Monday 22 December 2014

Webcomic Update

One more Rocketman issue for this year.

My Lego Rocketman webcomic was a pleasure project started early in the year, shortly after the Lego Movie came out. It helped me reconnect with my childhood memories and big box of combined bricks. As a fan of everything space, I wanted to do a wacky comedy adventure about a stranded astronaut unconventionally helping people out, if only to get a spaceship to go home in.



Unfortunately, due to other commitments and a lot of laziness, the webcomic stopped halfway through July. I had at least one more story arc planned out, but it never happened. It's one of those projects that just got sidelined and eternally put on the back-burner, along with a few other stories, such as a novel I'm still thinking about finishing and a radioplay. Either way, I didn't want the year to end like this, so I made one more page, featuring the latest character introduced. This is: Rocketgirl.

I want to wish everyone, and my future self, a happy and wonderful new year!



Friday 12 December 2014

Last Update of 2014

So my dedication to this blog was distracted and ultimately failed, but I have a lot of material I enjoy looking back on. So what have my favorite things been this year? Keep in mind, some of these may not have been released this year, but the point is, I watched them this year.


TV SHOWS (or I'm always a little bit behind)


Go Busters
This show really excited me with its themes and ideas, as far as sentai shows go, I rate it as one my of favorites.
The Flash
I wasn't too impressed with the pilot, but the rest of the reason has just really excited me, probably the best superhero show I have seen on TV. RUN BARRY.
Danger 5
This spy spoof that I discovered was just hilarious and ingenious with its dialogue, parody of 60's spy shows and miniature effects and ultimately made me laugh harder that I could have imagined.
Gotham
I didn't care for this show until 3 people recommended it to me, and it actually turned out to be something I find enjoyable, especially the way Penguin in portrayed.
The Legend of Korra
So this how had a few seasons this year and finished. Although not as good as The last Airbender, I was still excited to watch it every week it was airing for the bending and a few select characters.



MOVIES (or I only watch what I want to watch)


Guardians of the Galaxy
Who knew a film about a bunch of misfits in space could be so heart-warming and adventurous. Not the best made film this year, but by far the most enjoyable. And I watch films to be entertained.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Absolutely stunning, great story and even greater characters, this is one worthy sequel and I can't wait to see where the franchise goes next.
The Lego Movie
Got me back into Lego and has moments for every age of lego fan. It blew me away with its effects and will probably have an impact on me for years to come.
Book of Life
My favorite animation this year, its aesthetic on the mexican day of the dead was just so colourfully wonderful and the music was great. I enjoyed this more than I though I would.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
A superhero spy thriller is just a great concept and this film put Captain America back on people's like-lists, including mine.



GAMES (or I discovered Zelda)


The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
This year saw me get into Zelda games with a fierce determination and my first strike was Wind Waker with its beautiful art style and encapsulating gameplay sailing the seas. I really liked it.
Skyward Sword
Next up was the latest original Zelda, with its 1:1 sword motion controls. I read a lot of negative stuff on this game, but I loved it. This game has been my favorite one in years and it really got me caught up in a real adventure and awesome world.
Transistor
Wow. The music/art/gameplay just hit my core on an emotional level. I wish there could be more games like this. I'd put it on the same level as bastion, but I still listen to some songs from this game every day.
Mario Kart 8
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. I saw the gameplay and just new I had to get a Wii U just for this. I just wish my life was less busy so I could get more friends around to enjoy the racing.
Goodbye Deponia
I'll be honest, I had to use a walkthough for 70% of the puzzles in this game, but I had to see this trilogy finished. It was good, maybe not the best, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.


Other adventures include going on a holiday to Germany and a holiday to Barcelona. Its rare that I have even 1 holiday a year, so that's bonus.

I made it to Barcelona.

I haven't really written anything substantial this year, which is a shame since I think about writing a lot, but haven't had enough spare time to dedicate to it and when I do I haven't had the motivation. Next year, I want to finish one a project that has been 5 years in the making (Thinking).

I played a ton of new board games at least.

With Role-playing games, my group all died in Dungeons and Dragons and having the group move to the Pathfinder system seemed appropriate for a change, since the 5th edition wasn't out for another few months. My Monk character in Pathfinder has reached level 6, which is quite the fantastic notion. I love how my character has evolved from having his brother die against some magic dogs or something and his god being something completely different from what he though. At least he's no longer a drunk! To quote another player:

 "Worst Monk Ever & sketch artist, ever so slightly above average dancer, jumps freakishly good, science not a strong point. Mr. Torque Armand - Door Bane, vanquisher of evil doors."

