7.2026
Hello, friends! o awen · lipu mi la o kama pona · It’s been a while since I’ve written here, and I’ve been a bit neglectful of the website in general, so I wanted to type out some ramblings on how the year has gone so far. And what a strange year it’s been. 2025 was more hectic for me (moving house, and undergoing excitements and changes at work); and yet I felt more focused, and was able to finish Jade Spring. Now in 2026 I’ve become physically settled, but mentally (and emotionally) all over the place! But we just celebrated Matariki here in NZ, a mid-year chance to renew and replenish, and so I’m grateful to you all for reading as I ramble and make sense of things for the six months ahead.
My second (and original) game Dwelt went on an unintentional hiatus after I had a bit of a “mid-life crisis” over it! Only in the past couple of weeks or so have I come back to the project feeling more refreshed. The broad conceit has remained relatively unchanged, and I delivered a more formal pitch to friends a few months ago, which went well. My crisis really boiled down to cutting back the scope creep that had accumulated since then, and I have a much simpler and clearer picture of the game in my head now (as well as some music I’m happy with). Dwelt updates will get their own journal entries, the first of which is coming soon!
I’m not confident that I can have a working demo out by the end of the year like I’d originally hoped, but I’m now more optimistic that I can keep up a sustained pace of game development. I love making games so much; the struggles I feel come from fears and doubts associated with working on an original game (i.e. not being able to rely on someone else’s concepts and mechanics, like I could with Jade Spring). I wrote in February that I felt “emotionally disconnected from [the game]”, and I’m happy and relieved that I don’t feel that way anymore.
First of all, I really wanna congratulate areyoshi for their amazing Kattabolt crowdfunding effort, which deservedly passed its funding goal very quickly! I’ve been thankful to be involved in helping out with comic a bit. Pages for chapter 2 have started going up, so you should be sure to check that out as well.
One of my resolutions this year was to find and play a cello again, but I haven’t had much luck in that department so far! I’ve still been working on music, though (mainly for Dwelt). And I managed to make some progress on creature art! I found this series of videos to be really helpful, and I’ve been working on a sculpt, retopology, and rig for a cute kobold creature just to learn. I originally thought about using him as part of Dwelt but I decided that he doesn’t really fit the vibe of the project, for now. This kind of work is challenging for me — it’s quite a different skillset from the usual things I like to 3D model, like furniture and architecture — but it’s very rewarding to work on. You get a little guy at the end of it all!
I’ve been spending more time in Guild Wars 2 recently, too! Getting more into raids has been fulfilling, especially while getting the hang of my new reaper, Slylent Dusk (the mascot for this journal entry). Baldur’s Gate 3 has been giving me a lot of enjoyment and inspiration, too. What a huge, absolutely awesome game. Oh! And I’ve been getting back into exploring Myst Online again, finally finishing the Teledahn Age (with maybe just a little help from a guide) after a long break. The spaces there are breath-taking, and the community is awesome, too. I’ve also been experimenting with my own Age design. I’d like to eventually pursue it further, but for now I should reserve that time for Dwelt !
In general, I’ve been trying to relax a bit more and keep up a stable and healthy routine, which is kind of working! I really appreciate you reading all my updates, and I hope you are all doing well too. Take care of yourselves, and I’m hype to share more creative work very soon!
