A Birthday Review for Me -- 2022 to Twenty-Twenty-Three

Oh no! It's my birthday and all the social media sites are alarming my friends, family, and past acquaintances that they should say Happy Birthday to me! What should I do?! I know! Make a post on my blog to make sure everyone WHO ACTUALLY MATTERS knows it's my birthday! I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding! . . . but you know I love my readers!

I did a year in review post last year, and so I thought I'd do that again for the span of 2022 to 2023. 2021 saw a kind of rebirth of my personal music journey when I released Red Pinto Hatchback, and I kept that journey going with a beat tape this year titled Rotted Leisure Rooms, which was a pretty big project for me personally. (Hard to explain how much time went into making that collection of songs.) 

It's certainly not surprising to anyone that I spent a lot of time playing games and writing about them this last year, but what you don't know is that it was also a year where I swallowed my man pride and took on some unresolved issues from 52 years of living. Whew. Let's review!

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1- Guild Wars 2 -- Team Spode once again focused its Sunday Night adventures on Guild Wars 2, and I rejoined the gang for that journey. Of course, it wasn't just Sunday Nights when I'd play. I dove into the game HARD the last half of 2022. It had always been a thorn in my side that I hadn't completed a legendary weapon, and so finally wielding Sunrise was a big deal.

After that came a pretty incredible journey of just catching up on all the mounts in Guild Wars 2: from the basics to the big boy. I still need to get my two-seater turtle mount, but after conquering the skyscale quest, I took a bit of a break with spending so much time in Guild Wars 2. I still log on for Sunday nights though . . 

My Best Guild Wars 2 Screenshot of 2023

2- VR -- Karnage Chronicles was a game changer for me in VR. After playing that game seriously to completion, I had finally started to earn my VR sea legs. I actually miss it. I should go back and play some more! What a fun game! Of course, that wasn't the only VR game I was playing. 

This blog's big VR push this year was tackling a nine-in-a-row review of the weirdest genre mashup out there, VR Match-3 games. The big winner there was Rainbow Reactor. That's another game I should go back and play again. 

I was equally blown away by the details found in Township Tale. I played so many solid VR games last year, it's hard to mention them all. BUT ALL THAT COMBINED was nothing compared to the real big, recent VR news for me . . .

The embodied crafting in Township Tale is next level

3- Launch of Battle Bows -- Every developer knows that moment when everything you've been keeping secret for the past year or two comes out into the open and people start downloading and reviewing your game. It's pretty magical. I can't say enough good things about the team behind our game and how hard they worked to transition our mobile game company into a VR game company. Thank you so much to my friends and readers who picked up Battle Bows and gave it a playthrough. Your support is appreciated.

Love the Speedy Balloony plushy they gave all the employees for the launch of the game

4- Diablo IV -- I didn't realize how much this game consumed me, but looking back at the past few months, yeah, it really did. I've been fascinated by it and the reaction so many people had to it: good and bad. None of it really matters to me though, I've played the Diablo series since the very beginning, including my fair share of the original old school diablo clones (I'm looking at you Darkstone, Dungeon Seige and Nox). Anyway, it's kind of my thing. Not surprising I got sucked into it.

Lilith bringing me my birthday cake

5- Going to Therapy -- You know, as it turns out, 52 years of living exposes you to a lot of mental knots. This is my first time publicly admitting that I'm in therapy. In 2023 I think it's no surprise to anyone, but it was a big surprise for me. Finally getting to talk through a bunch of life with someone is a huge help. It's also been pretty devastating at times. I've spent a good part of the last few months just cataloging and understanding the grief that's happened in my life, and there's still more work to be done. On the upside, it's also caused me to do a lot of weird digital art.

As it turns out, sometimes you just need to scribble on paper 

6- ACL Festival -- We've lived in Austin 10 years now and last year was the first year we ever braved the mass of people and went to ACL. It's a 3-day outdoor, live music festival. It also coincided with my wife's 50th birthday, so it was the perfect excuse. 

The whole family went and we listened to a TON of great bands; ate a TON of expensive vendor food; saw great headliner acts like Lil Nas X, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Paramore; and danced to a TON of other great bands like L'imperatrice, Goth Babe, and Oliver Tree. 

I think I might need a few years to recover before heading back. It's pretty daunting to do a full 3-day fest like that anymore. 

The whole Friendly Necromancer crew at ACL fest -- my youngest was so tired lol

7- D&D and Pathfinder -- The term "Open Gaming License" or OGL reached far and wide last year as Wizards of the Coast got absolutely raked over the coals from their controversial licensing changes for modifying and publishing Dungeons and Dragons content. It was a strange cultural shift that reached as far as my little Thursday night Dungeons and Dragons group. 

Content creators really had the ear of a couple members of our D&D group and the end result is that we ended up shifting from playing D&D to Pathfinder. Meh. As long as I don't have to DM the game and can still do some goofy roleplay, I'll keep bringing the Rap Snacks for the group. Pathfinder or D&D, it doesn't really matter to me. 

I have a secret gas station I buy my Rap Snacks at . . . it's the only place I've found them for sale

8- Great friends, like you! -- You never know if there's anyone out there that you've touched, and so that's why it's so cool when an old reader reaches back out to you. I had a few really cool moments this year when it happened, and it really does make it all worth it. 

Thanks, Team!

Happy Dueling!