Steampunk Fairytales: Cinderella

Small personal project I started about a week ago actually. I have it documented out and so far have Cindy's Ball hair and headpieces up.

Game illustration or illustraion in general, has always been fun for me yet I never had the time or desire to get back into it.

So here we go!

Computer Issues

I know the next post was supposed to be Part 2 of my Old vs New rant but my computer decided to do Hardlock every 25 minutes or so.

In other words: Freeze.

Attempts to solve the problem have gone from Bad to Worse to Good to DAMNIT!

I think I am getting close....seems to be freezing less and less.

Just thought I'd let the people who actually read this blog know.

No one cares if you played/liked blah blah back in the day.... (Pt.1)

Been awhile since my last post but news has been very dry. I am not saying this is better, but with the upcoming releases of new games in a couple of beloved series I had to write something.

First, the blunt, straight to the point statement:

GET OVER IT!

Now the more rational statement:

Problem is that when a new game in a long runing series comes out, the first thing people do is attack it on EVERYTHING. We'll break this down in catagories yes? Art. Story. Gameplay. Music.


ART

How a game looks is important. We are talking mostly about art style as opposed to poly count in this section. Many series are getting a facelift so they are more updated in comparassion to other games coming out. This seems to hurt most consumers balls....below are a list of series who have run into these dorks.

Heroes of Might and Magic

Originally released in 1994 for DOS and then later in 1995 for Windows 95 by New World Computing, The Heroes of Might and Magic series was one of the first strategy games I got into. The first game had animated sprites and the whole look of the game was very bright and colourful. It was a good game.

Heroes 2 (1996) and still kept the cartoony like look however it was more polished, so it already had the start of moving away from that bright colourful look.

Heroes 3 (1999) is said to be the Holy Grail of the series. The old art style was thrown out and replaced with more realistic 3D models. Still 2D but the art style really took a dive.

Heroes 4 (2002) sadly really took a dive. 3Do (Division of NWC) was in financial hot water, as they were filed for bankruptcy. Heroes 4 was all they had left and when it was released it wasn't received well. The developers wanted to go a different way and make a new Heroes, by changing the art style to the gameplay. The game did okay in sales, but is still said to this day to be the worst.

Heroes of Might and Magic (entire Might and Magic series) is sold to Ubisoft.

So where does all this "YOU RUINED IT!" crap come in? Ubisoft had Nival Entertainment (a game developer in Russia) develop Heroes 5. As soon as a screen and trailer was released all HELL broke loose. Many gamers of the series claimed that the series was ruined by adding a very WoW (World of Warcraft) look to the game (because heroes 1 and 2 weren't already colourful and BRIGHT), to adding a 3D map (before it was 2D. So now you can look in any direction).

I guess upgraded graphics scare people.


Diablo

I never played the first Diablo, but I have played through Diablo 2. And I liked it, a lot. Was dark, gritty, lots of killing and classic Good vs Evil. So when Blizzard announced Diablo 3, many people were excited about it. Gameplay looked smooth, and the art was colourful (still gritty) and very polished looking. Then again it's Blizzard Entertainment and anything they announce/release is something to look forward to.

Unless you are a so called, hard core Loser - I mean - Diablo fan, then Diablo 3 will look like your worst nightmare. People accused it of looking like WoW (Also a Blizzard product)...it got so bad that people actually sent a petition with 50,000 signatures on it for Blizzard to change the art style back to Diablo 2 (that's why you guys are morons), after Blizzard had been working on the game for 4 years prior to announcement. You idiots realise that to change the art style means to pretty much start over again? Hey if you guys want to pay for it go ahead.

Blizzard being the smart people that they are, threw the petition into the shredder. Where it belongs. Seriously, why the HELL would I want to buy a game that is going to be $70, next year that looks like it was made 11 years ago? Screw that! Diablo 2 had some of the worst lighting ever. Half the time I didn't know where I was going, or what was in front of me. Some things blended too much into the ground textures and what not.

Play Diablo 2 then if you like it so much.


Thief

F***......this series has some of the most rude, ill informed people ever. True many series do, but these people start wars over what the Hell platform it should be released for. But I have to give them credit, at least they don't start art wars like the Heroes or Diablo "fans".

