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✎ Artist and Builder of cool stuff
ᨒ Seattle / Adventuring
ULTRA is still very much in progress, but I wanted to share why I’ve been so quiet on socials: been busy developing!!
There is still a lot of work to go, but you are welcome to follow along by checking intermittently on socials, subbing to my mailing list (at Ekpap.com, and yes will send out an email soon) or through supporting by buying Murder of King Mere on Steam.
The game still looks pretty horrible imo, and it’s very buggy, but I’m working on it. It’s only up from here.
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04/02/2026
The flowers are blooming, the snow is slushifying, and Plien April begins!
I’m deep in the snow slush developing ULTRA (trail running Mario kart) so been a bit quiet on socials (only like 0-2 posts a week right?) but I’m progressing slowly on rigging characters, creating awesome movement tech, and researching flora for accurate running trails.
Speaking of snow, I’ll be circling back to Murder of King Mere next week to fix some bugs, typos, and work on a new update.
And in other news, been working on some contracts on the side.
Not committing to a full Plien April just yet because I’m not sure if I have time, but would be lovely to draw outside everyday.
Thanks for reading :)
03/23/2026
The Heraldic Troll being added to Murder of King Mere in the next update.
Additional fixes coming + lore below:
Lore:
This is one of the few Heraldic Trolls. Through great dreamer skill, a Herald can be bound to a stone statue. This locks the Heralds mind in Stasis, preventing them from going insane (common among Heralds, humans who can experience thousands of cycles of rebirth while their mind endures). When in Stasis, they remember everything before the stasis, but have a working memory of about a few weeks. This prevents their cognition from being overloaded.
This troll is Arlo, a Herald who was integral to the founding of the Dog Empyre, and advisor to the first Empyer Lukyn I. He was on his 1200th cycle when he was bound to the troll.
Other fixes:
- there’s an issue with textures not loading. Fixing that.
- fixing some of Stewards dialogue where his voice is not consistent
- updating the controls map
- fixing the camera snap to be more chill
- increasing Citrius and Roman’s volume again (changes didn’t export??)
- typo fixes
- troll
03/08/2026
I’ve been playing , loot goblining with friends on Tau Ceti, so decided to make my favorite shell enjoying a nice cup of tea.
I genuinely love the art direction of this game, and it’s been a huge inspiration for the pre production of ULTRA.
This painting is a apart of my daily art challenge, mARTch, where I try to make a little painting / drawing everyday :)
03/07/2026
Concept art for my next game- ULTRA.
These are the Spires.
When the world fell to the flames of greed and fear, humanity fell with it.
Societal and environmental collapse, destruction, death.
But the Robots found a way out: a way to ascend the bounds the mortal coil humanity ensnared them to. The Robot built the Spires, collectively known as the Ascendancy.
Some now call them the “Creation of Adam” named after a long lost Fresco. Others call them GOD, yet others call them Fangs.
Regardless what they are called, The Ascendancy rules. The Ascendancy knows all. The Ascendency hosts the ULTRA.
day 7
I went backpacking to Mt. St Helens last week and thought I would record this fun little video :)
Murder of King Mere is a murder mystery where you, an Apprentice detective, are sent to the city of ink to solve a case of regicide!
This past week I’ve been working on my next game, ULTRA, so been a bit quiet.
I’ve only been hinting at it, but I am ramping up to share more: the last week I managed to get a full peer-to-peer multiplayer setup in addition to LAN. ULTRA will be much more of a party game, but also will be steeped with the story that many players enjoyed with Murder of King Mere.
All I will say at this point/ ULTRA literally refers to the activity of running ultras. Think silly-philosophical gorp-core Mario kart, with aesthetics inspired by Bungie’s Marathon and running sneakers.
You can support me developing ULTRA by checking out Murder of King Mere :)
Also, on Darkway: once I get my current contracts finished up, will be shifting to spending more time finishing the Darkway book (currently 35k words), and graphic novel.
We are currently at a sell rate THAT PAYS THE RENT. So please, put up with my further MOKM content 🙏🙏
shoutout to on Twitch for permitting me to use him as a meme.
I sent this to my friends before posting b/c it’s a bit self-deprecating, half said to “Post it LMAO”, the other half said “Don’t you want to be hyping yourself up?”
I think both are true, but I also am big on two things:
HUMILITY - and I think being able to poke fun at one’s own shortcomings and improve upon them is a hallmark of improvement. aka: not to take oneself too seriously.
POETRY - Currently with Murder of King Mere, sales are experiencing a declining tail, and I feel I am a bit in the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ phase of indie dev. Hype around release has cooled down, I’ve had my few viral moments (hoping more will come) and now I’m left with an overflowing email inbox with scammers asking for free keys and a lot of people looking for work asking me to share some of the bounty of MOKM (which is still only about 2.5 months of rent)... And a mix of absolute praise and people not clicking with the game at all.
Memes, to a certain extent, are poetry in their own memetic way. So ‘memeing’ my game like this seems appropriated given the current circumstances.
I’m almost at 1000 sales, which translates to about 5490 USD, but that’s for about a years worth of work +some more with marketing and bugfixes. I would need 10x where I’m currently at to even break even.
BUT, 1000 sales already puts me in the top 15% of steam games, which I am incredibly thankful for, but my goal is to make this game development thing sustainable, not just a portfolio piece.
At this point my best friend is to keep making more games, consistently improve upon Murder of King Mere with features and bugfixes, and TRY TRY TRY AGAIN. And maybe expand to more than just video games - but I am one person, and can only do so much.
PS; Regarding negative reviews b/c they take up so much space in my head... I’m improving this game constantly, most people absolutely love MOKM (95% positive on Steam) but other’s just do not seem to click with it. I am working on addressing the addressable aspects of the game.
MURDER OF KING MERE ON STEAM!! Link in bio
Darkway: Murder of King Mere is an indie detective game where every character could be guilty; convict any of the 20 characters, explore the snowy City of Ink at the edge of the world, and use your skillset as the Apprentice to the Master Detective to discover the true murderer of King Mere!
All purchases support your local indie developer and go towards the development of my next game :)
02/14/2026
My own fan art for my indie game Murder of King Mere, thought I would combine the Apprentice with the characters of the game that inspired it. I am a concept artist and illustrator after all.
Disco Elysium x MOKM crossover!
If you haven’t tried Murder of King Mere yet, this might be your sign.
Link in bio!
Based off of Worldly Debate by Louis Mueller 1905
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Seattle, WA