Time again for our monthly check in. NaNoWriMo is on our doorstep, which means it’s time to dive headfirst into the current project, FFXIV’s patch 5.1 is out and the streams are coming regularly, and we’re finally finished creating the initial Dinner First icons. A couple of things to unpack in there, so let’s take them apart one by one.
November plays host to the event known as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. From the official site: “National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.” I’ve participated since 2011 with varying degrees of success. Many of my completed projects started in this forge, and once again we return to the fire for a return to the Epicus project. Epicus is the project I’ve been poking for the past few months and in November I’m looking to knock out the first draft of the first part of the novel. Ideally I can knock out parts two and three, but based on the potential size of the novel those might not get compiled until December. Keep eye out on the usual haunts for updates. Or my NaNo profile page.
October saw a growth in my streaming presence. I’m primarily streaming my Final Fantasy raid content with Dinner First on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but we’re starting to come together with what I want the channel to be. I’m still working on the animations for the events, and the profile page images, but we’re coming along. I’m aiming to launch official columns by the end of next week.
Finally, we started working on pixel art again. I’ve shared a number of pieces on Twitter, but in case you missed them:
The first few entries are focused on a character concept I’m running for the Twitch page. The Gamemaster character is meant to be a persona representing me on the page. I liked the first one (a 40 x 40 pixel size) but felt the portions were not quite right.
The second one, 64 x 64 pixels, I think turned out nice for scale, but lacked any sense of movement or life.
The next attempt started off working on a model base from Final Fantasy VI, 16×24 pixels. The 3 by 4 layout comes from RPG maker, as I was using it as a template to try out getting something animated made.
Which I think came out okay:
From there I started toying with a new style that I’m not 100% in love with, but I wanted to get some practice with. Check out the full Dinner First character sheets:
I started with the Gamemaster character and went on to make
the eight nine members of Dinner First. For a break down on who is who,
check out the album. Again, like the second
test they lack movement/personality, but the coloration was fun to do and
trying to limit myself to the 16 color choices from SNES level graphics. I
think of them as world map avatars, but not combat avatars. Those will be my
next goal.
To recap, next month is NaNoWriMo, where we’ll knock out part one of the next novel. Streams will continue through the month with Wednesday and Saturdays being my primary streaming nights. More pixel art is on the way, to get an early glimpse of those, stay connected to my social media as they tend to show up on those first. It’s going to be a great month, and the start of ending the year off on a high note. Hope you’ll continue to join me for the ride.
Want to help out? Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch. If you’re really looking to help out, check out the Patreon for earlier news and updates.