DavidN

Exciting news, Undertale fans!

Some of you may recall my work on the album art and booklet illustrations for “Buried Souls”, a musical fan project that has been in the works for quite some time now. I’m happy to announce that the entire album is now available for digital download, which you can get right over here: https://albion.bandcamp.com/album/buried-souls

This incredible album features ten original power metal songs and one cover, all inspired by the world of Undertale. Each song is accompanied by my artwork, created exclusively for the project.

The physical album is available for pre-order as I collaborate closely with David, the album’s writer and recorder, to get all illustrations complete and ready for print. I’ve seen the previews so far guys, and let me say, between David’s clever lyrical arrangements and my accompanying artwork, it looks absolutely fantastic! I’m very excited to keep you all updated as we near the finish line. I’ve been given the green-light by David to share the album’s illustrations with all of you in the meantime, which will be subsequently released over the coming weeks.

Personal thanks and shout-out to David for giving me this fantastic opportunity. This has been an enriching experience, and I’ve learned so much throughout the process. Thank you, David!

Special thanks goes out to guest vocalists Pepper Coyote and Celine Kalante. You guys are crazy talented and have done an amazing job!

Thanks of course goes out to Toby Fox, for creating this amazing experience known as “Undertale” that has touched so many of us on a personal level, making us reconsider what a “video game” truly is.

I’ve always loved music, and have long wanted to make some of my own.  Unfortunately, playing an instrument is a skill I sorely lack.

Which is where I got the idea to try composing a tune using the one instrument I had any skill with: my own voice. Using nothing but my phone and Audacity, I recorded and modified a series of 8-second hums, whistles, and beats that I then put together over the course of 2 weeks to turn into the first song I’ve ever released.

For this track, I was going for the feel of an underwater or “deep crystal-filled cave” level of a platformer game, hence why the track’s made to loop (from 3:36 back to 0:24) for use as background music.

To begin with, I would like to apologize to everyone, particularly those who have supported and continue to support me on Patreon, for having disappeared for months. I never intended to disappear like this and even had a bunch of projects lined up for everyone to see.

The reason I’ve vanished for so long is because I’ve been dealing with depression, anxiety, and perfectionism on a scale that has left me incapable of managing anything beyond my work. And even then it’s been a struggle.

Despite getting help for it, my mind feels shattered and fragmented to the point that it feels like I’m thinking through a prism most of the time, or I have so many thoughts it’s like having a fork in a garbage disposal.

I’ve been almost completely unable to draw and when I can manage something I can’t focus or get anywhere with it which has been beyond frustrating. I have so many ideas I want to create and work on but have been incapable of doing any of them.

This is also part of why I’ve disappeared off social media. On top of all the negativity and crap that’s been going on lately, there’s also been an amazing amount of art memes, draw in your style challenges, and artists I admire doing awesome things together that I wish I could be a part of.

But I can’t manage even simple sketches and it’s becomes even more frustrating to have to sit on the sidelines and struggle while everyone else is doing amazing work.

Final Fantasy VI Translation Comparison (Day 5)

A quick update on Hexen II, a game about pretty unicorns.

I beat the next area, but it was not too notable!  The one thing I’m realising is that, presumably because I’m playing on easy, there seems to be one section in each area that I’ve never needed to go to.

In the first world, the area behind the stained glass windows seemed to have nothing in it.  In the second world, there was a barred-off door that never opened.

It has actually made the levels more confusing to me, because I keep thinking “Okay, I definitely need to open this door, but I can’t find a switch” throughout the levels, and then I eventually end up going to the end of the level out of desperation and find that I had collected all of the required items already.

In this case, picking up the four elemental stones and then putting them in the slots was a fairly easy task, aside from the awkward platforming sections.

The forgotten chapel behind the stained glass gets you the key to the wardrobe in the tailor’s house, which lets you... do something else that I can’t remember but is probably important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSzklIJLn2Q&list=PL-36gm0W-VKk7QWN4muN_PJ4MeJxmthTs&index=3#t=1m40s

I finished the first area of Hexen II!

As confusing as the game was, towards the end of the first area, everything started clicking into place… for the most part.  There were still a lot of problems!

I found a wall that implied something was behind it but I’d need an item, an invulnerable crystal golem, and an amulet of hunger.  I knew where to go from there because I’d previously found the weird room which said I needed to be part of the Brotherhood of Hunger.  

It didn’t make sense, but it pretty much translated into game terms as “You found the key for the door.”

Then it became confusing again.  It said I needed sand and glass, and to go to the fireplace. There’s about five different fireplaces across several level maps, and only one of them magically had a button next to it now.  There I got sand, but had no idea what to do with it.  Turns out I needed to run into some fire and it says “You melted it into glass.”

That caused me to get back on track, due to discovering the weird “You need a glass bead” message I found before at another fireplace.  There I somehow made it into a lens, which I used on the wall, which led to a crystal arch that said I could now defeat the crystal golem, which led to beating the golem and then the boss.  

Episode complete!  Now I’m in a new area, it’ll probably be confusing yet again, but at least I’ve made progress!