The original Thief series was very blocky in terms of appearance. Everyone was either a stack of cubes or a badly animated polygon. Then again it was first released in 1998 and 3D games were starting to really emerge. Then again it was most remembered for its setting and atmpshpere and not really its graphics. In 2000, Looking Glass Studios was closed and the Series went under the guide of its publisher (Eidos) and in 2004, Thief 3 or Thief: Deadly Shadows was released (Ion Storm) and it got a 21st Century update. Well at least the models aren't blocky anymore, but I admit the atmosphere wasn't really there as much as it was in the previous games. It's still a good game but not AS great as Thief 2. ButI wasn't arguing that it should look like Thief 2.....

Thief 4 was announced last year at GDC, and will be developed by Edios Montreal. There isn't a lot of info on it at this time.


(Part 2 coming....)

Sea Kittens: They look so good on the BBQ :)

Since it is summer I thought I'd do a post in accordance with summer food, one of them being fish. People like to have Fish and Chips on the beach (I know I d0), or enjoy a nice crab dinner (not fish I know but same topic) or something like that.

So what better way to enjoy summer by mocking PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), a bunch of crazy nutballs who value animal life over humans. Why PETA? Well they are very easy to make fun of, even easier then Twilight.

Today I am going to share with you some Sea Kitten stories. Actually before we being, what IS a Sea Kitten? Well it's very simple: FISH! Or according to PETArds. Yes! PETA thinks they are so high and mighty that they have to go and rename the friggin' animal to make it sound more cute, so people won't eat them *pauses for laugh*. Riiiight.

Anyway, Let's Begin! These are found in the Sea Kitten bedtime stories section of the PETA Sea Kitten site...if you care.

Our first story is called: SUMMA CUM LAUDE (I am immature and I think that is funny sounding)

"Tony the Trout is the smartest Sea Kitten in his school. Already litter trained at 2 months, Tony went on to double-major in Neuroscience and environmental studies at Clamford University, eventualy graduating with honors.

When Tony is caught and fed to a precious young child who, having eaten one murcery filled Sea Kitten too many, falls to the bottom of his class, the irony is not loss to him."

Well if he was SMART he wouldn't have gotten CAUGHT!

The fish in Finding Nemo* are smarter then these "FISH".

Disturbed yet? Let's read another!

SNUGGLE BUDDIES

"Tara the Tuna is frisky and playful, and she loves to squeeze herself into tight spaces and snuggle up to her Sea Kitten pals.

But the conditions at the Sea Kitten factory farm where she lives are too cramped even for Tara. With no room to swim around and no chance to escape, Tara looks forward to the end."

Gotta love emo fish. Sooo..what happened? The picture at the start of this story shows that she is in the open ocean hiding out in a small chest. And then suddenly she's in the factory farm. Was she brought there?

Oh why the Hell am I digging into a Fantasy story? Read the rest on your own time.

So what does this all mean? That we should stop eating Sea Kittens and instead eat Land Kittens?

PETA, we understand you are trying to control the fucking world. We get it...now go eat your sawdust.

Why kids shouldn't be allowed on the internet

Slow news day I am afraid.

When I was 11, I played with Barbie Dolls, went outside, and played the Legend of Zelda. I had the Internet (not like it is today) but still I wasn't allowed to be on the computer for more then an hour. Heck, I didn't even get my computer in my room until I was well into my senior year of High School. After watching this I find it hard to feel sorry for this kid. I understand that she is a minor with irresponsible access to the world wide web but does that really excuse her behaviour?

No. Not at all.

Kid, don't make hateful, taunting videos (let alone disturbing ones) and expect people to shrug it off. You only caused yourself harm when they started to leave comments on your YouTube channel (it has since been removed), so stop acting like the victim. Her videos (or from what I have seen or gather) has her taunting the internet saying things like:

"I'll pop a cap in my mouth and make a brain slushie" and other things that are likely to be said in a rap song. What 11 year old talks like that? From how the parents look and act, I'd say she learned it from them.

Oh and this video blames rap music...scaaaaapegoat!

So trust the media to twist facts a bit to make it sound like a story that should make you feel sorry for her. To be fair I do feel kinda sorry for her...that she has such bad parents. They let their 11 year old have a computer with full internet access in her room, alone, with a webcam.

Fail.

And her father doesn't help in any of this at all. He sounds like a drunk, child abuser..guy, and I can understand a parent being angry that his child is being bullied (if that was the case) but most parents look for civil ways to deal with it. This doesn't make you look good sir.

So what have we learned?

To not blame another form of media for you kids language?
To not let your 11 YEAR OLD wear make up, have her bra (man I wish I had boobs at 11) hang out, and swear like a sailor on a website?

Watch your kids closely and stop making it so we feel sorry for them.

