Hey Everyone.
Yeah, the title sort of spoils the plot here, but I still wanted to talk to everyone about this.
As many of you know from last month, I decided to take a break (mostly) from Space Engineers. I was starting to feel burned out with modding (both new creative stuff and maintaining the existing stuff), and this was being compounded with stuff I had/have going on in real life. I gave myself some time away from the game, played some other games, relaxed, etc - all with the hope that I'd be able to come back to it feeling a bit more renewed. This was fully my intention at the time.
I did eventually jump back in and decided to start up work on the Corruption rewrite again, along with some other things. For a couple days, I was getting stuff done with it, and it looked like I might be back in the groove of things.
Until I wasn't...
Almost as quickly as I picked up steam to work on it again, I again lost that momentum. In the days that followed, I did some hard thinking and came to the realization that this probably isn't going to change for me. I need to be honest with myself, and with all of you. I've come to the conclusion that I'm done with SE Modding, and I didn't want to leave anyone wondering whether I'm still on the fence.
Looking back, I've been doing this longer than I ever thought I would have. My first mod was released in 2015, which would mean I had been at this for about 8 years, and MES for about 5 years. Time really does fly when you're having fun!
I've met some amazing people in this community, many of whom I now consider my friends. I've learned some amazing skills from some folks I still consider my mentors in many regards, and I've had the opportunity to share my skills with some of you - and it's been a pleasure watching those that I've worked with flourish into their own set of skills and put their own projects in motion!
I want to thank everyone in this community (and the SE community in general) for all the support you've provided over the years. Feedback, bug reports, and feature suggestions - all this stuff that you've provided made MES and the other mods as great as they are today.
All the talented creators I've worked with on various projects get a big shout out as well. Some of the ideas I've been able to make reality wouldn't have been possible without the talent and creativity these creators were able to provide. This also extends to all the streamers and youtubers that used my mods in their videos over the years. On top of providing some of the most entertaining content I've had the pleasure of enjoying, they've also given me some incredibly unique perspectives of how my mods functioned in a less controlled environment, which often lead to various improvements where I could identify opportunities.
I also want to give my appreciation to everyone that supported me on Patreon. It means the world to me that all of you enjoyed the content I had been working on enough to support me on this platform. This support allowed me to grow my content in many ways. Thank you all once again!
So what happens to MES and the other mods?
I'm not the type of guy who stops playing a game and nukes their own workshop. That wouldn't be fair to the people that enjoy the content, and would also be a huge slap in the face to all the other modders that have come to rely on the MES framework. All my mods will remain online, but I won't be actively working on them anymore, nor responding to comments on steam (there may be the odd exception once in a while).
If something in MES breaks because of a game update, and it doesn't require a large rewrite of affected code, I will likely still address these events (if I can). But if an update breaks the mod significantly, I probably won't be able to address that.
The best case scenario for the future of MES would be if someone else (single person or group) wanted to carry the torch forward and take over development of the mod framework. I'd be open to having those conversations with anyone that has the skill and desire to keep it going.
MES has an amazing and active community of players, modders, and other content creators. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this community continues to grow and thrive without me at the wheel.
What's next for me?
Years ago (back in highschool) I used to tinker with RPG Maker 2003. I wanted to be able to create my own game, but my skill limitations at the time ultimately prevented this. Nowadays, I know a lot more about the general principles of programming, and I'm starting to think that maybe I want to try my hand at game dev once again.
So this is what I'll likely be doing for the foreseeable future. It'll be like starting from scratch in a way, since I'm going to need to learn all new skills with some of the more modern game engines out there. But that's how I did it with modding in Space Engineers - start small, and slowly work upward. It'll still be a hobby to me, but maybe someday it will be something more.
I don't plan to disappear from this community and I'll still be around to chat once in a while. So with all that said:
Keep being awesome, and I'll see ya around!
Sad to see you go. Thanks for your work, good luck :)