Modesty Studios

I'm going to take some time to be nostalgic and share some lessons learned from my first web comic venture, "My Shining Knight" (MSK). This was not the first comic I started during that period of my life (age 16). There were many attempts at a comic. One of the first was trying to make an "A Bug's Life" manga based off one of my fanfictions. Please groan. I do. The art is actually pretty Dece. I took time to really ink in all the details. ...it was only ever 1 page long. :( *sigh* The next comic was a blatant rip-off of Sailor Moon. (I intend to post that up some day. I just gotta be NOT lazy and scan it in). Again really good detail on backgrounds, inking and there's some color. It looks cool but oh lord the story...I only got like 16 pages in before I abandoned it. There is a point to this really. Most of the story or comics I dreamed up had a theme at that time. Boarding Schools (private schools), socially repressed female leads, French boyfriends...

While preparing for yet another web-comic adventure I constantly keep an eye on others to see what they're doing, what works for them and if I could make it work for me. My current comic work "7 Eldest" so far has taken a very "serious" tone, which is not like me at all. Well, perhaps not "serious" but more mature. And by mature I don't want you to jump right to the conclusion that I mean "porn". But you already did, didn't you? Ah wells. The thing is that serious comics appeal to an audience that I don't think I know very well. I read serious/drama web-comics but there's always some sort of humor splashed in. Like the occasional EXTREME emotion or exaggeration. I suppose I best define what I think is expected of web-comics. Web-comics are fast paced, funny, and kind of like newspaper comics...only better. Or they should be for the most part. Let's admit the more heavily trafficked web-comics are the ones that do the gag-...

RPG plots usually center around the idea of saving something before it is lost. Generically somehow it's tied with saving the world before it is destroyed. You are that shining ray of hope for the entire world. And really, I don't think the RPG audience ever gets bored of it. How empowering it is to have the fate of the WORLD tied to YOU. Yet as a storytelling device, it wants something more...something that makes it believable. Here are some tips to carry in your pocket. 1) It's a Small World After All In an RPG you can travel the world in a matter of minutes. Making it a very small space. You may get to meet all the populated areas IN the world within the game. That way when you say you are saving the WHOLE world, it is accurate because you have traveled all of it and know almost everyone. Yet, this is unrealistic as far as the narrative is concerned. It takes 3 long novels for Frodo to reach Mount Doom and he didn't even travel the world and meet everyone. However, i...

You know writing about unicorns or a unicorn people is not that uncommon. Even in my own time I've written at least 5 stories about unicorns specifically. (The first being a paragraph I wrote in 2 nd grade.) I've also read various myths and stories relating the animal itself including "Into the Land of the Unicorns" by Bruce Coville , "The Unicorns of Balinor " series, "The Obsidian Trilogy" by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory and "The Last Unicorn" by Peter Beagle. (Yes, I read the book and have the movie.) I've also read a couple of short story collections about the beast and so on and so forth. Lately on DeviantArt , where I find lots of visual inspiration, I find lots of Unicorn people as a race. Not just furry art either. I knew I wasn't alone in my imaginings of such things. (I mean one story I wrote was about a unicorn who turns into a girl. Completely unoriginal by the way). But the myths are very different. At leas...

Magic in Games vs. Magic in Fantasy Novels For a bit here, I'd like to discuss magic systems in fantasy media with a focus on games, novels and comics. The concept of magic is something that makes a person something greater than normal. It allows for the impossible to happen. But when it allows for the impossible, it becomes improbable and in some cases unbelievable. I mentioned this in my geography entry that I don't like cheesy magic in my fantasy novels. There are times when it can feel like an excuse or a plot hole ready to happen. However, on the other hand, in visual stories such as video games and comics, I can be more forgiving about cheap magic. Because magic as well as being an empowerment to the character is a spectacle to be seen. Unless a book is illustrated you don't get that same awe (or at least I don't, since I'm visually stimulated) that you get from watching a fire ball consume something. I'm especially, especially forgiving to games because m...

Often times in games with stories attached to them there may be some hintings of a religious power or common faith. This can range from gods to mirrors of current religions. As someone who believes and practices my own faith I find it interesting when religion is included in a game. For the most part it is usually a trivial part of the game or plays mostly in the background. I consider myself very ecumenical but there are times when I feel things were done "wrong" or "poorly". This usually happens when a game uses a faith system that reflects a current one from Earth. Two big offenders that I have played are Luminous Arc and Tales of Symphonia. Both have a religious power that mirrors what happens to be my faith, Catholicism. The games featured bishops, priests and even a pope in one of the games. And in both such games, the Church of the world was villainized. Which is fairly common in popular media anyway. Needless to say I felt a little sad playing the games. Lum...

