2. On With the Game

Moving forward with the game then, I’m going to committing some time every night at the end of the day to just build the world. I’ve got all the locations mapped out on the main map screen now, so I’m going to add the place holder screens for each location and also add the characters to them also.

The point of that is just to get the game working on par with the scope of the entire game, I’ll make it look nice later and on the days when I just can and want to.

Once the entire frame work is done and everything is in place, that’s the time when I’ll trim out the demo. Because the rest is just down to me doing all the art and music. Which will definately take time, compared to everything I’m doing now.

There’s actually a few things I could do regarding this. No matter what, I need some kind of funding if I’m to put in the amount of effort I need to complete this, and also to market it and to just simply get the game seen by people.

So my ideas are; Get a demo out there and use it to build support, via something like Patreon or Kick Starter. From that point on I either raise funds to speed up the development process and just continue till the game is ready. Or I do release after release of an unfinished game. With (hopefully) continued support and build it around some kind of community towards the game.

I’m probably leaning more towards the first option at the moment, I say this because I already have the entire vision of what I want the game to be. So changing it all to what a currently none existant community would want, doesn’t make sense to me at all. Although that might be a fun way to build a game in the future.

But again, raising funds for this project is absolutely something I need to look into, specially if there’s the store costs to consider also. There’s still plenty of time to go just yet though. So once the demo’s ready, that’s when I need to start focusing on what I’m going to deliver and have everything as clear to everyone as it can be.

3. print stuff

Jumping into my print business, I’m currently moving my office to a smaller one. It’s only the production side though, my main work desk is staying. Although my old office’s purpose has now changed. It’s now more of a lounge area with some desks in the corner. It looks nice.

My main guillotene is still out of service, I don’t remember if I actually mentioned this in a previous post. But just to inform or recap; It’s what I need to trim larger amounts/piles of paper at one time, so for things like magazines, books, brochures, notebooks and pads etc.

So as of right now I can’t do any of that, which is annoying because it’s pretty much my local specialty and an essential part of the pipeline for some of the other finishing machines I have.

So again as of right now all I have is a hand trimmer, which slices a sheet at a time. You can pile them up but are limited depending on the thickness, also doing it this way is not so accurate so I just don’t.

This minor set back has significantly reduced the catalogue of things I was currently capable of producing until I can afford a replacement. So I’m probably going to have to offer some types of none extra print services I don’t really want to do. Such as door to door distribution services and so on.

Other than that I’m currently just reaching out to people, trying to build a client base offering to them what I’m able to do right now. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s a start. I’ve got my stock in and I’m ready to go with what I’ve got, to build it up from here.

4. streaming

I’ve been putting a lot of effort into both the comic and the game, over this past two weeks especially. I’ve wrote a lot of story for the comic along-side designing a good amount of the characters that are involved so far. Today I was just recently working on a full color finalized versions of one of the characters taken from my concept sketches.

In the next devlog I’m more than likely going to post up a video of what the game is looking like, and then another showing what I have done since that video. I’m also highly contemplating streaming my development and art sessions so I can use clips of these the create some videos. Either talking about what I’m doing or maybe even about the community in general.

I know it’ll be more work but I’m sure it’ll be do-able, I mean, I’m getting the footage whilst I’m working. The videos don’t need any fancy editing if it’s more about the subject matter over it being an amazing spectacle… unless thats actually the point of the subject being talked about, but I degress. I’ll just start it with my next session, streaming it onto twitch or something.

There is no plan to stop writing like this atm (the DevLogs), any videos I post I will do write-ups for also, where I can probably give personal opinions or add anything that wasn’t said during.

Others probably wont need expanded write-ups neither as another point to having them is for proof of work. I feel like with the AI text to image tools available now, as an artist, it’s vital to show some kind of proof of work, the method, the journey, all of it really…

5. a little vent

Also there’s the fact that people might even provide help in someway, it’s amazing how much an outside eye can help you see sometimes. There are obviously downsides to sharing a journey or documenting just about everything you can, like trolls or whatever.

