KEI

Back from Turkey — full of ideas (and a Nicolas Cage cameo)

Added 2025-09-25 14:00:18 +0000 UTC

I just got back from Turkey. I visited Istanbul, Kuşadası, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Konya, and Ankara.
This was a personal trip paid with my own savings. I did not use Patreon funds for any travel costs.

What did I enjoy most? The inland areas—especially Konya and Cappadocia. The open landscapes, quiet towns, and strange rock valleys hit me in a good way. It felt calm, old, and a little unreal.

In Istanbul, the Topkapi Palace weapons room was a highlight. The pieces were so decorated and sometimes so huge that they felt more like trophies or jewels than practical weapons. Exotic designs. Gold, gems, patterns everywhere. Honestly, a lot of it looked like legendary loot you’d find in a game—beautiful and a bit impractical. Perfect reference material.

At a local nut shop in Cappadocia

At a pottery shop

And then Cappadocia gave me a weird, funny sign. I kept seeing Nicolas Cage in photos from when Ghost Rider 2 filmed there. One nut shop even had a picture on the wall—“Yep, that’s from the shoot,” the clerk said. It felt like fate tapping my shoulder: “Turn this journey into something for the modding community.”

So that’s the plan. I don’t want to overpromise a specific feature yet, but I’ll turn these impressions into a mod in some form—maybe animation flavor. I want it to feel exotic and showy, but still playable.

By the way, I’ve been working on “Hilt and Horizon,” a new set of outdoor attack animations.
Honestly, it’s going terribly so far. They don’t feel satisfying to watch, and they don’t look realistic either.
It’s really frustrating—but it’s going to take more time.

Thanks always for supporting my work. Your support keeps the modding time alive. The trip was personal, but the output will come back to you as content.