DVD Review: Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Books being turned into movies seems to be a popular thing among hollywood these days. Some are good others are bad, but mostly bad. Mostly because fans of the books complain that the film strays too far from the books or remains too true to it that it feels forced. I rarely watch these kinda of movies although I did love Lord of the Rings and Interview with the Vampire. But mostly they are just cash ins with no real thought into them. Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight is not one of them but it came close.

I started reading Dragonlance in my first semester of college (started with Dragonlance Legends) and found it to my liking. I found the characters interesting and while the story was meh, it still kept me engaged.

Dragonlance was introduced as a setting for the table top, RPG Advance Dungeons & Dragons and to date there are over 150+ books and novels in the franchise. This movie focuses on the more popular band of heroes called the Heroes of the Lance which began with Dragonlance Chronicals (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning) . This is (to my knowledge) the first time any of the Dragonlance novels have been put to film so it was nice to see this series get reconised today as it was twenty- six years ago.

When I heard it was going to be animated, I was excited. I don't care how the movie was done, just as long as it was done right. I visited the website annnnd...wow. They weren't serious were they? The backgrounds look beautiful but as the character animation? Oh boy. Might as well have been a student film. The project was being handled by a studio in India known as Toonz Entertainment which I found to be an interesting choice. I have never heard of them before this film so I wasn't sure what to expect. I did look them up but found little so I was a little concerned. Originally, the film was supposed to have been released in theaters but was dropped, probably due to no funds. Well let's dive into this shall we?

So our film starts off with a narraitor telling us how the world of Krynn is in bad shape due to the Gods abandoning their people more then 300 years ago. The evil goddess, Queen Takhisis wants to take over the world (Of Course!*) and to do so she leads an army of Dragons, and other nasties.

Cut to the Inn of the Last Home, where a woman named Tika Wayln (one of the Heroes) is cleaning up the room where she talks to an old "storyteller" wizard by the name of Fizban (who we will find out later who he is).

Cut to where our film ACTUALLY begins at, with Tanis Half Elf walking through the forest on his way back to the Inn and to Soloace (the town where many of the Heroes of the Lance come from). Upon his walk back, he stumbles upon an old friend of his, Flint Fireforge a grumpy old dwarf who keeps denying that he is old. Flint asks Tanis if he found the answer he went to search for which was to find out about the Gods and where they have gone. Not long after (this movie does skip a lot...it's only 90 minutes), the two are ambushed by a bunch of goblins who are looking for a certian item of great power, a Staff to be exact. Of course our Heroes win the fight and they are joined by Tasselhoff or Tas for short, another old friend.

They soon reach the Inn where they meet up with their other old friends (read Soulforge for more info on them). Our Group contains so far:

Strum Brightblade: A squire to the Knights of Solamnia.

Caramon Majere: A Warrior and twin brother to Raistlin

Raistlin Majere (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland): A mage whoes health is in bad shape and twin brother to Caramon

Tanis Half Elven: A half elf who is seen as the leader of the Campanions.

Tasslehoff Burrfoot: A Kender who isn't so innocent all the time (he's the group's rogue so to say).

Flint Fireforge: A gruff Dwarf and old friend of Tanis's.

We find that 5 years ago, our heroes made a promise to meet back at the Inn. Kitiara (Caramon and Raistlin's Half Sister) is not among them but instead sends a letter to them, without explination as to why she isn't there. We also find out that Solas has been taken over by a religious sect called Seekers, and they are searching for an artifact called the Blue Crystal Staff. Switch to a argument between the Mayor of Solace and two newcomers to the area, Goldmoon and her companion Riverwind. Goldmoon (voiced by Lucy Lawless) has in her possession a mysterous staff with unique healing abilies as she demonstrated when she healed the Mayor who fell into some very unconvincing CG fire.

*Note here! The authors of the book, Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman make a cameo in this scene. They are in the background*

Goldmoon is delcared a witch and pretty soon we have ourselves a little fight, that and our goblin friends are back. Our Heroes decide it is time too leave. They fight off the goblins and head off on their journey which will make them the Heroes of the Lance in later novels. As they stop to rest they are joined up again with Goldmoon and Riverwind who are Plains people. Goldmoon (a princess of her tribe) decibes how she got the strange staff (which is the blue crystal staff) when Riverwind (her love intrest) found it. After a brief introduction (and warning glances between Tanis and Riverwind) Goldmoon and Riverwind join the campanions.

