Category Archives: Personal Life

Steam Winter Sale + Xmas Gaming

My games are 70% off during the Steam Winter sale!
http://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=ebf
(I’m so bored of posting about sales that my picture is not up date)

I borrowed my brother’s PS4 Pro over Christmas, my first 4K gaming experience on my huge new TV. And… it looks pretty good! The low framerate is pretty noticeable in some games, but in non-action games that’s acceptable I guess.

Until Dawn is a fun alternative to watching horror films. Everyone’s Gone to Rapture is… relaxing and pretty. Black Ops 3 campaign is generic and boring IMO. We’ll see how many games I get through over the holidays…

Fanart & Blog

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Here’s some fanart from SunnyTheSunFlower.
They’ve done quite a lot of EBF artworks now.

In other news, I went on a little trip to Edinburgh over the weekend to attend a wedding reception. Restaurants and weddings and social events aren’t my thing, but I enjoyed the time in the car and Airbnb a lot. Basically I enjoyed the travelling but not so much the events that I went there for. I’m not very surprised by myself.

It’s my second time in Edinburgh over the last few months – last time I went during the Fringe festival to see some comedy shows with a buddy. That was fun. Edinburgh is a really picturesque city – much more attractive than Glasgow. I’ve been a few times as a kid, but did not appreciate it until having a good look at the place as an adult. So I’ll have to visit some more in the future. Driving near the city centre is hell though.

Also it’s surprisingly easy to read a whole book in half a day when you’re away from the computer. All this extra time magically appears that you didn’t know you had. I really need to try harder to not waste my time on anti-social media. I read Fahrenheit 451 and Lord of the Flies. Good stuff. I’m on a streak of super depressing books lately.

I think I need to get back into the habit of writing longer blogs instead of Tweeting tiny snippets of my life at random. Blogs seem much more useful in terms of organising thoughts and documenting experiences.

ebf_natalie_with_crystal_staff_by_sunnythesunflower-dbus4pe

Thoughts About Patreon

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Lately I’ve been thinking about making a Patreon, but just bringing that up makes me feel a bit dirty. I don’t want to start double-dipping or locking people out of content that is free at the moment, so I’m writing this blog to discuss my thoughts.

Here’s some perks to me having an income on Patreon:
• My income would be a bit less volatile month to month and year to year. Currently in some months I get 30x what I get in others. I’m used to this but it does make financial planning a bit complicated, especially when working on a project over many years.
• It gives people another way to support me. I get asked about donations, preorders, kickstarters, etc. every once in a while, and Patreon makes more sense to me than any of those.
• Most game stores take 30% of my earnings, and some take even more than that. So it would be a more efficient way of getting money straight to me for those who are concerned with that. (Patreon only takes 5% as I understand it)
• It gives me a way of releasing demos to a small group of people, which would be useful with spoiler-full stuff. For example, I’d like to get a bunch of people to test the entire EBF5 world map, but I don’t want to release that publicly cause it’s obviously full of spoilers.
• I’d get more money overall, which you may or may not think I deserve. I don’t *need* more money, but 2017 is shaping up to be my worst year in a while, as I haven’t published any games in a few years now.
• I’d be able to make some smaller free games again without needing to worry about a sustainable income. Games that on their own probably wouldn’t be worth buying. (And with Greenlight gone I could easily put them on Steam as well) (alternatively it could lead to free updates for EBF5 post-release)

Here’s some perks for patrons that I’ve thought about:
• Early access to spoilerific demos or very early and buggy stuff. Anything that I wouldn’t want to release publicly for a while.
• Requests for little favours that I’ve thought about doing but haven’t quite gotten round to. For example, releasing a blog post on a specific topic, releasing some existing artwork as a wallpaper, releasing bits of source code, etc. This stuff I’d also make publicly available later, so I’m not doing it just for the patrons.
• Some little perks on the EBF Discord, such as having a colorful username and the ability to post images on any channel. (still within the rules, of course)
• Using it as an alternative payment method for buying my games. (not sure how well this would work, but if someone’s sent me enough money through Patreon I can send them Steam or Humble keys or whatever)

What I’m NOT going to use Patreon for:
• Letting patrons influence my games’ content in any way that isn’t available to everyone else.
• Giving out perks that would use up a lot of my time on things that aren’t game development.
• Locking stuff that would normally be free behind a paywall. I would only put stuff on Patreon that I’m currently not releasing at all.

So that’s it I think. Of course what I would do with Patreon depends on how much support I get on there, and what people would find most beneficial. But first I want to hear from fans; Does this sound okay? Are there any perks you’d like to see? Are there any concerns you have?

Aquasharks!

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That’s the Aquasharks pretty much complete. (I’m actually missing the smallest set)
Now I just need to collect the other factions…

And right after building that I destroyed it and built this next thing…
Working with these strange parts was a challenge but also a lot of fun. They lead to some really funky looking architecture.

Finland Blog 2

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Hey guys, I’ve been in Finland for the last two weeks, mostly visiting Ronja’s friends and family in Helsinki and Turku, like last time. I don’t feel like writing about all that again, so I’ll just quickly note that I visited the zoo and Uspenski Cathedral, as far as major tourist destinations are concerned. Instead I’ve been taking mental notes about how Finland compares to the United Kingdom. So here’s a list of pros and cons:

PROS:
• There’s tons of cyclists and cycling infrastructure. Renting bikes is cheap and there’s lots of cycling paths. Cycling is viable way of getting around cities here.
• You’re allowed to drink alcohol in public! This makes picnics a viable social activity.
• People in Finland are on average very fit. There’s no obesity epidemic around there like in the UK.
• Public services are much better than in the UK. The cities are quite clean, public transport is good, parks are well maintained, etc.
• Finnish homes are built very warm to help you survive the cold winters.
• There’s a lot of old cars on the road here. Good place to see some classics. Also not a lot of cars on the road in general.
• Finland has lots of natural forests, lakes and seaside, much of which is within walking distance or within the major cities.

CONS:
• There’s tons of cyclists, and their etiquette is terrible! They don’t wear helmets or alert you when they’re coming up behind you. They’re also allowed on sidewalks, so you’ll be dodging them constantly.
• You’re allowed to drink in public, so there’s a lot of old drunk guys and other weirdos wandering around.
• People in Finland are on average very fit. The men make me feel insecure and the women are too skinny for my tastes.
• All those public services must cost a lot, and as a result taxes are high and goods are expensive. (a reason for all those old cars)
• Finnish homes are built very warm and don’t have air conditioners. Summers here are thus uncomfortably warm indoors.
• There’s noticeably more smokers than in the UK, and a lot of cigarette butts lying around *everywhere*.
• Surprisingly, Finland has a lot more murders, suicides, and traffic fatalities than the UK! (life expectancy is roughly equal in both though)
• The UK wins when it comes to hillwalking and mountain destinations. Most of Finland is pretty flat.

Overall there’s a lot of trade offs there. Keep in mind I’ve only visited Finland in summer and haven’t strayed further than 2 hours away from Helsinki. I guess both countries score very well in general, and you can’t go wrong living in either of them.

Also, Finland has some really good juice packaging: