2008-10-16

Random thoughts

Filed under: Family,Games,Graphics,Writing — Tags: , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 19:40

This week has been a nice busy one. I managed to finish the second draft of my commission on Sunday and sent it out Monday (always one more day for the OMG, did I write that? moments). Got feedback.

They loved it.

Four little change requests which I’ll get out tonight and then I’ll be “done” with that commission. I think I should also put a hold on commissions for a while, just until I’m struggling less with them. These last two were killers; I haven’t had that much trouble putting words on a page in years.

Still feeling guilty about stopping Scroll of the Lands. But, in a contrast, I’m looking at Glorious Saber and wondering if I could actually finish that up in a reasonable period of time. Trying to seek closure I guess. It also got me to thinking about another comic idea I had while driving back from kitty cuddle time (flea population is 0.1% of last week’s, so I actually wanted to cuddle). The new comic idea, if I do it, would be fun, since it would be a fictional diary for me and Fluffy’s attempt to have children. Of course, if I could actually pull it together, that’s a different story. Or if I have time.

Baby Squid God is advancing in my thoughts. I considered doing pixel artwork, but I’m hesitating. The other I’m looking at is doing it in the same style as Glorious Saber. I already have some code to use this style and I’ve also spent six months working on the skills to make it, which means less to learn when trying to write the game. So, here is my quick sketch idea of the baby squid god:

If you are curious, here is the pixel version:

I’m also trying to upgrade my artwork style a little. Mainly with the dual-layer hair (i.e. so they look different based on what direction they are looking at). And the hands. Not entirely sure what to do about it, but I might lean toward circles when they aren’t do anything but something while they are holding things. Any opinions?

And, I’m heading back to Illinois this weekend. Not accusing Fluffy or anything, but the phone system has completely died at the house and the MythTV box is misbehaving (I think it misses me). So I’m going to go for a different type of kitty cuddle, picking up paperwork, and fixing the technical things.

… and maybe spending time with Fluffy. :)

2008-10-14

I think I fired myself

Filed under: Games — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 14:18

Not from my job or anything. But, last night, I decided I was going to work on Scroll of the Lands since I really haven’t touched it for a month or so. Instead, I wandered around my (rather tiny) apartment for an hour, putzing around instead of actually working on it. When I finally managed to sit…

… nothing.

An entire hour of nothing. I also realized that I’ve been having “nothing” problems on that project for a while now. So, after another hour of fretting, I decided to make a statement about it. In effect, saying I don’t think I can give it justice until after my life settles down, I live with my wife again, and I hopefully only have a single house to worry about.

That, to say the least, is painful. I hate not finishing things, specially with so much interest in it, but after six months of really getting nothing done, should I continue to keep trying to get to it? I’m not playing Exalted, which makes it hard to write Exalted stuff. I’m not playing any role-playing games right now, which I feel makes it hard to write RPG material. And the hope to use it for becoming a White Wolf writer… well, I don’t think I have the focus to do that justice.

I also don’t have the drive to do it, which means I feel like I’m letting people down who got excited about this project. And, there is one thing I hate, and that is disappointing people.

There is also time. I have homework for class (1-2) nights and I’m spending 2-3 nights a week to visit the kitties. That leaves 2 days, I know, but when I pack stuff into those days, I start feeling like I’m burning myself out.

I might be waffling over this decision.

I hate this.

2008-10-02

Planus interruptus

Filed under: Family,Games,Programming,Writing — Tags: , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 16:09

I am not working on Baby Squid God.

At least that is what it looks like until November 1st. Due to communications, half the people thought “for Halloween” though it meant it ended on Halloween and the other half thought took it to start on Halloween. Since there is no formal announcement by now, I’m going to say “for Halloween” means “starting on Halloween”. I’m disappointed, but there really isn’t any reason to pout about it.

So, changing gears. I’m good at that. Naturally, I really won’t work much on the game itself, I haven’t done what I wanted to in September to prepare for it, so I probably won’t take October to prepare for it. I can, on the other hand, finish up the commissions, work on Scroll of the Lands, and maybe get a bit of writing done. And finish my website migration to http://d.moonfire.us/ and do the Moonfire Portal site. Good thing I wasn’t doing NaNoWriMo, otherwise I’d be really frustrated (the same thing happened last year with a game contest and November).

One of my kitties, Paksenarrion (Paks for short), is moving in with me. Of the three, she is having the worst trouble with the in-laws basement and is tearing out large hunks of her fur. Most of her neck and shoulders are bloody from her scratching which is only getting worse as time goes on. Poor stressed kitty. After talking to my landlady, I’m allowed exactly one cat in my studio. Given that, on Friday, I get that roommate–a high maintenance, adorable little roommate who Fluffy won’t mind me sleeping with. On Saturday, I start trying to train said roommate on how to use the toilet. Maybe this time it will work. And if I can get one to use the toilet, then maybe the others will start doing the same.

