September was so busy! Around all my doctors appointments (don’t worry, all is well, just routine stuff), we also did a co-op stream with friend of the channel DarkSableye. We played both sides of The Past Within — the only co-op title in the Rusty Lake series of room escape puzzle games. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do more with them in the future!

Speaking of streams, there’s an exciting announcement for our upcoming Halloween stream at the end of this update. Four days of spooky and spooky-cute games! Hopefully you can join in on all the fun!

But, on to the update!

Far North

• This month added 6k words and 8 pages. It’s now at 111 pages and 79k words. I’m not sure how many days I actually managed to write for, but it was definitely not as many as I would’ve liked.
• It was difficult to find energy this month, I won’t lie. In the end it worked out though. There are just two more major story beats to write before I’m at the end. What writing I did get done this month really propelled things forward and tended to happen in large chunks. Really hoping that changes in October.
• Other interesting things that I can’t really talk about because spoilers: some backstory information is coming together. Wish I could say more. You’re gonna love it. Trust me.

Nosia Archives

• Again, another slow area. It was difficult to focus this month. Did get some planning done, some world building, and a sprinkle of plotting done.
• There are a lot of moving parts in this project, what with four main characters and two side characters per main character. Not to mention other one-off characters. All this while building a new world out. It’s a lot and I find myself having to pause to contemplate bits every so often.

Exploring Spirit

• Oh. My. Gods. Finally. I’m through Chattopadhyaya’s work and heading back to Nikhilananda. And I’m *still* not at Vivekananda’s death yet.
• I do have Part 3 structured and notes organized, I just didn’t prioritize writing this month. I really needed to get through the research portion because the book was due back to the library. Next month there will be more progress on the actual writing. Thank you for being patient while I work on all this!

Stream/Vibe Checks

• Halloween Spooktacular is on! We start on Halloween with the Case of the Serialized Killer, move into some random horror games the next night, make some cults after that, and then wrap up with some cozy comfort games. As usual, start times are 1830EST, so I hope to see you there!
• As for Vibe Checks — Tiny Glade just released! We’ll hopefully be picking it up soon and checking it out. I’ve really been looking forward to this builder game. Once I get my hands on that, we’ll be giving it the 60-hour playtime treatment and I’ll get a write-up on it!

That’s it for this month! We’re waiting for Hurricane Helene to blow through town, so I likely wont see many of you until October. Stay safe and sane out there!

Summer is almost over. We’re finally in the back half of the year. I’d say put on your cozy sweaters, but honestly, it’s still been pretty warm here. Plus, from what I hear, there may yet be some crazy tropical development until the end of hurricane season.

Guess we’ll just have to see what happens! In the meantime, updates!

Far North

• This month added 11.3k words and 16 pages. It’s now sitting at 103 pages and just over 72.8k words. That’s roughly 565 words a day. This month I wrote for a total of 20 days.
• Honestly, there’s plenty more to go. This last section is decently long and I’m only at the beginning of it. It’s also the section that will likely be full of surprises as I write it. While there’s an outline, it’s far less strict in some aspects and I can be a bit more creative with it.
• Otherwise, things seem to be on track as far as I’m concerned! I did get some planning for book three done as well this month. It’s really interesting to see how many moving parts this story has, and just how much I have to build out to make those parts feel believable. While I have my own personal doubts about how things might come across, I hope you’ll enjoy it once everything is out!

Greenhouse Museum/Nosia Archives

• This is the last time you’ll hear me talk about Greenhouse Museum in the project updates. Why? Because it’s finally been released! You can check out the collected version on itch.io!
• As for Nosia, I’m working on drafting out the season one “episodes”. Not much to report there but I will share my plan:
  • I’m thinking, at least for the moment, there will be four “seasons” that feature an arc that follows one of the four women
  • Each season will be made up of ten to twelve “episodes” that will alternate between which character they’re following, ultimately ending in a season finale that focuses on whoever the focus of the season is
  • These episodes will be released one a month, much like Greenhouse Museum was. Then, at the end, I’ll offer a collected edition in much the same way
• That said, until I have a clear plan for this first season there wont be any episodes posted. I hope you’ll still look forward to it though!

Exploring Spirit

• I am still knee deep in the research for Vivekananda’s Part 3. Or maybe Part 4. At this point, the story is so full of things to talk about, I need some time to finish the readying and then make sense of all my notes. Apologies for the delay this is going to cause.

