This is the space for our members to discuss and share their creative projects, ranging from written works to drawings, photography, and even craft projects such as knitting and woodworking. Self promotion is welcome (websites where we can view and/or purchase your work). Please do continue to preface if content is NSFW and be sure to properly spoiler/link such content.
So between the ongoing beguilement of quiet time at home–something that’s been largely absent the past two years and on which I’ve had a blast catching up–and the football season grind at work (given that we’re starting to prep for Thanksgiving and holiday season, this weekend was hellish) I’ve been either too blase or tired to do much creative work, though I’ve been tinkering with administrative stuff, batting around ideas for some longer-term projects that get further and further away in the mirror the more I think about them (which is inevitable, I guess), and playing video games. Basically Stellaris.
One of the earliest substantial effects of my introduction to the mothership almost ten years ago (I joined up when looking for Django Unchained reviews right after seeing the movie) was an addiction to Crusader Kings 2; a couple of longtime stalwarts and fervent players got me intrigued and it was, quite paradoxically, “game over.” I was intrigued by the idea of Stellaris when it first came out but wasn’t sure I needed another gaming addiction, not least as one of the more tiresome features of my work environment is my co-workers’ endless gaming chatter (though I can laugh at it now when I think of the most tiresome–the Bitter Old White Asshole’s barely-concealed cryptofash rants). The pandemic gave me the excuse to buckle and buy, and I’ve had a lot of fun, though it feels like a different storytelling horizon given that it takes place in the future.
I’ve long toyed with the idea of doing some kind of space opera (first as fiction, then as webcomic, and now perhaps as a series of illustrations accompanied by text) and my various campaigns have given me a lot of material to work with. It’s fun to think on other people’s interactions with the mechanics, whether they spin great narrative webs out of the gameplay or just enjoy the space battles and whatnot. While I still have issues coming to grips with the idea of video games as creative works themselves (I know they are; I can see the results in the distance, but I just can’t quite find the way there and I’m not sure I need to so long as I accept it), I love the energy surrounding both them and the discourse and maybe getting further involved will be a project for next winter or possibly this one.
The header’s a screensave from Overlord, one of the newer DLCs I haven’t gotten yet (and I’m not sure I will); I figured out how to do screensaves a while back from my own games but… forgot.
How’s your work going?