2008-09-22

Weekend productivity

Filed under: Family,Graphics,Programming,Reviews,Technology,Writing — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 20:08

Apparently, one way of getting over writer’s block is to decide not to write and work on something else. The sheer desire not to do what I’m “suppose” to do is enough to make me want to do anything else. In this case, writing. After deciding to work on the baby squid god for the weekend, I managed to find the energy and desire to write just over five thousand words in a few short hours, finish the first draft a commission, get feedback, and update it. Nice feeling, even if one of the feedback items was “too romantic”. Oh well, easy to fix tomorrow and I’ll send it right back out with a couple hundred more words worth of expansion.

Went to Fluffy’s family reunion. Rather nice, talked a lot, relaxed a bit, enjoyed some good food. Found out I have a uncle-in-law three blocks from my apartment who is into realty. Well, guess I knows who is going to probably help us find a place. Also ended up have a long talk with Fluffy about the future of our home, mainly how to juggle so many parts around in the next few months. Painful, but I think we needed to talk.

Finally, worked on the baby squid god. After three days of work, I came to a realization. I hope too much for things to go well. While I could make it perfect, it is going to take another week. And, if it takes me two weeks to do the squid, what about the eleven levels (seven plus inter-stage areas) and 10-20 opponents (i.e. victims to drive insane). I could do it, but not in a month. So, this morning after sitting up about it, I decided to switch to 2D. I have a better chance of getting it done and I really want to succeed. Not to mention, I might get some help with graphics from TIG Source since they love the pixels.

I know, you are all excited about another game project. Bet you want me to write or something. Well, I still have a short story coming up and I really need to work on Scroll of the Lands this week. But, not tonight, Fluffy is leaving for Illinois tomorrow and I’d like a few more short hours with her.

2008-09-19

Reorganization

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — D. Moonfire @ 20:43

Last night, I trashed my baby squid god and started over from scratch. I just couldn’t get everything to line up and I realize that starting with the high detail 1/8th model is the wrong way to go. Two hours later, I had just about the entire low-poly model done, a basic armature working (which I’m going to redo later), and it in the range of 600 triangles (I’m aiming for 1000 maximum for this model). It isn’t quite as incredible as the model in my head, but its fairly close to something usable which is more important.

I did realize something. Squids don’t have eyelids or eyebrows and this is actually going to cause me some problems with expressing emotions. Furthermore, I’m using eyes from the vampire squid which are basically… just blue orbs. And the mouth is under the mantle, so it can’t be used either. (Gave up on the tongue for now.) So, if I do any closeups of the figure, I’m going to have a big struggle to make it look lovable (which is what I’m hoping for). (As a side note, I’m having a bit of trouble the Klein baby bottle, so I might give up on that unless I can find a good model to steal.)

I also reorganized the categories on my blog. Since WordPress now has categories and tags, I moved the tags into the tag section and left the big categories behind. This means the tag cloud is a lot smaller and those on LiveJournal won’t be able to see the tags, but it seems much cleaner to me.

I might start putting up my % complete bars again. This weekend, I need to put at least a few hours on story commissions, go to a family reunion, and write a story for scienceprincess. Do a bit on Scroll of the Lands. And work on the BSG of course. Ah, too many projects and obsessions, this I know.

2008-04-25

Scroll of the Lands

Filed under: Family,Games,Writing — Tags: , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 17:17

Last night, I started working on Scroll of the Lands again. Not quite ready to work on a short story or anything, mainly because I want to focus until I finish the book I’m working on getting republished. Kind of strange, coming back to something, it is hard to remember the rules and situations you set up, but also easy to see where something that made sense four months ago now doesn’t.

I think I want to finish this, and relatively soon. Getting it “mostly done” which is as far as any fan supplement can go, is probably doable and would get it off my plate. Plus, work starts on Monday and I’m looking forward to that.

Also still trying to figure out what to do with Wind, Bear, and Moon. On one hand, rewriting parts of it would make it a better story, on the other, it is rewriting it for the fourth time. I’ve picked up more of a feel for steampunk as my thoughts on it get more refined and comfortable; I still like it, but I’ll probably never write “proper” steampunk since I’m not entirely that fond of the Victorian age. On the other hand, I like messy engines, massive mechanicals made of brass and powered by steam engines, and the slightly absurd way of seeing things. So, I’m at least interested in some of the key parts of steampunk.

