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Editorial: August 2018

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Welcome to August’s editorial for 2018, where we’re all melting in the middle of a heatwave here in the UK. Let’s take a look back at what happened in July as well as find out what’s coming up this month.

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1,173 lovely people
14 posts
It’s time to talk
The trouble with tedious trends
LeChuck: no villain, just misunderstood

Personal backstory:

In my last editorial, I mentioned how a restructure work had been getting me down recently. We’re not out of the woods just yet but fortunately there’s now a light at the end of the tunnel: I’m due to start my new role in a fortnight. To get there however, I first have to train the person who’s taking over half of my previous job – the same person who’s going to be my new manager on a salary far higher than I was ever paid. Happiness isn’t entirely about money but when you’re not being given what you’re worth, it sucks.

Looking on the bright side though, this new role fits in better with my qualifications and career plans so it’s a smart move; and a years’ experience should hopefully open a consultancy path for me. It’s got me looking forwards the future, not just in terms of work but for Later Levels too, and I’ve recently been considering a bit of a makeover for the blog. I think I just need to get through the next month until things start to settle down and then I can really start putting some changes into place.

July wasn’t all serious though! A trip to the London Gaming Market saw my stepson part with most of the pocket-money he’d saved up and me battle the temptation to buy a PlayStation 2 (we think we might still have one up in the loft so I need to do some digging around). Some time off work gave me the opportunity to catch up on gaming so I’ve managed to get through more titles than in recent months, and I think I’ve found my favourite game of the year so far: The Red Strings Club.

The grind:

Here are the games I played last month, which included a number of great free titles on Steam:

A Raven Monologue, video game, box art, hand-drawn, raven, top-hat, cage     Black Mirror II, video game, box art, face, man, scared, hands     Flightless, video game, box art, isometric, sky, bird-man     Guns of Icarus Alliance, video game, box art, title, logo     How To Cope With Boredom and Loneliness, video game, box art, man, guitar     Lamplight City, video game, box art, man, detective, London     Silver Creek Falls, video game, box art, tree, lake, mist     SOMA, video game, box art, face, red light, robot     Tacoma, video game, box art, woman, triangle, Odin     The Flood, video game, box art, river, boat     The Lion's Song, video game, box art, sepia, window, lady, desk, chair     The Plan, video game, box art, storm, fly     The Red Strings Club, video game, box art, man, woman, bar, cigarette, lighter, cocktail, smoke     Unavowed, video game, box art, man, fire, made, woman, jinn, sword

The community:

The community has been busy recently and we have a lot of awesome collaborations coming up:

  • It’s the event you’ve all been waiting for: Blogger Blitz started last week! Last year I took part as a contender (you can read my advice here) and this time around I’m sitting on the other side of the table as a judge. A big thank you to Ian from Adventure Rules for hosting.
  • Join my other-half and I on Twitch from 11:00 BST tomorrow as we tackle Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light followed by Temple of Osiris. It’s all part of the Tomb Raider: Writers’ Raid project being coordinated by NekoJonez from NekoJonez’s Gaming Blog.
  • As if one recent collaboration wasn’t enough, Matt from Normal Happenings is back with another one in the works. This time it’s all about the games that define us and there are still a few spots left (at the time of writing) for anyone who’s interested.
  • After finding a copy of Simon the Sorcerer recently, nufafitc from Emotional Multimedia Ride and I have been chatting about paying tribute to the point-and-click series with a few reviews and another weekend stream. Watch this space.

    • If you know of any other community events coming up, please do get in touch and let me know so I can feature them in the next editorial!

    Critical hits:

    With everything going on at work recently, I’ve fallen quite far behind on my blog reading. Here are some awesome posts I did manage to fit in however:

    A Geeky Gal, logo, heart, controller, gamepad, blogger          Games With Coffee, cup, mug, steam, blogger     I Played The Game!, blog, Rob, space invaders     

    The next level:
  • After a recent chance email encounter, I’ll be taking a look at the preview version of Lamplight City and upcoming adventure Unavowed
  • We’ll be visiting the first PLAY Expo in London in just over a week so expect plenty of photographs and hopefully a few good games
  • Then next up is Insomnia63 in Birmingham at the end of August. This isn’t my favourite gaming event, but at least I won’t have to put up with DanTDM this time!
  • I’ve finally received my copy of A Rite from the Stars after backing the game on Kickstarter in 2015, so I’ll let everyone know whether it was worth the wait.
  • After a few brief conversations with proxyfish about classic adventure games, I’ll be taking a look at those times a series changes from 2D to 3D.

    • And now I’m going to find a dark corner and quietly melt in this heat – Kim   🔥


    12 thoughts on “Editorial: August 2018”

    1. Glad to hear you sorted the job situation out. They can take over your life and bring you down if you let them, so well done for dealing with that situation!

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      1. It’s been going on since April and I’m SO glad it’s almost done. It means I’ll finally be able to get back to totally focusing on video games and blogging. 😉

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    2. As always, thank you for the shout out! It’s already been a delight having you as a judge, and I look forward to working with you more as we continue through the competition.

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      1. I would say that I hope the judging will now get easier after the first round… but I don’t think that’s going to be the case at all! There are some great competitors this year and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. 😀

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      1. I can’t say I’m surprised all the spots are gone – it’s going to be a great project! I’ve started working on my part already and I might even do a little Monkey Island stream to celebrate… 🤔

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    5. I only just noticed you mentioned me on your list of community peeps!
      Little things like that make the work behind the scenes feel like i’m adding value!

      Missed Play Expo this year, and ironically Insomnia too even though it’s on my doorstep, BUT i’ll be there are EGX2018 and Revival later this year. Hopefully see you there if you’re coming!

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