August, 15th 2016. The date of my first post. A pretty bad post with a bad title and a bad image.
August, 15th 2019. Nothing much has changed: I still write bad posts, with terrible long headlines and bad images. But now, the blog is three years old, and I have more VR friends!
Happy birthday The Ghost Howls!
Tomorrow will be the birthday of my blog: these have been three years full of lots of good and bad things. They have flown so fast, and I still feel as I have just begun… also because I have always the same sensation after I hit the “Add new (post)” on WordPress: what am I going to write now?
Blogging is a hard process: it seems easy from outside, but it requires lots of time and dedication. And if you do that while you’re actually trying to be an entrepreneur, well, it’s even worse. But I love being a bit a blogger, a bit an entrepreneur and a bit a developer, even if in any case I have no idea what I’m doing. My passion for immersive realities, my willing to help the community, my wish to succeed and also a bit of masochism keep me doing what I am doing.
The last 12 months of my working life have been great. I’ve lived some special moments, like:
- Attending the Gamescom;
- Developing our first mixed-reality game, Hit Motion: Reloaded, together with Max and the other people at NTW;
- Launching the game directly at the VEC in Shenzhen as one of the 20 launch titles of the Vive Focus Plus;
- Attending the Sandbox Immersive Festival and meeting great people like Simon Hung and Eloi Gerard (and many others!);
- Making my first VR speech inside the CPDinVR event by Steve Bambury;
- Having great news on my website, like the deep dive on Dexmo gloves or the scoop on Xiaomi disbanding its Mi VR team.
There have been other things that have filled my heart, like when, also thanks to my blog, Jason Moore has been able to complete its Kickstarter campaign on its innovative Metamovie experience.
There have been bad things as well. We had all to give our farewell to the beloved Chris Long. My VR business is getting better, but due to the unripe market, it is still not super-profitable. I’ve been told not-so-pleasant things about my blogging activity (like that I’m biased, I’m corrupted, I speak like a robot, etc…).
That’s life… ups and downs. But now, let’s focus on the good stuff, and especially the birthday… how am I going to celebrate?
Let’s have fun together!
How can I celebrate a birthday if not with a little party?
Join my celebrations on Friday, August, 16th from 10 am to 11 am CEST and from 7 pm to 8 pm CEST. I have decided two moments during the day so that to make the meeting possible for all people in all continents.
The party will take place in Enea Le Fons’s UXR social WebVR environment. I chose UXR not only because Enea is a friend, but also because:
- It is completely secure, with all the communications encrypted;
- It doesn’t store any of your data;
- It may work also from China;
- It doesn’t require you to install anything, just click on a link;
- It is completely cross-platform: it can work both from VR and non-VR devices. You can even enter it from your smartphone!
It is still in the works, so there may be some glitches here and there, but this can also make the party funnier. Enea has prepared for me a yacht scene, so we can have a VR yacht party together!
There is not a plan on what to do on those hours on Friday… we will just meet, hang around on the yacht and talk about VR, blogging, life, and whatever you want. I want it this way, to be relaxing and a bit messy… without having to organize a structured boring moment in which I talk and the other people listen. Let’s make some noise!!
If you are interested, you can find me and Enea on August, 16th at 10am and 7pm CEST following this link: https://go.uxr.zone/sYtzp89/the-ghost-howls-birthday
UPDATE: If the scene in that link doesn’t work, or you don’t find anyone, follow this other link https://hubs.mozilla.com/6ujLQ4T/infatuated-firm-huddle . Some people complained the original scene was too heavy (because it was full of cool stuff), so we created a lighter one.
Or by scanning the QR Code of this invitation:
Do you want to meet me in the open metaverse?
Wait, there is something more…
As a gift, Enea has also prepared for me some Skarredghost-branded stuff that you can buy on Zazzle, so that to sustain my work. My favorite is the dartboard, that you can use to vent all your anger towards me
…or… do you want to hug a Skarredghost-teddy-bear?
Fill your house with stuff branded with the VR ghost! 🙂
…and more…
At the end of this week, I will also publish a long post with lots of pieces of advice for wannabe VR entrepreneurs. In these years, I have made so many errors, that I think that it would be good if all the other people wanting to enter this industry can avoid them. It will be especially good for newbies, and I hope it can help a lot of people. If people will like it, maybe I can expand it into a free PDF.
…and a last thing before I go
Without you that read my posts, I would have probably given up blogging some years ago. I’m continuing because I see a lot of people that appreciate and encourage my work every day. Matias, Rob, Ivan, Damien, Robert, Alvin, Daniel, Messias… all my Patreon supporters (please join!)… and many others… I’m very pleased to know that there are people out there that like what I do. Thanks to every one of you. My little successes are all because of you.
Let’s make this birthday great! See you on the 16th!
UPDATE: Here you are some videos from the party location!