Right. So. You may have noticed (or haven’t, considering that there’s been maybe 1 person visiting the site) that Crackedlands has been temporarily paused. The reason for this is actually pretty swick, as I’m about halfway through animating an Oneyplays bit. (Hint: Tomar and his freaking epic Doge). This has been more time consuming than originally anticipating, seeing as I am a rank amateur, so even the more limited animation I’m going for is stretching my wings, as it were. It’s been really rewarding though, and I’ve quite enjoyed applying some of the little things I’ve picked up from other animated shorts and such.

On another strand, I’ve been playing Clair Obscur recently, and I must say, it really does deserve the praise it’s gotten, although I have some slight quibbles with it (the parry/dodge timings seem to be a bit off from what you would naturally expect, and it suffers from some animation clipping errors that are somewhat expected of small team big games). Regardless, at the end of Chapter 1, when [SPOILER] happens, it hit me in the gut in a way that a game hasn’t in years. It’s really wonderful to see a game with dialogue that is effective and manages to avoid many of the pitfalls of modern writing. (Erm, that just freaking happened!)

I just want to end this on a more personal note. After a number of years in a dark hole, I recently rediscovered my faith in the Lord and I feel obligated to say, if you are in a miserable place, if you feel alone and hopeless, there truly is a better path, if only you are willing to open yourself up to it. There are so many people who are ready with open arms to help you out of the raging waters. Take it from someone who is fresh from the trenches, you matter. Not in an empty platitude way, you, the person you are, matter to Him. Please remember that.

Take care of yourself, and as always, peace and love.

– Hoovy –