You know like any nerd I enjoy fantasy novels. I also enjoy writing them. And because this is my blog there are some things I'd like to complain about. I have some scars left by fantasy novels that I have read that really betrayed me. Most of them were recommended by friends who clearly do not know my tastes as well as they think they do. The hero of the story is meant to represent an ideal that the reader relates to or disagrees with. There is something that the reader sympathizes with or else they don't enjoy the book. What's even worse is when the reader sympathizes and relates to the character and then the character makes a change for the worse and the reader is lost. There are a few times this has happened when I was reading a book and unfortunately I remember those books better than the stories I truly enjoyed. One book starred a girl who wanted to become a knight. This was something I related to. I admire women who enter male dominated spaces like the games industry ...

I'm stretching some of my memory here to try and remember some of my favorite all-time games. I will try to limit it to my top 8...there may be less. They are not ranked in order of MOST FAVORITE GAME EVAR to least. My most favorite game changes with the times and my mood. So let's get digging. 1. Designasaurus 2 - This one stretches back to hallowed antiquity. It ran on MS-DOS and was stored on 5 hard disks (which are floppy.) The premise of the game was you got to pick a dinosaur or make your own out of parts, go back in time, and survive. This was in some lab in the far future. 2601 ad or something. There were two modes. Practice Mode and Adventure mode. Adventure mode was basically teleporting your dinosaur hero to every level and finding "gene prints" to the ultimate dinosaur. It was a weak-ass story, but at age 7 I gobbled it up. I found it on an abandonware site and still enjoy the simple pleasures of pretending I'm a dinosaur, roaming around a pixelated ju...

Last night I was having an interesting reflection about how I got into gaming and what sort of gamer I consider myself. What Am I? There really isn't a term or catch-phrase that encompasses what I am. On the one hand I consider myself a casual gamer, I enjoy many 'brain-dead' online games like Bejeweled, Diner Dash, Ponystars, the Sims and other games that don't require me to put in much of my time. I also play a lot of handheld games on my DS. I'm not quite a hard-core player but I'm also a console gamer and enjoy several hours of fun playing RPG, Action/Adventure, and Platformer games. (And the occasional arcade fighter). However, I don't have the same dedication to a game that I see other players have. I know that I will never be the best so I don't even try. I'm just having a good time. But I do play for long hours when I do. So I guess I would call myself an Active Gamer. A casual gamer seems to be the type who will play games on occasion, an a...

This is purely an opinionated piece that I just felt I had to get out of my system. Late last night I had this thought bubble while writing down the details of geography for the world in Brind Songs and trying to set up a wiki. I've drawn maps of my "worlds" and looked at other maps. Middle Earth, wherever the funk Eragon took place, Narnia etc. And even lots of online fantasy that I've read...the world is always incomplete on the map. It's always just a coast like Europe. Just a jut of land or a coast line, that's all you get to see. I've been guilty of this myself when I finally mapped out Gauland for my MSK novel and a few RP maps. It's not very annoying actually so much as it is a common trend I've noticed. Of course the map is only going to show what matters to the story. That's all you need really. The rest is no man's land and no one knows what happens out there. No one. "What's over that nearly impassible mountain range?...

Another novel series I've begun developing based on some artwork I've been doing recently and the story I tried to co-author with my sister. I've divided it up into Four Books so far. Over the course of a few years I've been developing the world and culture of the planet...which needs a name still. The countries have names, but not the world. I've got a good handle on the various cultures and creatures in the world including their government type, who their leaders are, the primary religion, the sort of religion that is, distinctive features, and various alliances. This called for a huge long list of characters. Which I've got all in a document. Some are more developed than others since they were a part of the "original" tale. Book 1 I intend to be the story that my sister and I never finished. That's where it starts. It gives a narrow view of the world and situation from the eyes of a child. Book 2 is set elsewhere and takes a more macro-view of t...

