A Journey that started 1 Year ago!

One year ago, on a cold and rainy evening, I decided to share my journey to the world. I remember the nervousness, the anxiousness, my heartbeat as I wrote the post 'The Path to our Darkness'. I was scared. Thoughts rising up, trying to keep me from making that post reality. Yet besides the shivering fear, I felt a joy that to this day I can't forget. A joy of making something I believed in. A risk I felt excited to take. And while I re-touched too many times the render I'd share in that post, I realised how much I loved what I was doing right in that moment. I knew at that time that the art I was creating wasn't perfect, yet deep down I knew that I would become better. And while it wasn't perfect, I still loved what I created. And that has been the beginning of the official journey, of taking the first step outside the shadows, and into the light...

And the rest is the tale of how I came here, to today.

I can't tell how much I'm thankful for how incredible this journey has been thus far. I never could've imagined it would result in an adventure that I'll never forget. Yet this is only the beginning. The path ahead is still long. There's way more I want to achieve than what I managed in this one year. Though I look back into the road I've taken, as the fog that kept me from seeing far into the horizon is now gone, and I see a landscape full of colours. And that journey was possible thanks to all of you, who have supported me this far into development. Thank you.

Throughout this journey, I've sat down on the path multiple times, taking in everything that has happened, because it very often felt like a dream. I've been someone who's always been creative, but I've always struggled to follow through my dreams. I've always let my fears win over me. I walked down multiple roads only to find a wall in front of me, keeping me from going far. Yet this time, it was different. The connection I felt towards what I was creating was so powerful and genuine, that all the roads I never took in the past became the source of my desire to pursue this one road ahead of me.
I've had multiple times happen, that I met myself along the way, and that I tried to push myself away from what I would meet ahead. "You'll not succeed", "you'll feel pain", "you aren't enough". But for once, I heard those voices as an oracle that I was doing exactly the right thing, and I walked along them, forwards. And when I did get hurt, I took a break to recover. Because a failure doesn't mean all is lost. It means I'm learning. Slowly, as I take one step after another.

And when I look back, I see a smile on my own face, back there, at the beginning of the journey. And I get nostalgic. Because I could be judging my own work back then, criticising it roughly, telling myself how I sucked at that time. But I know how much passion I poured into it, and that's all that matters.

I've gone from announcing my journey to releasing the first Chapter of the game. And that's just... incredible for me.
There's much more coming though, but for now, appreciating what has been done seems like a beautiful thing to do.

Thanks to everyone who has supported, rated, commented, gave feedback, helped, liked, done anything for me! You are that very light that helps me from falling off the trail, as I step into the unknown everyday.
Thanks for your belief in this game, in me. It's incredible to be honest, having to tell myself how far I've come in one year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

— MisheruMaxis