This guy.

I think I've covered a good chunk of the year and hope it makes up for ignoring this blog for several months. Blog: I'm Sorrrry :(

At least I carved my first ever pumpkin! Bonus points if anyone gets the reference.

It's from Grim Fandango :)

Thursday 31 July 2014

Adventures and Animals

So, 7 months into the year already, I can't really believe it. What have I been doing? Working, playing games and planning holidays. So about those games that I played:


Goodbye Deponia
The final game in the Deponia trilogy is the craziest one yet. I haven't been ectatic on these games, but point and clock adventures resonate with me, mainly because of the raw sense of adventure they have. But these games are crazy hard, leaving me crawling away to a walk-through every hour or so. The art is great, the characters are wacky and the story kind of mostly makes sense. Really worth it when they were on sale. I'll now have to find some new adventure games to keep me going.


The Legend of Zelda: Windmaker
I have never finished a zelda game before, in fact, my only experience has been playing most of Minish cap on the gameboy as a kid before giving up and giving it back to my friend and then years later, having a hard time playing Ocarina of Time on an emulator. Now with the HD remake of the gamecube game out on the Wii U, I went in full steam and played it to the end. It was actually enjoyable even if slightly frustrating in places. Now I'm looking for some more zelda experiences.


Mario kart 8
The reason I got a Wii U in the first place because it looked so fun. I have had the classic experience of playing the N64 version with a group of university friends before, now I wanted to own it. It's pretty, pretty fun and pretty brutal on harder difficulties, but definitely worth getting. The only downsides are the amount of characters related to Bowser. I mean, who wants to race as one of Bowser's kids?


Age of Empires 2: HD
I adored the age of empires series as a kid and to come back to it without it looking all funny and blurry graphically was amazing. I find my tactics I used as a kid don't really work in multi-player, but the gamplay and sound-effects really take me back. Still fun to play today.

So what films have I watched and enjoyed?


How to Train your Dragon 2
Never have I wanted to ride a dragon so much while watching the opening scenes of this film. The choreography of the dragon's flights are amazing, toothless is great all grown up, its still as colourful and pretty as the first film. It does have some faults, however, such as the screen-time and use of certain characters as well as some plot consistencies concerning a certain bad guy screaming dragons into submission. But overall, it was a really enjoyable film.


Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
I thought Rise was great, this film is even better. Ape on Human warfare, great characters, brilliant performances by everyone, a really investing plot and setting. I thought it was all bundled together incredibly. Wow.


Guardians of the Galaxy
Woah. It's good. It's really good.

Anything else? Of course.

Pathfinder
I have been playing pathfinder with my RPG group as a Monk. It has been CSI: Sandpoint for the past month as we are left in charge of the town as sheriffs. My monk has been terrible and drunk, but the last session (Conveniently the only one where my monk hasn't been drinking) has had really great rolls and single-hand-idly took out an entire room of Goblins without a single point of damage while playing 'the floor is now lava' hopping from table to table, performing scissor kicks and basically emulating Jackie Chan for a few fables seconds. Nice.


Friday 13 June 2014

The Angel Who Fought For Man

Here is a short story I wrote for the Writers Remix Project. One day I went for a walk and came back with this in my head. Some ideas are just like that.


The Angel Who Fought For Man
By Nick B Clarke

February 20th of the 4th Empire. I remember that day like it was yesterday, bright and vividly. Angels fell from the sky. From that day, one question plagued all of us. Where is our God now?

One such angel fell like a meteor, right in front of me; she fell through a bridge into a ravine. I was part of the 38 regiment, platoon nine. Well, what was left of our platoon: in enemy lands lost and wounded, the eight of us went down to investigate this shard from the heavens. I remember her glow as the river flowed around her; beneath her, the riverbed was dry. She was unconscious, she wore white robes, her halo was floating above her head in an ethereal manner. We set up camp nearby and tended to her. Less than an hour passed before she awoke to our heated debate about her origins. In our stunned silence, she asked us where she was. I became the spokesperson “The bottom of the barrel”.

