Co-piloting ChaosNova: new youtube channel!

I shall exploit the header space to boost the signal of our GM's Gofundme campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/blueberrycreekrecovery

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Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since run a character in the forum-based space opera RPG (dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process), yapped along to countless online gaming sessions, and dug deep into the creative flow with editing, co-writing, and worldbuilding.

Since my return from the Benfleet Expedition, it's been busy-time. Wrapping up "Seeker's" third-to-last chapter, and working on final two (at once!) leaves little focus for other activities. I've even gone so far as to suspend most of my gaming and let's plays until the release. However! I have set up a second channel to share the creative talks.

Here's is the teaser-y snippet that didn't make it into the "talk chops" proper:

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (10). Killing Floor Galore.

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their forum-based space opera RPG, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay sessions too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. This here is one of those occasions. 

Apparently we've been doing a *lot* of Killing Floor co-op lately (and I gleefully keep recording the experience). I even made a designated playlist for this.

Here's one whole session.

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (9): Crabs, coconuts, & aliens.

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their forum-based space opera RPG, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay sessions too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. This here is one of those occasions.  


The most recent livestream I got to yell along to was about Stranded Deep. There be crabs! And coconuts! And a shark jumping!

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (8): from stars to engineering

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their forum-based space opera RPG, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay sessions too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. This here is one of those occasions.  



There's been quite a bit of space (pardon, Spaaaaaaace!) co-op going on lately.
In addition to some StarMade exploration, our operations have escalated to engineering.
(Once again huge thanks to Knux_V1 for the gift!)

First off, a little montage thingie to tie the two processes together.

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (7). StarMade nights.

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their forum-based space opera RPG, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay sessions too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. This here is one of those occasions.  


Recently we've been playing a whole lot of StarMade (huge thanks to Knux for gifting a copy). I've recorded some of it.

Here's the first co-op session (one long video).

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (6). Factorio nights!

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their forum-based space opera RPG, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay livestreaming too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. This here is one of those occasions.  


It's actually three occasions, distributed between four uploads; featuring a sizable crew.

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (5). More flavours of survival.

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their forum-based space opera RPG, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay livestreaming too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. Here are some of those occasions.  


The first entry isn't really a capture of livestream but my attempt to record a Killing Floor co-op session one night. I didn't set up the audio quite right, so my side of Skype audio is left a mystery.

Also, there was some more quality time with the Long Dark. This time with more map reading!

The whole playlist with ChaosNova related streams & sessions is over here.

Co-piloting Chaos Nova (1). Magic moments!

Vaguely around Earth Occidental Standard Year 2014, the drift of interwebs lead my paths into collaboration course with Chaos Nova universe. I have since had the pleasure to dive into their space opera RPG writing process, dispensing unsolicited advice about universe, life, and everything in the process. Once settled in the "writers' room" and comms all set up, I'd start occasionally joining in for gameplay livestreaming too, either in co-op, or just shout-along. This here is one of those occasions. 




My prior collectible card experience was pretty much limited to watching Hands of Fate (extended) over and over. Okay, and I had also played through some tutorial assignments in digital Magic, and ran some explanation rounds about overall mechanics with KnuxV1 - the opposing hand in the upcoming match, and poked around in the game a bit more on my own.

So I have been playing ... (25). Mars Awakens Some More!

In September I spent quite some quality time figuring out the Red Planet's fictional ecosystems. I recorded most of that in just a few long sessions, but had to distribute the uploads over longer period.

The now complete playlist is over here.


Here are some assorted bits from the middle.

And here are the few final episodes. (The finale audio is faulty for the moment.)

ED:
To bypass the whole faulty audio thing, i'll post part of the endgame episode on its own too. This is, like, the finale-finale.

So I have been playing ... (24). Mars Awakens!

The other day I decided to try out another little gem-suspect I had picked up from GOG: Waking Mars. I remember being on a fence whether to get it or not - the seemingly platform-y-ish mechanics discouraged me but eventually the visuals won me over. I'm glad they did and now I'm recording my first steps.

Here are the first two pieces of footage.

ED: And a third.

And here's where the whole playlist is going to be.

Building a habit... (Vol. 14)

[Semi-standard copy-paste intro.]

A while ago I wrote about the concept of Morning Coffee Walk - a habit I'm trying to pick up in order to get myself going and moving before starting any other daily activities. The rules of this game are simple: get dressed (weather-appropriately), grab a mugful of hot beverage and head out; do not return until the mug is empty. 

Here are some highlights from today's walk.

So I have been playing... (20). Aperture Science Reunion.

With my Planescape endeavours successfully in the can and my gametesting responsibilities on standby in the wake of an update, I have ventured to some unfamiliar grounds and returned with fresh footage. Take Portal 2, for instance. Here's the whole playlist.

Here's the first episode.

Here's the second.

And, heck, here's one more. (I've only got these three so far, might as well show them off all at once.)

Building a habit... (Vol. 13) - the raincloud edition

[Semi-standard copy-paste intro.]

A while ago I wrote about the concept of Morning Coffee Walk - a habit I'm trying to pick up in order to get myself going and moving before starting any other daily activities. The rules of this game are simple: get dressed (weather-appropriately), grab a mugful of hot beverage and head out; do not return until the mug is empty. 

