Devlog #5 Pretty much on the start line now

Sep 26, 2022

SECTIONS

1. Reminding Myself 2. Print Stuff 3. The Book 4. In The Peripherals 5. Back To The Game 6. Music  7. Lifeboats   8. next 

1. reminding myself

So it’s been nearly two months since i last did a devlog, and i feel like my consistency really isn’t going the way I really wanted to go on when I start doing them. In terms of a weekly update.

It’s not like I haven’t been working towards my goals, but I’ve got to remind myself that the whole point in me doing these devlogs in the first place, is not to vent about how I’m not achieving what I want to do ultimately. 

The actual point is to go over everything I’ve done, so I can figure out if I am moving in the right direction. 

So to follow on from my to-do list that I made at the end of my last devlog, I’d say I definitely  know that I’ve not done what I wrote and that’s ok, it was down to me simply not having the time because of everything else that has had to take priority,.

There’re a few things I’ll quickly list off here for the agenda;

  • I modded my printer with a continuous ink system,
  • I got a new cutter alongside my other one, 
  • I’m ready to start offering the public certain services in terms of printing,
  • I’ve been writing a book,
  • I joined the lifeboats,

there’s a few other things as well but I’ll get to those.

2. print stuff

Like I said, I modded my printer with a continuous ink system which allows me to just print as much as I want now, providing I have the ink of course. I’ve been testing out different medias making sure that the sizes translate correctly. There’s also other general maintenance on things which are part of the whole setup process. I’ll probably never bring that up again.  In short I’d say I’m pretty much on the start line now.

So again, I’m now pretty much at the point where I can start offering services to the public, and also we’ve had a good idea for a Local type magazine, like a community magazine. 

There isn’t one in the area at the moment and it could be a good avenue for everybody in all honesty. I’ve already worked out the cost of what it’s going to be approximately; to get it to every single house in this town to people for free, and it’s definitely a doable thing and should be quite profitable on my end.. I’ve just got to think about it for a little bit, and talk to a lot more of the locals.

3. the book

Like I said earlier I’m writing a book, well in actuality I’m writing two. The first is a Rip Damon book, which is actually more of an art book with some accompanying poetry. 

The second is a science fiction book about a solitary Android Who who explores the galaxy searching for interesting planets. And surprisingly I’m actually a good chunk through writing both of them.

I find straight forward creative writing like this much easier, and it’s also a quicker way of getting some peripherals out there. It’s nice because smaller projects like these are doable in a shorter amount of time. Specially when the premise is so simple. I’ll write more about them in the future. 

The main R3cords story is something that’s constantly playing on my mind, specially where I want to go with it. I’ve not had the time to draw for it but I feel that there is more story that I need to work on and just solely write at the moment. 

In truth I’ve not actually written any Canon for the story recently, but I’ve got story arcs, and ultimately where I’d like to take the story with how I would like to build the characters, more importantly their backgrounds. In short I’ve been constantly adding pieces to it the story,  there’s just no build of the actual end product yet. (The comic book). 

Which is fine because it’s not like I can put it out there at the moment anyway. If I did it’d just be sitting there, and no one would be looking at it. Which is also something I have to think about, how do I get people to just look at what I’m doing…

4. in the peripherals

Now although i’m not getting into heavy details about the books right now, the Rip Damon book is definitely going to build upon his background. Telling some of his story but its main premise is as a current day piece based around the music that he has already done. This isn’t so much an in-depth look into his character and history, although it’s an in-depth look into the art he creates in some way. Which is ultimately, connected via his own perception.

I really like the idea of having peripherals linked to the characters, that people can connect and link to in some way. Like with the Rip Damon book and books I have planned for the future; I want something physical to go through so people actually have something that they can look through and spend time with. The idea being that you can look through these things whilst listening to the music as it’s supposed to all fit together.

It’s very much the same thing with what I’m doing with the game, any games that I produced are under the name Gus Studios which is get your sword. So obviously no she’s not actually a real person in real life, she is the mascot. The idea and image being that she’s the one who creates it and does everything herself. So any game created through Gus Studios is intrinsically linked to Kat (Get Ur Sword).

I like this idea because it gives me something that I can creatively play with, which has nothing to do with the main story line. But is still connected to it. In some way. Because by proxy it belongs to one of the characters from the story.

And this is the thing that I wanting with Rip Damon, this current book is a little tough because the output is obviously very different for this one, it’s more of an extension upon the music he creates. His personal stuff will be more or art and poetry based and being more him delving into the depths of himself in a very introspective way. Maybe he could write a story..

The two characters I’m still a little uncertain on regarding the more real-world things, the peripherals. Are the ones for Chase lumen and Prince of Darkness.

I did have a terrible idea for Prince of Darkness where I was going to do some kind of real life version of him for YouTube channel with myself wearing a mask. But upon reflection, I don’t like the the crossover of the media. I would prefer him just stay a cartoon and in that realm and not have multiple versions of any of them.

