What are you working on?

[BB]

Well, exactly as the title says. What project or projects currently take up your “Doing A Thing” time? I considered putting this in the arts board, but nah lets make this a general Any Projects Thread.

For myself, I am currently laying down the groundwork for what will be a game project I intend to work on. About two years ago a friend approached me and asked if I'd like to work on a visual novel with her and we were very excited, but another project we were working on fell through and our VN project kinda got cancelled by silent agreement. But we had already thought over the barebones idea of what story we wanted to tell and I still really liked what we came up with, so I asked for permission to take the project on solo.

It's currently under the very descriptive title 'Magical Girl Game', but I'm considering the title 'Transformations' as a working, possibly final, title. We wanted to explore themes of love that are not specifically romantic- devotion, admiration, things like that. From a writing point of view, I've been hard at work building a world and characters to occupy it, but as it's a VN there needs to be connecting plot elements that I'm still trying to figure out. What's really sticking my gears is being unable to decide what kind of game it should be and if there should be branching paths- we originally had a 'romance' track for two characters and another track for both, but I'm not so sure that'll work with the stuff I've come up with since then.

From a gamedev POV, I've decided to use RPG Maker to build it. I know renpy is the go-to for VNs, but the kind of worldbuilding I want to do feels more manageable in an RPG engine- I'm looking at games like To The Moon as inspiration. I feel like it'll work better with that kind of presentation.

To that end, I've been building practice RPGs/VNs to learn the capabilities of the engine and get a strong grasp of how to program events. Of course, they've just released a new version which changes every single aspect of the engine, even using a totally new scripting environment (JS instead of Ruby) so that's frustrating! It does fix pretty much every issue I'd had with RPGM so far, though, so I'm definitely looking to get it asap. Expensive though!

That's my adventure so far. There's a lot of royalty-free music available for use in projects so I'm not worried about that, but... my crappy stick figures won't cut it, and I don't want to use any stock assets for the genuine article, you know? I need to figure out what I can do about art... but that can at least wait for much later on.

[mauve]

NaNoWriMo is already two days in, but I might give it another shot. I won't make the 50,000 word goal, but I might try writing for the hell of it.

[BB]

Nanowrimo's a big task- I've tried it twice but it defeated me. Writing for the sake of writing is good too, keep it up!

[phil_]

Does reading through all of Lovecraft's works in publication order count as a project? It's been hard going so far, what with the twists that would make Poe groan and the overt racism, but there have been some things worth reading so far. "Dagon" is cool if you take the time to really visualize the landscapes described, and "The Terrible Old Man" is kinda funny. "The Statement of Randolf Carter" was even scary.

[Bum Bill Bee]

I'm still doing weekly updates for Obscruia and Great Lakes And America. Also just did 2 request setches for 2 Watchers on DA. I'm also working on an Honest Trailer for Vegan Artbook, which will probably be my last one, unless I decided to do a quicky joke one for the 9 issue We Bare Bears webcomic.

There's a superhero comic contest, I don't particularily expect to win, but the important thing is that I try.

Oh, and I wanna try selling stuff on ebay, which I've never tried before, I've got an account and paypal set up, now I think I need to order some shipping boxes in advance, and start taking pictures.

---------- Post added at 11:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 PM ----------

Does reading through all of Lovecraft's works in publication order count as a project? It's been hard going so far, what with the twists that would make Poe groan and the overt racism, but there have been some things worth reading so far. "Dagon" is cool if you take the time to really visualize the landscapes described, and "The Terrible Old Man" is kinda funny. "The Statement of Randolf Carter" was even scary.

oooh, have you gotten to the Color Out of Space? That one was magnificent! I also read....I think it was called the Phantom Rats, or something? Anyways, there, the protag had a cat named "Niggerman" which I found funny. Read those 2 in some horror short story collection of various authors.

[phil_]

No, I still have a ways to go before "The Colour Out of Space." I don't have a schedule that I read these; I read them when I have a few minutes to kill but no/limited internet. The cat name can be partially excused by the time. Stuff like "loathsome black woman from Guinea" not so much.*

All of his stories are available for free in public domain here, (http://www.hplovecraft.com/) so if anyone wants to join me, feel free.

*Example chosen because I'm drunk and it's the first thing that came to me. I'm sure you can google "Lovecraft racism" and get better examples.

[BB]

Does reading through all of Lovecraft's works in publication order count as a project? It's been hard going so far, what with the twists that would make Poe groan and the overt racism, but there have been some things worth reading so far. "Dagon" is cool if you take the time to really visualize the landscapes described, and "The Terrible Old Man" is kinda funny. "The Statement of Randolf Carter" was even scary.

It totally counts- I'm currently trying to read all the Touhou literature myself and I count that as a project! I don't know that Lovecraft is very much my kinda thing but it would be nice to know the root of the very many lovecraftian-inspired franchises that exist.

