New year, new dream 2025

[Koi-Cricket]

Happy New Year

We wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. This year has had its ups and downs, but we are going into a new year with a positive outlook.

We are excited for new content this year. From interesting storylines to creative builds, our aim is to keep the experience fun. Stay tuned for updates, and we welcome suggestions on what you’d like to see in Underlight. This last patch that we had, we created rooms in each house facade for specific needs, which unfortunately have not been utilized for one reason or another. There were many other things added to help aid in roleplays and give a facelift to the game. There will be many new builds coming out and changes to levels, and code changes that will be seen in 2025. More roleplay prompts and things to come and is our hope that there is a lot of use that comes from them. Our next patch that we are currently testing, is waiting for more errors to be fixed, but will include a new house plane that has several roleplay prompts for you to engage with.

As we step into a new year, we want to take a moment to reflect on the past and share our vision for the future of Underlight. This game and community thrive because of its players, and we need everyone to commit to enhancing these visions with your own.

This past year has brought many changes to our community, with players coming and going for various reasons. Some drawn by nostalgia, others by the friendships they’ve built here, and many by their passion for roleplaying. Unfortunately, we also had the departure of three GMs, primarily due to inactivity or motivation. While real life priorities understandably take priority, we recognize the significant impact these changes can have on the game. This caused some setbacks with the story arcs and characters that no longer had a GM to run them, thus the murder-mystery that some of you did not enjoy. It is with hope that situations like this, you will understand that sometimes adjustments have to be made. Underlight does not always go as planned. It does not always happen the way you or I want. But that is the joy of Underlight, it does not need to follow a script and sometimes must go with the flow of things.

Additionally, we acknowledge other frustrations, including dissatisfaction with certain GMs, have contributed to player departures. Although issues like favoritism have been addressed over the years, are not currently a concern. We remain deeply committed to being fair. Our focus continues to be on supporting the community.

These issues often arise when players make it their mission to uncover the identities of GMs, including which characters they play and other personal details. They then make sure that they let everyone else know this information. This behavior diminishes the mystery to certain aspects of the game. As is the same as reaching out to a GM’s player account on discord to discuss GM related information is never appropriate, and it places the GM in an uncomfortable and unfair position.

We hope that 2025 is a year of respect. Where concerns are addressed responsibly, and feedback is shared constructively. This last year disgruntled GM's and players alike have both spread things that are not true in order to damage the integrity of team members, the game, players, and community. Underlight's success depends on mutual respect. Defaming Game masters or players, and spreading misinformation has no place in our community.

One of the pillars of Underlight is the diversity of character roles, including antagonists. Over time, we’ve paused antagonistic arcs due to complaints over the last few years. However, these roles are vital for depth within the game. We encourage players to engage constructively with antagonist characters. Let’s allow the game to grow through well rounded storytelling. If a player chooses to not interact, there are many aspects of the game where they can immerse themselves.

We have seen players hands often tied behind their backs because as with diversity of players, it is sometimes difficult to accept things within a story that is not liked. A GM lead story may not interest you, but it is a player's responsibility to keep it in character and play off of it as you wish. Sometimes we find ourselves not wanting to participate or involve ourselves in other players interests, and often times finding ourselves only choosing to participate in our own roleplays or interacting with our own clique or friends. Our vision this year is that GM's and players alike can interact authentically, without bias and adapt to something new or different. Accepting community members that may not be in the private discord channels, and acknowledging that as a small community, the bigger acceptance we have of other players, it broadens our options in game for roleplay and stories.

I cannot express enough that player involvement is the backbone of Underlight. The game will not be successful if players aren’t fulfilling their roles and pushing their own stories. Or only choosing to play when they know GM characters are in game. And with saying that, GM's need to also fulfill their roles and support players in pushing their stories as well, be it through our PC's, or GM support. This year I have seen more players individually leading things then I have in the past several years. So many unique and different ideas. I won't name names, but you know who you are. There have been so many positive trends this past year, but there’s always room to grow. Logging in to engage with the community as a whole, collaborating with others, and driving unique storylines will help Underlight thrive, and it is our hope that we continue this trend.

For specialized roles like MTs and Dreamsmiths -accountability is key. Over the last several years we have seen players receive marks but then fall stagnant. Players have lost their marks due to inactivity, work to get them back, then go somewhat stagnant again. After this last patch, we made some changes to the mark that were not completely accepted. Players that worked hard to gain higher spheres and get their arts up were able to receive MT if they were up to a certain standard.

I'm not sure if people didn't realize this or not, but that is basically the same requirement as before, other than allowing players to always keep this mark even if they leave the city and return sometime later. Anyone was able to get the mark if they had their arts to a certain standard. The only real change was that players didn't need to get voted on, which did illuminate unfairness and bias. I think it is a matter of perception how we presented it. But if you look at the big picture, you all got what you had wanted.

We understand that the ease of regaining past roles and items without accountability can lessen their significance and this may be the issue you had with this. It is our duty as a player with the mark to give significance to it by actions and effort. Going into this year, always remember that you as a player, if there is something you are not happy with (a change or a rule). You have the ability in character to fight for this, to address it in game.

Although at the end of the day Underlight is a game, it is a unique one that sparks passion. To keep the uniqueness, it is essential to separate in character (IC) and out of character (OOC) feelings, and crossover. Our hope is to maintain a positive experience, ensuring that these tensions don’t disrupt the game for ourselves or others.

This year let's be unique in our story writing, let's use our own imaginations and writings to speak through our own creativity. This is a roleplaying game where we can let our imaginations come to life. We shouldn't take that for granted by using programs to do it for us. (Not referring spelling/grammar check) Also please remember copywrite laws when you are quoting song lyrics, poems, etc. I hope we embrace this coming year with this in mind.

This year, we challenge all of us to step up and create, innovate, and drive the momentum of the game. If we all take responsibility for this community, we’ll ensure not only its longlivity but success of the game.


Thank you for being a part of this journey. Here’s to a year of unforgettable adventures!