We hit the road once more; trying to get ourselves home was proving to be extremely difficult, getting her home would be impossible. She did fall from heaven, all she would say is that someone had layed siege to it and that she fell out while protecting it.

That day, we ran into an enemy patrol, that day we showed her the brutality of man. After the short skirmish, she miraculously healed our wounds. In return we promised to get her home, we promised the impossible. Soon she would show us that nothing was.

Midnight we slept. She awoke us to an enemy attack, they were only scouts, but she got severely wounded as we chased them off. It seemed she bled like we did. She healed in mere hours and survived as healthy as ever, but her glow vanished that night. I’m sure god wept.

The next day, we stumbled upon the main legion of the enemy army. Our angel proved her worth as she stretched her feathered wings and flew above the enemy, scouting their positions as we tried to come up with a plan of either escape or attack. Both looked grim.

Like a harbinger, she accidentally led them right to us. We tried to run, but got surrounded, a circle of pointed halberds and spears stopped us in our tracks. They grabbed for her wings, we retaliated with violence. In our defense, our angel picked up a sword and tried to break the circle: she drew her first blood. I saw her glowing halo solidify into metal. An enemy solider struck, cleaving her left wing right off, she retaliated and killed him. Her halo fell, and when it hit the ground, it shattered in two, exploding in a shockwave of light. In the confusion, we managed to escape into the forest.

We gave her pieces of our armour to wear and let her keep the sword. Our One-winged angel became a mascot of sorts for our forces, as stories seeped their way back home about ‘an angel who fights for man.’ We trained her to fight like us: she fought better. I had hoped she was better than this, beyond our petty squabbles, but for better or for worse, we remained with us. Our protector, saviour and prize. What she became was awe-striking.

We managed to reconvene with three other platoons at Solumn Village. It soon became apparent that we would have to defend it. Our enemies covered the hills in the distance. Our angel lead the charge in to what looked like certain death, still, sixteen of us, including me and my entire platoon, followed. The rest stayed behind the hastily scrambled fortifications of the village to watch the impending slaughter. On that grassy battlefield, we hit a roadblock. Our angel wasn’t the only fallen. We met her sister. Whether she was a sister in blood or simply divinity remained a mystery. The sister-angel-turned-succubus had wings of black and eyes of red. My legs shook, but I stood my ground. Our –One-winged-angel would be the one to save us from the succubus and army, she saved us all. I remember what she said word for word:

“Sister, I do not fight as a divinity. That is why we fell. Mortals waged war on the heavens, we despised them and fought back with divine power. Now I see that mortals fight for different reasons, they are divided and fight not because they hate what’s in front of them, but because they love what’s behind them. Today, I stand with them, not as a fallen-angel, but as a mortal. If any group of people can save heaven from themselves, it is them.”

The succubus simply snarled back. Our angel nodded. And just like that, they clashed into each other with mortal swords. Fighting like the animals we were. Divine could describe neither of them. Blood was spilled between them as the enemy army and the sixteen of us stayed out of the action. We could feel the scraping of swords resonate though the air, it was a death zone. In a fit of rage, the succubus tore our angel’s remaining wing out of her very back. Blood showered out, nerve endings and tendons snapped, the ground was soaked with red.

The sixteen of us tried to fight back; three of us died instantly, nine were disarmed in seconds. I could barely hold on to my own sword as my hands were coaxed with sweat. A sword penetrated the succubus’ torso. It was a gift from our newly-risen angel, one born of blood. The succubus escaped into the air, the enemy army took one glance at our blood-soaked angel of death, saw the first few fighters die by her hand and ran. We were all beyond redemption now, for we had helped defile and angel.

That angel fought as a creature of death from that day onward. Carving a path of blood and tears to victory. The war faded from action after eight more weeks, as did the Angel. But there was a far more sinister battle approaching.

A year passed, I travelled the world as a missionary, recruiting not warriors, but people who believed in my cause. I fought for the fallen, I helped train these men into hulking knights. To fulfill the promise I made. Now I climb the stairway to man’s ultimate fate. The fate of three worlds.

I looked around me. Ninety-three knights stood at the gateway to heaven. As paragons of good intention, retreading steps taken by their future.

The gate was slightly ajar. Heaven was exactly as described, statues of gold, fluffy clouds and all; minus one detail: the blood. We could only assume that this was the heaven of multiple worlds, a hub connecting us all, because it soon became apparent that the weapons, technology and ungodly machines that had previously invaded heaven, did not belong to ours. We were already too late.

