Newsletter

Hi everyone,

As I write this, Wellington feels like someone took a gorgeous spring painting and shoved it into an iceberg. Our fair city is the Groucho Marx of seasons: it refuses to join any club that would have it as a member.

I hope you're well. As we head towards publication of the next novella, The Billionaire's Last Post, we've been building out Tempest Bay as an imaginary place and starting to bring on more collaborators. It's been a wonderfully productive time and everything's getting much more 'real' - so this month we've got a host of images, an intro slide show, and a podcast preview to share. I'd love to hear what you think.

Also - we nearly won an award!

Thanks

C J Halbard

TEMPEST BAY INTRO DECK

A lot of Tempest Bay still exists in my head. This becomes a challenge when bringing on artists, coders and musicians to collaborate. The first thing people usually ask is, 'so what's this all about then?', and the best answer is not, 'well, with a cranium drill we can find out...'

So we built a quick intro slide show to the town and its stories, which you can flip through below. I feel it captures some of the flavour & influences of what we're doing, and Kearin did an incredible job pulling together some evocative mood boards.

Who else goes from Lovecraft to The Wicker Man to walking simulators that fast??

THE PROJECT TEMPEST PODCAST

A diary about creating things in an increasingly mad world.

I've always enjoyed following along with people as they make things. The Double Fine documentary series, for instance, is one of my favourite glimpses into the realities of game development. Plus I bought a spiffy new microphone and had to try it out.

So the Project Tempest Podcast was born.

This is where we have conversations as creators about what's on our mind. Frequent topics will include creative process and inspirations, local history, writing, books, video games, mental health, and things we love.

The preview episode is live now - check it out, let me know how it sounds, and you can subscribe on all your favourite podcast services.

AUSTRALASIAN SHADOWS AWARDS

1862, the first full Project Tempest release, was a finalist in the 2019-20 Australasian Shadows Awards!

They even sent us a printed certificate, which feels strange in this digital world but was an undeniably cool thing to get in the post.

I have an odd relationship with awards and suchlike, especially when it comes to creative fields. I struggle with the politics that surrounds them, and feel it's dangerous to organise one's self-esteem or validation around trophies. In areas like literary fiction or sci-fi, you sometimes see people get trapped in a loop of trying to write 'award-winning' stories, which is about as useful as trying to chase any other market.

With that said, it was bloody nice to be a finalist in the Shadows, it got quite a bit of attention on Project Tempest, and more people have now read 1862 and connected with this thing we're building. Which is cool by me :-)

FINDING YOUR WAY THROUGH THE TERRITORY

Finally, some different ways to explore imaginary spaces.

Raphael van Lierop, Creative Director of The Long Dark videogame, on community influenced development:

Have you seen walking videos? They've become quite a thing for low-key ASMR experiences especially during COVID. Rambalac, a favourite creator of mine, takes a wander through the Shinjuku district in Tokyo (and he has many other Japan-related walks on his channel):

Let me know what you'd like to see more of in these newsletters!

Thanks

C J Halbard