Hello @khazrakh and very happy Christmas to you!

We lost contact all of a sudden and I never knew how/why and I thought I did something wrong, blaming me 100 percent for it. Please don't feel you have to say anything about it, that's okay. I thought maybe there was a very tiny bit of slim chance that it was you optimizing your time on a lot of projects at once.

I was also worried for a time that something happened, and that part was worse, so I am glad to see you seem okay!

About EXODE, our science fiction HIVE game, maybe you should give me 1-2 more months to package a few things (maybe one) but I can still give you a summary. Well, an elindos summary, sorry about that.

I certainly forgot a lot of things there but you know how it is.

Events and simplifications :

• We went to Berlin in June for a web3 live conference where we were exhibitors ; we spoke about blockchain ethics there!

• At Berlin we met a lot of the superb hive people! Would have been great to meet there with you! Was thinking about you a lot, but then again maybe Berlin is not close to you. However Berlin organization did cut all their marketing effort, there were almost no visitor except all the exhibition staffs of people.

• Tried to expand the dev team with interns and then one hired person. This did not stick because of a lot of events but this did provide a number of upgrades.

• First it was about a new prototype called EXODE Missions (still available here: https://exode.io/game/2325_alpha/ ). Eventually I thought EXODE Missions was still too technical and complex for players. But there are a lot of things that we will reuse, such as the concept of player shops which is not showed in the demo.

• We revised our exode.io website & presentation to switch it to beta content

• Tried to simplify onboarding on website

• Accepts ETH payments and logins

• Accepts email logins (though it's done from checkout)

• Made a new tutorial system and website faq and tutorials (keychain tutorial, and a nice new evacuation tutorial)

• Added a new beta pack opening service and beta card presentation

Content :

• Added 4 new starters (beta ones), which can now be opened and played
• Created a new Talent+ pack which can be used on any character and transform it into one of 7 unique version for this card
• Talent+ has "a talent reveal" which was already shared for almost all our legendary cards (you can check the #talent-discovery channel on our discord! it's fun). It makes dozens of new unique card variants.
• Created a new Colonization Console game client which is used to directly test API cases of colonization, such as assigning teams and citizens
• Some team projects and citizen assignments were specifically made for it ; but colonization is still a bit late
• Created a game loop of colonization (executing day one) ; but it's still a demo of your colonization game loop, with events and decisions.
• Burnt 500 million of EXOFUEL by shipping it to @null
• Unlocked the alpha boosters which were reserved for WAX
• Re-authorized and fixed upgrades on about 80 card models
• Worked on a new market pipeline to list something on EXODE and EXODE would publish the offer on other marketplaces automatically for the player, but that part is not ready yet as it did not receive priority.

So this was the 2023 events only and yes, we are still late.
It's not quite enough even if it's some content.

Q1 was about EXODE Missions and trying to expand the team,
Q2 was about the new website and content and possible audience and Berlin event,
Q3 was about work was on Colonization Console. I also wanted to work on some HIVE proposals but was so far a bit advised to be cautious here and not hope anything, but I plan in 2024 to go for it anyway, once EXODE is in full shape.

Q4 brought a lot new ideas such as Refit+ pack and expanded colonization console. But I also worked on a EXODE Factions prototype.

At the moment I am working on a major playable content, playable right after logging in which is called EXODE Factions. It will use our collection in direct playable content and is thought as something more fun and engaged than staking.

It uses inspiration from Star Trek Online "crew system", with missions which can succeed or fail, and gacha-addictive progression on characters.

Simply said, you unlock mission areas thanks to character traits and packs you have, and you can place cards and launch these missions! Some missions will be featured in campaigns meaning they have follow-up missions with consequences from the first steps. There is an addictive progression too to Factions characters.

EXODE Factions is envisioned because the new audience will like that: to have something they can directly play for more direct rewards.

We definitely need to enlarge the audience - the year 2023 was certainly difficult - and that's why I am also working at the moment on Stripe Integration, which is almost ready and receiving final touches. It's much better than Paypal, our paypal pipeline is becoming obsolete.

I am also plugging hive engine scripting to directly transfer / purchase currencies, but that part on hive engine is not ready yet. For now we show the hive engine currencies of players.

Colonization game loop is like a proof-of-concept which then needs to extend further, before we switch again to the graphical view of colonization. The console is more technical looking but I still am fond of that to be honest ;)

Unfortunately got sick earlier this week but almost recovered now!

I would love to see you back, but do as you want to be happy! in any case, thanks an immense stellar exoton for everything Khaz... you are an immensely great person. And wish you a super happy Christmas time!