Heading Into 2025, A Year in Review - RIB24

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Heading Into 2025, A Year in Review

        Happy New Year! I wanted to thank everyone for the support I’ve had since founding Destrier Studios just over a year ago. I’ve interacted with many wonderful people, learned more than I ever have about all sorts of beautiful things, and have made great strides in my personal life. I’m heading into my last semester of college, the future isn’t too clear after that but I remain optimistic and look forward to stepping into a new part of my life. I’m only 22 and yet I feel that I started this business later than I should’ve. Had I done so earlier, I wouldn’t be behind in so many skills I still need in order to make my dreams come true. Nevertheless, there’s no time like the present, and so I’ve recently been making a concerted effort to study graphic design (excuse the poor format of this blog, I plan to remedy that in time), art, coding, game design, and 3D modeling among other things. It’s foolhardy of me to try learning all of these things by myself but at the same time progress is steady and it’s simply something I feel I must do.

        There are two immediate goals I need to meet early in 2025. The first is making the reviews I owe to so many wonderful creators. School has kept me more busy than I ever have been, I’ve joined two research labs and got a part-time job, but that’s no excuse for not meeting obligations. I have reviews due for multiple video games, some tabletop roleplaying games, and a board game. I formed this blog in Spring 2024 primarily as a way to record a small fraction of the cool things I come across, and secondarily to build up my company’s body of work and presence on social media. I didn’t expect anyone to read what I put out, but in less than a year it has amassed 3000+ reads and led to multiple connections and opportunities with hopefully plenty more to come. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

        Lastly, I’d like to address my current project, Knock for 6. The skills I learn are going towards its development and release, which will be staggered across ever building iterations as I hone it through playtests and community feedback, before culminating in a crowdfunding campaign. The current goal is to release a Quickstart Beta, for which I need to finalize a few rules, trim the whole of it down to what is appropriate for a quickstart, and release it digitally, most likely on DTRPG but possibly through other avenues as well. The digital version will be updated throughout development and printed upon finalization in zine format. The digital version will of course be free across all iterations and platforms. I don’t plan to sell this physically, though it will most likely be a free add-on to the campaign release. The game will probably have its core in the form of a bound rulebook with additional zine supplements, but these details are for later. Currently, my objective is to work on my graphic/game design and art skills until I have something halfway presentable as a beta release, and the tentative goal for that will be in mid to late Spring 2025 or earlier. Beyond that, I have other plans, but those will come to fruition in their own time.

Thank you again for your kindness and support thus far, I look forward to creating plenty of things for you and your loved ones to enjoy,

Nikhil Saxena

Founder, Destrier Studios

https://linktr.ee/destrierstudios

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