Dear all, out of the sincerity of my heart I would like to apologize for the lack of updates in about roughly a year.

In full transparency, I’ve been dealing with a lot of life changes recently - from pursuing a much necessary MFA, to moving country, as well as (very luckily) avoiding homelessness twice in the span of four months. I am unsure if things have truly cleared up for me right now at this point in my life. Thankfully, I am entering this new phase of my life with a clearer headspace for this project and if all goes well, a clearer schedule.

I am also grateful to have assistance from my peers and we are collectively working together to bring CORE to life. In a greener world, we would all be able to work on this project full time, but rest assured we are committed to finishing this project sooner rather than later.

Here’s a list of things we have been working on:

> Technical editing for CORE’s combat

Unfortunately, while the game’s combat system is fully playable and has been playtested frequently, I do not believe the current release reflects this and I am currently working on making technical edits for clarity and balance. I am classifying this as a HIGH PRIORITY task.

> Storytelling mechanics for CORE

We are currently developing and playtesting a modular character-based play system to fully embrace the soap-operatic nature of the tokusatsu genre. We are not aiming for mechnical complexity at all but rather we are hoping to provide a wide set of “toys” for you to cobble your own character and plots with. It will be easy to use and open ended.

> Historical research and writing for AUSTEN

As I work on CORE, my lead narrative designer Alyssa is building an engaging and historically respectful world based not only on the works of Jane Austen but also with the ethereally romantic and postcolonial movies by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. It is set in a slightly bizarre yet emotionally turbulent version of the Napoleonic War era. Artwork for AUSTEN has been almost fully completed and it is a setting I am proud to be producing. A lot of Alyssa’s work on AUSTEN has informed my own with CORE and I think you will benefit a lot from having this setting in your arsenal.

All in all, I do really apologize for the slow progress of this project. It is first and foremost a passion project which itself is informing my own academic research and work in play and decolonialization. I am definitely happy to answer any questions or suggestions you might have and to listen to any feedback you’d like to give.

At this stage as I am revving up my engines to complete CORE and push it to its layout stage, I would like to humbly ask for your grace and your patience. I did not certainly expect to be where I am today when I began this project during COVID given an immense amount of time. Unfortunately, life does find a way to push you in a direction you did not expect to go and it’s my personal responsibility to do right by myself but also right by you who have entrusted me with this project.

Feel free to email me at babblegumsam@gmail.com. I will continue to make updates and maybe find a way to publish them in a manageable way for myself.