I'm still doing weekly updates for Obscruia and Great Lakes And America. Also just did 2 request setches for 2 Watchers on DA. I'm also working on an Honest Trailer for Vegan Artbook, which will probably be my last one, unless I decided to do a quicky joke one for the 9 issue We Bare Bears webcomic.

There's a superhero comic contest, I don't particularily expect to win, but the important thing is that I try.

Oh, and I wanna try selling stuff on ebay, which I've never tried before, I've got an account and paypal set up, now I think I need to order some shipping boxes in advance, and start taking pictures.

Good luck in the contest! Seems like a good way to keep your designs in check, having to compare them to a competitive metric.

I have a lot of stuff (old games) that I should put on ebay, myself... but what if I one day want to play through Starfox Adventures again??

[RickZarber]

Oof, more like, which of my many, many projects should I be working on instead of whatever the hell else I'm wasting my time with.

The number one project I should be doing but haven't touched in like a year is the JAQ book (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=42932) which some people, y'know, paid me for two years ago. The only thing holding it up is the character illustrations. But I think I bit off more than I could chew there. I'm considering just doing the line art and then hiring a colorist, because that's where I get bogged down and give up, but that'll have to wait until I have enough disposable income. I should just go ahead and at least do the pencils for everything though.....

Then I've got my read-though of the Hobbit (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=43126) which I finished recording but haven't returned to the cleaning-up of in months. I got ¾ths of the way through Chapter 12 but it's such...slow...going. Need to get back on that though.

And I always need to work more on that webcomic (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=43416). The more design work I do, and the more Eric and I talk about it, the more I want to actually do it. I just don't know if it's something I'm even capable of.

I've also been slowly transferring and archiving all of my home video from analog to digital. I've done quite a few tapes so far, but there's a lot to go. It's a long-term ongoing project.

Something I've returned to working on over the last few weeks are my custom DVD covers for missing classic Doctor Who stories (http://rickzarber.tumblr.com/tagged/Doctor-Who). Those are huge time sinks though, so I only do them occasionally.

Oh and I've been slowly going through and printing custom cases for all of my video game cartridges, opening and cleaning each game as I go. I've done all of my Atari, NES, SNES, and various GB/GBC/GBA games, just the N64 games left. But most of those have 20-to-15-year-old masking tape on the top (since there were no top labels) and removing and cleaning that adds quite a lot to the process. But it'll be very nice once it's all done. I'll put up some photos in Camwhores or something.

Then there's a whole other stack of older projects I haven't touched in ages and ages but still think of as "eventually".


...I am not a good "finisher". JAQ was kind of an exception, and even that took me five years.

[tacticslion]

Not much.

Just raising two kids - a four year old and a one year old.

Also helping my father for a week after a car crash caused physical problems with older surgeries.

Also fighting off the MEGACOLDOFDEAT- a cold that infected all four members of my family, and one set of grandparents, as well as my tutor student.

And fending off two ear infections - one for each child.

And reading The Martian, which is a great book, by the way.

Also trying - desperately trying - to play my one-on-one Blue Rose game with my wife.

Oh, and watching Dragon Ball, when I get the chance. And Gravity Falls!

And other stuff. But I'm tired and distracted as my ADD is acting up, soooooo... oh, something shiny!

[BB]

Yikes Rick- hopefully seeing it all written out like that will be the kick you need to get all that stuff finished! Get working on those tapes, boss- that stuff has a shelf life and you'll never forgive yourself if one of them has eroded by the time you get to it.

Double yikes for Tactics. Raising any number of kids greater than zero would be enough of a "project" alone for me. Good job keeping all that stuff balanced! I got worn out just reading about it!


While I wait for the new RPGM to somehow buy itself and also learn how to use itself, I've been working on an older project of mine. Originally a series of short stories, then a comic, I've now decided to bring life to these little stories via... RPGM! It's good practice for setting up interesting events when it comes time to do the Real Thing, and it means that story will finally be written in some form. I've not been using any custom assets and the default stuff is super limited, but it's amazing how expressive sprites can be even in their 32x32 walking-frames-only form if you event them well. The tiny differences make an astronomical difference to the impact. A character who pauses for 5 frames before moving, or takes one step forward and looks back, or even just looking around- you can really convey a LOT with very basic means.

I think the first chapter turned out pretty well (each one is a standalone "game") and I'm having a lot of fun creating the event scripts. I'm uncertain about a public release, but if anyone would like to run it through and make suggestions I'd be happy to share it- it's a 5 minute cutscene (that took 20 hours to make, sob) without any gameplay.

Speaking of The Real Thing, I've overcome the biggest barrier for Magical Girl Game and progress is really taking off (in terms of planning and design). I'd really love to have some Chrono Trigger-style sprites for it (not art style necessarily, but... technical style??? You know, tall and well animated, not square sprites). If anyone knows a good pixel artist I'd be interested in talking to them, although not quite ready to make a commission yet.

