[Burichan] [Futaba] [Nice] [Pony]  -  [WT]  [Home] [Manage]
[Catalog View] :: [Archive] :: [Graveyard] :: [Rules] :: [Quests] :: [Wiki]

[Return] [Entire Thread] [Last 50 posts] [Last 100 posts]
Posting mode: Reply
Name (optional)
Email (optional, will be displayed)
Subject    (optional, usually best left blank)
Message
File []
Embed (advanced)   Help
Password  (for deleting posts, automatically generated)
  • How to format text
  • Supported file types are: GIF, JPG, MP3, MP4, PNG, SWF, WEBM, ZIP
  • Maximum file size allowed is 25600 KB.
  • Images greater than 250x250 pixels will be thumbnailed.

File 125859296896.gif - (195.89KB , 1000x1000 , discussion title.gif )
6378 No. 6378 ID: 426169

In the local toad hangout, the number one place to come looking for some hot amphibian-on-amphibian action.

So how are you guys liking Mu's Journey, now that we've actually started journeying.
Expand all images
>>
No. 6379 ID: 34470e

HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT WE'RE A TOAD?
>>
No. 6380 ID: 426169
File 125859425730.gif - (36.36KB , 500x500 , mu1.gif )
6380

>>316179
What can I say? I figured it out around the time you started making me catch flies with chopsticks. And leave them out behind the student's house.
>>
No. 6381 ID: 34470e

>>316180
THAT WAS SO WE CAN... um... free them later! YEAH!
>>
No. 6382 ID: 43d730

>>316181
Free them from the mortal coil, you mean.
>>
No. 6383 ID: 34470e

>>316182
Mu obviously put them in great pain. We did mercy killings.
>>
No. 6384 ID: 5d5878

What, no Kung Mu? Meh.
>>
No. 6396 ID: 5ba271

I enjoy it immensely, murder it and I'll mount your nuts on my wall as a trophy.
>>
No. 6621 ID: 426169

I just woke up, 2:30 AM, and can't get back to sleep.

Any Kung Fo readers around? If so, post in this thread inside the next hour and I'll start updating. If no posters show up I'll stick with X-Com 1.
>>
No. 6622 ID: d6a141

God dammit I was gonna have a character named Mu.

Ugh the characters name was gonna fit with a bunch of other Greek named shit too!

Now I need to be original and find a one syllable Greek word or whatever that starts with M.
>>
No. 6646 ID: 426169

Ok, done updating for today. See you guys later.
>>
No. 6766 ID: 426169

If I did chapters, this would be chapter end. I plan to at least switch to a new thread.

Any comments on the thing?
>>
No. 6767 ID: f98e0b
File 125955146345.jpg - (41.19KB , 309x385 , fonz.jpg )
6767

<--High praise
>>
No. 6770 ID: af3e6d

>>316566
I'm liking it.
>>
No. 6773 ID: 82167e

>>316566
Keep up the good work. This is a good quest. I especially like how you do fights, though I would recommend reminding us at the start of each fight or every so often what our abilities are.
>>
No. 6899 ID: c5b152

Just to keep you guys posted, there won't be any updates for a few days as I'm stranded out here in the more rural bits of the world with no tablet. And I hate drawing with a mouse.
I'll be back at my place by Thursday, but I might not have time until the next day. So, until Thursday/Friday.
>>
No. 7429 ID: 426169

Looks like I'm messing around with the combat system again. Any comments? Good? Bad? Completely bananas and I should be ashamed? I'll be happy to steal ideas if you have some.

Ohgod what am I doing updating at 5am goddamnit internet >I.
>>
No. 7431 ID: 5d5878

>>317229
Should be interesting, but we won't know till we try it for longer.
>>
No. 7455 ID: 119b5c

>>317229
I personally like it. Providing templates might be leaking out to coming short of a game, rather then a story, but then again, that might be what you want.
>>
No. 7583 ID: 426169
File 126074623696.gif - (12.92KB , 300x300 , glasses.gif )
7583

Sorry if the end there was a little cutscene-like. Will try to steer clear from that crap IN THE FUTURE.
>>
No. 7589 ID: 426169
File 12607485044.jpg - (57.08KB , 500x305 , 463704422_4436f94cdf.jpg )
7589

Here's a copy of an IRC log of when TheBeardiestBob cornered me in IRC and demanded I explain some stuff. I'm leaving a copy here for your reference.


