HAPPY NEW YEAR, FOLKS!
Setting forth into a new year is always a good time for reflection, self assessment, and planning, which is precisely what I've been devoting my holiday downtime to. It's been extremely good for me to step back from streaming for a bit and just bury my head in catching up on old projects and getting ahead of known future ones, and I'm pleased to say that I've gotten a lot done between Christmas and now.
It may not be the most obvious thing, but deep down I'm an introverted sort who desperately needs things like quiet time and occasionally to retract into a protective cocoon to take stock and recharge. I thoroughly appreciate everyone's patience with this process, as many times it's the only way I can keep my creative juices flowing.
So, all of that said, what's coming in 2024?
Well, I've been digging through the project log, identifying half finished ideas, which ones are worth finishing, which should just be cut loose, etc etc, trying to give myself a clear picture moving forward and I'm happy to be able to share the framework with you, now.
First and foremost, the stream will be resuming toward the end of this month, just in time for the fourth anniversary of me starting to stream on Twitch. As Thunderhead Studio has mutated into something resembling a business, I spent a lot of the last year in a confused space as to what role the stream would fill in this new model. The stream was always intended to be nothing more than a guaranteed time a few days a week that I sat my ass down and worked on my personal projects, and that's what I'm slashing it back down to. I'm going to worry less about planning content for it, and it'll just be exclusively some time in which you can hang out and interact with me while I work on whatever happens to be on my desk.
In addition to the stream, you'll be seeing a lot more HEXTECH releases from Gale Force Nine this year. I cannot yet share any specific release dates or sets, but I can say that I've done a LOT of both updating old files and creating entirely new ones, setting up releases through the year. More specifics will come soon, but plan to see new pre-painted HEXTECH boxes every few months throughout the year!
On the digital file production front, I've made some good breakthroughs in the past month including new workflows and techniques that have allowed me to up the detail and quality of my models, and I've cut loose a few projects that were just dragging things out, while digging up some older ones that really deserve to be completed and released, including...
- A HEXTECHexpansion specifically designed to easily generate vertical space, both positive and negative. This one has bugged me for awhile, but I should be able to bring it to you in both hexed and unhexed formats by the end of February if not sooner.
- HEXTECH: Voidbase Gamma, an extremely old project I back-burnered over a year and a half ago, intended as a sister set to Trinity City and focused on buildings/infrastructure tailored to a low/no atmosphere or other environment requiring sealed structures. This project encompasses a "dome city" concept and a space elevator concept I started well over a year ago. I anticipate this being ready sometime in March.
- Epic 40k fans rejoice, I'm making some 6mm gothic structures that should work just as well for a BattleTech Steiner board as it does for grimdark gaming. I can't give a timeline on this except to say that a lot of the work is already done.
- I am pushing myself this year to create 28mm scale models. Not just tanks, but infantry and more. This is a totally different workflow to my usual stuffs, but it's an area I want to break into as a sculptor.
All in all, it's been a pretty incredible year, and while parts of it were frustrating on my end, looking back from the edge of 2024 I see a lot of positive progress, not just from myself but from all the artists here, in this community.
Keep an eye out for the 4 Year Streamiversary details as we creep closer!
I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season, and thank you all for your support and contributions! Let's hit the ground running for '24!