Merry Hapmas & State of Play 2021
Category: Community Broadcasted on 21DEC22 - 06:19:18hrs Author Zayth Kadrim Comments: 9
Hello everyone, and a very merry Hapmas to all!
You wouldn’t know it looking around in the Cluster, but it turns out that the Metamorphosis Plague continues to find new victims around the galaxy at an alarming pace; Just look at how many freshly morphed sentient crabs are walking around the Winter Fest fairgrounds!
There’s something rather unnerving about going to shake hands/appendixes with someone, when they’ve sprouted antennae and gotten a whole lot less clothed since you last saw them, but it’s almost.. as if they truly preferred it that way.
And yes, it’s that time of the year again, the ruminating community address on a very Out of Character level, and I’m happy to be writing this with a customary cup of hot glögg in hand, while the wind outside is pulling the chill factor down to a very promising -19c – promising insofar as to maybe see more snow around here prior to Christmas.
I’ve been more hopeful about the game development in the past couple of years, and I believe this year again proved that there’s a basis for much more than same ol’ cautious optimism about bigger things being ready to launch in the foreseeable future, even if the usual potential pitfalls remain in place for year 2022.
The Winter Fest is a nice way to unwind with SWC, after another year full of action and countless very long evenings spent with it, and I hope everyone of you who might still be curious about checking out the event can find the time to take a hop over through the Lorell Trade Centre, to witness the fairgrounds the admins have prepared for us all. It’s hard to come across larger Combine wide events than this, with more than 200 characters within viewing distance at the Winter City, at this very moment.
But let’s take a look at the closing year. When I say it was full of action, I mean it not only did, but we accomplished plenty, and that is thanks to all of you! My thanks go to everyone who have chipped in their skills, energy and time to the betterment of Hapes, towards the wellbeing of its community. A shoutout to our lads and lasses in Industry, RHAF, Interior, Coding and IT team, Culture, Forcies and other specialist people, in our NATs of Olanji and Endara Mining, and to all our external partners out there, who’ve helped us make this another great year for Hapes!
I had to go back and check that it really was this year, but if things seemed like business and busyness as usual early on in the spring, things really heated up with the Battle of Neshig. Whether or not it’s been dethroned since, the military exercise with Trade Federation became instantly the largest space battle in Combine history I’m told, with over fourty people and over ten thousand vessels thrust into a grinder that saw the destruction of a thousand ships in but just a week’s worth of fighting. Suffice to say the preparations and getting everything sorted out afterwards took a smidge longer than just a week, as you would well remember!
While getting stomped on would have been better for personal growth and as a learning experience for us as a whole no doubt, it was just the same without a shadow of a doubt an honour and a privilege to be not only witnessing it personally, but to be fighting alongside all of you during those days. If this was a glimpse into what the galaxy will be witnessing eventually everywhere, I say we’ve waited long enough.
Moving on to the industrial matters, where unless you’ve managed to miss the big headlines, you’re well aware that we’ve made excellent progress not just in the past years, but during this one as well. Some outside commentators have said we’ve been outbuilding the rest of the field in the past year or few, and, knowing just how many people are involved on it for us, and how much time and resources we continue to pour into it, I’m very happy to hear that. As a group that hopes to be able to stand on its own two feet when the time come, this continued growth and investing into our future is as necessary as it is great to witness.
As mentioned elsewhere, we’ll review wages and benefits (Archais SoonTM?) again the coming year, though I need to do the usual tempering of expectations to anyone unaware by noting that, well, we don’t seek to compete on wages with groups that prioritize them more, and it’s in part what affords us to put it into more growth and discretionary spending in the first place.
I have to also cover just how fortunate we have been with the coding and IT end lately. We were in a pickle at the beginning of the year, and got more than lucky with the turnaround to be able to end the year on so much done, and so much more to look forward to in the coming months. Probably not a whole lot of groups are running a site with foundations and walls that were put into place close to two decades back, so probably no surprise if the house can really benefit from a new roof by now. You’ll be seeing more announcements about the work on the site as we get closer to getting more of the planned new functionalities and tools online, but you should be able to tell already just how much work is going into improving things for us (t)here.
And finally, but certainly not the least, we need to talk about Hapes and its people. For one, it’s been great to be able to once more welcome so many new faces to Hapes this year, and I hope many of you have found the group to be to your liking! Staying ahead of the changing times and successfully introducing new generations of members to the group are no small feats and challenges to contend with, and it’s an area where we’ll never run out of room for improving. The spreadsheet part of the game doesn’t alter the fact that so much that we value or appreciate is even in a digital context, essentially immaterial; From culture to digital arts, and from recruitment to tutoring, or all the work that goes into the paperwork that keeps everything in motion, it’s what makes a group a group, Hapes Hapes, and what defines us as a community. From myself to everyone who partakes in keeping Hapes running, and from its leadership to everyone who is part of it, it has been a treat to see all we’ve managed this year, and I’m excited for what the coming year 2022 offers.
At that, with the tools being built to the site, and to complement the already well received academy courses in Darkness, we hope to be able to not only make the application process a whole lot smoother going forward, but to improve the way we can support and guide the personal progress of members well beyond their academy phase, in addition to some other exciting improvements planned – maybe add more things that you will find useful or just nice too. A significant part of that will become unlocked once our tools are ready to make use of your character skills and other data. An example that comes to mind immediately milling around all these high-level players at the WinterFest, is that we want to ensure that especially our newer members will be receiving all the protein crab- smoothies (XP) needed, to help power up building your character’s skillsets and specializations well in time for the eventually releasing big game features. You’ll be needing those skill points, and we’ll be relying on you!
But enough already with all that!
With the Winter Fest ongoing, we’ve been able to take a little easier on the holiday activity preparations. Still, the customary Hapmas Bonus Wage run will be done shortly, and we will be offering a handy freighter to everyone who’ve joined us during the past year. For anything or everything else, you’ll hear about it on Discord.
Before I sign off and go pack for the holidays, thank you again to everyone for your efforts and participation this year, and I hope you will be able to have a fantastic, peaceful time these coming holidays or just this time of the year, and be seeing you around in 2022! All the best, and take care!
- Z
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