Project Jack
My original plan was to continue working on the design for the rest of the month in "optimist" mode, throwing in whatever features I would think make the perfect game. However, the pessimistic part of me cannot take it anymore! As it stands, the present design is way over the top. Every page I add equates to another two months on the project. The story alone will take me about three months to fully write, and probably another six to actually implement. Who knows how long it will take to draw the art? And don't get me started on the time required for proper testing...
So I've decided to move to stage two, and let the design document lie fallow for a week or two. Then I'll see what I can salvage with my critical editor's hat on. I'm sure there's an appropriately sized game in there somewhere. Probably five, judging by the scale of it.
Web Comics?
I had a lot of fun drawing that comic in the last post. It's dawned on me that over the last year or so I've been far more interested in doodling concept game art rather than coding. I've skimmed through the vast pile of sheet paper with random penciled sketches on them, and the ones where I was really concentrating weren't all that bad, such as the concept villagers for "Project Hamlet" or the more detailed mice for that weird version of "Project Jack".
I guess I've been so caught up in cartooning for the sake of games, I never really thought about cartooning just for cartoons. I've also been hampered by the fact that I can't wield an ink pen for toffee; I grip a pen like a chisel and end up smudging everything. However Inkscape's caligraphy tool handily doesn't have that problem. So I figure that if I really put in an effort, I could boost my cartooning skills up to a reasonably decent level in a few months.
So I think I'll start a web comic of some kind. To start with, over the next few weeks I'll just do a few random samples on these forums to work on my skills. However I think in a while I'll also start some sort of comic strip with a sensse of continuity, so I can have an outlet for this stupid wish of mine to write some sort of wacky story into everything I do.
Of course, I'm a bit confused about exactly how you handle the web side of web comics, but I've got a while to ask for the answers to these questions. First off is to really master Inkscape, and figure out an appropriate comic style for me (and to get the hang of drawing hands, they're a real P.I.T.A. to draw).
