[sound of super mario backwards-long-jumping up some stairs]

wahoo!! hey, it's me!!! the beginning of this post sounds fun but the rest is a lot less exciting!!!! Wa-hah!!!!!!!

IM JUST poppin up to say, HOO BOY it's been ages since my last update. and the unfortunate reason is... it's been ages since i've been able to work on zone sweet zone!!! or anything i can show publicly, basically!!!!

it's not canceled or anything though!! i'm not canceled. a lot's been goin' on with me over these past few months... i moved across the country and ended up havin to take a (really cool) freelance gamedev gig to help Sustain myself, which is still where most of my work focus goes every week. i can't share anything from that project yet though, so it's!!! less fun for people who follow my work!!!! but, i'm learning a lot and its powering me up tremendously. also its letting me live in my home and eat food and pay bills so thats, required. im pretty sure people who like my solo stuff are really gonna like this thing too!!

lately though i'm finally getting to a place where i don't have to worry quite as much about Financial Survival, which means i've been budgeting more time back to zone. so... i'm workin on that!!! i've been working on the character creator... modeling a bunch of fun stuff like shoes and tails and other body parts and clothes that i'll try n show off soon. maybe ill have something people can interact with in the next month or so??? did i say this last update???? im too nervous to go back and check????? dont check

I'VE, GOT A LOT OF FIGURING OUT TO DO, WITH REGARD TO ZONE REWARDS, because my initial (EXTREMELY FOOLHARDY) estimate for how long it'd take to make a thing people could play continues to prove Wildly Inaccurate. but... i'm still keepin track of y'all's months pledged and i'm gonna do my darnedest to figure out some cool stuff for everyone!!

anyway, hey, im gonna get real for a sec. i know i introduced zone primarily as a backer perk type thing, and patreon is a very different beast from somethin like kickstarter where An End Product is people's primary incentive to pledge, but i still can't help but feel rotten for taking so long. so... to those who pledge every month, and those who've ever pledged in the past, i'm really and truly sorry that it's taking so long!! but i'm also... really and truly thankful... and i hope you'll still look forward to what i'm cookin up.

oh uhh, also, i recently came out as trans!! so if you don't follow me on twitter, That's News. if you're wondering why my name's suddenly different, Now You Know...

that feels like maybe kind of a weird thing to spotlight, but... it's something i've been really struggling with for a significant portion of my life (and much more directly the past couple years) and not having to worry about the whole "keeping a huge part of myself a secret" thing has done wonders for my health, hahah. SO THAT'S JUST A LIL, UPDATE OF ME, simultaneously irrelevant and extremely relevant to my work,

OK UH... this was very disorganized and as usual ive been extremely anxious about making a post without a cool thing to show off, but, something's GOTTA be better than nothing in this case,,, ... anyway im gonna call it here!!!

i know i said it before but... thank you to everyone who supports me and has ever supported me!!! im gonna do my best to make this the year of Finishing Things People Can Actually Play.

lets do our best!

- chess