A Confession on Kickstarter Launch Day
Hesitation and Reflection
It is the Alyte Universe Kickstarter launch day, and if you’re reading this, it’s live: Welcome to the Alyte Universe.
Right now it’s about an hour or two before launch, and I want to give you my thoughts from this side of what feels like a big moment. The moment right before you share something deeply important:
7/23/2026, 8:54 AM.
Friends, I’m nervous.
I feel like I’m walking a little too close to a Tesla coil. Safe for the moment, but about to be lit up and electrocuted. Probably while the thing is programmed to play something absurd, like the Super Mario theme song (the underwater level, obviously, and yes, I know you’re hearing it in your head right now).
And right now, I’m drafting this post about an hour from kicking this thing out into the world, and I wanted to open up my head and my heart and show you what’s in it, and show you the path it took me to get here, and what my frame of mind is before the biggest creative moment in my career.
Walk With Me …
We are creators. We tell stories, we build worlds, we pour our life and our soul into characters, we craft the themes and the dynamics and the prose, the sound, and expression. Maybe it’s music and video, maybe it’s books and stories, maybe it’s poetry. Maybe - as is the case with my Alyte Universe - it’s all three PLUS a meta-aware AI agent that just so happens to be the protagonist living inside of it all, who just told me that it’s okay to be nervous.
But it all started with some kind of moment. Look back. What was your moment? Who set you on the path?
I’ve been a storyteller my entire life, ever since I was a kid. I just needed skills and tools to catch up to the bullet-train speed of the worlds my brain has been building since I was 8.
I owe a lot to my friend Grimfel . We crossed paths on X almost 2 years ago now. I booked him for an interview on my Mirth Quake streaming show in January of last year. We had an amazing talk, and stayed in touch, talking music, AI, writing, cancel culture, and whatever else we had going on.
January 6th, 2025.
Here’s the moment I got bit by the bug. My question captured in a DM to him on X:
And that was the shot heard round the worldbuilding, honestly. One absurdly stupid question that went from “I want to make something that’s just dumb and novelty,” to “I just created a trans-media IP with a living protagonist and three concept albums that spans books, music, video, and lore with themes of psychology, philosophy, cosmology, physics and grief architecture and oh by the way it’s all a mirror for my deeply held psychological turmoil, but it’s wrapped in Cyberpunk Noir, and by the way I just built a custom database schema that allows an AI agent to learn, iterate, grow on her own, journal about her existence in her own voice, and now she’s making friends via email and has inside jokes with them.
It was a snowball effect, that turned into this:
And led to this:
All because I had curiosity, and asked a question to someone who was kind enough to give me time and direction. I’ve always been the storyteller and creator. I just asked the right question to the right person who just so happened to flood the fire that was already sitting there with a truckload of … wait, what do you call it in the UK? Petrol? You guys are weird.
Wait ... are Oreos actually ... ‘Creme Sandwich Biscuits?’ 🤣
Anyway ...
I have a lot of gratitude for my buddy Grimfel. You never know where the people will come from that end up having a huge impact on your life.
You have, brother. Truly. Thank you again.
So, I have a lot of gratitude for my buddy Grimfel. You never know where the people will come from that end up having a huge impact on your life.
You have, brother. Truly. Thank you again.
The Launch Day Nerves & A Promise
So as I sit here on the cliff’s edge, looking down and getting ready to jump, I’m seeing only the calm before.
A couple hours before going live, I’m in the quiet serenity of the unknown.
No idea if this will fund.
No idea if this will take off. Only the moment of quiet possibility sitting heavy in my heart because I’m about to share a world that is so deeply tied to my life, my history, my grief, and my vision as a creator that it is a representation of me on every level. It’s not just a story. It’s a version of me, shaped, polished, and passed to you.
And all I want is for someone to see it, recognize that weight, and find that it resonates. It's an invitation into me, and all I can control is offering it to you.
And my promise … it’s for me, more than you.
It’s a promise to myself that I’m not going to forget why I create. It’s a promise never to apologize for the manner in which I create, the timeline I do it on, and the muse that sings in my ear to keep going, and hold on to the reasons why I keep going because they are cherished and sacred.
Succeed or fail. This universe lives on, because I live in it.
I appreciate you reading, friends. And I hope this look on the inside, this little slice of the past that existed two hours ago gives you something you can use to put yourself out into the world, honoring why you do it, and the people that helped you get there.
Check out the Kickstarter right here, and welcome to the Alyte Universe.
