May Fray 2024
Writing
Indiegames
In case you missed it last month, Nintendo shared their Indie World Showcase and I provided a free curated list of games that I was looking forward to here. A year later from its original release I also finished Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly, providing some soft thoughts to supporters here. Confession time… I know I said this last month but I’m truly, finally, getting to playing Kentucky Route Zero in hopes to do a quick review or soft thoughts for supporters.
Fiction
I did a bit of soul searching about this area of my life and these constant rejections were a big reality check on the entire process for book publishing. I can’t imagine making a career out of this, especially because it’s already a big time and energy sink for me to even write, let alone champion the writing for someone to hopefully validate the work. That being said I’ll be removing this section of the newsletter until NaNoWriMo comes along each year. I know for sure that I love the energy around that event, and thus will have more to share when that time comes. Of course, if I end up submitting short story ideas to the literary magazine I have my eye on then you’ll be the first to know.
Video
Streaming
I was not disappointed in finishing A Date with Death, and look forward to playing the upcoming DLC off stream (this is dependent on their Kickstarter being successful but I have no doubt it will be). It turns out that the developers plan to add in some spicy scenes and I don’t think that would be safe for us to do on Twitch. I got some surprise news that I received enough nominations for a BIPOC Streamer Award called “Indies Rule the World”, which is for a streamer who focuses mainly on Indie games and is strong in highlighting the amazing games that may be overlooked but deserve our respect. This is such a cool thing to happen, and is very encouraging to me. Even if I don’t win in the final round, it feels nice to be seen.
The next round of voting starts May 6th, so I’ll be posting the link to do that once it’s available. I hope you can support me, assuming you enjoy what I do out here on the internet :)
After we finish OneShot and Lil’ Guardsman, we’ll be getting into Dave the Diver. After its BAFTA nominations and awards, I knew I had to give it a whirl.
Long Form
I’ve successfully finished The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, and due to the volume of dialogue decided to turn the gameplay into a more Summary and Review format instead of a let’s play. This will be the first time I’ve done some heavy editing as I will be splicing in gameplay as well as some facecam chatting but I’m ready for the challenge! Expect this by the end of the month, but I’m aiming for mid-month assuming everything goes according to plan in between.
Personal
Currently Playing
With LudoNarraCon and the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase this month, I don’t think there is much room to play recreational games — similar to last month. Once these events are over, I think I may keep trying to finish Yakuza 0, Armored Core VI, or Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Big games take up a lot of data space so I need to really commit so there’s more room for other things!
IRL
We did a lot of traveling last month for my anniversary and for family gatherings. I’m also doing quite a bit of traveling every week for our return to office mandates at the day job. This has unfortunately prompted a conversation with my psychiatrist about travel anxiety, so we’re trying out an as-needed medication approach to take the edge off on those days. So far it has been very helpful in telling my brain that I’m not under attack. :) During my free time I’ve been catching up on shows like Fallout and Jessica Jones, both of which have dark themes but somehow I’m deriving joy so… yay?
As for building strength I’m not gaining as much progress in that area as I’d like so I’ve been experimenting with adding more vigorous workouts like hiking into the weekly schedule. I feel like there’s never enough time to do everything you want. Prioritizing things is key to this but what if everything is important to you…? Definitely a part of adult life I want a refund on, haha.
Picture of the Month
The last time we went exploring I encountered this tree, and the way the cloudy day still bounced a bit of light off the leaves really intrigued me. Of course, I had to share!
Feel free to reply directly to this email to let me know your thoughts, or perhaps any content that you'd like to see or questions you might have. Otherwise, sending you all my warm thoughts for the month and I look forward to writing to you in June!