Not sure what to call this one (Patreon)

Hello, the past two weeks I spent a lot of time playing games and drawing my friends for Artfight, which I'm probably done with now. Playing games I consider a part of my job, though drawing is more indulgent as I now really just use that skill for concept art. However it still counts as activity in which I'm definitely exerting creative energy, so I wouldn't call it entirely slacking off. The momentum I build up doing one thing tends to transition to another thing. But I'm also just trying to justify the fact I spent so much of these past two weeks making gift art for friends.

I'm going to try to keep this post a little short so I can get back to making this nasty little guy. It was probably one of the most complex models to make in all of Lethal Company, just because it's so bizarre. And also because the main (or only) strength of this enemy is in looking creepy and weird, so I needed to make sure I did it right; that's why I ended up using a 3D scan of a real animal skull as a reference. I've found that in modelling especially, it's very easy to make something that looks funny and cute, but the requirements to make something creepy are much more narrow. And surely the fact that it's a canine face is not helping, cause I'm fighting the uphill battle that animals are just cute by default.

I'm also experimenting with making Lethal Company's night vision adapt to the amount of light on the screen. This makes running around without a light a little more inconvenient but without it being crippling, and it also makes the dark and shadows look a little sharper when you're around light sources. We'll see if this sticks around.

Games I'm Playing

I saw "Mole" on Steam a couple days ago and instantly picked it up because the screenshots were so eye-catching. I liked it but didn't love it. Some moments were truly great. I had really no expectations, though I was hoping for a less linear, less scripted, and maybe less hallway-driven experience. And I found the protagonist kind of cliche. So I think it's the second best horror game of 2026 so far! Right under Reanimal.

I also just don't typically like psychological horror like this; it feels like anything goes and I can't possibly predict anything that will happen next (nor what is real and what is not) so I feel like a much less active participant in the narrative and I just disengage. Signalis was a clear exception. I wonder why? Well, #1. its world-building was far more in-depth and its presentation was even more stylish. And #2. I liked Mole, but I felt like I was spoon-fed a rather simple story that has been chopped up into a psychedelic mush for style, whereas in Signalis I felt like I had a responsibility to piece it together myself and it was far more complex. In Mole, the red text often just explains what you're seeing in plain words.

I'm now playing Abiotic Factor with friends and really loving this game. It's like if you took a whole survival game and put it indoors in Half-Life 1, which is bonkers. I love big industrial complexes and factories and offices to explore, and the design of this game's world is excellent in the way it loops back around on itself. I've modelled my fair share of indoor spaces, and I think making something like this requires referencing real-life blueprints and doing some urban exploration.