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Season 1, 2026

2026-04-04

Hello, dear reader, and welcome to the end of season 1, 2026! These recaps sure don't look to be getting any shorter. I have included some images in this seasons recap, and although they might not be very relevant a lot of the time, they are basically all of the pics I have taken for the first 3 months of the year.

Season 1 Goals

> Learn about plant keeping, and get some indoor plants ðŸŠī
I did pick up 2 new indoor plants this season, and I am a bit more aware of how to keep them happy and healthy. I wouldn't say I gained green thumbs overnight, and I haven't suddenly become obsessed with raising house plants, but I do feel a little bit better about keeping them alive :)

> Have the first local Game Audio meetup 🎧
This was the hardest to accomplish, but I did manage to make it happen. It was small (literally as small as a meetup can get), but things are lining up well for it to be much more involved in the future. At the moment it's just me heading this stuff up, and I know it's appreciated, so I'm excited to actually get everyone in the same room.

> Stream twice a week 📚
Yeah look this didn't happen, but Thursday nights line up well for me when I'm feeling up to it, so I'm glad that it remains to be a fun, easy, and worthwhile pursuit. I don't think I really like streaming things I'm working on, maybe because I know it's a bit boring, and also my stuff is often tied in with other people's work. For now I'm retiring work streams, but that doesn't mean they're gone for good.

Overall, the stakes weren't super high here, mainly as I didn't really know what I was getting in to. Freelancing from home full time is a new experience for me, and I'm hoping I can figure out how to make it work best for me in the near future.

Season 1 Recap

Sunset, Jan 17 2026

This season feels like it could be split into 2 parts. The first: very active, trying lots of stuff out. The second: burnout (who saw that coming?). The silver lining here, is that now there has been like 3 consecutive seasons with this same pattern of hyperactivity into a slump, so with the pattern established, it's a bit easier to implement some preventative measures (more on that later).

Global Game Jam

I took part in the Global Game Jam this year! It was a bit different for me this time around, as I was part of the audio collective, who were freelancing across multiple projects. This was pretty fun, and it was great to get to share knowledge with other game audio folks. As a part of this I made 2 pieces of music and I think they both turned fine. Obviously they were rushed (that's kind of the whole point), but I was able to push myself in some styles I hadn't really dealt with before. Unfortunately neither of the tracks ended up making it into their respective games, which is a bit disappointing, but I was able to have fun at the event regardless.
I'm not sure if I would participate in a jam in the same capacity again, though. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time, but I found I really did just want some time to sit with a game engine and have some fun putting something dinky together. (Something I found myself longing for basically all season).

Game Club: Final Fantasy X

My desk while I was playing Final Fantasy X

One of the standout inclusions of this season was playing Final Fantasy X as a part of a little game club. I had previously tried FFX, and struggled to stick with it, but this season, a group of three of us made our way through the game alongside each other, and it's been a great time. We settled into a fortnightly routine, with about 2 hours of game time to talk about at each meeting (thanks Elly for scheduling it out so well!). We're about to have our final meeting for the game, where we will (hopefully) finish it all together! The game itself has been an interesting experience, and I'm glad I was able to see it through to the end, especially since it's not the type of game I would complete on my own. After FFX, we're jumping straight into Final Fantasy VII, which none of us have played before, very exciting!

Memory Card Audio

McWirters from afar

Overall a pretty productive season in terms of audio making. This season saw a substantial amount of work, including my first contract outside the usual sphere. It was great to work across a variety of teams and styles. There was, as expected, plenty of team managing and document wrestling included, but that's always worthwhile. Overall I worked on 6(!?) separate projects in varying capacities. The long term projects are all trucking along well, and each have seen pretty significant achievements this season, which is very heartwarming to see. The short term projects went smoothly, and I felt like I was able to execute while keeping the balance between speed and quality. The first half of this season I was also pretty proactive with skills upkeep, with the strongest piano practise routine I've had for a while. Unfortunately, hitting the burnout wall meant the habit was broken for a few weeks.

Burnout

Surfers Paradise at midday

Halfway through Feb (almost exactly halfway through the season lol) I had a big day travelling around for some field recording. It was long, sunny, and required lots of walking on foot. Afterwards I was pretty wiped, as expected, but I had a chill weekend ahead of me and I was banking on that being enough to recover, ready for more work in the new week.

Obviously this wasn't enough, and it meant my energy levels hadn't recovered. I foolishly thought I could ride it out until a week off that I had pencilled (which is basically right now, 6 weeks later; way too far away in retrospect).

This meant that I found myself in a similar position to when I was working from home a couple of years ago, zombified in front of the desk, without any energy or drive to contribute to anything meaningful, as well as feeling guilty enough to keep persevering until the business hours had whittled away for the day. During this kind of burnout, the strength of my executive function is hit hard, and I struggle to get started on anything, regardless of how involved it may be. Working on creative stuff is even tougher, as I often have to just power through sub-par work, which then cycles back into me being avoidant of the work as it isn't something I'm proud of.

It sucks. And it doubly sucked this time because instead of being able to hide behind the needs of some other person or company like before, this was all my own doing. Fortunately, I'm now in a position where I can make changes to ensure this doesn't happen again. It's especially important as I'm in a creative field, it is my job to make sure I'm delivering good work, which means I have to feel energised and happy before that can even start.

