Building NICHLYST: Explosions, Medication, and Rewriting 15 Days as a Novel You Can Fail

On Saturday evening, August 29th, I was lying on my sofa after eating way too much watermelon. I was taking a short break from writing the narrative core of my game, NICHLYST, pushing the limits of narrative game design for the RevenueCat Shipaton 2026. Then the shockwave hit. It sounded like heavy crushed stone slamming against sheet iron. The...