​Checking back over development notes the last time we were actively working on the game was around October of last year. So, let's see (tap tap tap) that's about 14 months (and counting) of another long slumber. Oh dear.

​If only... if only the manuals were up-to-date. Things would be so much easier for newcomers. Sorry newcomers! Instead it's this huge addendum and cross-referencing changes against the old version and so much new stuff and (ooh, a cookie! does anyone want this?)

​Why can't things ever work out the way we want them to? Why must we always choose between the creative process and all that... well, life and stuff.

​Why can't we start out old and grow young?

Why couldn't Breath of the Wild have waaaaay more random NPC encounters where each character stays persistent in the game world, and has their own little story and they're just wandering around the world and you can join up with them (and your dog companion too) and then you go on these reeeally cool side quests and then everyone parts ways but when you run into them again later on they remember you and you can share stories and sit around the campfire and...

​Sorry. Where was I?

​Well it doesn't have to be said that things like moving house, or little projects like transitioning one's workflow from Windows to Linux (among so many other matters) can really speed up time and I'm totally serious that everyone should get two chances at life. The first one is where you figure out who you are and what you're supposed to do and then the second one is when you get to work doing the thing you're supposed to do plus aaaand you have more time for video games.

It's so unfair.

​Oh. That was kind of heavy. Sorry about that.

​Is there a laughing but actually crying emoji? Is that even how you spell the word emoji? I wouldn't know because the only thing I ever learned how to do is this one,

Clear blue water surrounding the island. Ocean waves crashing in the distance.

A large piece of heavy-duty plastic washes up on the beach. Someone and his pet rock regard this unfamiliar (and yet somehow familiar) object as they contemplate the significance of its arrival.

The sound of a seagull passing overhead as the tide ripples across the sand.

Pet rock, as usual, says nothing.

Somewhere in the back of the mind a light bulb turns on...

I know. What in the heck have you been doing all this time!! no one asks. Huh. I'm not even sure. But this much is true sure enough, developing a simple yet actually rather complicated rpg boardgame is, as the Hauflins would say, "Nothing to shake a bobble at and no mistake." One has to have time to play the game, and think about stuff, and then write stuff down (boring), talk about it for a while, go make another cup of coffee, play video games because Breath of the Wild is just that good, come back and talk about stuff again only more serious this time. And theeeeeen, if something's going to change well I don't know but all these files have to get updated and then you have to do a funny blog post -- who said that? okay blog post to get everyone up to date. Then print out new cards and stuff. It's ... alot of work okay.

And also our sailing ship the "Endless Horizon" was caught in a storm and we ended up washed ashore with nothing but shoes that wouldn't fit and a talking volleyball that, frankly, kind of made us uneasy so we had to toss it out to sea ...only it keeps coming back and it just sits there, and we just sit there and we're like "...the volleyball is back again. What should we do now" and then the other person is like, "well we need food could we maybe just ignore it" and the other person is like, "no."

So we have to take it with us.

Okay that story is not entirely true ...sometimes the volleyball is kind of amusing.

Where was I going with that?

Oh yes. Delays. delays. keep typing the word delaaaaays just to make a point.

So there we were. Stuck on a remote island, far from civilization and it's really hard to keep the computer up and running (I mean you should see the contraption we got going just to keep it humming, and don't even ask about connecting to the internet...) and yet somehow, trying to work on a game that, at best can only be played by the most dedicated of quite very special people willing to put ever so much time into building a set.

Who would do it? Why would they do it!? You'd have to be pretty much bonkers to think that you could make such a thing (let alone share it with the world on a shoestring budget). But then, maybe not knowing quite what you're getting yourself into can be its own sort of benefit.

Hang on. If we're connected to the internet then maybe we could just, ask for help?

Eh?! What's that? "Hey mister Hobgoblin, whatcha doing there next to the elaborate contraption? Em, that part there is a rare one-of-a-kind transistor thingy (that we had to go on an epic quest just to find and there's only one and our computer can't work without it, let alone the coffee maker which is like, super important to us)."

"Hey! Please don't take that! Stop! You there! I said .... .... ...."