Against My Better Judgment

It's Wednesday.

Yesterday, I was still waiting for Microsoft to finish verifying The CybrThugs, LLC. Today, we're officially verified, authorized, and have a Microsoft Partner ID. Holy shit.

I've been screwing around with code since my Commodore 64 days in the 80s. And in the nearly 30 years since The CybrThugs started, Hypnotitron, KhaoticRage, and I have had more ideas, failures, and false starts than I care to count.

Then about a year ago, Hypnotitron came up with Lonely Ranch Games. Name and everything. I wasn't interested in starting another company. Been there, done that, got the failures to prove it. So the jerk dared me to make a game. And I did.

Now Neon Chain is on Google Play, Salvage Run is getting ready for release, LastLook is launching Friday, and Microsoft just verified our company. What the hell happened?

And I can't ignore how much things have changed since VantaQueen came into my life. The three of us have been chasing ideas for decades, but this time feels different. She's brought something into my life that I didn't realize I was missing. Someone who believes in me, pushes me, and somehow puts up with the ridiculous hours I spend writing code. And keeps me supplied with ice-cold Jolt Cola.

We're still trying to make all of this actually pay the bills. Microsoft verification doesn't magically put money in the bank. But for the first time in a long time, I'm looking at what we're building instead of everything that's gone wrong.