So, in order to address this here are the adjustments I'm making going into Season 2, 2026:

  1. If the signs of burnout are appearing, schedule some time off.
    Usually this presents itself with my morning routine starting to fall apart, and my attention span being reduced pretty significantly. Time off here has to be at least 3 consecutive days completely free of tasks that other people are relying on. I think this can also apply on a smaller scale too, finishing work a little early, or pivoting to some personal work instead.

  2. Shorten milestone periods and limit concurrent milestones.
    Previously, milestones were 2-4 weeks long and were just used to contain any tasks for that project in that time. I want to make an effort to make these more concentrated and use them to make sure I'm not spread over too many projects at once, allowing me to not spend mental energy trying to juggle heaps of stuff.

  3. Take calls outside the studio
    I've found that the constant communication inside the workspace just leads to me getting distracted and worrying too much about the judgement of the work, rather getting in the zone. Hopefully, taking calls outside the room will mean I can keep that space feeling more private and intentional.

I'll report back with the success of these next recap!

A rudimentary 3D rendering of the flat where I live.

[I modeled my flat this season. I didn't take too long, and it means we can plan for new furniture or rearrangements really easily. This picture was taken a little before it was fully complete.]

Media Log

Movies

Cinema standee for Avatar: Fire & Ash

Games

Books

TV

Kitchen bench with a tablet playing Frieren

Season 2 Forecast

All things considered, Season 1 went well, but I pushed myself beyond my stamina, and didn't give myself time to recover. Looking to Season 2, balance is the name of the game.

Talent Quest

Flatscreen TV with ending screen of Mario 64

Earlier this year, the friend group decided to undertake a 3 month stint where we each learn a new skill, and then present it back to the group in a showcase event at the end (Thanks Michael for spearheading this!). Zoe suggested I try a speedrun and I though this was a great idea, so after some research, I landed on the 16-star category for Mario 64. The goal here is to get the run down to the 17 minute mark by the end date (For reference, my unpractised run came in at 1h39m29s, and the current world record is in the 14 minute range). I've already done a few runs, and it's fun to see the progress happening in real-time. If you are so inclined you can watch these runs streamed on my twitch page. I am hoping that the skills and mindset utilised here can be brought across to other parts of my life, but who knows.

Game Audio Brisbane

The first meetup of the year is in the books! Just this week I had a meeting with someone at a potential venue and they seem keen to have us which is very exciting and encouraging. I want to make sure this event is enjoyable for everyone, as it's kind of the tone setter for the rest of them now that the ball is rolling. On top of this I want to make sure to try and reach out to as many games audio peeps I can think of and get them in the loop. Not sure about students or general public yet, I feel that I want to make sure everything is feeling solidified before we fully open up to a wider circle of people. I also want to try to put together a poster or flyer for the event, ideally commissioning a local artist 👀

Final Fantasy 7

With FFX done and dusted, the game club is swiftly moving on to the series's most prominent entry: Final Fantasy 7. None of us have played before, which is new for us, and we're all keen to learn what the heck everyone is talking about when it comes to this game. I put together a little presentation to kick it off a few days ago, and it was great fun to learn why this game took off as much as it did (my conclusion was that between FF6 and 7, 3D consoles became prominent, and amongst the inevitable "console wars" discussion, 7 presented itself as a gargantuan release on 3 discs, not possible to have been released on the 64s cartridges. Combined with the fact that there had been no Final Fantasy releases in 3 years, and no 3D console RPGs ever up to that point, it became a lightning rod for spectacle.)

Events

Season 2 is going to come to a close shortly after Queensland Games Fest, which I'm sure will be a great time. Nothing is confirmed yet, but there are a few projects I'm working on which I'm sure will be pushing for fresh builds and a strong presence at this festival. It's most definitely going to be heaps of work leading up to the event, so I want to make sure I'm fully prepped to give it my all. This probably means taking a week off mid-May.

Goals for Season 2

> Minimise time spent in burnout. Maximise times of effective rest. This is the big one for S2. Using the methods described above, I'm going to make an effort to make sure I'm operating at a reasonable temperature throughout the season. I've already pencilled in that week off in the middle of May, and I won't hesitate to take more time for myself if it feels remotely necessary. I would much rather overcorrect here than end up in the same spot after 3 more months.

> Make a small game
Timing for this will be a key factor (especially considering the previous goal), but I want to keep making small things on my own, and experimenting with game design and development on a small scale. I think having a project that only I'm accountable for will be good for me overall. I've always enjoyed both my time and the product on these small scale things.

> Have fun making music It can be tricky when everything you make is presented for immediate judgement. This is just one of the things you have to deal with when you're working in a creative field. I has been a while since I've felt that I've had fun sitting down and making music for any reason. I'm sure there are a multitude of factors at play here, but I do want to get to the point where I can express something about myself through sound, and have fun in the process. This is the trickiest of the three I think, but if it's something I can achieve, it will be a great sign that I'm finding the balance.

Bonuses:
> Mario 64 16-Star in 17min
> Increase number of Game Audio Brisbane members & have a fun meetup
> QLD Games fest

Trix lying on the grass

Thanks for reading, here's to a well balanced Season 2.
Live your dream,
- Oscar

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