Dawgin'

 

Tis the season! I am off work and trying to cram in as much or my own personal work as I possibly can. It probably doesn't look like I get a lot accomplished considering how little I post online, but my problem is that most of what I work on is unseen by the public (including yall in'ernet folk). But I sat down and pumped out a new piece for my main DeviantArt page: HERE It's a continuation of the Budget League series of heroes I have. There's a short little bio written on that page but I didn't go into specific backstory elements because I'm saving that kind of thing for the actual story pages. And yes, I do still plan to make this comic. It's not going to happen soon because I have other comitments, but I WILL do it. I swear to god. My only fear is that someone is going to see these on DA and rip the ideas off before I can produce the book (but there's also the chance that my character ideas are so dumb that no one would want them LOL! Let's hope for that one!)

My main commitment currently is my indie game studio (the word "studio" is used very lightly). We haven't bought the business license yet, but we are working on the game itself. My teammate (also named Matt, if I hadn't mentioned that prior) has code running and assets moving in engine. I just recently got the main character textured and rigged and am starting the animation process. I would post some screen shots but we are trying to keep it all under wraps until it's closer to completion. It's exciting!! You'll just have to take my word for it.

Just to reiderate my plans for the future: When this first game is completed, we are going to release it on the IOS app store. Then we are going to start production on more games and small apps. Matt has a friend who has been in this line of work for quite a while (doing quite well!!) and he is working as our advisor for this whole opperation. With the tips he's giving us, we hope to start bringing in a steady revenue stream once our games have been for sale over time. If all looks good, we then plan to focus on making games full time. That means opening up a small office workspace in a house or apartment and becoming an official indipendant developer. THAT is when I plan to start doing comic book work on the side. Currently I am working a full time job and making games in my free time, but when I transition to full time game developement, my free time will be open to writing and drawing other things. This plan is my dream and it will always be my dream until I achieve it. And I am really confident that I can.

It sounds farfetched. Probably because it is! Although it may not be impossible as much as it is very very difficult. It's going to be tough as shit! But I'm going to do it. You sons a bitches!!! I'm DOIN' IT! 

Try and stop me.

(actually, don't)

Computer. Complete.

It's finished! My computer is finally together and I couldn't be happier. I tell ya what, this experience has been really rough. It was about 4 months ago that I started assembling the mountain of assorted parts in the corner of my room into a real, working computer. I still remember day one of the build where I estimated it taking a few hours to complete. 4 months later, it's finally done and I'm exhausted.

Now, I don't want to point any fingers, but a lot of my problems generated from the person who was supposed to help me with the project. The so called experience individual who has put together quite a few computer in his life. Granted, the original, broken motherboard was not his fault, but pretty much everything after that was. I ended up taking the new computer to work and having our amazing IT guys dismantle and then reassemble the thing in a matter of an hour or two. It is now in perfect working order and I am forever indebted to those IT guys. As they bestowed the shining, purring machine to me I asked if I was suppose to bow to them, but they told me to simply tell the world of their deeds. ::Thank you, guys::

With that hurdle behind me, I've started the arduous process of installing all of the necessary programs needed to do what I do. I've got high hopes! This new computer ended up with 32 gigs of ram and has at least 2 more cores than my last computer's processor. Zbrush should now have no problem handling what I plan on shoving into it. Skin pores? No prob! Hair follicles? Lay 'em on me!! (actually, no thanks)

In other news, my small business plans continue. My partner and I have the ground work of our IOS game running. However, our real-life jobs have been pounding us lately, so the time we have to work on our game is slim. But this game will be completed, and it will be glorious.

We are still going through a list of names for our studio, but once we pick the right one, we will be making the official Facebook, Twitter, etc. and then purchasing our business license. After that, we plan to put some cash down on an iPad for testing purposes. Once the game is in working order, we plan to fire off a kickstarter to see what (if any) money we could make in order to purchase a copy of Unity pro and then build out the game for the app store.

It's a lot to do! But we plan to have this game available in the first few months of 2013. From that point, there's no telling what will happen. The ideal situation is to make enough money to fund our next game, and then the next game, and so on and so forth. Thus the dream becomes a reality :)

Getting Shit Together

My computer is still not working. Intel is trying to tell me that the RAM I bought is not compatible with my CPU and that that is why it's not booting up. I'm not sure if I believe that or not, but we'll see what happens after I buy some new RAM.

I haven't been able to work on my 3D portfolio work either due to my current computer's failings. The graphics card has a fan that's going dead and it gets really loud when it's used intensively, so I've been keeping it pretty light and only doing 2D work in photoshop.

That's not to say I haven't been practicing my 3D however. I got thrown onto a project at work for a medical company that specializes in healing bed sores and other "non-healing" wounds. I modeled an old man who I am now carving large craters into. The reference images they gave me are horrifying and are making it hard to keep down my lunch, but modeling the actual details into this character are quite enjoyable, even if it's gross as shit.

In other, and more important, news: I am working on an IOS title with a co-worker of mine. I'll release more details about it later on, but for right now I just want to say that I'm excited. I am more confident than usual that this could turn into something successful and it's really changing my outlook on my entire career goal. My whole life I've been planning on getting good enough at my art that I could get a job at a big studio and work on some AAA game titles, but now I'm realizing that I can actually be the one laying my own path. I could literally make my own games and build up a small independent studio that creates whatever titles we want while making enough money to support ourselves! This option just feels... so much more free!

It's exhilarating to think about, and is also pretty damn scary, but it's the dream! I'm just not sure if it can really happen.