State of Drillimation: Spring 2026

I’m so glad you’re still around with us after what has happened over the past year and quarter. Whenever I release a dev log in April, I always explain what has been going on over the past six months. That’s because for the past two years, the first video has always been me reflecting on the events of that previous year. You don’t get to see me on-screen very much because I’m so busy working on the Drillimation Danmaku Universe games and the videos you see on my channel. As expected, the second dev log of each year will have me talking a lot. If you’re in, keep watching.

Shining Shattering Sky ~ Reverie of Breaking Unreality

First of all, let’s talk about Shining Shattering Sky ~ Reverie of Breaking Unreality. The game is finally done and the beta is now out. I’m currently in talks with publishers to get this game on Nintendo Switch 2. The reason I chose that console was to take advantage of the Joy-Con 2 mouse functionality. I just recently updated the game to overhaul the saving and loading functionality for custom stages. Gone are the Windows and macOS pop-ups to save and load stages. Although it worked, it led to a few issues. First of all, when you’re playing in full-screen mode, the game stays minimized when saving or loading stages. It does not do that thankfully on Steam Deck. When we overhauled the system, that brief interruption is gone, and keeps you in the game.

Before we move on, I need to talk about saving and loading stages with the new system. You can’t save anywhere you want anymore. Your saved stages are now stored in the Local App Data folder on Windows in a dedicated custom stages folder. You can share your stages with anyone on the web, and if you want to play stages created by someone else, just download them to your custom stages folder. There is one caveat though: the folder won’t be present if you haven’t saved a stage yet. This was implemented to ensure everyone who plays makes their own stages.

That said, these changes will help make the game more accessible and smoother. These technical hurdles are now in the past, and I can’t wait to see what stages you create. The stage editor is available in both the demo and full versions of the game.

Anime Fest

Next up is Anime Fest. If you recall last December, I finally got my Steam Deck. I planned to get it last summer, but the plans were delayed after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch got in the way, along with Pokékon leveling up to Adored by the Network status and shoving Anime Fest out of its place. With the Steam Deck, my booth at Anime Fest now gets more engagement and attendees stay there longer. I will talk about the two Anime Fests I went to over the past quarter.

It was a shame I only got to exhibit at one Anime Fest in 2025. In response, I began looking for opportunities outside my hometown, and I did. Back in February and March, I did my first out-of-town and out-of-state anime conventions respectively. In February, I went down to exhibit at the Pittsburgh Anime Fest. While my trip was fueled with excitement and a hotel room overlooking Interstate 79, the event itself had a chilling start. Just as I finished setting up my booth, the fire alarms went off and forced a full evacuation of the hotel in subzero degree temperatures. No fatalities were reported and the whole thing was a false alarm. The cause was a guest’s perfume that was potent enough to trigger the smoke detectors.

Once the convention began after that scramble, the energy was incredible. This was the first Anime Fest to feature the Steam Deck, and on that same day, we unveiled a new Touhou Project fangame: Touhou Meishuugeki ~ Cursed Sweeper and Bewildering Parallel. While I encountered no Touhou Project fans or content at the event, all of the players who played the kiosk demo were completely new to the franchise. They couldn’t capture the adrenaline rush of the danmaku and its challenge prevented them from reaching the midboss!

What might surprise you is that the kiosk demo was put together in only a week. The week leading up to the event was frenetic – and it nearly killed me. It was like preparing for a game jam. The feedback for the game was vital. I ended up identifying difficulty balancing issues and bugs that I addressed before the next Anime Fest in Niagara Falls the following month. Despite these tweaks, initial reception, both at the convention and online were overwhelmingly positive so far. Between the visitors, my seat was perfect – I had a great view of all of the panels that took place, making it a truly memorable weekend.

I had not done an in-person playtest in six years. The last time I did such was for the original Chuhou Joutai in January 2020 – right before the world locked down for the pandemic. I got to exhibit again in Niagara Falls a month later. Again, it was the same thing, but the only differences were adding the second stage and Marisa Kirisame to the playable roster. I had not been to my birthplace in three years – the last time I went was in 2023 on my way to the UK and Ireland. I was grateful to do more than just look at the falls.

The Future

Next up is the future. One significant issue I had planned to tackle this year was the resolution of the feud with Studio Emiko. Back in late January, I realized that ending it would no longer be possible, and it all stems from our conflicting philosophies. I insist on using fourth-generation graphics in favor of appealing to a wide audience, while Studio Emiko wants to be more modern and cater to mature audiences as evidenced by Ciel Chandelleur. You will never see me develop a licensed game based on her VTuber talent.

Hosokawa-san thinks this is going on too much, but I can give you a quick backstory on how this all happened. She ended up initiating a fight with me last spring when I released a Touhou Project fangame under the name of Touhou Chouhatsuyou ~ Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity – a terrible title that made multiple worst lists of 2025 due to what you are seeing on-screen. It overrelied on fanservice by means of having all the women grow floor-length hair and was mediocre at best.

In the weekend before the game came out, Hosokawa disappeared from Discord for three months after her account got hacked, which is completely unrelated to the feud. The eighteenth of this month will mark one year since the release of Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity, and neither of us deserves an anniversary gift. Ever since she returned to Discord under the guise of Ciel Chandelleur last July, she has constantly been attacking me on said site and social media any time I tried to end the feud.

The game is set during the Edo Period when this hairstyle was commonplace. Let me give you some historical context and the reason why you hardly see women with very long hair in the real world nowadays. Women used very long hair as a symbol of femininity, respectability, and social status. After World War I broke out, women ended up replacing men in the factories, and their long hair became impractical and sometimes unsafe. This is why they started cutting it short when the Roaring Twenties came in. They not only did it for fashion, but for independence, loss, change, and to break away from the old world. Shorter hair styles such as bob cuts became a revolution and one of the most visible signs that society would never be the same again.

This was the case for our new female characters in the Drillimation Danmaku Universe after that debacle. Female characters had hair this length for the same reasons, regardless of time period. After Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity’s release, many players thought all of the characters’ floor-length hair was too much, and we cut it starting in Shining Shattering Sky ~ Reverie of Breaking Unreality. We did the same to break away from the old world, and now a sign that Drillimation will never be the same again. When you look into that game and our newest title Touhou Meishuugeki ~ Cursed Sweeper and Bewildering Parallel, no female character has hair longer than thigh length. Well, with the exception of Kaguya Houraisan, who already has long hair from the start.

I’m already glad to have released a playable alpha for the game. If you want to try it, it’s available on my itch.io page. I will be very eager to hear your thoughts on the design shifts and new gameplay mechanics. Some features are still under construction, and that is normal for a game in its alpha phase. Your feedback will be instrumental in shaping the final experience, just as the early playtests at Anime Fest helped me.

Looking ahead, this shift will represent a broader evolution for the Drillimation Danmaku Universe. As development progresses, you can expect to see this approach applied to this game and all of our future projects. Last spring made us stay in the snow, but this change will make things more polished and accessible, and true to the vision I’ve always had since the first Chuhou Joutai. I will keep sharing updates to stay transparent with all of you. I thank all of you for being a part of my ever-evolving daily life and universe, and we hope you look forward to the completion of Cursed Sweeper and Bewildering Parallel.

Two More Anime Fest Appearances Planned in October

One last thing before I sign off: Anime Fest has finally returned to my hometown, so I will definitely be at the Erie Anime Fest for the first time in a year and a half in October, and I will also be at the Cleveland Anime Fest set to take place the week before. If you are going to either one, don’t forget to stop by my booth.