But still, of course there is the V-Tuber side of it but also I don’t think it’s a good idea for me anyway. Not that I don’t like YouTube or enjoy making videos, it’s just for the character I don’t think a vtuber who’s communicating in this world as somebody… it just doesn’t make sense to me why. And I feel like it could destroy his character. So no, not that.

If I was going to do a YouTube thing though, it would have to be me talking about it. I’m not so much into the idea of an making the entire thing an ARG or pretending that the world is all real. Although the peripherals are a way to help immerse you in to the story and simply connect.

I was thinking when I’m doing the work for the r3cords comic I could just simply record what I’m doing, and then talk about something completely different. I watch enough Youtube to know pretty much all the YouTube dramas that are going on  and there’s plenty of things going on out there in the world why not talk about them. While I’m doing my art.

I feel that that be a nice way to possibly connect to an audience I could possibly even talk to, obviously, that being if people want to listen to me you know.. It’s not a bad idea. I’ll just be doing my own thing but talking about things I’m interesting in, joining in on discussions I want to be a part of.

I’m definitely going to be ticking a few boxes that work for me. I’ll have to set it up and figure out that it’s definitely something I can do on top of everything else. I don’t see why not.

But still, I’m still stuck on what to do with Chase Lumen and Prince Of Darkness for their real world peripherals.

5. back to the game

I’ve had about zero time to work on the game, which is something I’m definitely trying to sort out. I feel that come winter time I should find a lot more time. Which is actually, (providing we stay on trend to every other year ) is usually the case. Because during the winter is when I do most of my work on games.

I know I should only really update on the things that are actually done but, I guess it’s just me telling myself that it is in my mind. And not something that I’m letting myself forget about. I am only just one person after all.

6. music

 I have managed to take what time I can, when having both the spare time and the need, to work on music; And because of that I’ve managed to put quite a few tracks together along with lyrics to a lot of them as well. I can’t say I’ve had the time to dedicate to recording vocals though, which was absolutely something I intended to get done over the summer but some might say that the universe just said no to that one.

So a lot of what I’ve done has been for Chase Lumen and Earblood. I found a lot of the music I’ve been creating at the minute tends to have a lot more aggression to it so it tends to favor being for Earblood over anything else that I’m doing.

I’ve been meaning to put a new album together sorry for Prince of Darkness because I really haven’t done anything as POD in a while. It’s easy enough to create as his music is very relaxing and almost playful, I was however wondering if I could should I should go in a different direction with music in the future.

It’s my fault that I haven’t done it yet. But if I can put my mind to it, like to just set a day aside. I could probably come up with a new idea for an entire album for Prince of Darkness and put something together, definitely. I’d love to have something out by the end of this year ear.

I don’t feel it’s too important to produce an Rip Damon music right now though. Those two albums that are already out there are actually being listened too. But there’s no-one talking about them, although quite a few of the tracks have been added to peoples playlists. 

The slow growth is absolutely my own fault. I’m not exactly shoving it in people’s faces or anything so it doesn’t really matter on that front. I’m Just wanting to work more on his character and peripherals, so there are just things there. Simply because I just want to do them.

The Chase Lumen albums I’ve been working on are a big priority. I want to fully record and finish one of them, having that done before the first quarter of next year. The lyrics will have quite a bit to do with the main story, without actually telling it.

For instance; Playing With A Thunderstorm For Fifteen Minutes, is pretty much the centerpiece of the first part of the story. The challenge a gave myself to put my twist on it is, how do I tell this story without it just being completely about the music. I’m not writing a musical.

And I get that to some it might sound counterproductive or contradicting, but it’s away to to make it digestible without it being a giant cheese piece, if that makes sense.

There will be two main protagonist groups in the story, but it’s the way that I’m going to tell it which will will not be as obvious as people would expect it to be. I love the idea of a centerpiece that isn’t really the centerpiece.

7. Lifeboats

So like I said earlier; I’ve joined the lifeboats, the RNLI.

Its something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid but was never really been able to do. Simply because of my vicinity away from a station, so now I’m able to do it and I’m just doing it. It’s something that’s getting me out of the house and it’s quickly becoming the main social aspect of my life.

Also ever since I got the beeper I have been responding to calls; or as they call them shouts, whenever and whatever they are, it’s good fun.

Although I feel like I could be in trouble at the next staff meeting as I signed up for training last Sunday but never turned up for it. I planned on going and was looking forward to it. But I was a day back… somehow I lost a day. I literally thought it was tomorrow.

Coincidentally two hours after I was supposed to be there we had a shout and obviously I got out for that, but Damn. I’m just angry at myself for not keeping track of the days. It’s such a stupid thing, and it’s only my fault.

Still I hope it doesn’t reflect on me too much, I know it’s hard getting people to trust you and little slip ups like that don’t exactly help. But it’s still fun, I’ve just have to try harder and keep it all together you know..

8. Next Step

I’m just going to keep this list as it was in the last devlog, as I have done very much, but nothing on this list.

Here’s my todo list for the game:

  • name every single character
  • Write dialogue

 

For the comic:

  • Storyboarding
  • layout design

 

 

Thank you so much for reading 🙂

D.Stuart

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