SimNaNo is off and running successfully – as of this post I’ve got 2846 words officially published (on my blog) out of my goal of 30k. Included in this total is my brand new story’s “Sliding Sideways” Prologue, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

Hopefully this week’s schedule will work without any interruptions due to tooth pain, but since I STILL haven’t gotten the stupid thing out of my mouth yet, it’s possible it could interfere – so just be aware, and watch Twitter for last minute updates.

First off, this past week was a resounding success. The stream-a-thon was hugely successful, and I made a ton of new friends and had a wonderful time! Will definitely be participating in further stream-a-thons! This week will be back to my usual schedule. I hope next week to bring back the end of Season 1 Asylum on Wednesday (by finishing up the in-progress channel point builds this Wednesday). There also may very well be an Honorable Mention stream sometime on Sunday. Also, note that July 1st I will launch the next shell challenge (#thrallshell13) called “Underwater Paradise”. (Don’t forget to read the “more” section below, I do have news about this blog as well!)

This week is (again) going to be a weird schedule, Friday-Sunday I’ll be participating in the Cozy Island Safe Space Stream-a-thon! Should be a fun week!

This week is going to be a very weird schedule, as I’m taking time off to install some new things for my stream and set up my new Labyrinth overlays! Then, Saturday, I will be doing an 8 hour celebration stream for the debut of both my graphics, and starting my Supernatural Saturday Series. Also of note: My new shell challenge is now live – search for #thrallshell12 on the gallery, or check my Twitter for details – it’s a LOT of fun! Don’t forget that next week is (again) the Gimme Shelter tours – we moved them by a week (although the actual tour date is still up in the air, I’ll let you know as soon as I do!) Again, Highlighting: Monday’s stream will start at about 3, so be aware that it will be a bit later than usual. (Will be watching my Labyrinth build be toured on sim_michele’s channel on Twitch.)

Hi all! My new shell challenge is now live – search for #thrallshell12 on the gallery, or check my Twitter for details. Don’t forget that next week is the Gimme Shelter tours (although the actual tour date is still up in the air, I’ll let you know as soon as I do!) Highlighting: Monday’s stream will start at about 3, so be aware that it will be a bit later than usual. (so everyone, including me, can watch sim_michele’s tours at 12-3 (est)!!) The next streaming week after this will be focused on Sims again! (although, depending on when my new overlays come in, I will be cancelling a couple days to get my stream set-up upgraded, so be aware of that.)

I cannot even begin to tell you how many hours my family has lost to this game. Now, let me follow that up to say that none of us – me, hubby, or son – have every FINISHED the game. It’s that hard. However, it’s also super easy. At it’s heart, this is a match-3 game much like Bejeweled (which I probably should have included in this list, too…) .. but that’s about where the similarity stops. There are SO MANY facets to this game. Taming creatures, learning spells, fighting monsters, training your mount, forging new weapons, building your castle, leveling your character, and, above all, participating in an immensely engrossing story. And – even though most of those things involve doing match-3 puzzles, they all feel different enough – and challenging enough – that once this game gets into your head, it’s hard to put down again.

Since I didn’t quite finish the time I planned to spend in Medieval Dynasty, we’ll do some finishing up for that – next week will start the Megaquarium week (which will involve a ton of fun mods to add a whole bunch of new fishies to my game!) Another highlight of the week will be some Sims building, working on both of my big builds that are due this month. Also, I will be publishing my next shell challenge, the “Platform Problem” – which should be a LOT of fun – on June 1st. (And you still have time to do the Gimme Shelter build, too!) EDIT: Thursday’s stream will actually start closer to 3 or 4, I will keep you posted on that!!

In all likelihood, this is a game franchise you’ve never heard of. However, it’s also one that took countless hours of time from my son and I on our Playstation 1. Initially, I put it on this game list for that reason alone- it clearly defines a large period of time that I spend playing games… but ultimately, I decided not to play it on stream. I truly couldn’t see it being a fun game for someone else to watch you play, at least – not for any full stream. Hence, I decided I’d write an article about it and leave it on the list, but not play it.

Afterthoughts:

I really had a good time playing Civ 5 on stream. I just started a random civ game, and ended up doing a cultural victory. Took me two days, but we did win the game. Unfortunately, due to copyright music, I can’t post the VODs for it on youtube, which annoys me to no end, and I apologize for profusely. Unfortunately, this is not the only game this happens with. I promise, though, I’ll post as many of the games as I can, though!!

Afterthoughts:

I really have enjoyed this whole game series, and bringing it on-stream was no different. If you’re into 4X strategy games, this is one that’s high on my list of recommended purchases. If nothing else, get it for the history that they’ve worked so hard to include in the game. The graphics aren’t too bad, either, and the user interface makes the game easy to learn (or pick up again after years of not playing an “Age” game)… So, yeah. Would I give the game a positive review? Heck yeah, and playing it on stream didn’t change my mind.