Sunday, September 27, 2009

Screenplay in the "can"

After 5 years and 2 different planets, the Black Powder | Red Earth screenplay is complete. We're hopefully going into production sometime in the next few weeks with Josh Taylor at the helm as artist. What started out as Halo meets PMCs has become more an Akira meets Body of Lies type thing, but peopled by the characters from Way of the Gun LOL

I fought against writing this kind of story for a while as I wasn't sure it would stand alone in the market place, but after a lot of trial and effort, it seemed best to let the story take itself where it wanted to. We're making the final adjustments to the game story line to accommodate the "canon" as detailed in the graphic novel, but they are pretty minor. Once we changed course about a year ago, the whole thing fell into place pretty quickly.

I can tell you it has been a labor of love that could not have been completed without the help of many people, who shall not be named at this time ^_^;

I have begun outlining the second story arc (Black Powder | Grey Sky) which will feed into the first expansion pack, hopefully out within 3-4 months from initial release. But that is still in research phase.

We are beginning work on a short doc piece that will give new folks a quick outline of the BPRE world. Inspired by other doc work and in no small means by the work of Neill Blomkamp, the piece will hopefully provide insight and some ideas about where the game came from and where it will take players.

Last word on Echelon stuff, we had a visit from Markus Eslitzbichler about a week ago. We discussed a lot of ideas we would like to try for an advanced BPRE game play demo and are trying to figure out when we can get a moment in edgewise to prototype our ideas. There were 4 maps in prototype form for BPRE when we hit the pause button on the FPS. I've got lots of ideas on how to take those maps to the next level, but that's the fun thing about time. It always let's you learn new things and form new ideas :)

In other news, the wife has started work at REI, my new favorite place to buy kit/gear. I snapped up a Timbuk2 Hemlock, a micron light, some Kuhl Ryder pants(for the winter) and Garmont's vegan hikers. We've been planning an emergency bag for sometime and with REI now front and center (15 minutes from home versus 1 hour to either CAMPMOR or Tent & Trails) we can actually put together a solid emergency pack rather than ordering from 20 different places across the Internet and getting bent over on shipping >o<

A new pet project I want to start a new blog called vegan gun fighter...I mean I have never taken a shooting class where the targets were deer or bunnies...it's always evil evil humans ^O^ I recently parted with my MAV in favor of a Mayflower Research QD low Pro rig. I figure, how many mags do I really need and I am looking for something as flat as possible. Mayflower seems to make pretty bomb proof kit too :) Hopefully I can take some more classes next year.

Have a better one.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Why do IP based comics consistently suck?

Maybe I'm just stupid for keeping the faith but seriously...Today I picked up the latest issue of the Halo ODST comic(issue 2 of 5 - I gave it 2 issues to go somewhere) and I am speechless. It was so bad, it actually diminished my interest in the game. And that's saying something considering I got my latest 360 pretty much to play ODST.

The dialog is generic and seems to be there to explain what is happening in the terrible panel art rather than building mood or character. The panel art doesn't tell a story...it's just a series of drawings with no sense of drama, character or flow. If you took away the crap words, I would probably have no idea what is happening at all. Compare this book to the work of Otomo, Shirow, Kirby, Sakai, Jock or Risso and just try tell me there's not a substantial quality gap.

But this crime is by no means limited to this book. Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, Gears of War, Mercenaries 2, Army of Two, you name it, they've blown it. Is it just that today's comic writers and artists are lazy or that fans simply will buy anything?

The stories are cookie cutter from the games and the panel work is at best pretty and at worst a fucking train wreck...I mean wtf...are there only like 5 guys in the world who can do good panel work anymore?!! It's like the creators are just trying to get through the source material rather than using it as a spring board to do something creative?!

Maybe it's that I am jealous of squandered opportunities...or maybe I'm just surprised...or more accurately, horrified. The Halo 3 "Believe" marketing campaign was the most amazing campaign I ever saw...it drive me to go out and buy a 360 and Halo 3 on day of release. However, the comics (even the Bendis one) have done nothing but disappoint. And this ODST thing has gone so far as to actually make me feel less interested in the game.

Good job Marvel. I hope Mickey Mouse cuts off your head, shits down your throat and throws the body to the carrion crows.

Back to work.