Initially, I thought I hated Dragon Age because of genre shock. I'm just not into dark fantasy; it's not my thing. I read the first three books of A Song of Ice and Fire because my BFF wouldn't shut up about them, and frankly, I was unimpressed. That same BFF adores Dragon Age, so I figured correlation=causation and I hated DA because I hate dark fantasy.
But as I've been playing DA for the second time, I've realized that's not the case. Okay, it's part of it. But the real reason I hate DA is because of Approval. This is kind of weird, considering that Influence was one of my favorite parts of Knights of the Old Republic II, which you may recall is my Favorite Game Ever. Influence and Approval are pretty much the same thing, right?
Wrong, actually.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Another Day, Another Costume Sketch
This one's a little rougher around the edges than the last one--it was drawn smaller, so there was less room for fine detail.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Work in Progress
Just a screenshot of something I'm working on for myself, because I love me some obscure Star Wars fanart. I'm working in Manga Studio instead of Photoshop because I'm allowing myself lineart on this one since it's not for my portfolio. A girl's gotta have her fun somehow.
I used the same scan-a-tiny-thumbnail-at-high-DPI-and-work-in-digitally process here as in the Mystic Gunslinger--the thumbnail was about three inches square. It's a process I've used a lot since discovering it a couple years ago, just because it cuts out that extra step of re-drawing the thumbnail at size. When I was in school and my professors wanted to see detailed sketches or traditional inking, I'd scan the thumbnails at high DPI, print them out at size, and throw them on the light table to use as a base for a new sketch, just like I do now digitally. Now I don't bother, since I'm usually just going to be inking digitally, anyway.
And speaking of the Mystic Gunslinger, here's some progress on it. I want it done for my grad school application in a couple weeks, so I've got to get cracking. Laid in the background, actually using reference for the dust for once. I'm really trying to use reference more, even on things that I think I know how to draw.
I've been thinking about morality meters in games, too. I'm hoping to write a post on the subject soon, since it's one near and dear to my Bioware-fangirl heart.
I used the same scan-a-tiny-thumbnail-at-high-DPI-and-work-in-digitally process here as in the Mystic Gunslinger--the thumbnail was about three inches square. It's a process I've used a lot since discovering it a couple years ago, just because it cuts out that extra step of re-drawing the thumbnail at size. When I was in school and my professors wanted to see detailed sketches or traditional inking, I'd scan the thumbnails at high DPI, print them out at size, and throw them on the light table to use as a base for a new sketch, just like I do now digitally. Now I don't bother, since I'm usually just going to be inking digitally, anyway.
And speaking of the Mystic Gunslinger, here's some progress on it. I want it done for my grad school application in a couple weeks, so I've got to get cracking. Laid in the background, actually using reference for the dust for once. I'm really trying to use reference more, even on things that I think I know how to draw.
I've been thinking about morality meters in games, too. I'm hoping to write a post on the subject soon, since it's one near and dear to my Bioware-fangirl heart.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Mystic Gunslinger
So this weeks CHOW is "Mystic Gunslinger," basically a magical cowboy. I'm not going to be able to finish in time this week (forgot that Easter week = Church basically every night, ha ha), but I thought I'd throw up my sketch progress.
So during my lunch break earlier this week, I knocked out this 2-inch thumbnail:
My thought was to have Mr. Cowboy sliding down a slope, Clint Squint, lots of dust, and a glowy magic circle as the aiming reticle of his rifle. You can see that I noted that he should be a redhead, which started me off on a red-orange/cyan color scheme. Good start. But a problem has already surfaced: I clearly have no idea what someone aiming a rifle looks like.
So during my lunch break earlier this week, I knocked out this 2-inch thumbnail:
My thought was to have Mr. Cowboy sliding down a slope, Clint Squint, lots of dust, and a glowy magic circle as the aiming reticle of his rifle. You can see that I noted that he should be a redhead, which started me off on a red-orange/cyan color scheme. Good start. But a problem has already surfaced: I clearly have no idea what someone aiming a rifle looks like.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
More Mass Effect 2 and Some Thoughts on RPG Romance
I wanted to put up an actual sketch post between the Mass Effect 2 Choice post and this one, but that's just not going to happen before I leave for GDC. So here we are:
So I'm on my second Mass Effect 2 playthrough, this time with a male Shepard import. It's really neat to see how the game is affected by all the ME sidequests--I just about cried laughing when I ran into Conrad Verner (though I was somewhat confused by his claims that Shepard had waved a gun in his face until I found out that it's a bug), and I have been genuinely charmed by some of the messages from old NPCs. I'm also somewhat amused by the fact that the default ME2 Shepard appears to have completed none of the sidequests and chosen the neutral dialogue option every time, since in my mind that represents a complete failure to play the game properly.