Today was ridiculously warm and mellow. I had seized quite some outdoors time already, absorbing generous amounts of sunlight and silky breeze. When I learned that the forecast rain is closing in, I set out in an attempt to catch it. Here are the results.

ED:
And here's a little bit of bonus material from half a week later.

Building a habit... (Vol. 12)

[Semi-standard copy-paste intro.]

A while ago I wrote about the concept of Morning Coffee Walk - a habit I'm trying to pick up in order to get myself going and moving before starting any other daily activities. The rules of this game are simple: get dressed (weather-appropriately), grab a mugful of hot beverage and head out; do not return until the mug is empty. 

Over the time the Drag-Your-Ass-Out-There game has morphed somewhat. With more daylight and more forgiving weather, it has become easier to just stroll out any time so the first-thing-in-the-morning part has lost its urgency. The more forgiving weather also means that oftentimes I get to exploit the back yard for the coffee-under-the-open-skies part. So, while the "game's" purpose remains, its name - technically - does not always apply. In any case, here are some highlights from today's walk.

Building a habit... (Vol. 11)

[Semi-standard copy-paste intro.]

A while ago I wrote about the concept of Morning Coffee Walk - a habit I'm trying to pick up in order to get myself going and moving before starting any other daily activities. The rules of this game are simple: get dressed (weather-appropriately), grab a mugful of hot beverage and head out; do not return until the mug is empty. 

Last week its was all sun, snow, and sunbathing dog turds.

(Oh, they're there, trust me.)

This week, it looks like the "shit gets real with spring rain" phase has finally kicked in. So, here are some highlights from today's walk.

Building a habit... (Vol. 10)

[Semi-standard copy-paste intro.]

A while ago I wrote about the concept of Morning Coffee Walk - a habit I'm trying to pick up in order to get myself going and moving before starting any other daily activities. The rules of this game are simple: get dressed (weather-appropriately), grab a mugful of hot beverage and head out; do not return until the mug is empty. 

Looks like the winter is finally losing its grip. It's been a long one and I've got "screenshots" to prove it (here, here, here and here.) Anyway, here are some highlights from today's walk.

P.S.:
Here's the sun and the freeze fighting over some ice a few days later.

Building a habit... (Vol. 9)

[Semi-standard copy-paste intro.]

The other day I wrote about the concept of Morning Coffee Walk - a habit I'm trying to pick up in order to get myself going and moving before starting any other daily activities. The rules of this game are simple: get dressed (weather-appropriately), grab a mugful of hot beverage and head out; do not return until the mug is empty. 

Here are some highlights from today's walk. (I expanded my route to the "other railroad" and "between-the-railroads" turf before returning to my usual wander-grounds.)

ED:
And two more highlights from three days later - with sun out and everything.

Poop on the Moon!

Minute Physics and Smarter Every Day join forces to communicate the crucial aspects of space travel.

Teeheheheheee... 

"I want to believe" vs. "I want to learn more"

The other day Extra Credits posted this wonderful piece contemplating the relation between beliefs, knowledge, learning - and how they don't  actually contradict each other. I could relate to what they were saying a lot - for me personally, these have always been aspects of the same process.

Indeed, many a times when my conclusions finally land on the the "hmmmmh, that's a bunch of bullshit alright" spot, the starting point has not been "this must be wrong and I shall vocalize it over and over to demonstrate how wrong it is," but rather: "what a curious construct/ ingenious idea/ mind-blowing theory/ elegant explanation this is! I want to believe! I wish to know it better, learn more about it, understand how it works".

Among other things I've observed my attitude shift that way (from fascination to "...eh ...") about various horoscope-y categorization systems (like "personality measuring"or clear-cut learning styles), technologies and practices with "earth-friendly intentions" (like bike generators or a bunch of other stuff) and - last but not least - various  motivation'n'productivity theories (like how creative process should work and what self esteem means).

I haven't figured out how to embed videos from Penny Arcade (if they allow it at all), so I'll spam a pretty picture instead.

Trees, fractals, colours & connections

Lately I have been quite engaged in the journeys and struggles inside the game called Void (as seen here and here). It is as therapeutic as it is frustrating; it is as gorgeous as it is ripe with symbolic potential. It provokes thought and triggers a tide of references and parallels in life as well as art.

Then I happened to watch these two Folding Ideas episodes today:
foldablehuman.com/foldingideas/folding-ideas-enter-the-void/
foldablehuman.com/foldingideas/folding-ideas-the-fountain/

And my already over-titillated-with-connections mind went "Ding! Ding-Dinga-fucking-Ding!" I am not aware whether these connection points in the visuals and symbols are intentional or known from the game creators' part but they are sure there from the recipient's point of view. (Also, I have me some movies to watch now.)


And then, riding on the heavy wave of reference and connotation, I thought of yet another piece of art that (while having a strong chant/prayer/meditative quality to it already) strongly resonates with the game, this time more specifically with its ultimate goal of "breakthrough" or "crossing" that cannot be done alone. (I hope they don't take down this fan-made video any time soon.)