Well this is an unusual turn of events.
As both of you who read this may have noticed, I’ve been absent for a while, distracted by the collateral damage of the pandemic. Sorry about that.
Freelancing is not easy at the best of times and starting again is even less so. The various (suboptimal) measures that were (eventually) put in place to deal with the pandemic have basically screwed my previous plan entirely. Among other important things, too many people and companies I need to make it work are MIA for the foreseeable. So, I’ve been looking at what I can do in the shorter term to make a little money, because I still have bills and as someone who’s just gone back to freelancing, the government is providing sweet FA in terms of realistic support. This from “the party of business”. Still, they’re politicians, so you knew they were lying, right?
Anyway, I’ve been working on plan B, or C, or Z or wherever I’m up to now. Several cunning schemes have had to be abandoned as things continued to change and resources and options dwindled. In the end, I think I must expect to do everything myself and assume that few if any of the people and companies I would normally deal with behind the scenes are going to be available this year. Maybe ever. If they are, then that’s a bonus.
Exactly how this is going to pan out, I’m not sure. All of this is being done in unseemly haste and it is absolutely not the ideal situation to do creative work in. Still, let’s see what I can come up with.
For the moment, I’ll be posting in a less structured format, though I’ll aim to post something every week to keep you in the loop.
Wish me luck!
Quirkworthy 
I’m in a similar situation. I finished a professional contract just as the crisis was kicking off so have no recourse to assistance from the government and no help from an employer. I was super fortunate in that I published Zero Dark at almost the exact same time and, well, it turns out to be a good time to be marketing a game with a solo mode in the core rules!
However, whilst sales are healthy, that’s all money going into the publishing company I set up with a lot of cash from my own pocket. So, at best, I’m going to be paying myself back debts I’m already owed by my own company.
Still, I have good reserves and my wife’s freelance work, whilst much less than normal, is still happening. If there’s anything Precinct Omega can do, feel free to give me a shout!
Thanks, you’re very generous.
It was indeed the perfect time to release a new solo-playable game. You should make especially generous offerings to the augurs this month.
Happy to hear that sales are going well. Encouraging that there’s still a market – always a requirement for any business and so tricksy to research.
I feel your pain. I own a Family Entertainment Center and made the decision to close down the same day as schools. That was three weeks ago. 😦
I do appreciate your thoughts and consider Quirkworthy a quarry of gems of knowledge. I don’t know what the future my hold for you my friend, but I know I’ve appreciated your generosity, time, and effort you put into this blog and wish you all the best!
Thanks Golden. Always nice to be appreciated. Hopefully I should have some interesting stuff sorted by next week 🙂
Best of luck Jake. It’s tough times for sure. I’m fairly recently self employed myself having done care work prior (another area that frankly I am not sure the government even bothers to acknowledge exists half the time but that’s another issue).
We are fortunate in that my wife has also recently returned to work as a biomedical scientist after a few years off to have our kids so thakfully we are about as secure as you can be nowadays (but given current events we hardly see her as she is doing some crazy shifts right now).
Hope it all goes okay for you mate, and something comes up for you soon.And cheers for God of Battles, cracking game.
Stay safe and well and keep on designing!
Always nice to hear from someone who appreciates GoB. I’m still very fond of it. In fact, it may well be my favourite of my own designs. Real shame it never got the promotion it needed. Ah well.
I don’t think the government know what to do about self-employed people and sole traders, nor do they really care. That’s fine. The feeling’s mutual 😉
Overall, I’m actually feeling very positive about my work at the moment. Lots of exciting things bubbling under, and I’m finding ways that should allow them to work, virus or no virus.
Absolutely doing my best to stay as safe as possible, and I don’t think I could stop designing if I tried.