Last night I spent more time brainstorming on my "Egg World" story and have sketched out three basic "Acts" or chapters to draw. Act 1: is the Creation story and events leading up to the "hatching". The 7 Eldest divide into factions over the sayings of the youngest who is a prophet. Act 2: is the beginning of civilization that happens immediately after the hatching. The faction still exists so there is the first war. Act 3: is the beginning of domestic trouble. There are no more factions but their is one Eldest who feels left out of the group. We have our first affair! :D So far I've only conceptualized the 7 eldest characters. (They're not even developed yet.) I still need to flesh out a few new characters to add. And I need a new title. Eggworld is stupid. That's just a working title. Let's brainstorm some new titles based on themes in the story so far. Themes: Birth, Origins, Eldest, Wonder, Hatching Title Ideas: Seven (it was the name...

I'm not sure what I will do with this idea. It may become a game or it may become a comic or novel. Probably a comic. It'll be fun. A world growing inside an egg that is almost ready to hatch. Such a process that will change the structure and peoples dwelling/growing on it. Terra-Angels are human like beings with feathered wings. Within the embryo world of the egg, Terra-Angels can fly regardless of their wing-span. The size of wings denotes the greatness of heart which can grow or shrink throughout the course of life. Terra-Angels may look masculine or feminine, but they have no sex and can not reproduce. The egg world has merely been producing them. However, it has been a long time since the birth of a Terra-Angel...which means the world is about ready to hatch...which will change the appearance and everything they know to be true. There are 7 eldest Terra-Angels. They were the first 7 to be born and as such were given authority. Their role is shepherd-like since the world is...

In RPGs (and other genres too) there are two types of heroes: the silent type and Story Type. Mind you these are only MY terms that I will use throughout this article. Silence is Golden The silent hero seems to always silently concede to whatever the story says or supposedly respond to any question addressed to him/her. Link and Mario are some of the more obvious silent heroes. Although Mario and Link make "noises", they do not respond verbally to any dialog aimed at them. (In recent 3D games they have started gesturing). Dialog with NPCs and cutscenes always feel one-sided. Some of the benefits of using the Silent Hero is that you never put words into the players mouth. This is to say that the player IS the hero. The silent hero does not have a bold personality per se, because that portion is suppose to be filled in by the player. In a yes or no situation, it IS the player saying yes or no. In a way, a silent hero is easier to relate to because his dialog is not showing off ...

Player centric design for games means keeping your audience in mind and designing for them. While making a hobby game, it is perfectly acceptable to make a game that interests YOU. This method is designer-centric. You make a game you like and hope others will like it. MOTIVATION Different player types are usually driven by what motivates them to play or continue playing. Motives can be things like high score, beating level 1, playing the story, exploring the world, playing with friends, competition, stress relief, or combating boredom. These motivations in turn affect what sort of games the player likes to play. A player motivated by story and exploring a world would probably enjoy an adventure game. Likewise, a player interested in stress relief or relieving boredom or trying to relax may want to play a puzzle game or arcade game. Something that does not require too much focus or hard concentration. Here are some more samples of Motivation for playing a game: Entertainment (relieving ...

Researching For a Game Most of the research done before making a game is thinking about other games you have played before. This is the easiest and most basic form of research...it's called experience. (:D) This is actually very important in my experience trying to make a game or plan a game with a non-gamer. (Let me tell you, it was very frustrating. Mostly there was a language barrier.) System Research Diversity is important. Being familiar with many different types of game mechanics will help you in the creation of your own game. I'm not just talking about digital games, I do also mean card games, board games and social games. Think about the rules of some board games. Think about the rules of those games when they were translated to a computer game. Consider playing Monopoly with the physical board against a friend versus playing it on the computer against AI. What this should do is make you think about aspects of the game you are making. When making an RPG, think of table ...

A short dialog on balancing storytelling with gameplay. Thoughts on Interactivity, Stories and Games Often I find while playing a game, I am interested in learning what story it has to tell. I have narrative motives to my game play. But games are not really a story TELLING device, but a story PLAYING device. What I mean is that games are interactive. It should respond to player input, unlike a movie where no matter what you do the story will not change. In the Game Design Review blog , it had a section that struck me as gold ! It was comparing a remake of a game with the original. The original version of the game, you arrived with your female companion at a regular looking castle only to have your companion kidnapped during the night. It came as a surprise to a player that their companion was gone and provided motivation or guilt. In the remake, the inn was surrounded by an ominous gate and even had an NPC mention that sometimes guests go missing. The remake used a film technique of se...