Oh wow, yesterday was so dull that I actually forgot to make a blog post! That’s an indicator of the day job if there ever was one…
So, my blogging streak hits a bump; I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, to be honest. One of the reasons I used to give for not blogging back in the day, was that I lead a fairly average life, so I didn’t figure I’d have much to talk about in this space. In fact, I often still don’t, which is why you’ll notice me repeat myself a lot week to week; we’re still trying to find a new place to live (the townhouse we wanted to place an offer on got snapped up already), which will determine whether or not we can keep our little kitten Sparrow. He’s due for his next round of vaccinations on Tuesday, so his time remaining with us is limited if we can’t secure a deal on a home. To say that we’re upset is an understatement, but we’re not the ones in control of the money, so it’s out of our hands; all we can do is suggest properties and hope for the best, not that it’s helped so far.
Maybe the reason nothing much else has been happening is that I’m trying to keep myself distracted from all the “what ifs” surrounding our living situation; I’m tired of not knowing what’s going to happen, so I turn to things I can control. I tried doing it with art, but I’m still in a bit of a funk regarding that; I have a quota I need to fulfil before ComicCon next month, but I’ve been slacking on that too; really starting to miss those load shedding breaks at the day job…
My main distraction has been gaming instead, and I’ve been on a bit of a sci-fi kick lately. I’ve been attempting to pick up Ironsworn: Starforged again after a long time away; I backed the Kickstarter, I should probably get my money’s worth for it. It’s a solo tabletop RPG, like Dungeons and Dragons but for a single player, and with a used-future sci-fi theme. I did a few videos of my playthrough of the classic Ironsworn over on my YouTube channel, and I’ve wanted to get started on Starforged for a while, though I never seem to get beyond the setup phase: I get my universe built, my character created, my inciting incident plotted… and then never get round to playing it proper. Maybe I’m trying to look too deep into the fiction too fast, but it’s meant to be a story based game, so perhaps I just don’t want it to feel like more work when I’ve already got enough on my plate.
In digital terms, I took a deep dive into Stellaris, a space empire simulation game that is incredibly intricate and detailed; in basic terms, you try to get ahead in a galaxy full of alien empires, and you have approximately 400 years of game time to get the highest score before the end. I’ve bounced off of it a few times due to the mechanics being difficult to work around, but I’m well on track towards my first real finish; I’ve placated two ancient empires, fought off a legion of psychic space squids, and proclaimed myself God-Emperor of the Galactic Imperium, so all that’s left to do is wait for the endgame crisis and hope my economy doesn’t collapse before then. Yeah, it’s that kind of game.
Both of these games, Stellaris especially, has got me thinking about a concept I came up with several years back, one that I’ve been tinkering with on and off ever since. It was a sci-fi story that I pitched around as both a graphic novel and an animated TV show, but never got any bites. With the intricate level of politics involved in Stellaris, I’ve since come up with several new concepts to add to the original idea, and might try pitching it again from a new angle, even if only to myself.
I’d explain more, but I seem to have actually managed to talk about something enough to fill space (hehe, space) for this week, so maybe I’ll get into it properly next time.
Anywho, time to get through the work day, and then it’s off to see the new Dungeons and Dragons movie tonight; see you all next week for…something, I dunno, but it should be on schedule this time.
Ciao for now.