Happy day 2 of Fletch Fest! As things are coming to a close today, I wanted to start documenting my experience of the 4th annual Fletch Fest, similar to what I’ve done in previous years. Today’s update will be a little sad and maybe a bit disappointing, but I want to be honest about my experience as well.
Fletch Fest got off to an… unexpected start. During the kickoff stream (sorry future readers - VOD links on Twitch only up for 60 days), or rather just before, my home’s power went out during some strong wind storms we were having. I was getting ready for a cozy afternoon of tea and celebration, talking about Fletch Fest, its past iterations, and perhaps even some coworking, but all that got thrown out the window just two minutes before I was supposed to go live.
In order to not cancel entirely, I quickly set up a tripod, desk mat, and my 3DS running Omega Ruby. We had a really fun two hour stream with lots of really kind raids (LOTS of raids - thank you all SO much for believing in my content and supporting my 4 year anniversary!). Some lovely chats and laughs were had by all, I think, and it was a great alternative to what could have been a shitty experience.
(Power was restored after 12 hours or so, we had a camping battery and were able to keep the fridge cold and managed just fine!)
That said… it was hard to not feel like it was the final pebble in my shoe after a week of frustrations. There was a miscommunication about my anxiety med refills (or rather, a string of them) and I was unintentionally off of my meds for nearly a full week, finally getting them back on Thursday. In addition to my anxiety being managed less, the sudden shift in body chemistry left me really disregulated, dizzy, nauseous, and fatigued all week.
I think for me, it has been really difficult to feel like I am in a celebratory mood emotionally because of all this. Which just feels a little shitty to me, because I want to be excited and engaged with Fletch Fest. Accessing those emotions and leaning into the joy of creativity is a little out-of-reach right now.
It’s also made it clear to me that I need to adjust my expectations for the scope of my project… outside of a couple hours of preliminary research, I haven’t made any progress. With how my health and sleep have been, I need to scope down to make sure that I can feel proud of what I end up making!
The original plan was to make a piece of software that could interpret a special config file, which would define text to show on a page and an animation to associate with the text. Then readers could load the config file and read a story, or write their own stories to share! I still hope to accomplish this, but for now, I’d like to instead focus on writing the short story that would have served as the example file for the software.
Last year, I played a TTRPG one-shot using the QUEST system, a dice-lite narrative-focused system more geared towards player expression than adhering to a book of rules. I had so much fun playing an adorable little goblin named Flower. It helped that our GM and my peers at the table seemed to take a liking to Flower too!
So, my plans for Fletch Fest this year:
- write a short story about Flower
- work on a system to read and share digital trinkets (micro-narratives)
- stretch goal: user accounts, publishing stories to a public database, native editor instead of handwriting config files
I’ll also be focusing on my rest and recovery of course. I remain cautiously optimistic that I can be feeling better and make strides this coming week on my Fletch Fest project!
As a little treat, here’s some OC art I commissioned from Eden, an incredible artist and friend.
PS: My Playdate game XTRIS was 1 of 4 games nominated for “Best Arcade Game” in the 2025 Playdate Community Awards!! I’m incredible honored. Be sure to go check out the winner of the category, Say When!.