But the thing is I could be a saint and someone would hate on me for it. I posted a pixelart on instagram a few years ago and someone had a go at me saying I wasn’t obeying the correct style of the era or something like that, do better or whatever.

I remember getting really annoyed and messaged back something like; art is art, and that art is subjective. If I want to experiment and try something new with a retro style, then why not?

I mean, imagine getting so offended on instagram that like this guy… just scrolling down, and then eventually seeing my simple pixelart post, a pixelart that is so against his own strict beliefs of what makes a pixelart a pixelart. He stops scrolling and his blood begins to boil.

So Instead of just ignoring it and scrolling on, he spends his very own time to tell me his absolute dismay.

My picture effected him so much, that he had an actual emotional reaction and had to tell me all about it. I mean, in all truth, it’s good in a way I guess. I feel that art should be able to create a discussion as people connect to it. It’s just a shame that he became the gatekeeper of what a pixelart is.

It’s trivial but I’ve come to expect it. All I can say is; If you create art and I mean really create. Don’t ever be afraid to experiment at every given opportunity, find what works for you. I guarantee you, people will love it. They’re out there. And you’ll probably find that the people who’re most vocal about not liking it do too. As you’ll notice a few weeks later after they rip off your artwork.

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

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

2. MY Print Company

I initially got a small funding injection from a government scheme called the New Enterprise Allowance scheme, or just NEA. Funnily enough I was one of the last people to get on to the scheme because it’s been discontinued.  With this money injection I’ve been able to get a fair but of equipment, for finishing as well as printing.

I also funded some of it myself with the money I made from some NFT’s I managed to sell in December. Even the label has made small amounts too which also helped. All of that cash injection, even though it’s not really what most people would say is a lot of money.

But here’s the thing, investing the money you’ve managed to save and scrape together into anything, when you’ve got nothing, is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. There’s all the different bills, and then there’s food. Sounds simple, I know. But it’s near on impossible. Things break down, pets get ill, time seems to speed up until it gets to all the worst parts.

But we’ve done it, it’s been a slow strategy, it had to be because there was no other way of doing it. I was getting a weekly small cash injection of sixty five pounds for a while which was then reduced to around thirty odd after so long. It’s helped so much, but it’s just so slow waiting another week for that extra bit I need. As I watch my list of stuff I need slowly reduce in size month after month.

On the day I got my first print job in, I wasn’t as well equipped as now so I only offered work to my extended circle. Who I knew I could cater for. On that day, everything that I needed to use, broke. The printer broke and my trimmer just wouldn’t clamp on to the paper. It was tragic.

So I did what I had too, I managed to get the printer parts for free from the distributer. I also got a fifty percent refund on the trimmer, in which I ended using a fraction of that money to modify the trimmer with. I knew if I just replaced the part, I’d end up with the same problem very soon, as well as having to wait six to eight weeks for the parts to come from china for some reason.

So I took the original clamp system out and got a welders quick release clamp, for a tenner. It’s a hundred times faster and works perfect for equal stacks because I don’t have to adjust the clamp distance. I just use a piece of acrylic on top of the paper to spread the weight of the clamp pressing down. You might not get what I mean, but it basically made something really tedious into something slightly fun to use, which matters in work like that.

I’ve got two more things left to do before I can go completely public, it’s that last little bit of funding and also unfortunately, more time. I have to modify my newest printer and I also need some better quality paper than what I’ve got. Once it’s all done and in, I’m hoping to be inundated and struggling to cope with all the work I’m going to be getting. Like how I want to win the lottery. So you could say my business has nearly landed. 

3. We won the lottery

That reminds me, we’ve been playing the “Set For Life” lottery game recently where you could win something like ten grand a month for about thirty years or something like that. It seems like the greatest thing ever, I’d be able to just start my animation studio, game development studio and obviously grow my print company into a fully fledged print factory.

And we won!! Not the jackpot… Obviously, otherwise I’d have started this DevLog a little differently. It was fifteen pounds, but that little win. Man… Bittersweet. 