We fought through heaven, seeing the dead in a place that should have no such death. We fought golems of metal with our swords, bashing our way closer to the centre. Weapons of impossible nature took our lives, we were indeed fighting men of the future, men who were just like us, we must have seemed like insects to them, but we swarmed them with brute force. We made it to the tower fortress of golden light; twelve of us did, anyway. Twelve of ninety-three.

We made it into a throne room just in time to see God die at the hands of man. Something not meant for the eyes of a petty mortal like myself. We also saw our no-winged-angel who had scouted ahead days in advance: tied down like a dog, bruised and beaten. At our entrance, she found the strength break free, killing the god-killer without mercy.

Although as fragile as a ceramic urn on the edge of a table, the future-soldiers were too surprise-stricken to make a move. The thirteen of us chased them out and barred the doors.

Our no-winged-angel looked into the empty throne and tears rolled down her cheeks. She explained that she was the only one who could get to the throne, but she was not divine enough to sit on it.

The end of days were coming, I could feel it. I could only imagine what sort of plan the other men had to allow the throne to do their bidding. I placed my hand, in what I hoped was a supportive manner, on her shoulder. She knew what she had to do. The fallen angel sat on the throne and smiled. It rejected her, her mortal life drained from her eyes. God was dead and their domain was now forfeit. Everything was an uncertainly. I dread to think that many worlds suffered an existential crisis.

I held my gauntlet to my heart, the eleven others stood by me. The entire fortress shook. For a brief moment, I could see the many worlds flicker below me. Everything was connected. I could see every earth, each one a universe in itself. I was awe-struck at its beauty. Heaven began to flicker between this view and its white walls, before everything disappeared in a blinding light. I saw her smile with tears. We had done the impossible. We had done all we could.

The next moment, we were falling through the sky. The protectors of our world. I mustn’t have been the only one who had my life flash through my mind, all the good moments and bad. Our armour shone as it caught the sunlight as we rained down from a height we had not known existed.

We must have looked like angels falling from the sky. Except this time, it wasn’t angels falling from heaven, it was men. Now as I fall, I feel a perfect serenity towards my world. Who knows what will happen without heaven. I wonder if there will still be a life beyond this one. I can hear a voice speaking to me like an echo, in fact, it probably is an echo of a memory, and something she once told me.

Anything can happen. Nothing is set in stone. So whatever does happen… I’ll see you in the next world.
That was the first Angel who fought for man. Did we make her a monster? No. We made her a mortal. Nothing lasts forever, not even heaven.

A strange thing happens as I carve a path downwards through the sky. I see a glimpse of a falling angel catch one of the surviving knights. Someone to tell the story. The story of angels falling from the sky, falling from divinity and allowing mortal men to save themselves. All because one Angel survived an impossible fall and picked up a sword. The Angel who fought for man.


I hit the ground at terminal velocity.

Friday 23 May 2014

Transistor Review


Transistor. If you have played Bastion by Supergiant Games then you'll have an idea on what you have in store: Fantastic art, gorgeous music, a vague but intense story, isometric gameplay, light RPG elements, a plethora of different attacks and enemies all wrapped up in a lovely package.

You control a singer with red hair, aptly named 'Red'. The city where the game takes place, Cloudbank, is under attack by a robotic force known as The Process. At the start, Red has her voice stolen and is saved by an unamed man, whose consciousness is absorbed into a sword known as the Transistor, so you have the Transistor talking to you as you wollop enemies over the head with it. The Transistor serves as a sort of narrator and is one of the few voices present throughout the game, it certainly gives of vibes reminiscent of the fantastic Bastion, but with a cyberpunk aesthetic.

Combat is a mix of real time and turn-based where you can pause time and map out exactly what you're going to do, then playing it out with super speed. Leave no prisoners, right? I love it as it makes a fast-pased puzzle out of every battle. If you lose all of your life, one of your 'processes' (One of you four attacks you can pick and choose from) gets damaged and is unusable until you reach two or more checkpoints later on to repair it. The abilities/processes are picked up from enemies or other deceased folk which you can either put in a passive slot (Which is ongoing in the background, such as regenerating health or damage resistance) an attack slot (Which you can choose up to four of, such as a laser beam, dash or bomb) or an attack upgrade (You can boost up the damage of an attack or make the attack turn the enemy friendy for example), you can literally choose whatever fight style suits you and experiment without end. I ended up giving my dash an explosive finish and my bombs turned the enemies to my side for 4 seconds, but you could easily completely flip them, giving a bomb more range or make your own small allies.



