2024 in review : It's been a year, what shenanigans awaits in 2025 and 10 promising worldbuilders
Welcome, dear visitor. A new year has passed, and it seems a good time as any to reflect on what happened, and make plan for what is to come. I haven't been as creative as I hoped to be, partly because of my PhD. Who would've thought this stuff would take a lot of time? However, if it was not a great year for my writing projects, it was phenomenal on a personal standpoint! I made many friends, attended great conferences and learnt a lot of things.
Skip to the reading listThis is unlikely to change in 2025. I'm entering my second year of PhD, and will focus a lot of my time to foster french young bioinformaticians on multiple great projects.
What happened?
So, I haven't written much this past year, alright. But I haven't been idle either. Beside a number of real-life adventures that are not the point here, I have some achievements that I am quite proud of.
Wandering Worldsmith badge
This Summercamp, I proposed a new kind of camp: the Wandering Worldsmith camp, where the idea was to write each prompt in different settings. Since I had recently uploaded most of my worlds to WorldAnvil, it was a perfect excuse to showcase them if only by a bite-sized article. I also made some tiers so that as many people as possible could participate, and I was greatly surprised by the number of anvilites around the campfire.
Worlds you may also like
As I was crafting a new world, I noticed some similarities with other worlds, which sparked the idea of suggesting them in the primer. From there appeared the Worlds you may also like initiative, which was positively received and followed by a lot of people. Love you all.
I did some stuff...
...but the deadline is coming in and it's less exciting things that you probably either know about or don't really care, and it's not like I want to do the full review in this article (I promise the title was not intended to be misleading, but it was also written almost a month ago). Anyway, once I get seriously back into writing I'll try to make devlogs again, so if you are interested by the rambling of a guy who jumble with too many worlds, follow this one.
State of my worlds in 2025.
This year, I decided to keep track of my worlds and their stats. I don't have any data on the progress made thus far, but I will going forward. I have to warn you, there are a lot of stats packed in this spoiler that it's about to burst. I'll think of a way to make it legible, and probably only record the changes after this.
Reveal all the stats- Articles: 25
- Wordcount: 67411
- Followers: 54
- Likes: 297
- Comments: 90
- Articles: 14
- Wordcount: 16663
- Followers: 24
- Likes: 39
- Comments: 3
- Articles: 39
- Wordcount: 32806
- Followers: 5
- Likes: 73
- Comments: 10
- Articles: 42
- Wordcount: 37235
- Followers: 22
- Likes: 92
- Comments: 17
- Articles: 11
- Wordcount: 8144
- Followers: 5
- Likes: 11
- Comments: 5
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 564
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 5
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 658
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 2
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 336
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 2
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 2350
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 1
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 840
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 5
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 410
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 2
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 3934
- Followers: 3
- Likes: 12
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 1951
- Followers: 5
- Likes: 3
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 538
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 2
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 5
- Wordcount: 2472
- Followers: 3
- Likes: 11
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 553
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 7
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 322
- Followers: 3
- Likes: 3
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 303
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 2
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 525
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 1
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 371
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 3
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 477
- Followers: 3
- Likes: 3
- Comments: 0
- Articles: ?
- Wordcount: ?
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 0
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 430
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 4
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 4
- Wordcount: 15006
- Followers: 19
- Likes: 23
- Comments: 4
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 491
- Followers: 4
- Likes: 4
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 374
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 3
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 1356
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 11
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 24
- Wordcount: 24941
- Followers: 6
- Likes: 53
- Comments: 5
- Articles: 5
- Wordcount: 8792
- Followers: 7
- Likes: 21
- Comments: 8
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 1223
- Followers: 5
- Likes: 10
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 2
- Wordcount: 1078
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 1
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 364
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 1
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 5
- Wordcount: 5647
- Followers: 3
- Likes: 12
- Comments: 3
- Articles: 3
- Wordcount: 746
- Followers: 2
- Likes: 4
- Comments: 1
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 442
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 5
- Comments: 0
- Articles: 1
- Wordcount: 1322
- Followers: 1
- Likes: 1
- Comments: 0
So, combining every one of my worlds except this one (which kinda mess up the wordcount), I have:
Articles
213
Wordcount
241,075
Followers
198
Likes
729
Comments
152
What to expect of 2025
Heh.
