Year One

It’s been a year since I first started Survivor Incognito.

It began simply enough. Playing survival games on the Nintendo Switch, usually on easier difficulties, and adding my own permadeath rule on top.

The Long Dark was where it really started. One run at a time, seeing how long I could last, and writing down what happened along the way.

That was the foundation.

From there, it grew.

I started putting together map pages, partly for myself, partly to help anyone else trying to find their way around. Then came guides — working things out and writing them up properly. Getting things like ProMods running for Euro Truck Simulator 2 on the Steam Deck, documenting the steps so others didn’t have to figure it out from scratch.

Then the Steam Deck changed things.

It opened the door to recording. Instead of just writing about what happened, I could show it. No commentary, just the run as it played out.

Around that time, the rules started to shift.

Permadeath was still there, but it stopped being the default for everything. It made more sense to shape each run around a specific challenge instead.

Minecraft is probably the clearest example of that. The run doesn’t end because of a random death. It ends when one of two things happens — either I kill the Ender Dragon, or it kills me.

Same idea, different structure.

Then came something I didn’t expect to stick as much as it did.

Super Mario ROM hacks.

It started with the Super Mario 64 Randomizer. Then Super Mario 74. Then, after figuring out how to get Dolphin running on the Steam Deck, Super Mario Galaxy ROM hacks.

Different kind of challenge, but the same approach underneath it. Learn the system. Adapt. Keep going until it’s done or I’m stopped.

That’s where things are now.

I’ve naturally started leaning more into the Mario side of things, because that’s where I’ve had the most flow recently. That doesn’t mean everything else disappears — the survival diaries, the guides, the other runs are still there and still ongoing.

It just means I’m not forcing it.

If I’m not feeling a run, I’m not going to push through it just to get something posted. I’d rather wait and do it properly than put out something half-finished.

This project has always just been me, and it likely always will be. So it makes more sense to put the time and energy into what’s actually working, both for me and for the blog.

That’s the biggest change over the first year.

Not a shift away from anything. Just a better understanding of how I want to run things.

So to everyone who’s clicked, read, watched, or stuck around at any point — thank you.

Year one is done.

Let’s see what the next one looks like.