Thursday, 7 December 2023

2023 Update


It has been a long time.

Life is wild.

I'll limit this post to factual updates.

Talos 2 did great critically and I fear abysmally commercially. I'm so proud of Jonas, Verena, Hunski, Tome, Kuber, Goran, Damjan and everyone else and especially Moss. And I'm glad I did what I did (a subplot probably <1% of the total word count); and a bit sorry I didn't do more. Some people vibed with my stuff, and some people recognised it was underdeveloped. I'm sure some did both (I certainly did).

The team are working on small DLCs. I would like to add some new 'Internal Monolog' character to those, but I am not sure whether Jonas will find a space for me to do it. If not then I hope Devolver will not go under and we will make Talos 3.

A couple years ago I took a job I shouldn't have because it's too big and long for me, but it's a really cool RPG world that I want to stretch my legs in before I go back to smaller things. Hopefully we announce next year.

Besides that I seriously hope Inner Party - the indie studio I co-founded with Jonas Boetel (Subnautica programmer) and Warby (brilliant technical artist) will get off the ground. Either they will find a prototype that sells and I'll add writing; or I'll finish this RPG and we'll do it together. Making games with those guys is my absolute number one dream.

I continue to take my twitter to ever more performative heights. I am glad to have the professional freedom to print whatever wild experimental ideas I like on there and still have a job afterwards. Although it does start to blur the line between created-character and self-identity. I'd rather keep the two entirely separate, or totally entwined. We're all characters, after all.

I have spent a good deal of the last two years going down rabbit holes. Morality, de facto power, global dynamics, honesty vs utility, non-human intelligence and AGI, faith and the occult, god and the devil. Interesting stuff to me right now. The challenge is balancing research with production.

I am also stepping into very new phases in my personal life. But that is not to be factually stated, instead it'll be there codified in everything I do.

Life is very strange. I find big parts of it change a lot - and big parts stay the same. Increasingly I understand what's going on, but not exactly in what way.

I started this blog and this career inspired by the writers who bared their souls so that I could learn from them. Increasingly I wish I could undergo my personal changes without their being public - but I am too lazy to start my career again from scratch as an anon, and too in need of purpose not to share my experience at all. Still, like a politician caught on hotmike saying what they really think, I'm aware from the outside it might seem terribly inconsistent.

Cliche I know, but for good reason: if my words can help just one person as others' words have helped me then all is well in my world.

And remember...

Monday, 21 December 2020

Twitter Game Chapter 1 Complete - I Need YOU

Hi okay so. It took about 4 months when I planned about 4 weeks, but the first episode of my Twitter RPG is complete!

You can catch up on the entire story right here: https://twitter.com/TomJubert/status/1294393221653696517?s=20

And you can read my original design for the project here: http://tom-jubert.blogspot.com/2020/08/project-announcement-twitter-game.html 

And now I NEED YOUR HELP.

It has continued to be so much fun for me to write this game. I have two other projects right now, including Talos Principle 2: The Taloist Principlest Yet, but the freedom to write what I want, when I want on this Twitter thing still absolutely thrills me. 

The low player count is a blessing and a curse. If I had a large, paying audience for this project I could happily do little else. And at the same time, writing for just myself and the 10-20 people who vote on each decision point is totally liberating. I don't need to worry myself with polish, or marketing, or teamwork. It really is a dream, and I don't care if only a handful ever read it, so long as someone out there gets something from it.

That's where YOU come in. I am craving the kind of feedback I'm used to on a bigger project. I want playtesting. I want reviews. I want complaints. I want ENGAGEMENT. Knowing what you enjoy about my work and what you don't is the greatest possible motivation for me to keep going.

So. If you are a fan of my work, this work, or are otherwise thus inclined, I would very much appreciate you doing any or all of the following:

- Comment your thoughts, reactions, suggestions, doubts, full reviews and any other feedback. Do that here, on Twitter, or by email.

- Retweet the start of the story on twitter, or just your favourite moments. Maybe even retweet with a comment to your followers describing the game and encouraging them to check it out.

- Engage with the new episode, which starts right here: https://twitter.com/TomJubert/status/1341131581658976257 

- Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tomjubert 

If you only have energy for one of the above and want to know which is most valuable to me, please prioritise the first bullet and share with me your reaction to the story, however you can. 

Monday, 17 August 2020

Project Announcement: Twitter Game

 

OK so I recently deleted my Twitter and then reopened it and there was a reason and that reason turned out to be MY NEW GAME!

Play free right now here: https://twitter.com/TomJubert/status/1294393221653696517?s=20

It's a live RPG using Twitter as both engine/dev tool and publishing platform.