10 promising worldbuilders
Every year I more or less define a theme to chose which article I'll read as part of my New Year Resolution. This time around, I went for recent discoveries. By that, I mean worldbuilders that are fairly new to the WA community, whose username I recognize when they talk in the discord but that I have read few to no article from them. By "new" here, I mean people that I have met or seen in this past year or the previous one become active in the channels I participate in. Some may be on WA for much longer than that and active in places that I don't check, so don't take that to heart. If you're on this list, it's because I saw you recently and thought you were cool so I took a look at your work.
While I will keep the main layout as the previous times for this reading round, I'm going to twist the formula a little. I don't always learn from articles I read, and it's perfectly normal. I still have much to learn, but I consider myself a decent worldbuilder with now several years of practice, and some lessons repeats themselves. Even if I haven't applied them yet, can I say that I learnt again? So, this going forward, I will accept that some articles don't have something to teach me. Thus, sometimes the What I learnt section will be replaced by What I loved, to highlight the key points that made me chose this article to feature.
Additionnal features
Articles in this category are either from people whose work I'm already acquainted with or old-timers of the community, but who still deserve their bits of spotlight.
Lichdom is peak in about every sense of the term. Beautiful art? Check. Masterful writing? Check. Drama and storytelling? You name it, it is there. Jon treats each of his articles as a project on its own, and it shows. Strap in, you're about to read one of the best articles about liches and the tragedy their existence implies.
Catoblepon is at it again! Not only did they release their interactive world before me, it is gorgeous and the writing! There is not much to enjoy in Vaelis Arin yet, but trust me you won't be disappointed by the trip.
This one is not exactly a read in itself, but an invitation to explore the Yonderverse. While I have yet to complete the journey, I love this kind of game and Mochi is a master at making them! The truth hidden in the depths of the Titan Ecological Academy still haunts me...
So I... somehow forgot to read Leijona's work, even though I had some open in tabs somewhere. Issue with having over 14K of them at once I guess. Time is running low and I probably wouldn't be able to make a complete feedback before the end of the challenge, but I still wanted to highlight an anvilite I'm curious to read.
Finally, the world of worlds is a great initiative by Annie Stein to create a user-curated directory of WA worlds. Go add yours if you haven't already, and browse the excellent list there already is.
Duskscape — Waking Materia
The first thing that got my attention in this article is the abundance of illustrations. Describing something as a surreal dreamworld is easy enough and don't tell anything about what it actually is like. Here we are immediately taken in the landscapes of this odd realm, and yet never cut off in the flow of our reading. Furthermore, the encyclopedic writing, straight to the point with a lot of technicalities and links to other articles is very enjoyable for me. I also like the callback to full articles, it was something I did when I began but somehow never really continued.
What I learnt
The Author
Grandmaster Hallucigenia
"It's like reading TvTropes" -- Kroww
Summer Camp 2024 Greatest Hits | Spooktober 2024 Hub | WorldEmber 2024 Hub
The Suntouched — Kena'an
Everything fits so well the theme of light divinity. The golden tablets, the frame aroudn the images, you can tell this whole page has been engineered around the theme. Then, every little story, illustrations and CSS gimmicks add to the overall good writing of the article. Starting off by the stories of some mythical figures of the order is a great way to get introduced to how the laypeople view them through legends and history.
What I loved
The Author
Grandmaster Make lore, not war
Come visit my world of Kena'an for tales of fantasy and magic!
Or, if you want something darker, Crux Umbra awaits.
Volition — Indomitable Will
Razhea is a very good friend, so I was happy to dive into this world, and I wasn't disappointed! Volition has all the properties that I love to see in a magic system: sustained by mental might instead of a mana-like energy and requiring a profound understanding of the things acted upon. It is also very powerful, which scares non-volitionists, especially those who are specialised in healing. Because if someone knows how to fix issues within the intricate biology, they surely know how to severely break a body too.
