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Ahoy gentle reader and a merry turn of the seasons to you!

All is well in the James household. Eunice is peachy and Jude is doing great. I have quite a set of pics and videos I need to upload. He seems to have discovered the tantrum, but I am optimistic about my strategic response to this occasional flailing madness.

Talking of HWFO, Three Rings is also doing great. The big news is that Spiral Knights is doing really well! Last week we launched on Steam and, whilst I am not presently able to take my usual liberties with the numbers, I can point out that we seem to have been in the top ten games by concurrent players on Steam (Steam admirably publishes these numbers, Spiral has been around ~6-12k) more or less ever since. Exciting times!

I will pen a longer post about Spiral Knights’ development someday, but for now I would like to congratulate the team on a heroic job and a wonderful game. Thanks also to SEGA and our partners.

Other projects at ooo proceed apace, but I can’t say anything about those. I can thank the whole team from the bottom of my heart for their Herculean labours towards good works.

I still worry about the end of the world, but Eunice and I did Neighborhood Emergency Response Team training (often called CERT), so we’re a bit better prepared! I would recommend it.

This solstice greeting brought to you by Jessie J – Price Tag ft. B.o.B., a cheery tune that Jude likes, which was brought to you by DJ Earworm – Party on the Floor (another potent cocktail of pop, UK flavoured) and Jessie J – Price Tag (Rizzle Kicks vs Rural Remix) (Rizzle Kicks are good!)

Earlier Jude and I walked the dogs up the hill. The sun went down a little early behind the fog — rolling in over a very lovely day, just in time for summer. I regaled my captive audience with stories of sorcerers who made the day last forever, and the heroes that battled them.

Wishing you splendid summers, – Daniel

Greetings loyal reader. I hope you are well!

As is traditional around here, I write to wish you a Merry Winter Solstice, the turning of the year and beginning of a new cycle.

Last night we had the pleasure of an extraordinary astronomical co-incidence, a full lunar eclipse on the solstice’s eve. I was fortunate with the weather and managed to catch some of the waxing through intermittent cloud and drizzle, out walking the dogs and then sneakily up on the roof of our building. The cloud came in just as the last sliver of moonlight winked away. Later I caught a glimpse of a mostly red full moon as the eclipse waned. If your hippy tolerance is high you might enjoy this post about the lunar eclipse on the solstice.

It has been a good year for the family, preoccupied in the main with our new master who is ten months old this week. Eunice has been keeping the ridiculously cute posts thick and fast over at Jude’s fabulous blog. Most of what I could say about having a child will sound familiar; it is wonderful and lots of hard work. Every day he becomes a little more of a boy and less of a baby, but I can foresee the quiet joy of cajoling him to sleep on my shoulder lasting for years, yet! You might notice the familial resemblance here:

For Three Rings it has also been a good year and I’m very proud of our team. We worked on some Facebook games, an iPad version of Corpse Craft, a couple of projects with partners that I can’t talk about yet, Puzzle Pirates (of course), and a very shiny new MMO that, after many years of development, is finally getting close to launch. Look for a post on that early in the New Year.

Given that last year it seems I did pretty well with my Predictions for Social Games, I will try to have another go-around with the crystal ball this year (and maybe bust out the scorecard, too…) So, you can expect another post or two before too long!

For now, though, the shortest day is winding down and I have to get to the pub! Life is good. Best wishes for the next turn of the wheel, friends.