I'm far enough along in this playthrough to have completed some of the Loyalty Quests, so romances are opening up. I'm a little distressed by the fact that my options tend to be between "Have Sex With Jack Now" and "Tell Jack You Want to Have Sex With Her Later," or "Enter a Relationship With Miranda" and "Utterly Crush Miranda's Tender Self-Esteem By Being a Paranoid Jerk." Sex or Renegade, basically. Which is really funny, because when romancing Garrus as Paragon female Shepard, you have to be really careful because the Paragon option tends to be "No, Let's Just Be Friends" and you have to be sure to choose the neutral one if you want to get anywhere. I think I'm just not going to talk to Miranda or Jack again until I've swept Tali off her feet, as I planned when I started this playthrough.
So I'm on my second Mass Effect 2 playthrough, this time with a male Shepard import. It's really neat to see how the game is affected by all the ME sidequests--I just about cried laughing when I ran into Conrad Verner (though I was somewhat confused by his claims that Shepard had waved a gun in his face until I found out that it's a bug), and I have been genuinely charmed by some of the messages from old NPCs. I'm also somewhat amused by the fact that the default ME2 Shepard appears to have completed none of the sidequests and chosen the neutral dialogue option every time, since in my mind that represents a complete failure to play the game properly.
I'm far enough along in this playthrough to have completed some of the Loyalty Quests, so romances are opening up. I'm a little distressed by the fact that my options tend to be between "Have Sex With Jack Now" and "Tell Jack You Want to Have Sex With Her Later," or "Enter a Relationship With Miranda" and "Utterly Crush Miranda's Tender Self-Esteem By Being a Paranoid Jerk." Sex or Renegade, basically. Which is really funny, because when romancing Garrus as Paragon female Shepard, you have to be really careful because the Paragon option tends to be "No, Let's Just Be Friends" and you have to be sure to choose the neutral one if you want to get anywhere. I think I'm just not going to talk to Miranda or Jack again until I've swept Tali off her feet, as I planned when I started this playthrough.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Mass Effect 2 and the Articulation of Choice
Despite all the excitement surrounding the option to load a save game from Mass Effect for continuation in Mass Effect 2, I made a new character (referred to as a new "Shepard," for the character's universal surname). I did this for several reasons: a) my first playthrough of games like this generally sucks, and I didn't want to "waste" a character I had already put effort into on a sub-par playthrough; b) I wasn't too thrilled with any of my Shepards as a jumping-off point; and c) I wanted to know what the designers put in as the default choice history--to have a dry run so that I'd know when I was seeing different content on subsequent playthroughs.
This has put me in an interesting position, as a player. In a sort of player amnesia situation, my Shepard remembers what she did during the events of the first game, but I don't. And I like it that way--the fact that there are things about this character that I don't know yet, that I need to find out, makes her feel more alive. I'm much more heavily invested in my Shepard2 than I was in my original Shepards. Heck, I'm more invested in my default-Shepard than I was in any character built up from scratch in any single-player RPG I've ever played, save my Jedi Exile in Knights of the Old Republic II.* And I'm dead certain that the reason those two characters stick out in my mind is tied that same player amnesia, particularly the fact that both made questionable or destructive choices of which the player must take them through the consequences.
This has put me in an interesting position, as a player. In a sort of player amnesia situation, my Shepard remembers what she did during the events of the first game, but I don't. And I like it that way--the fact that there are things about this character that I don't know yet, that I need to find out, makes her feel more alive. I'm much more heavily invested in my Shepard2 than I was in my original Shepards. Heck, I'm more invested in my default-Shepard than I was in any character built up from scratch in any single-player RPG I've ever played, save my Jedi Exile in Knights of the Old Republic II.* And I'm dead certain that the reason those two characters stick out in my mind is tied that same player amnesia, particularly the fact that both made questionable or destructive choices of which the player must take them through the consequences.
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