The World
What I loved
Apologies
So at this point I lost all my writing mojo and decided to do a pause in my worldbuilding and writing in general. Even filling this reading challenge is a pain, so to speed things up I am going to stop making these small summaries from now on. It is something I like to do but am not sure if anyone even reads them. I will probably change it for something else next time, unless you also like it?
Mammoths & Mastodons — Arc Sagas
To be honest with you, I chose this article as a representative of Myth's work. The Arc Sagas is a true inspiration, with strong visuals and bits of lore spread around the page, and of course a very good writing. This article in particular is striking, short and to the point, with illustrations in his peculiar style. But most of all, the author is a fantastic person and a driving force, which shows in his work. Welcome back king.
What I loved
The Author
Shadow Mages — Chronicles of Hysal
While it is a very simple article, it manages to communicate a lot of concepts through only text and a few paragraphs. Knowing nothing of Hysal, I quickly was introduced with the idea that elemental mages there were elf-like species with physical properties depending on the mana of their element, and a summary of their history. It takes skill and dedication to make each article accessible without prio knowledge, especially during events like Worldember where it's easy to leave new readers on the side. Here, you are given multiple paths to follow if you are interested in the world, but don't have to follow them to understand this specific article. Mad props!
What I loved
Sanctuary — P'Ache
This is a great article, with a good structure and uses cleverly WA's features to put some visual diversity. I'm a fan of pyramid visuals so I'm easily sold from the get go. The intriguing opening snippet is also good to pull you into the article, and overall it's a rich entry that gives detailed information. It's also easy to get to know more about Sanctuary and its hierarchy from there, which is always a good point.
I messed up the alignment. Damn.
Brontosaurus — Domen Aria
Dinosaurs! Need I say more? The article packs a lot of information, about everything you would want to know when it comes down to them. I especially love the rumours part, how the people of this world view these titans of nature. It is a lot of text, but an interesting one.
Mochi's Mocha — Legends of the Dragonguard
First of all this article features Mochi, which makes it instantaneously 10 times cooler, but beyond that it is a very pleasing and cosy read. The descriptions are both vivid and tasty, in a great way. This kind of article is a good reminder to avoid a trap that I fall too often into, that non visually compelling articles (beside a sleek CSS theme) can still be very well-written.
What I loved
Spirits — Babikiye
I like this approach to existence, distinguishing the types of existence as the delicate ratio between corporeal and spiritual. It's a nice breakdown and overview of how things are in this world, and how realms like the afterlife manifest. Descriptions are to the point, and it reads smoothly.
The World
What I loved
A Broken World — Crux Umbra
I try to impose a rule on myself to never mention the same author twice in a reading challenge. As I've done in the past, I will once again bend this rule because this article, a world primer, is so good it would be a shame to skip it. There is in there all I like to write and love to read, and much resonates with my own work. The ancient vampires reminds me of the Alchemist's Sanctum elders, the indecise and foolish mages the ones in Myrelid (the broken one), and the cataclysm has huge Risenhall vibes. But the whole is unique and told in a very immersive way, with a cohesive theme and subtle bits of hidden lore throughout the article. This last read is without a doubt my favourite of this january reading:
What I learnt
The Author
Grandmaster Make lore, not war
Come visit my world of Kena'an for tales of fantasy and magic!
Or, if you want something darker, Crux Umbra awaits.
And with it, a new year begins! I don't have any spirited word to end this, don't expect anything from me though some stuff is coming (a certain ring and a new way to worldbuild). Stay excellent and keep creating. I'll be watching.
Well this is a magnificent list! Thank you so so much for including my articles and worlds in this, I am really humbled and happy abou it! It was a joy being part of this community! Congratulations on your personal victories with the phd :) I wish you a beautiful 2025, full of success and creativity! Thanks again!
Come visit my world of Kena'an for tales of fantasy and magic!
Or, if you want something darker, Crux Umbra awaits.