Editorial: Explaining GOTY + Behind the Scenes and What Comes Next

In a somewhat unorthodox post, today we’re diving into a lot of stuff that’s been happening behind curtains, explaining what’s going and giving a brief overview of both current circumstances and what comes next.

It is safe to say the last period of weeks have been fun, adventurous, risky and an unpredictable but great learning experiment. A lot of lessons will hopefully be learned from this.

So, What’s GOTY?​

The GOTY project is something that was kickstarted around a month ago by this very same author. The initial goal was to form a three-man crew minimum. Which grew to be a 5-guy crew…! …only for it to shrink back to being a 3-man band once more. C’est la vie, I suppose.

Things went rather swimmingly, however. The contributions on @Jusaiki and @Hikari.EXE’s parts cannot be understated, and it was great what came of it. It is instead what happened on this author’s end that was heading in a disastrous.

Experimenting… is Hard​

Sometimes it is more important to take a swing and fail than to not swing at all… or something. American idioms aren’t the author’s best quirk. Sillily worded idioms aside, there was unfortunately no clear template. Everything was new. The intention was to attempt to breathe life or do something unique and creative, and try something new. There wasn’t a grandiose plan to all this. It was all just for fun, but it’s tough to deny when something grows beyond its initial scope.

There’s some form of responsibility that gets placed when you when you feel there’s now new social expectations to meet. It is easy to perceive things as being bigger or harder than they are, but it became immediately noticeable how everyone really wanted this to succeed and it was a delight to see! Passion is an aspect that is fun to encourage. It felt great making meaningful connections with a fellow Arab like @Jusaiki and help both him and @Hikari.EXE get their feet off the ground. It was hard not to feel some semblance of pressure knowing that you were the reason people are publishing their first articles on this website. It’s humbling and flattering for sure, but to maintain the integrity of the project, one must not have too much creative input. Which wasn’t the case here, thankfully. Both writers let their personalities flourish with minimum input from the head-honcho’s part. No one likes a micro-manger, after all. And guidelines were also quite loose and easy to follow.

But… Group Projects Are Hard to Manage​

The final part that needed to be established was… deadlines. It might sound like an artificial thing to implement in something meant to be more casual, but it was intended to gauge interest, as well as place a time-frame for new projects. This was not intended to be the only community driven project, but starting more than one proved to be unwise, so that part was evaded.

They’re hard to be a line that needed establishing. By having a deadline, it would make it much smoother to move on to other stuff and gauge how external circumstances could interfere.

But Then, The Worst Happened​

Both getting sick and losing internet proved to be… impossible to predict. While it would’ve been nice to get the third GOTY article out, some things are not meant to be. Even this editorial piece struggled to come out. It’s a miracle this is getting published at all with how awful connections have been lately.

So, What’s Next?​

A lot of stuff! With this being behind us all, now we can truly move on to fresher, more exciting projects! A lot of it is under wraps, some of it will be a collaboration with @Jusaiki (and maybe even @Gorse ? Wink, wink). Please look forward to it! It’s gonna be really fun to announce what comes next!

For Now, Sickness Calls….. Continue? [ Yes / No ]​

Being sick is not fun. Being physically unable to write is not fun. Life is not fun. This is unpleasant, let’s end things on a happier note!

It’s Been a Pleasure​

It can’t be understated how big of an honor it was to not only orchestrate all this, but to work with everyone who collaborated, contributed, make new friends and get inspiration for future community-driven projects. It’s gonna be an exciting set of next months. Sayonara and take care!

Edit made on January 6th​

Hi everyone! I’m happy to announce @berkough has published their review! Please head over to their article for more information. Once again, I am truly grateful!

 

[Hikari.EXE]

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to partake in the project, even though I never wrote an article before. Take care, hope to see you well soon.

 

[fake-kun]

I can say nothing except wish you good luck.

 

[Inkingsama]

No way, the first lost media of the forum... the mysterious third GOTY article that never came to be because the author fell to an illness... never to be known it's contents.

Looking forward to more articles from you guys, it's great to see new content on the site almost daily. Best wishes in future projects and get well yousef.

 

[Laura Zonih]

I would like to say that I find group projects like these fascinating.
Something interesting and unexpected always happens.

I wish you luck, you are extremely important in this small community.

 

[Stingy Perry]

Good luck can’t wait for your next stories and more power to you.

 

[Jusaiki]

Thank you so much for the opportunity, it was an honor truly.... even tho we went thro all these flaming hoops I still had fun making mine, it was a start yes, and we learned our mistake so that's a plus either way, can't wait for 2025 projects

 

[Yousef]

I would like to say that I find group projects like these fascinating.
Something interesting and unexpected always happens.

I wish you luck, you are extremely important in this small community.

Thank you so much. These comments mean absolutely the world to me and it’s a fantastic motivator to keep going! It’s always pleasant reading your comments, Amiga!