As said before, the art style is really something special. Cutscenes play out like paintings in a motion-comic and every character stands out and has backstory to find. The robot foes are all vastly different in style and attitude, some running away and attacking from a distance, others zooming after you trying to bite your head off.

The level design leaves little to explore (But what there is looks great anyway) but each combat encounter lays shielded walls around you, creating a smaller arena to battle it out, only deactivating when you forcefully deactivate all the Process that are attacking you, whilst inside the arena, small walls pop up allowing you or your enemy to take cover (unless it gets destroyed) making the battlefield extremely adaptable.


The music is designed around the events and story as well, each ambient track having several layers depending whether you are exploring, fighting or planing out your attacks. As a big fan of Bastion's almost western music, I personally think that Transistor, although more electric, is just as good. The vocal tracks (Which accompany turning points in the story) are also incredible, although nothing here can top Bastion's Setting Sail, Coming Home.

Transistor is a game that keeps you on your toes, gives you hundreds of combinations of abilities (Ripe for replayability) and attacks and lets you figure stuff out at your own pace. I loved it.

JJJJJ

FIVE SMILEY FACES.


Monday 21 April 2014

Life Update Featuring Spider-Man

So I've been working a lot recently at my local cinema and I'm enjoying getting to see all the superhero movies I would normally have to pay for. Our manager assembled a marketing team last month (Which I joined) and we decided to promote the new Amazing Spider-man 2.


We created a window display, consisting of New York (Made out of cardboard boxes), It was a lot of fun an actually looks really cool. On the down-time during some quiet shifts, us marketing team members went off and assembled buildings, or painted them. Having a decent plan certainly helped and the only real obstacle was that we were mostly working different shifts. That and other staff members not-helpfully giving us their input on things.


On the Saturday after Spider-man was released, I volunteered to use an old Spider-man costume I had laying around and then proceeded to work the entire day in it. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed seeing a hero at their local cinema (Even if it was some lanky guy in a cheap £20 costume). I really think cinemas could benefit by doing more events like these and even hiring cosplayers.

 I met at least a few people who had heard about it on the day and come in to visit and watch a film, so this marketing malarkey really works.


From humble beginnings, we really came together. Even if everything apart from the display was last second.



Drawing competitions, photos with spider-man, home-made displays. Not bad for a first outing.







Wednesday 2 April 2014

The tragic death of my first D&D character


It's been a while since I have updated, but this post will be about my D&D character. Dungeons are dangerous. I looted one thing too much, it appears greed got the better of me and I got the worst of luck. So I say goodbye to my first ever D&D character, Lukka Nobou. (That scalemail was a bitch to draw as well.)

RIP

Still, she loved the treasure and company. In fact her first words were "I'm searching for treasure" (And her last words were "FUUUUUUUUUCK"). I'm a little sad to see her go. She really became her own character this last month and even managed to single-handidly stop a Total Party Kill from happening. Looting the third sarcophacous was what did me in. Suddenly three horrific monsters appeared out of the walls (Which I would later be told were Xorn) and ripped her to shreds. So yeah, she was killed by three of these motherfuckers:


Pictured: Absolute death.

Before I could even move, these abominations got a 19 on initiative and proceeded to all attack at once, hitting me for a whopping 97 points of damage. Holy shit. Death happens if you exceed your total hit-points in the negatives. So with 43HP, I was knocked down to -54 in the first few seconds of the round and instantly died. The rogue (who I had bonded with in the previous dungeon) heard my scream and ran in (Either to grab my body or the massive amount of loot I had, either way I don't think there was much left of me). The druid tried to stop him with an entangle spell, but ended up trapping him. The rogue died shortly afterwards by the same monsters, leaving only the bard and druid to run the hell away.

Am I sad for this death? As I said, a little, but what is reward without risk? Lukka died how she lived, searching for treasure. But still, getting ripped to shreds is a horrible way to go. Surviving the ceiling (Lurker) the floor (Trapper) the air (Poison gas) but it was the walls that did her in. Of course, it had to be the walls.

Now I'm rolling up a barbarian. Time to get funky and look to the future.