Since this blog probably isn't your only source of Creatures news, you're probably already aware that the CCSF 2018 Survey is already underway, courtesy of Pilla and Ylukyun. If you weren't aware, well, now you are! Go take it! Round One will "probably run for 2-ish months" so you likely have until the end of January to get your input in.
I'm pretty excited about this for a couple of reasons! For one, I feel like the timing makes a lot of sense. If you've attended other annual events, such as conferences, conventions, shows, or parties, you've probably noticed that closing ceremonies often include previews and plans of what the organizers hope to do to make the next year's event even better. Registrations/signups/tickets for the future event are often made available right away to take advantage of the hype that's already there (and to take the edge off the sadness of the event coming to a close). The CCSF generates a lot of activity and helps to bring community members out of lurkmode. It excites, motivates, and inspires us. To me, it just makes sense to ride that hype train into planning the next event while so many people are active and brimming with ideas!
My second reason for loving this early planning is a little bit more personal. To be blunt here, November and December are just horrible months for me to get involved in anything. I got lucky this year and was severely bitten by the coding bug back in August so by the time November rolled around I had a handful of things to share, but for the last several CCSFs I've just been way too busy to even consider developing anything. Unfortunately when we wait until nearly halfway through the year or even later to start the surveys, those two months tend to be the only options by the time the surveys wrap up. The fact that this survey is running so early means that there's a greater chance we might get an August, September, or October CCSF, which would just work out so much nicer for me personally. Of course, we'll see how the majority feels, but it's nice to have that hope.
I believe a well-planned CCSF is not only important for our community, but also for our future. A successful CCSF has the potential to show off the dedication and enthusiasm of our community to inactive community members, future creatures-players, and even game developers! 2018 will be our 15th CCSF, can you believe it? What a milestone!
Before I wrap this up, I would like to toss out a suggestion to anyone who might be interested in but intimidated by coordinating next year's festivities: you don't have to do it all alone! Taking charge of such an iconic event can be daunting, but once you're elected, there's no reason that you can't build a team or at least select a co-coordinator or two! Pick people whom you already know you work well with and can balance each other's strengths and weaknesses. Recruit people to help you publicize, handle submissions, run events, design the site, anything! There's a lot of talent to be found and there's no reason one person should have to do it all alone. It's a community spirit festival, after all!
Meanwhile, I'm going to be swamped with work and local holiday preparations until the new year, but I'm hoping after that I'll find the time to buckle down and work on some stuff I've been hoping to check off my endless projects list for years. Such an active presence of Creatures fans on Discord has done a lot to ignite my flame again! Hopefully it'll last long enough to see at least a couple things through to completion.
If you don't hear from me again, I wish you all a happy holidays and a fruitful new year!