“there’s a chance, though i know it’s a long shot, and the city is out of time.”

hi chat, welcome back. A few things have happened since last post:

• I migrated the site to a new host! Elementor’s refund policy was incorrect as hell and it led to me losing everything for 24 hours, wasn’t even stressed one bit about it tbh!!!!
  • Fun fact here: transferring to Hostinger, while costing ~$10 more, has given me 4 years of uptime, rather than the 1 year Elementor was going to offer. Definitely a more affordable option, very satisfied with it. It also let me finally get my full name as a domain which I’m extremely hyped about, but terrified to put an actual professional portfolio on there now x.x
• The Protomen started releasing Act III. This isn’t something I did, but it’s so notable to me that I need to throw it in anyways 😀
• I started a new job! Stress levels are infinitely lowered, hoping this helps me be more productive in my free time
• I crammed out a new game for a class that’s one of my prequels for CYPR[e]SS helping me flesh the characters and world out in my head. Hosting it on this site, check it out here: offshoot / DATATHIEF (there are 3 endings btw)

Next post should most likely be fully CYPR[e]SS-focused, so here’s a list of things I’m aiming to have done for that post to keep myself on track:

• Get a test colosseum level up and running (finally)
• Attach player/zombie models, even if there are no animations
• Commission the first gun or two for the game (I found an awesome modeller on bsky, just haven’t gotten to finalizing it)
• Maybe a small set of voice lines, could be silly.
• Some basic marketing materials for the game.

Also, looking at one last secretTM thing that would be really cool, but relies on someone else’s decision. We’ll see about that.

Gonna be honest, I don’t even fully know what a datathief is. The Datathief is a woman if that matters to anyone!!! Realized after submitting to my class that I don’t include any gendered language aimed at the protagonist, so the only way it can be known is through my GDD that I had to submit. Datathieves very notably are NOT your average netrunners/space cowboys/whatever term you prefer, but some mystery other thing.

Making DATATHIEF was strange because it was almost written backwards? It’s definitely an approach that works, but it hasn’t been what I’m used to recently when it comes to the rest of my writing. I very much was aware of how I needed the story to end/what mechanics I wanted to show off, but wasn’t sure how it was going to go down, which I think led to a middle that was weaker than the rest (which is crazy because the story is lowkey weak to begin with). I’m also not sure I really nailed how The Datathief speaks/thinks, but that’s going to be something more pressing for when I actually write dialogue for the character. I’m just a little concerned that as of now, she might be written in my personal voice which is not quite where I want to go with her. Overall though, I’m very satisfied with how it’s helped me flesh out some features of the world/game mechanics for CYPR[e]SS later on (even if it’s just an Uchikoshi thing. Uchi fan rips off Uchi mechanic, knife found in kitchen :/ ignore that pls and thx.)

I’ll be back within a few weeks hopefully, praying I actually get some of these tasks done and ready to really show off. o7

TL;DR: play offshoot / DATATHIEF