December’s Arrival

The end of the year, thirty-one days ‘till sunset. December starts the desire to look back, to see what we’ve gone through the last dozen months and wonder if we’ve accomplished goals or if we’re spinning wheels. Looking back at the first three hundred thirty-four days, I wonder where the time has gone. I wonder where I spent them and how failure and success crossed my path. These posts are meant to be a look ahead, but let’s wade back through time for a few sentences and see the echo of our footsteps.

The last personal podcasting episode I created went up in November of 2018. It’s the first year in over a decade that I didn’t do a podcast of my own. I’ve been on podcasts, but it’s not the same as cranking out my own stream. December won’t change that, but it reminds me that in 2020 I need to get back to work.

The blog was silent for most of 2019. Until September, I didn’t post updates here nor on the Patreon. The monthly update has been a lovely boost, but it’s become not enough. December will see more; 2020 will see a growing trend.

There are four novels in my active project list, with three of them untouched since summer. I lament the time it took me to drag through those, but I won’t let those ghosts linger for too long. I’m not straying from Epicus, but I will see it through. I will see a return to those other stories. 2018 saw my first release, 2020 will see several more.

Okay, no more ripping into myself. September saw a turn of pace and we’re going to focus on the growth from those autumnal days.

Streaming picked up in September, and I hid my stride in October. I finished getting the base screens for my page ready in November, and December will see the on screen production jump up. I’ll also be adding additional days to my weekly schedule. Wednesdays, Wednesday nights, and Saturday nights are my current schedule, but expect Mondays to join that night list starting on the second.

Working on Epicus since the end of summer has been a lovely experience. NaNoWriMo last night helped me lay a foundation for the novel to come, and the world building I’ve mustered over the last few months have opened the door to get other projects working in the setting. The early December goal is to work on and publish a Patreon exclusive short story in the setting. This will feature characters that will appear in the novel as well as settings from the novel. Essentially, it’ll be my first semi-public sneak peek at the setting. Stay tuned to my various feeds to learn when that go live.

I didn’t get additional art worked on in November, but I’ll be working on the gamemaster concept more in the coming weeks. I need more practice as I learned during a previous stream, so I’ll release a few teases but don’t expect anything solid until I’m very comfortable with the design to come.

So, let’s recap shall we? We’re going to see an uptick in blog entries, and some will tie into new podcast episodes that will be out early next year. We’re adding Monday night as another streaming night, and will be working on the displays for the stream. There’s going to be some short story work going out his week to have a Patreon exclusive later this month. Finally, I’ll be studying more pixel art and will develop the characters I spoke about last post during December. As always, we’ve got a lot ahead of us, but I’m excited about it.

Want to help out? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch. If you’re really looking to help out, check out the Patreon for earlier news and updates.

On the Coming November

Like the image? It's a teaser for the upcoming Twitch Theme.

Time again for our monthly check in. NaNoWriMo is on our doorstep, which means it’s time to dive headfirst into the current project, FFXIV’s patch 5.1 is out and the streams are coming regularly, and we’re finally finished creating the initial Dinner First icons. A couple of things to unpack in there, so let’s take them apart one by one.

November plays host to the event known as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. From the official site: “National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.” I’ve participated since 2011 with varying degrees of success. Many of my completed projects started in this forge, and once again we return to the fire for a return to the Epicus project. Epicus is the project I’ve been poking for the past few months and in November I’m looking to knock out the first draft of the first part of the novel. Ideally I can knock out parts two and three, but based on the potential size of the novel those might not get compiled until December. Keep eye out on the usual haunts for updates. Or my NaNo profile page.

October saw a growth in my streaming presence. I’m primarily streaming my Final Fantasy raid content with Dinner First on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but we’re starting to come together with what I want the channel to be. I’m still working on the animations for the events, and the profile page images, but we’re coming along. I’m aiming to launch official columns by the end of next week.

Finally, we started working on pixel art again. I’ve shared a number of pieces on Twitter, but in case you missed them:

The first few entries are focused on a character concept I’m running for the Twitch page. The Gamemaster character is meant to be a persona representing me on the page. I liked the first one (a 40 x 40 pixel size) but felt the portions were not quite right.

The second one, 64 x 64 pixels, I think turned out nice for scale, but lacked any sense of movement or life.

The next attempt started off working on a model base from Final Fantasy VI, 16×24 pixels. The 3 by 4 layout comes from RPG maker, as I was using it as a template to try out getting something animated made.

Which I think came out okay:

From there I started toying with a new style that I’m not 100% in love with, but I wanted to get some practice with. Check out the full Dinner First character sheets:

I started with the Gamemaster character and went on to make the eight nine members of Dinner First. For a break down on who is who, check out the album. Again, like the second test they lack movement/personality, but the coloration was fun to do and trying to limit myself to the 16 color choices from SNES level graphics. I think of them as world map avatars, but not combat avatars. Those will be my next goal.

To recap, next month is NaNoWriMo, where we’ll knock out part one of the next novel. Streams will continue through the month with Wednesday and Saturdays being my primary streaming nights. More pixel art is on the way, to get an early glimpse of those, stay connected to my social media as they tend to show up on those first. It’s going to be a great month, and the start of ending the year off on a high note. Hope you’ll continue to join me for the ride.

Want to help out? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch. If you’re really looking to help out, check out the Patreon for earlier news and updates.

Doppelganger: Draco Artifactium Book 1 Preorders are available

After a long uphill battle, it’s finally here! The preorder for Doppelganger: Draco Artifactium Book 1. This has been quite a fun and stressful journey from conceptualization to finished product, and I’m looking forward to continuing the journey as we approach book 2.

Doppelganger: Draco Artifactium Book 1 releases September 3, 2018

Collector of Bone and Flesh

Doing the only thing to quiet the curse possessing her, Micara Hickmann serves the dragon Harbinger as a collector of magical artifacts made of draconic flesh. The city-state of New Castle makes for the perfect cesspool of smugglers, criminal noble houses, and scheming draconic lords that the collector rarely finds herself without work. But the scene she’s been called to in the heart of the red-light district is far from routine. A dead songstress and her mech body guard, a sigil of blood from a high-elven cult, and a fang from a dead dragon.
Trouble of the worst kind.
Micara Hickmann is no novice in the underworld of New Castle, but the strange murder she’s been called to will lead her through a conspiracy against New Castle’s Noble Houses, to try and out-pace a rival collector, and deal with a mysterious figure that seems to lack a solid identity. From dark alleys to underground tombs, she’ll explore the depths of New Castle, and uncover secrets the world of Manta would prefer left buried.
Doppelganger is the first book of the Draco Artifactium series. Set in the world of Manta, the series take place in a dark future of a high fantasy world. World powers and science pressed onward, and technology and politics replaced quests and magic. But the ancient powers of Manta did not suffer the advances quietly, and now after the atomic dust settled from the great war the nations of the world have been broken apart to city-states controlled by draconic lords. Within these realms, their word is law.