The next day, they set out again only to be attacked by Draconians (part of the Highlord's army. The bad guy) and the group is forced into the woods where they are attacked by the undead. After Raistlin performs a spell that allows the undead to talk through him, the group is transported to another location (in the book centaurs rescued them) where they rest and meet Pegisi (flying horses) the campanions are told to go to Xak Tsaroth to retrieve the Disks of Mishakal which contain writings about the True Gods. The flying horses take the heroes as far as they dared, upon landing Goldmoon notices smoke coming from where their village was. They are met with descrution and murder of their tribe. At least that's what I gather. They enter the fortress of Xak Tsaroth or as close as they are going to get with the Dragon Highlord's army marching around. What follows is probably my favourite part of the novel, Raistlin performs a spell of friendship on a gully dwarf (one of the inhabitants of the ruins) named Bupu (who Raistlin ends up befriending as the series goes on) She leads them to the Black Dragon who guards the disks.

Long story short Goldmoon uses the Blue Crystal Staff's Holy powers to destroy the dragon but not without being hit in the process. She is presumed dead. Angry, Tanis yells at the Heavens, cursing the Gods that they required a human sacrafice. However, in the light there stands Goldmoon, all healed and well. She is now a true cleric of Mishakal.

The Heroes return to Solace where they find that dragons have attacked and burned it. Raistlin perfoms a...well seeming usless spell complete with odd animation. By the way..all the dragons in this movie are 3D animated. Which doesn't work well with the film's low budget 2D animation. They meet Gilthanus, an elf who was also captured and who is also Tanis's cousin. It's not long before our Heroes escape and take refuge at the Elven City.

Too speed this up, our heroes are asked to lead an attack against Pax Tharkus to save slaves that were captured from Solace and the elven city from the Highlord's control. Only reason to watch this scene? To see Flint dress up like a woman to get past guards.

And we reach the climax of our film, the battle! Which reminds me a lot like Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings but anyway! The Highlord, Verminarrd (who I think is a cleric of Tahkisis.) He curses the Heroes with horrifying images through use of Tahkisis's power. As it looks like doom for our Heroes Fizban (remember the old guy who randomly pops up?) is seen in front of Takhisis and then reviels his true form as Paladine the God of Light. Of course Takhisis calls Bullshit! and transforms into her 5 headed dragon form and the two fight. The Heroes are released from their torment and defeat Verminarrd.

Cut to a flowery meadow, where the Heroes witness the marriage of Goldmoon and Riverwind. Tanis takes some time to talk with Raistlin who mentions the Dragon Lances and how they need them. The movie ends with a shot of blue dragons flying and a mysterious woman who we learn is Kitiara (GASP). And that's the end


The Animation is pretty poorwith stock images used sometimes and there is a crap load of up close shots. The animation is choppy in some areas or not consistant and the characters look like they come out of a 90's toy commercial. It's still worth checking out though. It follows the book closely sometimes using direct quotes from it. Sadly it's only 90 minutes long and it feels rushed.

The music is beautiful and so are the backgrounds. The voice acting is okay and even Kiefer Sutherland does a good job at Raistlin.

And I am tired.

*OF COURSE joke from That Guy With The Glasses.com

Here be Trolls

I was once told of a place called Blogland. It had heroes and villians just like anyother place of distant existance. And like all fantasy worlds there lives a monster so bad that they are a joke in the eyes of rational people. They are called Trolls.

No not the Trolls that live under bridges although these people might as well live under one, these are what is known as "Internet Trolls". An internet Troll, is a sad individual that hasn't understood the concept of "Fuck Off" yet. They are usually between the ages of 13 and 99, who are so depressed with life that they have to harrass and bully other users for no reason.

Why am I so concerned about this? What brought this up? My DeviantART account was recently (or shall I say IS) attacked by a very disturbed indivdual, who has nothing better to do other then make account after account and harrass and spam my account. I get the usual bullshit grade school insults like: "You are a loser with no friends." "My 4 year old sister can draw better hahaha!" crap like that. When this person can insult properly, then I'll think about contacting them. But for now blocking seems to work fine.

I am getting this feeling that I know them. Because for some reason, I am the only person who is getting harrassed by them. Right now they aren't doing anything I would concider "threating" but they are becoming very annoying indeed.


Listen whoever you are...e-harrassing is NOT a hobby. You keep complaining that I don't seem to do anything else but draw and go on the computer, when you yourself sit on your ass and make numerous accounts to harrass others.

I wonder if Trolls know that what they are doing is related to internet bullying. I also wonder how many of them know that charges can be laid against them.

Now that I got that out of my system I feel better.