Buckly has announced that he is stepping down as the game design team lead. Though he insists he will still be around, even if he isn’t able to put in as much time as he once could, it is necessary to recognize his contribution to this little thing called Thrive.
In 2019, TJWhale, the former game design lead, stepped down - leaving Thrive without a game designer on the team. With haste, the development team sought TJWhale’s replacement; the project had began an unsteady and surprising turn into becoming a legitimate game, and there was fear in both the community and the team of losing that momentum.
Then, Buckly joined the development team. He joined in a time of tremendous opportunity for the project, and yet, tremendous risk. Thrive was actually becoming something; but how would it take that next big step? There was a horde of question marks surrounding the most urgent design questions: what will the Microbe Stage look like? how would endosymbiosis work? What was needed to increase depth and engagement? How would we introduce information without overwhelming the player?
How do you put a scope on one of gaming’s most ambitious volunteer-driven projects, which was fighting a reputation of being vaporware?
I joined Thrive’s community in 2018, some months before Buckly joined the development team. When TJWhale announced their retirement, I was very worried about Thrive’s future; and when Buckly took up TJWhale’s mantle, I honestly didn’t know how a new face would be able to integrate with the project in a time of great volatility. It would not have been a surprise if Buckly took a single look at the state of the game back then, compared it to where it was supposed to be heading, and then ran as far away as he could from the project.
But he stayed. And he lead the thought behind the design of Thrive, snipping and shaping the scope and feel of our humble little project, into what it has become today. Under his tenure, Revolutionary Games Studio became a non-profit, transitioning from a completely volunteer-based project to a genuine non-profit with a full time employee. Under his tenure, the Microbe Stage had matured, to the point where it is now rapidly catapulting towards completion - something that, frankly, was not supposed to happen. Under his mantle, Thrive has become a legitimate video game, taking the reins from our legacy developers and turning it into a real, physical game.
Under his leadership, Thrive has become possible. Understand that I am not trying to say that he is the only reason why that is so. Hhyyrylainen is the bedrock of all that Thrive is and ever will be.
But this much is clear: Thrive would not be where it is without Buckly. The Microbe Stage - a culmination of the work of atleast a hundred volunteering developers throughout a decade, from Thrive’s time as a bunch of ideas to the present - was completed under Buckly’s watch and stewardship. It is impossible to understate how significant this is for Thrive.
This won’t be the last we hear from Buckly by any means, but he has gone above and beyond in being there for Thrive as the design team’s lead. This might not be a goodbye, but it is definitely a thank you. And I hope that the community will join me in giving their thanks to the designer who conceptualized the Microbe Stage.
Thank you, Buckly, for all that you have done. If you ever find some time again, do post another concept on the forums - God knows we can never run out of ideas!