4. Back to the game

All I’ve managed to do with the game since my last DevLog is just look it over a few times. I recorded myself playing through what I’ve done so far. Been meaning to set up my microphone to record the voice over for it. Normally I would have done it at the time but I haven’t had any. 

I’ve just made sure to always just go over everything I’ve done with the game every so often, because I don’t want to abandon the project… If I did, I feel like I’d be disrespecting myself somehow. I know it’s weird but, I just don’t want to have ever wasted that time. Hopefully by winter time I’m back into the swing of it. That said, I’m more than likely going to write dialogue and draw all or most of the scenery. 

Other than that, there’s no change to how it’s going to be, as I begrudgingly end with “yet.”  

5. R3cords Story Starting Soon

So this year, a very few times I actually managed to pull in my attention, summon up the energy. Some might say I miraculously manifested profound creativity from the depths of procrastination. However, I’d say prioritization. In short, I actually managed to write the first part of the R3cords story that I want to go on with.

I introduce Chase Lumen and a few other characters straight off the bat, the way I’ve wrote this is a kind of introduction to how I want to tell everything else going forwards. So I will be using it as a kind of pilot I guess.

I wont be animating it just yet, and it’ll be more of a comic for now. I think It’ll be the easiest way to simply get my stuff out there. This way I can build up an audience and also start building the funding I’ll need to get the help with animating. Unless I think of something else.

But also building up an audience in general is something that wouldn’t only be encouraging. But pretty much vital not for me, but everyone around me. I could carry on doing all of this for the rest of my life, it’s all in there, I’m just getting it out. Doing, all of this. Is what gives me a sense of purpose, when I am I’m at my happiest, I get lost in it, immersion.   

It just doesn’t pay the bills, and the people that love me feel that I deserve something for everything that I do and continue to, like get a big win with it, like popularity, money or fame. You know… All the things you can’t really chase. I’d love so much to just be able to buy the meal when we’re all out with the family and friends. I’d love to not be juggling with the cash, week in week out. 

I’d love people to stop saying that it’s such a shame that I’m not anywhere, because I’m so soooo talented. I know it’s a nice thing to say on the surface, but it feels like a kick sometimes. Specially when you’re low, which is usually when they say it to try and cheer you up. And yeah that was me, in tiny fleeting sporadic moments of the past.

But yeah, now I’m past it. I know where I am with it all… And it’s all my fault I am where I am with everything. Because I just haven’t been sharing everything out to the world, to the level that I should be sharing out everything. This is partially (larger in part) because of finances. And also partially because of where I’ve been able to put my attention. 

But still, things are moving forwards and I’m doing something, no matter how small, I’m doing at least one thing towards everything… So again, like I said earlier. My business has nearly landed. And I know that those close to me are getting very impatient waiting for something to happen…Like it should just take off like that. Well I’m not ready for take off just yet. Gotta get that fuel ready first… 

6. Next Step

I can’t promise a weekly update atm, but I will update next when I’ve done at least something with everything.

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

2. Ideas

The first was a basic one, being hidden none related secondary stories within some of the short story games (SSGm) they have their own continuations. It’s a basic idea but it’ll be implemented in a way which keeps each SSGm that little bit more immersive and engaging. The second idea is directly linked to this that is an awards/collectable based system that will be implemented.

So even though, as the player you won’t need any kind of installs to play any SSGm you will be able to keep track of of the story and other collectables you find, as you play via an app on your phone. I’m keeping this vague enough that It’s not much unlike the awards systems that already exist, but my idea is more progressive and I just can’t share it fully just yet.

The third idea involves AR and is something that I haven’t actually worked with before, so it will be a new tree to climb. But from what I hear Godot has a new architecture that was introduced into its engine based around AR and VR. Godot is something I’m already quite familiar with, I’m well practiced with GDScript (Godot’s own scripting language), it’s very simple to use and very a quick one to learn too.