Streaming/Vibe Checks

• We just started our play-through of Disco Elysium a couple weeks ago. So far the Twitch integration has been…spotty, at best. It’s still been a lot of fun and I try my best to allow chat to decide when/what dialogue options to choose. If you’re into RPGs with a dark twist, come check us out on Sundays!
• Next month we’ll be doing a co-op stream with our friend DarkSableye! We’ll be playing the last in the Rusty Lake games series: The Past Within. That will be coming up on Sept 12th and 13th at 17:30EST. If you’re a fan of the series, or just like puzzle games in general, come check us out!
• As for Vibe Checks, we’re still waiting on a few titles to release either later this year or next. I may consider expanding the Vibe Checks from cozy games to other genres, since at this point I’m waiting for some puzzle game and point-and-click adventures to release as well.
• Lastly, October is around the corner, which means it’s almost time for the Halloween Stream Spooktacular! I’ll announce more next month, but I will say that I’m really excited for this years Spooktacular. Got some thought provoking games, some spooky games, and some cute spooky games for us to try. Hope to see ya there!

That’s it for this month! Kind of a light month overall, though it was really consumed by writing and researching. Hopefully by the end of next month I’ll have all the research done for Vivekananda and can start the process of writing the articles.

Until next month, stay safe and sane out there!

Here we are, the end of the month. I know we missed the end of June. To be honest, I was excited to take a break and try to relax on our little vacation. If I had planned ahead I would’ve written something up…but I was exhausted by the end of the 12-streams.

Let’s not dwell on the past though! Some very interesting things are in the works!

Far North

• 18k words, 25 pages. That’s what’s been added between June and July. That puts things at just over 61.5k words and 87 unformatted pages.
• At this point, I think I’m in the last third or so of the outline. There’s no specific word or page count I’m aiming for, but I would imagine that draft one will be done sometime by the end of the year. Barring anything unforeseen, obviously.
• From there, it’ll go through a few rounds of edits before a release date can be settled on. Last time, that process took about another year. I won’t make any firm promises, but my hope is to have the next book out sometime in 2026!

Greenhouse Museum/Nosia Archives

• The Greenhouse Museum Collection is ready to be released! There’s one more part that still needs to be published on the blog first, however. The final part of Rebuilder is set to come out in mid-August!
• Otherwise, expect to see the collection available on itch and the Internet Archive towards the end of the month!
• As for Nosia…nothing is ready for release yet. I’m still working out some world building and meta-narrative pieces. There is a working outline for the first part of the story, but before I sit down to write it, I want to have some general idea of where things might be going. More on that project next month!

Exploring Spirit

• So, Vivekananda’s story is going to be a four part series it seems. Possibly more. I’m so sorry to make this so much longer, but here we are.
• Part 2 is ready to be uploaded, for the most part, so I hope to have that finished for you all next month. That’s my first priority.
• My next priority is finishing Chattopadhayaya’s work on Vivekananda’s travels in the West. I have a couple of months left to borrow it for, so I really need to spend more time on it and less on writing part 3 for the time being.
• After this series is finished, I’m putting this project on an indefinite hold. Partially because it’s a lot of work and I simply need a little break. The other part is that I’m in the middle of looking for a job, and should one finally appear, I’ll need to have the space for it. Hopefully I can come back to this at some point in the future.

Streaming/Vibe Checks

• Streaming has been going well! We finished up the Wadjet Eye games pack recently and are now moving on to Disco Elysium for…well, probably awhile. I’m excited to get to play it with you all since their Twitch integration allows for viewers to help make choices. It’ll be fun!
• I’ve also started co-working streams! They’re a “catch them when you can” thing. We’ve done a couple this month and it’s been a nice time to just hang out with everyone. I only announce them on Discord, but so far they’ve been a Tuesday thing, so come join us if you see us on!
• On Thursday’s, at least for now, we’ve switched to playing Final Fantasy XIV. To be honest, Coral Island wasn’t holding my attention as much as before and I wanted a bit of a break. We’ll go back to it eventually — and other cozy games — but for now it’s time to break things with an axe. Just need a little bit of angy smol warrior in my life.
• Speaking of cozy, there is a Vibe Check in the works! It’s largely a round-up of news regarding games we’ve checked out in the past. I hope you’ll check it out when it comes out…which should hopefully be in the coming week!
• Lastly, the longevity of Twitch. Without getting too into things, there are some concerns from inside Twitch that the brand is becoming another one of Amazon’s “zombie brands” and that more staff will be laid off.
• For now, in absence of running my own server, I will remain on Twitch. I have no intention of jumping to Kick or YouTube — both platforms that seem to want more “Just Chatting” style content and less gameplay content. At least, if the numbers are to be believed.
• If things really seem like they’re going downhill with Twitch, I’ll be moving to a Peertube instance with streaming capabilities. I can’t afford to run my own server to host Owncast at the moment, but it’s something to work towards. Additionally, if that’s the case and people want to continue to support my work, I will make a more direct support option available.
• I don’t want to focus too much on that though. For now, I’ll be on Twitch.

