It has been a while since I last posted here. In fact, it has been all summer… and that was due to a number of different reasons that happened to hit all at the same time. I won’t go into all the details… but between work and family, there was plenty to keep me busy and diverted away from here… and except for a death in the family… it was all pretty good and positive stuff.
However… part of that was the retirement of the Gryphon Manor series and the preparation for the new series… New Londinium 1910… which kicked off with episode 0 released a few weeks ago and the first few actual episodes in the Let’s Play format have been released into the wild. I am pretty pleased with that, but I mention it here because as a part of that work, I did a lot of experimentation. I was exploring seed candidates and reevaluating the mod mix… trying out new mods and combinations of mod groups. Actually, it was a lot of fun in its own right… but it was a lot of start… stop… start over. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. It was not just plain ol’ playing. So… I was starting to miss actual gameplay… but I didn’t know I was missing it until I found myself diverted on a side project.
As I was combing through the mod mix for the umpteenth time, I came to realize that even though the mod mix I use for Gryphon Manor is specifically formulated to maximize my steampunk experience… there are less than 10 mods total that are what I would consider to be actually steampunk-related. All the others… and there are over 200… could and would be equally applicable for almost any other world or theme type. In in a recent video… I think it was episode 0 of New Londinium… I specifically said that I was going with Steampunk (again) for the third series because I spent almost 13 years playing vanilla and almost all of that was medieval/fantasy-based. The implication was that I had been there… done that… and already had several t-shirts, shot glasses and plenty of selfies and postcards.
But except for a few hours playing around with the Medieval Minecraft 3 Modpack… none of that had been with modded Minecraft… and with the realization that I had the makings of a very solid generic modpack already in place…. I took a few days out to see if I could use that as a foundation for a medieval/fantasy modpack that I would like to play. It worked. It worked well. It worked a little too well and I lost almost a week because I just could not stop playing with that pack.
The magical basis of the pack is Ars Nouveau and some of its add-ons, and then I added a number of medieval-friendly structure and creature packs including When Dungeons Arise, Dungeons and Taverns, and Ice and Fire. I love the mix so far. In fact, the danger is that I love the mix so much… that I was having a hard time tearing myself away from it to do the other stuff that I also want to do… but which I really need to do.
However, it’s not just the siren’s call of the modpack that was diverting me. I realized that I had not been just playing the game for a few months now until I really really missed it. Then I did the first episode of New Londininum and while I really enjoyed that… I found that there was something else I missed… just running out there and playing the game… with no plan… no agenda… no commentary… just me and a digital world to explore and shape.
So… after I tore myself away from my new fantasy modpack, I started working on a post-apocalyptic modpack, and I got hooked all over again… but this time I already knew what I had to do in order to break free… so I am spinning up a third series on that theme as well… but that one is going to be different… because the whole premise and the shape of the world is completely new for me… so that is the world that I am going in blind. No plan. Well… I have some ideas for a plan, but if you know me… that is practically the same as no plan. After all, I am the guy with a monster spreadsheet, maps, and all sorts of other documents and plans drafted up even before I set foot in the world.
In this case, I know that I will start the game in a small underground bunker that I will be able to use as a base… and the surface of the world is covered in ruined cities with patches of natural biome and a LOT of crazy mobs including a bunch of leaner, meaner, and smarter zombies. So it is the probably the harshest world I have played in for a long time… so just remaining intact and not starving will be the primary challenge… and eventually, I will need to figure out what I want to do beyond that. Will I want to just go out and explore the world as a solo adventurer and see what remains of the world? Or will I want to start reclaiming and restoring civilization one block at a time? Or will I go for a complete reboot and start dismantling the remnants of civilization and return the land to a more natural and sustainable state? I am even wondering if there is a way to mix all three of those together.
Another thing I wanted to point out here is that the release schedule has changed. The purpose of my channel is… and always has been… as a place to share my survival worlds. However, the mod deep dives were there as a public service because I had to spend a lot of time figuring out how to use these mods… and that was both complicated and frustrated by the fact that mods tend to be poorly documented and that absolutely drives me nuts. I understand how and why that is the case, but it still drives me nuts.
However, after I decided to end the Gryphon Manor series and spin up a new series (actually three series as it turned out), I needed to keep releasing to keep the channel alive, so I started releasing a LOT more mod deep dives… but now that I am back to releasing the kind of content I am primarily interested in, the number and frequency of the deep dives will go down quite a bit. I am still interested in doing them… but they are not my priority.
If there is any consolation in this, I am also releasing much more frequently. I used to release every 10 calendar days… and what I would release would be based on a rotating queue. Now I am releasing every 5 calendar days and there is still a rotating queue, but it is… way more complicated. Mod Deep Dives are in there, but will come out a little less frequently than once per month. I know that some folks are interested in my channel just for the mod deep dives… and I also know that I have lost at least one subscriber over that… but in the end, I am here to do what makes me happy. I hope you can understand and forgive me.
Take care of yourselves out there, and I hope this finds you and yours in good health, good spirits and a touch of good fortune. Cheers!