I’ll not be investing any practical time into this just yet though, I’ve got far too much on and I’m still setting up the foundation code for the SSGm. So Level_oneland should provide a majority of the base code to work with once finished.

3. Working them in

I’ll probably brush up on Godot’s new features by putting on some Youtube videos in the background whilst I work, and occasionally flick through the documentation on the site. At least then I’ll have some idea on how to approach it when I get round to it.

I’ve also got some research to do for the second idea I have, I’m going to talk to a guy I know who’s a specialist in this particular area for some advice. So that particular one can sit on the back burners for a little while as well.

The first idea also, will sit on the back-burners lol. Although I will make a start on that instantly, as soon as I start with the SSGm. I’ve actually already wrote quite a bit for it already, there’re quite a few ideas to come back to also. It’s a fun one to do, so this one is more of a useful use of procrastination.

I get to goof off or whatever, but I also still get to put it to use. So again, I’m not actually wasting time whilst wasting time. It’s also an excellent way of keeping any options open for the future, It’d just be terrible to get locked into the one thing, and then that’s the only thing you can do.

4. Venting

I say that because it just seems really unsafe, like what if you didn’t plan properly and spent a real significant amount of time on something, before you realised it’s just not going to work in any way? I just don’t get how you could grow out of or past something that just didn’t work if that was all there was.

Like, lets say an app for example; That absolutely nobody asked for, lets say it provides a service, but it only adds on extra steps to whatever it is that you want, but as it turns out; You could just do the same as what the app does yourself, without all the extra steps added on each time. Back in the day I’m sure we’d just rip the canvas down and start over I guess, but this is today.

And yes, I have absolutely wasted a lot of my time for a very long time in the past. Even when I didn’t know I was. One of the hardest things to learn I think, is learning how to see value past your own vanity, whilst also catering for it just enough so that it doesn’t cancel itself out. I mean that partially in the sense that you should never tell yourself you can achieve the impossible, because obviously it’s impossible.

Just do what you know and learn what you don’t. Because that is what you can do… Wow, this DevLog has actually diverged into a tangent of digressional gratification, bordering on cliché circumlocution if ever… And actually, so did that sentence now I think about it… Yeah, I had to snap myself out of that one, I’ve just realized how stressed i’ve been feeling recently.

5. How I don’t want to animate

I’ve not managed once this week to really just sit down and get any work done. That’s ok though, because I’ve managed to give a lot more thought to the planning. So once Level_oneland is finished I’ll be making an immediate start on the SSGm, I’ve also been thinking about the best ways to draw out all the content in the most efficient way possible, and which programs there are out there that allow for the level of technical ability I need.

Now up until now, I’ve only ever used photoshop to draw everything in, as well as animating in. Because of this, I know that animating in photoshop is not a realistic option for just myself alone. And hiring any other artists or animators at this point in time is also not an option.

So I personally know that to animate, Photoshop is not good for me, it might be for someone else but it’s not for me. Obviously it’ll always be my go to program for doing most artworks, but not for animation. I really like Adobe character Animator. But I hate everything that anyone has ever done with it, although I believe that’s just because people don’t do enough with the animation, and most I’ve seen cross the shortcut threshold a little too much, making them look lazy an automated.

Like rubbery robots. I also feel like you loose a lot of the quality you could have, specially when you want things like atmosphere or lighting to interact with the character. I know you could rig it in, I looked into to, but why bother. I’m not going to rig in every possible light effect onto a character, it just seems like a waste of time, plus the characters file would probably add actual weight to my hard drive. And that’s just one character.

I had a long think about it, mostly about what I don’t want. Like I don’t want to work on a single layer, import into another program, edit its movement, change its shape in another program, import that one in, edit the scene in another scene, import that in another program, draw over the edit. composite in another program, edit in another blahblah bluerghhh. No. I don’t want to do that.

It’s tedious enough already, but on the base level it’s actually fun. I want it to feel fast and fun to for me to do. Each scene should be unique, and the character position and angle should reflect this. Obviously certain things can be recycled. But it’s about keeping things fresh, not using the exact same assets and angles every time.