And that’s it! Progress is made in small strides. We’ll see where the future takes all of us.

Stay safe and sane out there!

Is it the start of June already? Things felt like they really flew by this month!

So, let’s just jump into all of it, shall we?

Far North

• Another 12k words added! This brings the total word count to 44k words and around 62 un-formatted pages. For all you stat nerds, that average out to roughly 400 words every day, if I wrote for 30 days. I usually write about 21 days out of the month, so that’s almost 600 words a day for the days that I write. Not bad, I think!
• I think we’re officially at the half-way point. Maybe. I’ve gotten a little off the timeline lately, so it’s difficult to be sure.
• No other major updates. Things continue to move along!

Greenhouse Museum/Nosia Archives

• This month didn’t see a lot getting done in Greenhouse. There’s editing to do but it took a pretty hefty backseat to other projects. We’re still on track for an August release, but that may change with how much more editing needs to be done!
• There are still three more parts to go in the Greenhouse Museum series, fyi! They’ll be rolling out over the next few months, so keep your eye out for it.
• As for Nosia, this is another spot where writing slowed down a bit. I’ve been writing prequel material, basically — backstories for the characters. The thing is…I’m not really sure if this is going to make it into the content I release. So I’m feeling the urge to scramble, scrap plans, and rewrite a bunch of stuff. We’ll see what happens. More updates once I gather my thoughts and settle on the direction I want to take things.

Exploring Spirit

• Ok, so, this is the other place I spent a lot of time in this month. A lot of writing went into getting the first part of the Vivekananda series together. All told…I’m still not sure how long this will end up being. So far I have three parts planned: birth through college, his time with Ramakrishna, and then his travels in India after Ramakrishna’s death. That’s still only about half the story, so I would anticipate another two sections or so to get to the end of his life.
• I finally found a copy of the book I had been looking for! This should greatly help the research side of things and allow me to better present a balanced perspective.
• As for a post-Vivekananda palate cleanser, I’ve decided we’ll do a little stream about Doreen Virtue’s Earth Angels: a pocket guide for incarnated angels, elementals, starpeople, walk-ins, and wizards. Why a stream? This book contains a little quiz in it that I thought would be fun to do together. So, if you’re interested in a silly little fun time, be on the lookout for that! Whenever we wrap up with Vivekananda I’ll announce a date for that stream!

Streaming/Vibe Checks

• It’s almost time for the 12 Streams of Summer! This is a (kind of new) event I’ll be doing every summer just before midsummer. Much like the 12 Streams of Winter, we’ll spend 12 nights together doing the various things our community enjoys. Some building, some chat plays, and as always narrative driven games! Come hang out with us, try to unseat me from my throne, and let’s have some fun!
• I did a random Vibe Check this month since it’d been so long without one. Mostly it’s looking back at Palia and looking into the news around Sunnyside and Paralives. Unfortunately, because Sunnyside was delayed until the middle of June, we wont be playing it right away. We’ll likely get to it after my summer vacation though!
• Lastly, summer vacation! After the 12 Stream series, I usually take a few weeks off from work to just relax and reset. This time around I’ll be off from June 21 until July 7. Then we’ll be back to our regular schedule…with maybe some additional daytime streams thrown in.

That’s it for the month! Now I’m going to go spend some time in the garden. If you’re not following me over on Mastodon, you maybe don’t know about all the garden updates I post over there. We just harvested the first round of spinach and basil the other night, we’ve got tomatoes on the way, and the mint has been a delight in our drinks for a few weeks now. Come say hi!

