May-June Sitrep

So here we are now with a combined May-June sitrep, that’s frankly getting a little close to wedging July in as well (so rather than it being a monthly sitrep it was looking almost like a quarterly one.

Unfortunately the issues I spoke about in my last sitrep are pretty much continuing, though they are also slowly improving. While the world itself seems to be coming a little more unglued, my corner of it remains somewhat sane. Restrictions have lifted to a degree and there’s a matching uptick in COVID-19 cases, but fortunately it doesn’t look like exponential growth yet. I’m just hoping it stays that way. Of course the downside is that previously halted work is now restarting, so that means more work is bubbling back up to replace previously completed work.

What’s happened so far

I’ve gotten some more art actually commissioned and done, and a few more pieces paid out as well. This was primarily the Elysian concept art, as well as the art piece for Chief Engineer Vilpol. And as a bonus, she’s still free enough to be taking on some more work beyond that, so I’m hoping to eventually get concept art done for all of the major races & civilizations in deWulf space.

In addition to that, there was a steady release of sketches (I’m so glad I have a ton of those), and a single short story snippet shining a bit of light on what the Terran Dominion is up to while the main story has been focused elsewhere. Outside of the writing, I’ve found a few people who expressed some interest in doing some playtesting, which is VERY welcome, as the scenarios definitely need some more testing. They should be pretty close, but “should” isn’t a word I want to be using.

What’s happening next

Before I look at those six goals that I was aiming to complete, there’s something else worth mentioning. I had originally planned to go to Gencon, but with COVID-19, that’s been cancelled. But my time off hasn’t been. So at the end of this month I have roughly one full week off, and in between a bunch of Virtual Gencon presentations I fully intend to do a real full court press on getting things done. So, onto the list:

1. Push the turn processing up to get everyone lined up and done 140

No progress, sadly. Still have to do another 5-8 turns to get everyone caught up.

2. Set up and run the 3rd Battle of Elysium to a conclusion

Some progress has been made on this front. I’ve gotten the turns run up to the right point, and I’ve started putting together the full ship sheets, OOBs and actual engagement plans. I’ve also worked out the battle plan, and I’m right now trying to block out a day or two to run the full battle and get it all said and done. I’m hoping that I can get this done over my Gencon weekend. It’s not set in stone, but fingers are crossed.

3. Do a full overhaul and update of my map (as seen on Fleet Management Mk2) so it’s all on one well-organized map WITH space to expand

Not a lot of progress here, though I’ve reminded myself that I need to install all my mapping software on this new PC. That’ll take a day or two, but will be a big first step towards getting this done.

4. Finish the writing work for Scenario Book 1 – The First Contact War

5. Go do a second pass on the artwork for Scenario Book 1, incorporating new details and design concepts over the past year

Nothing really has been done here, though I’ve compiled my scratch notes into one place now, and I’ve been getting back into the habit of working in Blender. Unfortunately for me, I’m having to upgrade to a new version of blender that does things differently, so that means I have to learn new things. But on the flip side, that means I’m going to get better quality renders. Hopefully.

6. Start fishing in my contacts to find someone who can do proofreading for Scenario Book 1.

Need to really finish #4 first before I look at doing this one.