6. Choosing An Animation Software

I feel like Blender is going to be the program of choice in regards to animating, I know it’s most commonly known more as a 3d sculpting software. But it does have 2d features too, which allows you to layer 2d images within a 3d environment, so it’s not one or the other. It’s both at the same time. And I can use open shader language. The editing is quick and easy, and I can do it all. The only problem I have with it, is my experience on blender.

The last time I used it was when they experimented with it also being a game engine, a version that would definitely be considered ancient now. So these 2d features I’m talking about are quite new to me, I’ve actually never used them. But I know what’s possible, and I’ve watched a few people work with the new features (pretty sure the features are actually a few years old now, but) it seems like it’s a fit for me.

So yeah, I’d rather learn some new blender features and get quick with it again over time, than miserably and torturously and eventually achieving what I want with Adobe. It’s a feature thing, solely about this project, and I feel it’s the best decision. I’ll know soon enough though.

The SSGm scenes will be low energy, including subtle movements, high detail and low head count. There will be 2d Multi angle shots of scenery, unique angles of characters relevant to these shots, as well as exposition shots. In terms of scope all of this will amount to around 80% of the work I’ll be doing, the rest will be story and script writing, voice acting and work within the game engine, as I should already have a large amount of the required code I’ll need, from Level_oneland. Even though the end product of each will be completely different in the delivery of aesthetic and gameplay.

7. Print

The last thing I’m to be doing this week, is setting up a domain for a small printing company I’m starting it to help with the incoming funding. It’ll coincide with the move so I’ll get to start in a new town which is pretty cool. I know it seems a little off subject but obviously I’m not earning any money through R3cords at the minute, I’m still building and this print business is actually a part of the plan. And even relates to one of the ideas I mentioned earlier. I absolutely need my own print company if I’m going to be selling any kind of peripherals.

Plus it’s an extra avenue that opens up a lot of opportunity in terms of incoming trade that isn’t relevant to R3cords, I even have an idea in print where there is surprisingly a massive gap in the market for. Although I wont be able to do that particular venture for quite a while yet, I’ll be starting very small with it. Just so you know, I was a fully professional print operator for six years (In two extremely high volume places), as well as other previous smaller print ventures and pretty much having it as a hobby since school. So I’m not just clutching at straws, it’s something I know how to do quite well.

8. Next Step

I’m just going to copy and paste last weeks “next step” section, seem as though I didn’t get any work done. Hahaha. 

So this week, (hopefully) I’ll focus my energy on;

• Drawing NPC’s
• Drawing Locations
• Animating NPC’s
• Animating Locations
• Parallel project extra artworks

Hopefully I’ll get the time to tick all of this off as I’m in the process of moving home so it’s a little hectic in life atm. But still, right now I’m very much in the habit of doing at least one thing a day no matter how small the task is.  

Thank you so much for reading 🙂

D.Stuart

2. R3cords 2019

Anyway, going back to my passions. So it was January 2019 when I finally started R3cords, I made it an official thing. A record label, strangely enough also not, a record label. Still officially R3cords is an independant label, the current nature of the business is “suppliying goods and services to the music industry”. But that’s not quite what my ultimate vision is. I want it to be an entertainment brand.

I want it to be a record label, that’s also a game, within its own universe, within ours. It’s not exactly a very authodox business model, at least where the music industry’s concerned. But to be honest I don’t care about that, because ultimately I want to marry multiple industries into what I do anyway. Like I said, I’m an artist and I can only do what I already know or what I’m prepared to learn about. It’s my work.

So, between starting and all the way up to now, it’s not been an easy road. 2019 was actually one of the hardest years of my life and as a result R3cords did end up taking a backseat. I lost my job, I went homeless for a few weeks, I was under so much stress I developed a stomach ulcer that I still comes back today in times of stress. I have to take a damn pill everyday for it, and that’s just a reminder of that year. But! Even taking everything into account, R3cords was still this little beacon for me.

