As many of you know, I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence at East Texas A&M University. For the Summer 2026 session, I am enrolled in two accelerated graduate courses:
- Trusted Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning
What would normally be sixteen-week courses have been condensed into an intensive five-week session. The workload is significant, but successfully completing both courses this summer will place me on track to graduate in December 2026.
After the summer session, only two requirements will remain:
- Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
- Master’s Thesis / Capstone Project
Reaching this point is an exciting milestone in the journey, but it also means that much of my available development time is currently focused on coursework, research, and hands-on experimentation with modern AI techniques.
That does not mean development on Forge42Engine, DM42, or the Tharendell ecosystem has stopped.
Before the summer session began, I completed the first round of NPC casting and characterization work. This milestone established the initial personalities, roles, and behavioral foundations for the major characters that will inhabit the world.
Current development efforts have shifted toward one of the most important pieces of the architecture: LLM orchestration.
Unlike visual features that players immediately see, orchestration work happens entirely behind the scenes. This layer is responsible for determining intent, routing actions, maintaining narrative consistency, managing long-term campaign state, coordinating AI systems, and ensuring that player actions produce coherent and persistent outcomes.
While this work is less visible than new gameplay features, it represents a critical step toward the long-term vision of creating a persistent AI-driven tabletop experience.
My expectation is that development velocity will increase again once the summer semester concludes. In the meantime, many of the concepts being explored in my graduate coursework—neural networks, deep learning, explainability, robustness, and trustworthy AI systems—are directly influencing design decisions within the project.
Thank you to everyone who continues to follow the journey. More updates will be coming as the orchestration layer matures and the next phase of development begins.
Babble Baz