I’ve been asking the question “What is Jestercraft” to myself quite often. The company itself was established back in 2017 so it has existed for some time now. Still, the whole time the company has changed its direction so many times that I’ve lost track already. During the past years the company has employed multiple people either within various projects and/or by ordering smaller tasks from freelancers while creating unforgettable memories with so many awesome people.

The first sketches for the "Seeker universe" from a dear friend Kristina back in 2012. Setting to the time after the "apocalypse" (Listen the soundtrack preview video here)

Of course, I’ve personally been behind every project and decision the company has had for the past years. My personal opinion has more or less shaped the company “culture” into some direction, which seems to be changing from time to time. The direction changed mainly because of my personal interests for so many different things the game industry and all related artistic things can offer. I would love to draw comics, write books, record audio books, create paintings, design & print physical tabletop games and of course, develop games. I feel like I have so much energy and motivation to do all of this but unfortunately, things take time to complete and if you divide your time into multiple things, all progress slower than focusing into one. Not to mention that I’ve been working in different companies (ex. as a business director within a software company) during the whole time.

Random photo from spending quality time with my "support group" (Friends) in Jyväskylä, Finland

The motivation, knowledge and skills to do so many things is a blessing and a cause of hard work, but at the same time a curse which needs a lot of caretaking to be able to direct the energy (and especially time) into the right things, at the right time. The beauty of saying NO to things that sound interesting and awesome is a skill that I’ve been learning for the past couple of months. If you can do it and you’re rather interested in doing it does not necessarily mean that you should do it. It’s a pain to say no for interesting things, but doing so you’re safeguarding your time to do even more interesting things. For yourself.

Seeking for an inspiration from the mountains of Norway

So let’s get back to the main questions of this blog entry: What is Jestercraft? I would love to say that Jestercraft is so many things (which it actually is in my head, but…) but by doing so, I would lie to myself and everyone else. In the end Jestercraft is a story of an independent artist, who is discovering and learning different ways to express himself. That artist would be me. For the past years I’ve been able to do it with game industry related education, releasing educational videos and podcasts, helping other game developers to get their game out (while doing charity at the same time), releasing a VR game and by learning to code myself to remove the barrier of making games solo. Not to mention dozens of smaller projects (Card game, visual novel, book, audio book…), which are in development and hopefully see daylight within the coming months.

My biggest barrier to work with things I love has always been time. Naturally the most time sink thing is to be financially sustainable. Pay the bills, eat, sleep and secure these for my three kids as well. I’ve always felt that doing “artistic things” is not enough to pay the bills, since it can never be so interesting to enough people to get required sales. If you want to live by making games and art, you need to make so many trades in your content to fit the market. This thought has always blocked me from actually trying this full-time and I’ve kept artistic things as a hobby and as a “side project”. Until today.

This year I’ve watched so many movies with my kids and without, which seem to send me a message of “Stop being afraid of being different”. Most likely, I just keep seeing this message from the movies, because that’s what I’m looking for but still, it works. (Which movies? If interested, check out: My Father's Dragon, Nimona, The Cat Returns and even the Witcher series seem to deliver this message) The thought of “What does it matter if you fail” is becoming more and more boosted in my head. (How do you define failure, anyways?) Maybe I should just let go of my fears and try? I feel that I have so much to do, so much to say and I even have the skills, knowledge and experience to actually deliver it. The Mastery of expressing my thoughts and ideas. Maybe that's worth something? For me. Or maybe even for many others as well?

Sketch for the book I'm currently writing (Seeker: The Beginning)

So what can you expect from Jestercraft? You’ll see a journey of an independent artist, who is discovering his ideas and sharing them in different ways as physical/digital content. It may not be interesting for you, but it can be for many others. I truly believe it does, if I just find more and new ways to learn, discover and deliver.

At least for me, it's a matter of being proud of what I’ve done when I look behind and the only way to secure that, is by being true to yourself today. Simple as that.

With love to the craft,

Klaus ‘Jestercraft’ Kääriäinen

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