November Remember 2023
Writing
Indiegames
After starting it on stream, I finally finished Wylde Flowers and have some soft thoughts on it! For Ko-fi supporters you can now access my thoughts here and for those who are looking for a free post I plan to provide a "Games You Need to Know About" curated list of the IndieCade Festival winners around November 4th. Last year I provided some behind-the-scenes IndieCade 2022 Festival insights for supporters but unfortunately this year they are locking that access to developers only. Boooo!
Boardgames
I just got a copy of Silicon Valley to review! Whenever we at Board Game Quest get notice of a board game with this theme I almost feel obligated to take it simply because I'm from the area. It's always an opportunity for at least a giggle to see how we're perceived by outsiders. Expect to see the review drop in the next month or two here.
Fiction
I've been doing more reading than writing these days due to dwindling energy levels and some of that reading has been of first drafts by fellow writer friends. I'll be postponing my memoir to 2024's NaNoWriMo season but in the meantime I've been studying up on how other writers develop thriller/suspense novels. The homework has included Shari Lapena's Everyone Here is Lying and Josephine Hart's Damage (admittedly due to the limited series on Netflix). I really want to keep writing in this genre in the future so gaining as much knowledge as I can by reading, and perhaps doing some workshops in the future, is the plan.
Video
Streaming
We're finishing up The Walking Dead, and I love this game so much that I'm certain we'll bring it back for Season Two next Halloween. Thursday, November 2nd will be a special one-off stream of Project Zomboid where I'll go through the tutorial and check out how the solo play works. I've read that it can be easier to survive with friends but I'm up for the challenge.
We'll be back to Final Fantasy IX starting Monday morning, November 6th. My aim is to have this finished by the end of the month so we can get back to our regularly-scheduled indiegames in December.
Note that going forward we'll be starting off each stream with a mental health check in, as I'm no longer keeping those streams to Monday evenings. I have had less and less energy at the end of the weekday so a change had to be made. I'm excited to make this a more integrated part of the channel and it will encourage me to check in with myself more often too.
Short Form
Been on a break from this recently, since we've been playing some heavy Halloween games the short form result from those games isn't quite a vibe match to what I normally post so hopefully back to this in December.
Personal
Currently Playing
After Intelligame played Slay the Princess on stream I had to give it a go. It's a horror visual novel where choices matter and I ended up playing it for about two hours straight before spending a ton of time trying to chase achievements. The way this game navigates relationships and conflict takes me back to different, unique time periods of previous relationships. To be honest, that's where the true horror lies.
After sinking some time into that game, I moved on to Yakuza 0 and have been pleasantly surprised. Many people I know adore the games and this was my first one as I wanted to go in chronological order. I've been enjoying the lengthy cut scenes as well as street brawls, so expect to see some soft thoughts posted once I finish.
IRL
Instead of going to Twitchcon, my partner and I decided to do some "staycationing". Some highlights included eating dim sum, watching A Haunting in Venice (I love Kenneth Branagh's Poirot), and fulfilling a bucket list item by staying at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay to hear some bagpiping at sunset, play some tennis in the morning and overall have good food and relaxation.
Picture of the Month
Enjoy the cute succulent decoration from our room at the Ritz, which brings part of the beach vibe indoors.
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 chilly thoughts for the month and I look forward to writing to you in December!