It was something I could focus towards, because I’ve always known what I want it to be. So when I could, I’d work on some music, i’d write and draw. Even though I couldn’t really share most of it at that point, at least I was still doing it, and that’s what mattered. The best metaphor for what R3cords was to me at that point would have to be, a very very tall ladder in a very very deep hole.

3. R3cords 2020

2020, I managed to get a few jobs. Lost them, for no fault of my own. I managed to make a start on the website, although I was still trying to figure out how to tell the story, I’ll get back to that in a second. So I just kind of left it to one side as more of a placeholder page, and spent most of my time prototyping how I would like to actually tell my stories visually. I did the normal writing music and stories throughout the year in my spare time, whilst also trying to figure out where I should direct the exact angle of attention from a narration/ narrative stand point when I do.

For a few months I actually chased the idea of putting everything into a game that I would update on a regular basis. So my label would be a building you could explore in the city I’d began building. I still actually like the idea. It was a first person game. The biggest problem I had with it though was the accessibility problem, the story telling issues, the regular updates, and pretty much the general scope of everything.

It seemed like the more I did the more of a mountain of problems I was left looking at in terms of making it all possible. A simple first person game doom style RPG in Godot?, yeah I could do that! But it just didn’t fit my vision. Specially when it came to how much I want to do. It makes a lot more sense to me having every story as it’s own separate entity and focused. Still, I can come up with plenty of arguments why I could be wrong, I’ve got more reasons I’m right and there’s the fact I’m just simply not going to get to do it way.

4. R3cords 2021

But I can proudly say that this year 2021, I feel like I’ve made so much progress with everything. When it finally clicked on how I could actually present it in a way that to me leaves no limits. In terms of how I will be able to express my storytelling. It’s just very exciting, and I can’t wait to get it all out there. It feels almost like the snowball effect, mixed with launching a car in high gear. Bear in mind, this is in terms of the amount of work I’m getting done. It’s a slow, small start. But As I’ve done more, I’ve then picked up more speed. Something that seemed like a difficult mountain to climb, now feels like pleasant hill, And I’m finally getting to enjoy the sights. That’s enough metaphors, for now I think. Haha.

This year at the time of writing this 2021, I’ve pretty much spent all my spare time working on all the characters backgrounds, and tightening the art style that I’m going to be using for R3cords. I also started to populate the site towards the end of the summer, so I can start to visually see things coming together, although there’s still a vital component missing.

It’s still kind of there, as there’s still the real world aspect to the brand, at this point it’s mostly just the music which is out there to stream. But now you can at least read some of the stories. So I don’t know if I will have changed it in the future (I probably will), but right now the site has three main sections, ‘R3cords News’, ‘Music’ and ‘Dev Logs’.

5. R3cords News

R3cords News at this point in time is the main place to experience the R3cords storyline, the idea is you can start wherever you like in any particular storyline that grabs your interest, and proceed from there. On the R3cords news page, you can interact with the R3cords News twitter, there’s also a video that will play the most recent post on the R3cords News youtube channel.

These videos will pretty much be a round up of all the latest articles that would have been released. Kind of like the introduction to a news show, giving an outline of all the recent stories without delving to much into the juicy bits. It’s a way of guiding you to the articles by immersing you within the universe as soon as you hit the page.

6. Music

The music section is pretty much self explanatory to be honest, it simply showcases all the releases to date. The release pages have direct links to the releases on the most common streaming services out there. I plan on adding sections to the release pages containing all the relevant artists stories. Still, I really don’t want there to be any kind of gate sitting there. Blocking people who just want to find the music on it’s own.

Like you shouldn’t have to learn the story behind a particular track to listen to it, you also shouldn’t need to know what R3cords is all about just to be able listen to anything. But still when it comes down to it, music is one of my big passions, it might even be the biggest in all honesty, and at this moment in time it’s the only form of monetization which will help me push R3cords further.

