The Velvet Newsletter Vol. 10 - 2023 Stuff of the Year!
Time to talk about the stuff we liked in 2023!
Interesting Stuff
Not much, tbh. Uh, here's some good Raging Strike Tech I picked up if you play GBVS:R lol.
The Cohost Project Database
We've hit over 30 entries in the CPD! I'm gonna start talking about specific projects once I'm back from my trip (more on that in a bit). I'm happy people have been so interested in posting their stuff here!
Writing
Favorites of 2023!!!
It's time! Check out my favorite games and movies of the year, along with the stuff my friends were into last year too! With great art by deltahead! I'll also just post the full list here so you don't miss anything:
Mint
Mint's Games of the Year 2023
Mint's Movies of the Year 2023
Robin
Robin's Games of the Year 2023
Mordread
Mordread's Game of the Year 2023
Loz
I Hit S5
I wrote about how I got to S5 rank in GBVS:R and how it made me feel, as well as my thoughts about "The Fighting Game Community."
The Fabula Ultima Retrospective
I finished up our Fabula Ultima tabletop campaign, and wrote about what I think was good and what didn't go so well. Super excited to start Lancer next!
What I'm Playing
I just finished Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. It was an absolute banger. Extremely happy with it, my favorite metroidvania after Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! Now I'm probably gonna be chilling with Astalon: Tears of the Earth until Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes out on the 24th and I devour it like a monster.
Velvet Album
The Worldless OST has been fantastic for working, both creative and capitalistic. Lots of ambiance with some nice soaring / epic tracks when I wanna hunker down, haha.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mMdOE4Ry7ObUU8gArNQLqdBT7g3fTX0mU
Status Update
Gonna be on a work trip for the first half of next week. I'm...ambivalent. I can't even hang out really, it's just gonna be 3 days of work and socializing, and then straight back home, haha. BUT I realized I could take my Steam Deck with me to play Infinite Wealth in my hotel Tuesday at midnight. So that's nice!
I don't think I've mentioned it in this newsletter, but I'm also writing a very large story[1] called Zahra and the Divine Frame. I've been writing a little of it every day and I honestly have been quite happy with it, as far as a first draft. I'd like to finish it before the end of the year - we'll see how it goes!
I've been waking up early lately - around 5:30AM. Apparently it's one more aspect I've taken from my grandfather on my mom's side. I've never met him, even though I feel like I have with how similar we seem to be. Regardless, it's been great! I enjoy having all this extra time to myself to play games or watch movies or write. I hope to keep the habit going for 2024.
Signing Off
That's all for now! Thing's have been pretty good on my end, and I hope they have been for you too!
I hesitate to call it a "novel" because I don't like the connotation, haha. A novel sets expectations that I'm not interested in engaging with. ↩︎