2016 in Review (Patreon)

So... 2016. It's hard to know where to start with 2016.

On one hand, the death in my family made this a very difficult year for me personally. I don't want to say very much about it at this point, though it kind of overshadows things. Aside from that, I had an unusually high number of personal difficulties in 2016. One of the roughest years of my life so far.

So it's sort of a bitter contrast that last year was a great year for me professionally. Patreon income continued to be stable and I turned down the last potential teaching jobs I was holding in mind as backup plans. I'm doing this professionally now and I'm very grateful to all of you for your support.

2016 also marked other milestones. Ouroboros 1.0 as my first side game, thankfully well received despite its experimental nature. Then version 2.0 dipping my toe into the waters of commercial releases. Over at Hreinn Games we finished Noxian Nights, hopefully setting a solid precedent of Patreon being able to fund games start to finish. I also networked with a whole bunch of other creators and laid a lot of groundwork for future projects.

With two full months spent on Ouroboros development, I did not finish quite as much TLS work as I had originally planned. However, I hope everyone will be as encouraged as I was, thinking back one year. At the beginning of 2016, the party was still broken into four groups. During last year they reunited, attended the Ardford Summit, conquered Yhilin, and finished a major mission in the elven forests - heck, Simon was still wearing green a year ago!

A plot as expansive as this one won't be finished overnight, but I intend to always be moving toward the conclusion, never getting mired in unnecessary additions or reworking. 2017 will include major developments in the political situation, but there will also be some revelations that make the final scope of the game clear. 

But though I hope to put out many TLS updates in 2017, you're definitely going to be seeing other work from me as well. Last year my attention scattered everywhere, and I don't want to waste all the work I put in on side projects. These will remain on the back burner, but most will be completed eventually.

I kind of want to say more about these now, some are quite fun, but I think it's best to let those be pleasant surprises. I don't want to divide my attention much from the core series of TLS releases - expect concrete info on those next week. Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a good 2017!