7. DevLogs

The third section is for the DevLogs which again, I’m not sure if I’ll ever change it but right now, I’m feeling like the most likeliest people to visit my site, are either people I already know in person. Or perhaps other developers that might have stumbled across me trying to fit in to some community somewhere out there, maybe in a game developers forum or something like that. Which actually brings me back to the whole game thing, because that’s what this is actually supposed to be right, somehow. Don’t worry, it makes sense in my head, a record label that’s a game, yeah! Makes complete sense to me, no joke. I know what I’m doing, I just don’t like explaining it to much right now, because there’s no reason why other people like me wont just do this in time. It’s simple really.

So this week, like I said previously I’m intending to post a new DevLog each week, it’ll most likely be an ongoing series and most probably at this point in time, my main method of populating the site. Right now i’m concentrating more on developing Level_oneland whilst also developing the main mechanics for R3cords, over everything else. This week however, when there was time spare, over a three day period I did a lot admin on the site. Designing the R3cords News page and redesigned other aspects of the site. The intention is to prepare the pages for when the game aspect comes into the works. Just thinking about that, is bringing a smile to my face.

8. Level_oneland Update

Now onto Level_oneland. I wouldn’t say I’ve had the most productive week, even though I definitely got a lot done in all honesty. It just wasn’t anything massively fun to do, because a lot of my time was spent on writing macros and tidying up the script. Anyone out there who codes already probably knows that it’s quite important to this, it’s a quality of life thing.

As in the quality of your life will be better, specially when you’ve got hundreds to thousands of lines of code to trawl through to find something like a simple spelling mistake or forgotten symbol. Which only hurts even more when you can’t read the error messages because it’s in Japanese. Obviously I’ve got nothing against the language itself, its my own fault, maybe I should learn it. But I don’t… So maybe I’m just lazy.

Level_oneland now has its world map, which will be used as the main method of getting to any of its locations. The map is currently on its first iteration, the building positions are final, the coloring however is not. This means that all the script for the clickable areas do not need to be changed in the future. There are thirty two of these locations, and all with each of there own explorable areas. The idea being that when I add the new areas in they’ll just kind of snap on to what already exists.

The next part I did was a little unnecessary at this stage, but as I’m putting a demo together, I thought that making a start with the sound design for this first section will help me in the long run as I didn’t have the opportunity to do as much of the artwork as I’d hoped for this week. With that, I improved the games progression method in reference to the storyline. Which is also in reference to the script tidying I did earlier. Along with that I improved all the dialogue at the opening section of the game, so you can get a much better feel for the main characters personality.

9. Fight Mechanics Logic

Now you might remember if you read through last weeks DevLog how I said I had the fight mechanics for the game on the “back burners”. Well I did, and although I haven’t really coded the mechanics of it just yet. I did come up with the logic for how it’ll work. It’s nothing groundbreaking I’m sure, it’s just the logic for how my version of a turn based battle system is going to work.

On the enemy turn there will be always be a fractional chance on whether it will attack defend or heal, in which the chances change depending on how much health it has at any given time. For example it has more chance of healing itself if its health is low. I also put a lot of thought into how and when particular moves and counter moves would be processed to intuitively react to the players decisions. I’ll post my notes. below;

10. The Next step

I’d say this week has actually been quite productive, more than what it felt like in all honesty. I managed to work on some music for the game yesterday, nearly forgot about that. Well I didn’t, because I listened through it while I was typing this up! I nearly forgot to mention it, which is something I don’t normally do. Log things.

I’ll get better at this… Anyways I think I actually managed to tick a few things of the list, so it’s looking pretty good for the next step after this to come soon. So this week, I’ll focus my energy on;

• Drawing NPC’s
• Drawing Locations
• Animating NPC’s
• Animating Locations
• Parallel project extra artworks

Hopefully I’ll get the time to tick all of this off as I’m in the process of moving home so it’s a little hectic in life atm. But still, right now I’m very much in the habit of doing at least one thing a day no matter how small the task is.  

Thank you so much for reading 🙂

D.Stuart