Small success stories are the best success stories.

I didn’t imagine this would be something that gave me this much joy. For the past half year, I have been working on the StarCraft Human ‘N’ AI League (SCHNAIL) infrastructure, and sometimes felt a little like going nowhere. Of course, I’m actually proud of how far the project come, but that’s not the point.

You might remember we have a mascot, which is a larva-type cutesy character – it is a schnail, for lack of better term. My very talented friend, JeanetteMoka drew it.

You might not remember we came up with the idea to make a plushie out of it. But that is exactly what we did, and I’m very happy that it come to fruition. As a software engineer, I never expected this to be something I start working on, but with some help.

I had no idea where to start. I contacted all the artists I knew (like all 3 of them), and just browsed artist forums and discords, asking my silly question “hey I have this silly drawing, can you make a toy from it?”. I researched fabrics and how to do it, and decided that I’m too clumsy to make it myself (I never worked with fabrics before, and I don’t really have the room for a sewing table. I can maybe go down in the basement… ah, true enterpreneurship is when you are your own sweatshop…)

Eventually, a nice enough prototype came out, and it was time to talk production. That was another back-and-forth, the details are boring and possibly confidental, so.. yeah.

As for selling it, I decided I’ll just have a simple Shopify store. I do not expect people to randomly find it on the internet, but hey, you never know.

Silly things like this keep a project going. It is not the business model of SCHNAIL, it’s not gonna make any difference from a business perspective, but I mean… just look at it!

And yes, you can buy it – and I’d like to ask you to consider it – it is an awesome product in itself, and it is a great way to support SCHNAIL. The main audience of this blog – and StarCraft in general – seems to be coming from North America, Europe, and Korea. These places are not near each other, so we needed to figure out shipping. In the end, we decided everyone just gets free shipping, and we include that in the price.

Click on this cutie to go to the shop!

Other than that, if you are a person or organization, that does work related to StarCraft, or StarCraft AI, just contact me (see the contact link on the top menu bar), and I’m willing to give you an affiliate link. That means you get a small commission after each sale. I’m not giving it out to everyone – I want to help StarCraft communities a bit this way.

Some details about the product itself (taken from the shop page):

Your very own plush schnail! Available only for 30 days!
What is a schnail? It is some alien creature that is very cute, and might also eat you! It is also a mascot for the StarCraft Human 'N' AI League. 

Get yours during this limited run!

It is cute, fluffy, adorable, and it can be yours right now.  (Approx 20 cm long). Made from fabric.

The price contains FREE shipping worldwide!

ATTENTION: This is a pre-order page for the Schnail plushie . The orders will be fulfilled after a 30-day preorder period, given sufficient order quantity. If the minimum amount of orders is not  reached, your order will be refunded.

LIMITED RUN! Pre-order ends on Aug. 1st!

Thanks for reading this, and letting me share my joy with you! Don’t worry – this kind of post is an exception, not a rule, and I’ll be returning to my usual shenanigans with my articles and the podcast – see you then!