This year has definitely been something else. "Trial by fire", some might call it. (And I'm not sure I passed.) Lots of stuff still up in the air, still trying to juggle as much of it as I can / need to.
Obviously, the item that defined this year was Lynn's passing. Just trying to keep everyone paid, trying to keep all the bills paid, etc. Had a couple close calls, a couple misses, and several losses. But, in spite of all that, somehow we're still standing.
The spring semester was pretty rough, my worst semester since my return at NMT and my second-worst at NMSU (the one semester I did worse was the one where I had to get my gallbladder taken out in an emergency surgery, during finals week). Basically nothing got done on the school side of things. (Many items were started, but nothing got completed.) My MS went on the back burner until I could frankly get out from under everything else, and of course once the semester was over and I thought I'd have more time, that's when things really ramped up at the observatory. We're still trying to fix everything that suddenly broke, everything that we'd DISCOVERED was broken.
But, as the summer wore on and as I forced myself to take time in Socorro for the first time since the first week of the year--literally, the second DAY of the year was the last time I'd been up there--I managed to get my feet back under me. I made good progress with the MS, actually even started getting good results in the tolerancing side of things, the last bit of work I needed to do. Stuff with the observatory started being resolved, not much but enough that I could breathe. Enough that I felt I could try once again to attend classes at NMSU in the fall, to make progress across the board.
And I'm glad I did! This last semester was not my best, and in fact was my third-worst in terms of overall performance, but it was nowhere near as bad as the spring semester. And I'd learned quite a lot! I'm PROUD of the work I did this last semester, at both schools. Got an admittedly very-rough draft done of my MS paper, NEARLY finished all the tolerancing work I need to do there, and while not everything I did at NMSU was a winner, it all shows I've made tremendous progress in my art as well.
On the CORAX studios side of things:
This year, I'd intended to get my first game out, That Abandoned House on Parkview Drive. I'm glad I didn't; with this last semester under my belt, I'm going to re-approach that project with completely new eyes, refresh the character designs (which I'd like to get done in the next two weeks, before the semester begins), and maybe, MAYBE start working on the sets and pieces--but, since I'll be taking Sets and Environments this coming semester, I may decide to hold off on that even. (I don't want to take TOO long obviously, but I wanted to take this class specificially FOR my work with CORAX.)
And, once I do get that game under my belt and out the door--which, fingers-crossed, I just might be able to accomplish by the end of the summer--I'll start work on the second. This one was actually the title I'd intended to be my first previously, before I'd had the idea for That Abandoned House; however, for this now-second title, I KNEW I didn't have the experience necessary to do what I'd wanted to do--and now, I've got a good chunk of it (and I'll be getting the rest, at least the rest I'd like to get, this semester with that aforementioned class). It's simple, dead-simple really, certainly as far as a game goes--the entire play-loop of the game is, you're spending time at a corner strip-mall until a bus shows up--but it's still gonna be powerful. I want the player to FEEL the weight of their decisions. I want the player to CRY. It is such a deeply-moving piece, and thus far I am thoroughly proud of the work and concepts I've put into it. Yes, That Abandoned House will be CORAX studios' first work, our first impression and a great representative for the sort of ART we're trying to produce, but this title (which I do know the name, I'm just not sharing it yet) will be, in my opinion, the first TRUE representative of the sort of POWER these games are going to have. The sort of experience to expect when one plays a CORAX studios game. (And, you know, maybe more, if I can get it that far.)
And yet, my work lately has been focused on a title I'd conceptualized earlier this most recent semester, that of Crucible. While I've still got a LONG way to go on that game, frankly a long way to go before I even begin TRYING to produce it, what I've got so far is SO good. I'm really excited to start working on this full-time in-earnest. (And I do still have that longer post I'm wanting to make about that game; it's coming! I just keep coming up with stuff, which is absolutely not a bad thing here, considering I'm trying for 30 different characters, each from their own realm--PLAYABLE realms, meaning 30 worlds with at least five levels a piece! This game is going to be goddamn GIGANTIC.)
Of course, Werewolf Spy has had a LOT of new concepts added to it this year. Nothing new in terms of gameplay or anything like that, but new characters, extant ones being more fleshed-out, incredible story beats for some of the later titles, and some amazing concepts overall that are all going to elevate this series to instant-classic status. I do want the first Werewolf Spy game to be the third title CORAX studios produces, and honestly, if I can get these first two games out the door in the time frame I'm hoping, I think it won't be a stretch at all to get this one out, possibly even still single-handedly, by 2030. (Though naturally, I'm hoping those first two games do well enough that I'll be able to pay, not just myself, but at LEAST one other employee by the time we get Werewolf Spy 1 done.)
Outside those, there is of course the as-yet-untitled more-traditional espionage-style gameplay series, which did get a couple new ideas this year. (Including a game that I'm hoping will cap the series with an ultra-satisfying ending.) There's also the game I've tentatively been calling Sanity's Eclipse, which will likely be changed to something else (since that title is in reference to what I'd originally hoped that game to be, which was a sequel to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem); I DO want one more title for that "series" as well, again something to really capstone the protagonist's story, but I've not really come up with that just yet. Just as well at this point, the first game isn't even CLOSE to being out yet. But we're getting there! Lots of new, wonderful ideas, all of which I cannot wait to bring to life.
And there ARE other items I want to do with CORAX studios, but... I haven't made an announcement on any of that yet, and I don't think I've really talked about that side of things here either. So I'm gonna keep it something of a surprise. :3 (It won't be a HUGE surprise if you're paying attention, though.)
So, in spite of some incredible and sudden hardship, I'm pushing through, trying to pull everything else through with me, and we're gonna come out of this SO much better. And while this coming year is already shaping up to be absolutely rotten, I know I can pull through. We'll get through this.
To that end, my personal Expectations for the coming year:
- Finish my MS, and finally graduate in May. It's been a LONG time coming, but the finish line is absolutely in sight. We're almost there.
- Finish developing and producing That Abandoned House on Parkview Drive, and get it published and available for purchase. It'd be nice if I could do that by August even, which I do think is doable.
- It'd be nice to actually keep on top of my homework and FINISH everything, but, you know, getting it to a state where I don't feel too bad about submitting it is likely the best I can hope for, at least until things FULLY settle down at the observatory.
- Actually use my planners! I'd made that an item for last year, but fell off it immediately because of everything going on putting me into basically full-on survival mode for the first half of the year. At the very least, record homework assignments in there so I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING with them. :V
- Obviously, finish LeChuck's new enclosure, but if I don't get this done by the end of January (barring cost of materials), I'm gonna be kinda disappointed in myself. End of February at the ABSOLUTE latest.
- Honestly kinda part of item 5: Actually clean up the house to a point where it's halfway-presentable, but preferably to a point where I don't have to worry about piles of shit falling down just because the cats got up somewhere. The kitchen and living room are both just embarrassing and definitely share a timeline with item 5 (partly because the latter will be REQUIRED for that item), but the rest of the house desperately needs it too. I'd almost gotten there back in 2022, before Toulouse started going downhill (and unfortunately Michael passed away right around that same time); kinda hoping I can get there properly now.
- It'd be nice to finish the renovation I'd started on the back library hallway on the Socorro house. I do believe I'll be able to afford it, but it's almost certainly gonna have to be done over the summer. (There are other things I'd like to get done at that house this year too, but gonna be reserved and not add TOO much to this list just yet.)
And with that in mind, I think that's probably where I'm gonna call it. There are many, MANY other items I hope to do this year, but in terms of things I actually expect to be able to do, this is already a pretty-good list.
Here's looking forward to 2025.