[phil_]

So I got to Herbert West - Reanimator, (http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hwr.aspx) and it is both the longest and best thing I've read of Lovecraft's so far. This is a work that leads me toward understanding why "Lovecratian" became a word.

However, it's got its share of racist crap about a boxer. Instead of linking that and spoiling stuff, I'll link this horrible poem that I feel no qualms about putting a "trigger warning: this shit is super racist" on but here you go anyway (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Creation_of_Niggers), as well as linking this story I already read, The Street, (http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/s.aspx) which should prove sufficient to anyone's requirement of reading racist things.

[BB]

crikey yikes that poem

Holy moly!

[phil_]

I know, right? I'm glad that the page I'm working down seems to ignore his poetry and letters. My current, marginally more sober self regrets linking the poem, though. It's not going to make anyone's day better reading that.

[RickZarber]

I made a video of the process I've been using to clean my video game cartridges, if anyone's interested in that. This one was an ex-rental, so it was in fairly bad condition, though thankfully there was no mold or corrosion on the contacts like there was with some of my pre-owned NES games.

4scl_3Ls5sw

As of right now, I've only got 8 games left to do! Getting close to the finish line!

[BB]

Nice to see the process! About how long does that all take normally? I was surprised to see how empty those carts are.

[RickZarber]

Probably takes 15-20 mins per game, maybe more if it's super dirty. I spent an hour cleaning my (pre-owned) copy of GoldenEye, which had unidentifiable gunk all over the contacts and inside the bottom of the case. Then also I print and cut out covers for each game, and that can add anther 5-10 minutes.

Some games use up the whole space, others only half, still others are L shaped and use up ¾. It's weird though, because the size of the chipboard doesn't necessarily seem to correlate with the size of the game, if you take my meaning. *shrug*

---------- Post added 11-12-2015 at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was 11-11-2015 at 08:16 PM ----------

FINISHED!!!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99745419/VGcollection1.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99745419/VGcollection2.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99745419/VGcollection3.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99745419/VGcollection4.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99745419/VGcollection5.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99745419/VGcasesample.jpg

Well that's one project I can cross off my list at least.

[mauve]

Holy moly-- that's quite a game shrine! Nice work with all those!

Also eeeeeeee someone else who has The Two Towers for the PS2!! I dumped so many hours into that game as a teenager. I have Return of the King as well, but I always though TTT was better. ROTK's only benefit was the addition of multiplayer. Did you ever play the GameBoy Advance version of TTT?

[RickZarber]

Well, technically it's a GameCube copy, but still! XD Personally I'm more fond of RotK, but that's mostly because I bought that game when it first came out and only got TTT years later, and some of the mechanics then felt like a step back (especially, yeah, the lack of co-op play). Also, I never beat it! I got stuck on that one level where you have to, like, stop orcs from breaking down a door--I think? As opposed to RotK, my first playthrough of which my friend and I stayed up all night and played it from beginning to end (because we weren't even in our twenties yet and that kind of thing was still possible!) And nope, I've never played any LotR GBA games.

[BB]

Beatiful collection, and I really like what you've done with the boxes too. Be proud of it!

[rpgdemon]

So, did you order a bunch of those old game cases (Like they'd have at Blockbuster)? Where did you get them?

[RickZarber]

The SNES/N64 games are in Universal Game Cases, which you can buy from multiple sources online. I don't remember where exactly I got mine. The NES and GB/GBC/GBA cases I got from this place (http://www.customgamecases.com/). (They also sell cases with art, but since I wanted to make my covers double-sided, I just bought blank cases--plus it's cheaper that way.)

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Been doing a heavy review on my various notes on linux, OSI model, and various A+ Net+ security+, encryption practices, and shit the last couple weeks. Prepping for interview, hopefully plural, starting with a phone interview tomorrow.

[Flarecobra]

College classes, and doing some painting on 40k figures for monies.

[mauve]

I've recently taken up needle felting. It's done by sculpting loose fibers of wool (or polyfill if you're cheap like me) into solid forms by repeatedly stabbing them with a barbed needle. Here's some of the better stuff I've done:

Clone Commando (Boss/Delta 38) helmet for my sister:
http://i.imgur.com/G6QtjA6.jpg
(I'm really proud of the blue glow on the visor, which I made by pulling apart a strand of blue yarn.)


FAT PONY (from the webcomic Hark! A Vagrant)
http://i.imgur.com/kZ2bKG1.jpg
(I made that glass paperweight too, back in college.)
Pony from a different angle:
http://i.imgur.com/3CmlwSh.jpg

Schnauzer
http://i.imgur.com/1G5z5E4.jpg

I used a video tutorial for the schnauzer and came up with the helmet and pony on my own.

[pochercoaster]

Those are adorable, mauve. Especially fat pony :3