First of all, I wish you a year full of games, books, movies, laughter and friends. Anything that will help you cope with what life throws at you.
PROJECTS FOR 2026
GUNS MAGES CORPSES is (finally) going well. Hi-Octane Cyber & Sorcery action all the way. Next project after that should be WALKING SHADOWS, my take on a Sci-Fi Lovecraftian setting.
Of course, as my mind sometimes wanders, I end up with new projects on my plate. That’s great, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Taking a few days off works wonders to get new ideas (or new takes on old ideas). Something as simple as taking a walk outside my home has helped me more than sitting four hours straight in front of my computer, trying to squeeze my brain as if it was a lemon.
FEEDING MY BRAIN
I’m not a literary or movie critic, so I won’t bore you with every book or movie I’ve read and seen in the last months. I took the habit of listing my inspirations in all my games now, so it’s not a secret either. There are two ideas at work here:
Our imaginations need to be nurtured.
I think we need time to let our brains draw connections between everything we read, watched and heared. I need to daydream, walk, watch through my window, pet my cats… Do nothing apart enjoying the fact of being alive.
Both of these things are luxuries in our economic landscape and I’m grateful I can enjoy them from time to time. I was made aware of an old Ray Bradbury conference that reminded me of this:
“I want you to be madly in love with ideas […] So your life will be continually exciting, these ideas are not to be used to beat other people with but to have fun inside your head […] I want you to have a delightful life and a delightful life is a popcorn machine in your head”
Reading his Zen in the Art of Writing book will influence that Zen game design book I’m working on. If anyone’s interested, I’ll post a few pages in the next newsletters.
NEXT ON OUR SHOW
After GUNS MAGES CORPSES and WALKING SHADOWS I’d like to have some time to write SUNLESS MOUNTAINS, my take on a genre I have no interest for: the megadungeon. Why? Because I want to write one that will appeal to people who, like me, are not interested in them. You’ll get something closer to MADE IN ABYSS than UNDERMOUNTAIN, that’s for sure.
THE PARADOX
As many of you probably noticed, I don’t spend much time on social media, that’s why I finally decided to write a newsletter (thanks to Ryan from the Weekly Scroll for suggesting it!). I’m not capable to write something meaningful and witty in less than 240 characters and people who think they can mostly produce… Noise? Reminds me of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions (it’s in book 5), slightly altered to make my point:
“Nothing more contracts. the mind, or engenders more tales, mischief, gossiping, and lies, than for people to be eternally shut up in the same [social media] together, and reduced, from the want of employment, to the necessity of an incessant chat.”
I’m also happy to use these medias to keep up to date with the releases of authors I follow or for things they found interesting… But I suspect more and more that people who follow my work are not that much into social media either. The laws of attractions I guess…
So thank you for following me and my work and buying my games, that’s what gives me access to the luxuries I’ve described above. My only promise to you this year: write more games that you’ll enjoy reading and playing!