development paradigms, promote high-quality development, and safeguard security. We will enhance our confidence in developing new adventures, educate aspiring talents, find and adopt new technology, and cultivate our players. We will continue to support our overseas talents and clients who want to harness their distinctive traits. We will surely unite all sides of the world, no matter your ethnicity or faith, and bind ourselves to a common sense of purpose and share the glory of our world.

Our goal is to deliver better ideas for our players. Our younger players who can’t understand something within our games should have the opportunity to explore and learn new things that may eventually inspire their future. Our older players are welcome to be part of the story. They’re also a top priority for our survival. In today’s world, everyone including myself is busy and we will face a lot of pressure within our lives, including at school or work. From there, we can expand and build resilience and create new innovations to find the solutions to every problem. Our lives can be happy, bring out the best, and realize our dreams. I understand there are still some conflicts raging in some parts of the world. I am keenly aware of the concept of peace. We will continue to work with our international partners and build a common good for the future of mankind and the rest of the world.

Right as the clock struck midnight to begin the second quarter of the 21st century, we’ve seen every corner of the globe light up with the old year washed out. We wish you prosperity and tranquility to all of our players. I pray for success this winter or summer and the year ahead.

Have a Good 2025

Did you see my video about my goals for the first quarter of 2025? Here it is below:

We wish you luck in 2025!