Angering the Fae
If I were to go down the Arthur Conan Doyle route and start believing in mysterious supernatural entities, I think I’d definitely feel like I’ve annoyed one this month. Clearly some disgruntled fae being has seen fit to inflict a series of minor inconviniences on me:
The electrics in my home are on the blink, except when I get the landlord to send someone round to look, when they work absolutely fine.
There are squirrels in my attic. Making little gnawing noises. This may be related to point 1.
Vague Cat Health Issues (of a routine, mundane sort, nobody worry! Miss Malkin is fine, but she’s had a couple of vet visits and I was having to get medication down her, all while she was stressed due to a lot of fireworks in my country this time of year. She is officially a poor pusscat™)
Miss Malkin contemplates the unfairness of life, while sitting on her own personal armchair and being adored by her humble servant.
4. I also came down with an unidentified persistant cough-y flu-y lethargy thing which I just can’t shake, so I’ve been keeping warm and away from people…
But anyway, about the game development…
Due to gestures at the list above I haven’t made the kind of progress I wanted to make this month on my next game (The Museum of Everything) — but that’s ok, game development is a marathon not a race, etc etc.
I’ve been tinkering on a very rough bare bones proof of concept, experimenting with a few game mechanics and getting to know the characters a bit better.
Absolutely everything in this image is very subject to change.
AdventureX
One exciting excursion this month which thankfully occured in between the various calamities was AdventureX, the narrative games convention! Beekeeper’s Picnic was part of the official selection for the showcase, and we also had a reunion with various people who contributed to the game.
I got to meet some of my creative heroes, put faces to names and hear from people who have enjoyed the game. There were some excellent talks and I’ve expanded my ‘to play’ list of games significantly!
Very Sincerely Yours
After Beekeeper’s Picnic was released I was feeling very Sherlock Holmes’d out and certain that I needed to take a long break before I’d have anything new or interesting to say with those characters, but when I got asked earlier this year if I’d like to contribute to Very Sincerely Yours, a fan anthology about Holmes, Watson and the idea of home, I was inspired!
I did a comic about Holmes and Watson’s relationship from Mycroft’s point of view, as he begins to observe the changes which finding a true home has on his little brother.
(This also gave me a chance to go to the other extreme and draw Small Child Sherlock Holmes!)
The book itself is a beautiful mix of lavishly illustrated short stories, comics and illustrations, and there is also the opportunity to grab other merch items like keychains, a tote bag, stickers and postcards. Excitingly the Kickstarter campaign for the project is fully funded, so now is a great time to back!
Mockup of the anthology, cover illustrated by Minh! Final design subject to iteration.
Well, I think that’s it for November. Here’s hoping for a marginally more auspicious December!
