Hey everyone,
It is serendipitous that the week that Calling All Heroes has been completed, is the same week that we have the spotlight for the final Troop: the Dragon. Now, usually I use these Troop Spotlights to talk about the latest Troop and tell some anecdote from my nerdy past, but honestly this week I mostly want to talk about success, completing projects, and the surreality of realizing you’ve proven your past doubts wrong.
For too many years, I was unable to finish my projects. I would start novels, comics, art series, etc. – and they would never be completed. I would write three chapters of a comic and stop, or write all of a novel but never publish it, or paint seventeen images for some project and then throw in the towel.
It was sad in many ways, and what stung the most was that deep down, I knew what I was doing. I knew I had trouble finishing things. I knew that Shiny Object Syndrome was a thing for me. The draw of new projects was more tempting than the prospect of actually following through on anything.
Whether it was procrastination, distraction, or even fear of success, I didn’t get over any of it until last year, when someone came into my life and turned out to be important enough that I HAD to make him something. So, I started a thirty-page manga…
…and finished it.
Now, love doesn’t solve all our problems, but sometimes loving someone – and being loved in return – does provide a spark of hustle, a burst of motivation that can push us past our insecurities and doubts and excuses and make us make something. For me, that’s what happened in 2017.
I still remember the moment when I realized that I had put out my first comic. It turned out to be 27 pages, actually, beginning to end – but it was done. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it worked (and yes, the person I gave it to loved it, and we’re still together).
I will never forget the feeling of going to the print shop, getting the copies made, stapling it together, and – most of all, for me – that first flip of the pages when I felt “wow, I made a comic.” It was just incredible, but also surreal: I felt kind of blank, kind of empty, kind of “wait, how is this supposed to feel?” When you go most of your life aspiring to something, and you finally reach it, after almost 30 years, you can’t help but feel a little weirded out in addition to the joy.
But it’s a good thing. It’s a very good thing.
I think OgreWare and I are going through that now: It’s their first game, and my first time being part of the development and illustration of a game, and it all feels pretty weird. I don’t know what to expect over the next weeks and months. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. It’s impossible to tell at this point. But I trust that regardless of what’s coming, putting out a debut game is an awesome thing.
Let’s all give OgreWare a round of applause and kudos for finishing their first game. Here’s to many more.
If you’d like to play Calling All Heroes, you can, for a limited time, still click here to play it in your browser, or here to download the .apk file for your Android device. However, the game will soon be moved to Google Play, so game here while you can – and get ready to play the official version by the end of this month!
-Taylor