As always, stay safe and sane! <3

Happy Beltane! To be honest, despite having done a pre-summer cleaning around our apartment, I had completely forgotten about any celebrations. This is usually the time of year when we begin looking at the hurricane forecast and start wondering just when we’ll see storms pop up. Lets hope we don’t have to bust into our rations this year!
Also, since this will be going out on May 1st, Happy May Labor Day! I know for the US it isn’t Labor Day (though it ought to be), but for much of the rest of the world it’s officially Labor Day. Given how much I support unionization efforts, I think it’s important to remember that without labor organizers efforts on May Day we wouldn’t have the luxury of 8-hour work days and 5-day work weeks — let alone the ability to organize. So, take it easy at work today if you can.

Let’s get into some updates, shall we?

Far North

• This month I added 12k words and 16 pages to the draft. That brings the total to 32k words and 46 pages. I am…shocked, to be honest! There are always days where the writing feels slow or where research seems to eat up most of the time — so it’s rewarding to see just how much work was actually done overall.
• Surprising thing from this month: unexpected world building. Just some interesting developments in terms of other nations, other cultures, and other hidden societies around the world. I hope that it paints a more believable and living world for readers to enjoy speculating about.
• Overall, I would say that I’m maybe a quarter of the way through the outline I’ve made? It genuinely feels like I’m not making much progress in terms of tackling the plan, but at the same time moments of discovery about this world and the characters keep showing up. I suspect this book will be longer than Book One and also require a great deal more editing time.

Greenhouse Museum/Nosia Archives

• Doing some editing on Greenhouse Museum. Nothing story changing by any means, at least not yet, just fixing errors that made their way into the blog version. It happens.
• Nosia has had a lot of world and character building done this month. Some writing too, but honestly nothing to really talk about at the moment. We’ve got some interesting places to discover, a few tragic pasts to work through, and a gilded cage to bust out of.

Exploring Spirit

• Phew. Just, phew. I have more than enough material for a part one on Vivekananda — from birth to when he traveled to the US. While my notes are finally organized for it, and I plan on beginning writing it this next month, I wouldn’t expect anything final until June.
• Much like with Mary Eddy, this Vivekananda series will be broken into two parts. I’m still looking for a source — Swami Vivekananda in the West by Chattopadhyaya, Rajagopal — to help me get another perspective on the topic. Rajagopal’s work on Vivekananda’s history in India was incredibly helpful in piecing together the left-out parts from Nikhilananda’s biography. So, if you happen to come across Swami Vivekananda in the West somewhere, let me know so I can see if maybe my local library will grab a copy for me!
• After that, I think we might take a brief detour into a more modern Christian Scientist: Doreen Virtue. We spoke about her briefly during the Crystal Children discussion we had almost a year ago, so I figured it was time to revisit it with our new perspective into the New Age and Christian Science belief systems. Not sure where I want to begin, but I’ll pick one of her books to work through and — who knows — we might even do a little stream about it! Will definitely keep you updated when a plan comes together!

Streaming/Vibe Checks

• First off, just wanted to take a second and say thank you to everyone who has come by the stream lately! I’m one follower away from hitting 100 followers. I know that seems like a very low goal to be celebrating, but to me it’s really big.
• We have our 12-Streams of Summer coming up soon too! In June, just before the solstice, I’ll be on every night for two hours doing the various things we love to do. We’ve got LEGOs, random games, a new story to check out, and just general fun times to look forward to. Hope you’ll be able to stop by!
• Also, Vibe Checks…I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written one. Some updates on that front:
  • Life by You was postponed until June of this year. This is why I haven’t already done a review of that. Admittedly, I haven’t kept up on why they delayed the release. I can only hope it’s to put out a game they’re proud of.
  • Sunnyside will be released in May! There is still no information (that I can find easily) on what the retail launch price will be. Once it’s available (and maybe had an initial bug patch), I’ll be in the weeds playing it for the review!
  • Still no release date for the following:
    • Love, Ghostie (says 2024)
    • Witchbrook (says ‘Coming Soon’)
    • Paralives (says 2025)
• If there are other games you’d like me to do a Vibe Check on, let me know! Given that we’re about to wrap up the Wadjet Eye Humble Bundle, I’m tempted to do a Vibe Check on those games. It would definitely look a lot different from past Vibe Checks on cozy games, but it could be fun! Let me know what you think!

Overall, I think that’s it for the month. Some solid progress, a few ideas for the future.

Stay safe and sane out there! See you next month!