2008-01-13

Kitteh Braik and Scroll of the Lands progress

Filed under: Family,Games — Tags: , , , — D. Moonfire @ 21:53

I’ve had a very creative, but exhausting, weekend. Fluffy went home to celebrate her aunt’s birthday. She isn’t doing that well, so she decided to stay another day and come home Monday. Naturally, she took the new car to show it off to her family. And, despite all things, apparently Iowa doesn’t really exist for most of Subaru. The Tribeca comes with a navigation system, but Coralville and Iowa City aren’t there. I mean, how can you not included the former capital of Iowa? Since I’m planning on moving there, obviously I need to do something about it.

But, on the creative bit. I got a physics system working with Kitteh Braik and made a centralized library where I don’t have to duplicate my work between that and Ponies Among Us. I’m stalling a bit on what to do next, but at least I can drop boulders on people and I got the figure about quarter loading properly; though they are just small balls that exploded on the first impact, arms and legs flying in all directions.

I also worked pretty heavily on the Scroll of the Lands, adding about thirty pages of crunch to that guide. It is the largest Exalted project I have taken on. I’ve gotten some really good feedback from people on the forum, which helps drive me forward, but I hit a wall after working on it for three days solid. It is also getting up to fifty pages and I think it will end up about a hundred pages by the time I’m done. Not bad for basically one person writing an entire thinsplat.

And then I get to see if it actually is good. :)

So, that is basically my weekend. Writing and programming, high maintenance dogs, and a dozen movies in the background. I feel pretty good about it all, though I’m just tired right now and need a break. Good thing I go back to work… wait… not that much of a break.

Kitteh Braik (12%)
Scroll of Lands update (35%)

2008-01-09

Someone noticed me!

Filed under: Family,Games — Tags: , , — D. Moonfire @ 15:06

I saw that someone noticed my ten things list from yesterday and blogged about it. Yeah, it was only a list, but it is still so cool to see my name on someone’s blog or website. Those little ego boosts, you know, they also encourage me to write about it.

Speaking of egoboos, I’m still getting a lot of really good feedback on my Scroll of the Lands and spent quite a few hours last night working on it. I’m happy with the results so far, but there is still a lot of work basically writing an Exalted supplement by myself. A lot of writing, crunch, and trying to integrate close to a dozen Exalted books written by just as many authors into a unified game system to link combat, mass combat, and social combat into the Mandate of Heaven. And, apparently, I like the Civilization series since I think I’m going to be creating close to a hundred Constructions by the time I’m done.

Of course, I should be working on Ponies Among Us.

And I’m buying a new car today, I hope.

Character Builder (91%)
World Builder (2%)
Kitteh Braik (9%)
Scroll of Lands update (7%)

2008-01-08

Scroll of the Lands and 10 things about my writing

Filed under: Games,Writing — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 15:59

I have the attention span of a ferret. Some months ago, I wrote an fan-made Exalted supplement called Scroll of the Lands. Mainly because Mandate of Heaven didn’t work for our games. Recently, I mentioned that I had some work and it created a (relatively) large number of comments, suggestions, and discussions over on the White Wolf Exalted forum. While boosing my ego, it also seems to have shifted my priorities a bit since I want to polish that up while there is still some excitement for it.

And, for the writing joys and a meme running around: top ten signs a book was written by me. Well, ten things that characterize my writing style on a larger scale.

(more…)

2007-12-21

Mandate of Heaven and Science

Filed under: Games — Tags: , , , — D. Moonfire @ 19:06

I saw on the random news sites I listen to that the House and Senate have been working hard on the budget and slashing one of the more critical, in my opinion, budgets: science. I know politics is a juggling game, but it is sad to see exactly how many things were slashed or cut with the budget, mainly because of the drain from other sources. It also hits personally since my father is directly affected by the cut. He is doing some really interesting things out there, but I’m sure the same troubles that are going to hit Fermilab are going to hit his laboratory also.

In other news, I was trolling… I mean, reading the White Wolf forums for random tibits when I saw a conversation that lead into something I personally was interested with. I like the idea of Mandate of Heaven, but the rules were unplayable in our game. So, I… subtly mentioned that I was working on a replacement set of rules. And, to my utter surprise, someone liked it! More than one somebody, actually. So, that was really cool and it makes me want to work on those mechanics again. Nothing like comments to fuel the creativity, right?

Plus, anything to avoid working on the computer game apparently.

Character Builder (91%)
World Builder (2%)
Kitteh Braik (0%)
Case of the Morning Zombies (Edit #1, 0 of 37 chapters)

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