Random Artwork

Had to compress image due to the gaussian noise I added for texture :(

Couldn't resist tweaking the painting a bit more....

Decided to work on more fanart ^-^

Added some softer lighting details to make the painting read better from a distance. The portraits will fairly small on screen so it seemed prudent.

I decided to commit to the 'darkest dungeon' art style for the merc portrait.

Am playing around with different styles for the portraits in my IF. Still not happy with either one, but they'll make for good placeholders.

The uniform of the Orpheus mercenaries is partially inspired by Greek funerary masks.

I started writing for Forgotten Heroes again ^-^

Pinball was slightly redesigned to appear more threatening. To be honest he's one of my favorite characters since his arc of wanting to become a 'real' superhero mirrors the MC's goals prior to the insurrection.

Learning animation so that I can make a short 'Drink Your Villain Juice' fan film.

Going to have to rework this part because, as it so kindly has been pointed out by people, Paradigm looks like they're either taking a dump, or giving birth >-<

For the artstyle I chose lego because the tentacle rig is giving me grief already, and I don't want to deal with even more bones.

This morning I was reminded that 'The Green Goblin's Last Stand' existed.

Finally published the short IF game I was making.

A while ago I promised to release the scrapped outlines for my IFs in interactive form so more of these experimental works will be coming out soon.

I hope they'll fill the void as I continue to slowly chip away at my larger projects.

Made this for the "no dialogue jam." Ended up missing the deadline since work has been taking a lot of my energy.

Learned a ton about godot's UI though, so there's that.

Maybe I'll release this post-isekai game alongside fabled, the huckleberry cyoa and the bird knight dungeon crawler walking sim in some kind of bundle.

I'm back. And it did not even take me multiple months to find work. Hurray.

It turns out that a full-time job is not the key to happiness. I never would have guessed.

Anyways, anyhow, anywho, let me bitch about AI again because if I see another 'author' talk about AI 'assistance' I will bite somebody.

The separation between 'plot' and 'prose', like chocolate chip cookies, is merely an illusion of the mind. Prose in a novel mostly exists to convey the plot, and important plot beats in turn spotlight good prose.

Plot and prose should constantly be bouncing off each other. Outsourcing one to AI *always* results in writing that rubs me the wrong way.

In my experience, there's something demiurgic about creating art. I like to approach writing and drawing and making games like trimming an ungrateful hedge that refuses to return the love I pour into it.

You start out with this heap of ideas. They branch and intertwine with one another, growing on their own like little weeds. My job is to turn this wild bush into a shape that is almost recognizable.

So, anything that exists in my tiny, single-plant garden without my knowledge exists without my permission. Anything that lives in my garden without me knowing *why* it is there is a possible pest, poised to ruin everything I have tirelessly worked on.

I hate the thoughtlessness, the lack of drive, and foremost the overwhelming lack of confidence that comes with using generative AI for anything. I hate looking at Artificially generated cocks. I hate to see that shit clog my feed. I hate to see it all over the interactive fiction tag on itch.

I can only pray to myself that I remember to-

I just remembered that I'm still alive ^-^

My to-do list has also has only grown bigger and bigger. Mostly because I can't bring myself to deal with the tedium that accompanies the final stretch of any project. Guess this is karma...

I think part of the issue is that instead of actually unwinding when I'm burned out, I instead move onto a new 'temporary' project, which is really stupid. To compound my ever lasting misery real life keeps fucking me in the ass as though I were the average ao3 writer.

At this point, a roadmap on my games would probably look somewhat like this:

Weird short lizard hidden object game (It shouldn't take more than a day to develop)

Fabled (the game is basically finished. I just can't bring myself to look at it anymore)

The Huckleberry's dungeon crawler that has been in the works for a while now

The walking sim game with a bird knight as the main character (the 'look' for the main character is older than this tumblr account lol)

-Sorcerer's Eulogy (I have a semi playable outline. I just haven't gotten around to it)

Abhumans: Forgotten Heroes (Also got a playable outline for this one.)

Abhumans: Double Life part 2 (I have a new outline. It ain't playable though)

I'm genuinely beginning to wonder whether doing this whole game making thing is making my brain work worse. Like, I physically can't think of anything else. When I play a game I'm looking at which design principles I can steal for my own games. Whenever I'm reading I'm always paying attention to the word choice and sentence structure to figure out how I can improve my own writing on technical level, rather than paying attention to how they service the actual story.

At the start it was fun, it felt as if I was getting more out of the media I'm smoking. But now it feels more like studying than enjoyment.

Worst of all, I keep making new projects because I actually want to finish something, but that just results in more unfinished crap. >-<

I guess I'm kind of playing into the 'eyesore low poly game made in Godot' stereotype, but I like the look. It's distinct.

On a related note, the impact Cruelty Squad has had on Godot Games' art styles is fascinating.

More games that take inspiration from CS's visuals seem to pop up every day. Coincidentally, I just found out about Dungeon of Blood and Dreams yesterday and it nails that digital mixed media aesthetic perfectly.

The way pixel art, prerenders and digital paintings are combined into a consistent art style is awesome.

The only thing I don't enjoy about CS inspired art direction is how easily it can go from just straining the eyes to making them physically hurt. Busier levels in CS like the rich people yacht one come to mind :/

For this game I chose the Resurrect 64 palette by Kerrie Lake again, since it always comes in handy for more visually noisy projects. Mostly because the colors are not too oversaturated compared to other retro palettes.

Had to take another break since I was starting to dread the very notion of having to write Fabled, and that is a bad omen for any long-term project's survivability.

Sure I could slog through and come up with something passable. However, it would not be something that I could be proud of. Too often I see creatives regard their works as products. I do not want to fall into that trap.

Whenever art is treated as a product, concessions have to be made that detract from the essence of what made the work resonate with audiences in the first place.