Thank You

By Mike / On / In Personal

First of all, thanks to the staff of NSConference: dedicated people like Scotty, Dave, Claire, Simon, and the rest. Thanks as well to the staff at the venues who hosted us, such as the Athena, the Exchange, and Manhattan 34.

It’s no small feat to take something beloved, change everything about it, double its size, and yet somehow have it end up the best its ever been. I am amazed at what you’ve all managed to pull off. Genuinely amazed.

Thanks to Alex and Maxie Repty and Judy Chen for convincing me to stop working on the game, get out of my own head, and go to NSConference. Alex and Maxie went so far as to pick us up in Amsterdam and drive us to the UK and back.

Thanks to Scotty for having Judy and me as his guests. All this saving the world takes a financial toll, and we really couldn’t have afforded to come if not for his generosity, and the generosity of many others.

Thanks to my brother, Hernan Pelassini for coming to Amsterdam a couple days early to buy me a nice dinner and unwind all this enough that I could actually go where I needed to go and do what I needed to do.

Thanks to George Dick for giving the resolve to talk to my colleagues when I felt alone, like I had died and been forgotten, my work in vain. Thanks to John Fox for helping me articulate those feelings with his supportive perspective.

Thanks to Dan Pasco for giving me the man to man talk I needed, for answering the question of how I had gone wrong—by being too hard on myself, and forgetting that I have friends who want nothing more than the chance to help me.

Thanks to Oliver Fürniß for a thousand reminders of how much we rely on each other. Thanks to all the people who were kind to me, who spoke to me, who thanked me, thereby reassuring me that I have done some good in the world.

Thanks to the many people who played with the improvements we’re making to Lemurs Chemistry: Water, and who offered most excellent peer review, feedback, and ideas. Thanks to the people who’ve offered to help us make it even better.

For me, the message and theme of the NSConference 5 became the kindness of others, and calling on that kindness when things go wrong, a lesson that driving home from Leicester only drove home further.

Thanks to Volker Mohr for providing for our rescue when our van broke down, leaving us stranded in the middle of stupid Flanders. I kid—Veurne was just the most charming little village to be stuck in, full of the nicest people.

Thanks most of all to the exemplary proprietor of De Loft, whose kindness and generosity in the face of Judy’s sudden, ferocious illness was the only thing that saved us from disaster—and thanks to ADAC for finally getting us home.

Finally, thanks to Evan Doll for giving me the chance to sum up my life in 140 characters or less: Been better. Getting better. Making games is hard. I’m glad I have friends.