Originally Posted May 3, 2009

Well it’s been a while since I was here last, a lot has happened since and so before I talk about my upcoming plans I think it only right that I should give you an update on The Willows.

The Willows is certainly not dead! However, I have put it on hold for now mainly due to a lack of free time as well as feeling that the zombie genre is a little oversaturated at the moment and don’t feel the time is right for another zombie mod. My plans for it have also grown beyond my current capability (code-wise) but I’m hoping the release of the L4D SDK might help me fill the gaps. Hopefully I will pick it up again in the near future when I have more free time.

In other news I will be leaving Sweden and Dice in June to return back to the UK where I will be taking at least 6 months out to relax and recover from crazy burnout I’ve accumulated over the past year and a half. I’m going to miss Sweden that’s for sure, but I feel I need to take time out to relax and find the spark, energy and passion for making games and art which I feel I have lost recently due to exhaustion.

Alongside large amounts of sleeping, sitting on the beach and drinking lots of beer, another activity I plan to do to help re-ignite my energy is to take on a small project during my time-out which is different to anything I have tried before and eneable me to have creative control over my work again. Last year I stumbled across a little known mod called Dear Esther which really inspired me. Although far from perfect, I found the core idea and design was really intriguing! (If you haven’t downloaded it yet – please do! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it)Using the term ‘game’ loosely, it plays kinda like an interactive painting or story, told through the eyes of a dying man on a journey to try and make peace with his tormented mind. The whole thing is enveloped in deep mystery and hidden meanings, and I had the idea of taking the groundwork for the mod and develop it into a fully fledged, production-quality product. I spoke to Dan Pinchbeck, one of the original creators of Dear Esther, about my idea and he was very enthusiastic about it, giving me his full support on the project.

So, over the past couple of months I’ve been planning and preparing my work on the mod and from this point onwards will be updating my blog weekly with my progress on the (re) development of Dear Esther.

Stay tuned for more info!