Paul Colls

Earlier this year I wrote the entirely of a game that will be out soonish, and now I'm deep in pre-production on an awesome project with @OutBlueGames, and another secret but beautiful thing with one of my favorite dev teams.

I still enjoy the biz side as well, so I've been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes matchmaking and helping people find funding, some scattered consulting, and been a regular advisor with @panic on all of their (very rad) game things.

I've also managed to carve out time for other interests that don't make money but that I LOVE doing: podcasting with friends @thespelunkyshow, making @deftruetales comics with @jesssuttner, and still slowly trucking along on a board game design with @mattmilko.

I've traveled probably a bit too much, doing talks in South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand just in the past year, as well as my first GDC talk. It's something I'd like to do more of next year, and I have a few good ideas for topics.

I'm still very much figuring out my productivity and work routines, and generally how much work I can/should take on at one time. Last year I made about 1/6th as much money as I was making as Oculus. But this year it should be closer to 1/2, which feels a lot more sustainable.

So I dunno, guys. I don't know where it's going. Or where I want it to go. And I've had a SUPER difficult summer personally, so things feel more open-ended than ever. But I'm really grateful that I've been able to make things work independently to keep me busy, fed, and inspired.

Oh also there's a bit of a lesson I've found in this, if you've read this far. When I left my job, other creators didn't really know me (or likely think of me) as a creative collaborator - I was a business guy. Sure I had written a couple of books and I have great taste, duh...

...but they had only worked with me in a biz context. BUT: they liked working with me, and trusted me. And it turns out those things are WAY harder (and arguably more important) to find than good writers. And they hoped I'd turn out to be both.