Exploring the Countryside

 It has been a year since I began my career as a Professional Truck Driver. According to the research the average income for starting CDL holders averaged around 56k per year. Not great, but a good start right? I mean rent after covid alone is 15k+/yr. Add to that another 6k per year in vehicle payments and almost 6k in child support that would still leave nearly 20k per year for food, insurance, gas and other consequentials.

Unfortunately, I joined a dishonest trucking company that has left integrity in their past and honesty at home. These types of trucking companies, I am told, are the norm. At this degenerate company, however, I was told 52k per year could be expected. Instead I am looking at about 35k!!! And this is with a 60+ hour a week commitment.

This has put such a strain on my finances that I am still homeless after a year as a professional truck driver. For eighteen months my things have been in storage. My cat has been shuffled from home to home. My vehicle needs thousands of dollars in repairs and maintenance, and there are health matters that I simply cannot give attention to. I am struggling.

Why do I share this with those of you who may or may not be following along on this blog?  Because I do not want anyone to think that I have been blowing off either the game development or blog posts. It has just been a serious struggle to present a positive vibe. And people prefer positive posts. Well, maybe some people like drama, but I believe most of our followers like to read something light and uplifting.

From California To The Canadian Border

As a professional truck driver I have literally driven truck in the snowy fields of Presque Isle, Maine, travelled over the hot tops of Miami, Florida, crawled through the traffic of New York City, New York and raced down the freeways of Los Angeles, California. I've been stuck in Fort Worth, Texas traffic, stranded in Nashville, Tennessee, dropped freight off in Chicago, Illinois and pulled product out of Cincinnati, Ohio. The plus to this career is that I have seen much of the countryside.

I know where I would like to buy a house, where I want to avoid and where gas is the cheapest. Every state seems to be beautiful in its own way. People are amazing nearly anywhere I go. Big cities have motorized scooters that you can pay to operate within their city limits, small towns are almost always glad to see you and urban areas have the craziest drivers. It's pretty much what you expect, but unique in a way you wouldn't.

I have operated 8 and 10 gear trucks as well as automatics. Plowed through snowbanks in dual drive axels and slid down snowy roads in a single drive axel. From Volvo to Freightliner, Mack to International I have experienced them all. I personally drive Kenworth these days. Each brand has something favorable about it and every driver seems to have their preference. Freightliner is the most common because it is the least expensive.

What About The Game

Development? Trolls were the focus for the third quarter of 2023. I managed to add some depth to them. You can find those details on their respective page in the Races lair. If you haven't visited the other lairs and pages tied in with this blog you are totally missing out. There was an overhaul done to both the World lair as well as the Races lair. Duplicate information was removed and a standardized layout was applied.

However, one of the greatest areas to see work done last quarter was on the elevation map of Aborlon. Originally, mountains were simply dots on the map. But eventually more detail was needed to assist in accurate story progression as well as consistent borders. 

No doubt there will be further changes made during the digital world building phase, but having the elevation mapped out will go a long way in keeping this developer focused and coloring within the lines. In addition, they should look really nice on the blog. The question comes down to where they should be placed.

Now that things are progressing in the finances department, we might go back to having our own webpage. Chances are that won't happen until the beginning of 2025. That is tied directly to time more than cost. When we set the webpage back up we intend on selling merchandise as well. That will take a considerable amount of time for this one-man army.

What is Your Opinion

We haven't posed a question to our audience in quite some time. So let us know what you think about the game concept, the developmental direction that we have taken, the back stories, characters, culture and wonders. What do you like, what do you love? We always want to hear from our audience.  You can email us at nathan.epimetheus@gmail.com or post a comment directly to the page. The former can be done through your email and the later only requires you to follow our blog using your google account.