So, in exactly ONE WEEK I will be back in my beloved NYC. My home for over 20 years, where I went to college, met the love of my life, fought hard, drank hard and met the most amazing people.

I was contacted out of the blue by the Museum of the Moving Image and they invited me to show my game at the 2025 Marvels of Media Festival in Astoria, Queens. My game is to be part of the Adventures of Nature and the Senses exhibition, which showcases the sensoria of people on the autism spectrum:

Being autistic creates an often-heightened sensory experience. Some of us sense what we see, hear, and touch in intense ways, leaving us to appreciate nature and all that exists within it through this lens. Using video art, experimental film, and virtual reality, the artists in this compilation are inspired by plants, rabbits, birds, jellyfish, clouds, water, and structures as they create animations and play with nonlinear forms of cinema. 

As soon as I told my wife, she immediately declared: ‘you’re going!’ and I hastily booked a flight out- adding an extra day so I can roam the streets with camera in hand and soak of the town very dear to my heart.

And get lots of reference photos for more paintings.

There’s a scene in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ when Eddie Valiant pulls out his Toon Town revolver case and the bullets inside remark how Eddie’s been absent for 5 years and ask where he’s been.

“Drunk.” he replies.

I just realized that I haven’t made an entry in months and while I can’t claim Eddie Valiant’s excuse; I haven’t exactly been in the best of places. Certainly the election threw me and when my wife was laid off from the job she just started 2 years ago – it put things in a dark place and once again, game dev ground to a halt.

And like December of ’23 – I had put off posting about my experiences showcasing my game at Cleveland Gaming Classic.

What was neat this time around was I had a couple of superfans who came back to play my demo multiple times, offered tons of suggestions, feedback and of course- loved collecting stickers each time they played.

One even went so far as to draw me a character he thought would be an excellent addition to the game:

Which, sadly, I have to file with the others I’ve gotten over the years – I just can’t risk having a lawsuit down the road of some irate parent thinking their child’s art is worthy of a lawsuit or digital copyright takedown notice.

What it DID inspire was the thought that when I launch a Kickstarter or GoFundMe project, one of the top tier perks for high end donations is to have the child of the donor submit a drawing for a character (or prop) to be included in the game. My novelization of Booper’s adventures includes a ton of wild and colorful (literally) characters and while my kiddo has provided plenty, the more I have to work with, the more expansive and inclusive my game can become.

Quick gallery of 2024 CGC:

I do love that I’ve won multiple awards for Sound – and I think its something I need to lean into more, not only using my kiddo’s vocalizations for both music cues and sound effects, but to upgrade my audio to some of the more professional platforms, like FMOD – which I see in just about every game, and – to be honest; I didn’t realize was free is revenue is less than 100K.

Terrific, something else I gotta learn.

The other big news was that I was featured in The Toledo Blade, in an article by Lillian King, who had found me and asked if I would be interested in being interviewed.

Seeing just how much I did over the past year – its given me reason to do more here. Which is good, because I’ll have some big news next week!