01:34 < TheBeardiestBob> Hm. So, wards are needed for demons to maintain their minds, Nahkh?
01:36 < Nahkh> Anything that suppresses the demon blood works, Bob. O'course, not all demons want that.
01:36 < TheBeardiestBob> Hm. Suppersion means better clarity of mind, at the cost of raw power?
01:37 < Nahkh> yup.
01:37 < TheBeardiestBob> ....Could Mu drink demon blood or some-such, as a means of becoming... more than human? I assume since they are called Demon techniques that being more demon-like would make them easier to use/stronger/whatev.
01:39 < Nahkh> D:
01:39 < Nahkh> I would perhaps suggest that you consult a sage before attempting that.
01:40 < TheBeardiestBob> I am not assuming it would be a 'solve everything' path, just wondering if such is potentially viable in your setting.
01:41 < Nahkh> in a word: yes.
01:41 < TheBeardiestBob> That's what I suspected
01:42 < TheBeardiestBob> Hm. So, what exactly qualifies a mortal to learn Demon techniques and thus become a dragon? I still don't quite understand it.
01:43 < TheBeardiestBob> Do they need special bloodlines? Maybe born under certain stars? Rarity that manifests in some birth? Anyone could with enough effort and someone to learn from?
01:44 < Nahkh> Well, anyone who can control sufficient amounts of Chi to a sufficient degree of finesse. There is some natural ability involved, and as such can run in families.
01:45 < Nahkh> But what Quan was actually referring to was that most would give up or die in the attempt of mastering the demon arts.
01:45 < Nahkh> does this answer your question?
01:46 < TheBeardiestBob> Okay. So a certain prerequisite level of chi capability and control are required to even try learning, and the path to mastery is perilous enough that most of those who qualify never get that far?
01:46 < Nahkh> yup.
01:46 < TheBeardiestBob> Ok
01:47 < TheBeardiestBob> Okay, but what about how Dragons are viewed by the public? Is it that so long as you don
01:47 < TheBeardiestBob> 't get seen using Demon techniques, no one can tell?
01:49 < Nahkh> The general public wouldn't be able to tell, at least on such a low level.
01:50 < Nahkh> Plus the public wouldn't recognize a demon technique being used even if they saw it. Stories might get around though.
>>
No. 7594 ID: 43d730

>>317389
So the obvious next step is to learn demonic invisibility.
>>
No. 7808 ID: c5b152

Howdy folks. It's time for a not so brief announcement.

There are a few things about this quest that I'm unhappy with. Don't worry I'm not going to cancel it or anything, but I will try to fix the things I don't like. In this post I'm going to go through the list an item at a time, explain why I dislike it and what I'm going to do about it. In addition there might be some rambling on that general topic. Not all items are equally serious but since I was making a list I might as well make it complete. What I would like you to do is go through the list and tell me whether or not you agree it's a problem and if I'm taking the right steps to correct it.

And a final caveat, this might include some spoilery stuff, so stop reading this now if you're sensitive to that type of thing.


1) Artwork
Most of the artwork in this quest looks bad. Rushed and just bad. I haven't been drawing for very long, in fact I haven't drawn at all until I started doing these quests. I also have a tendency to try and rush the drawings together as quickly as possible. These two things don't combine well. What I want to do is spend more time on each image. I'm still learning, so I want to take the time and construct each character properly, draw proper backgrounds instead of cheap gradients and incomprehensible squiggles. I want to improve my drawing skills. Always rushing the artwork isn't helping.
This will, of course, slow me down. Especially in the beginning. Instead of fifteen or twenty minutes I should spend an hour drawing an individual picture. I know this isn't technically necessary here on /quest/, but I want to improve.


2) Planning and structure (more spoilery)
Planning. Hah. None of that here. And by that I mean none. There has been very little planning involved in the making of this quest. This is a problem because it makes the quest less coherent. The quest becomes tiresome to follow if we're constantly meandering around with no purpose. This doesn't mean that I intend to start railroading. If something surprising comes up I'll just change the plan or scrap it and make a new one. But there needs to be some direction, some method to my madness.
I have an idea that I've been playing around with. It has to do with the overall structure of the quest. I would like the quest to be of the form of consecutive short stories. What I mean by that is that every chapter should be self-contained with offscreen time in between. It shouldn't be necessary to have read all the previous chapters to understand what is going on. Essentially I would like to move from a strictly linear story to a more encounter based approach. If you've ever read Usagi Yojimbo you'll understand what I mean.


3) Update times
As some of you know, I'm from Finland. While it is indubitably the best country in the world, it does put me at an awkward timezone compared to the US. I could potentially update with some regularity between 18:00-23:00 local time, which is 11AM-5PM EST. I realize that many american viewers are still at school or at work at that time. This cannot be helped. Sorry. I simply cannot do all-nighters anymore. I've been doing it far too much this autumn, it's fucking up my school and to a larger extent my life. Whenever I do that I'm dead for days at a time. Can't get a damn thing done.
There are some options to this. I could for example go to sleep early and wake up at 9PM EST to do a couple of updates or some other arrangement like that. I'm still thinking this one over.


4) Combat mechanics
As you know, I've been experimenting with combat mechanics. While I do like the whole step diagram thing and the detailed explanation thing they both have a common issue: It's exceedingly difficult to determine whether or not an action should be successful or not. For example, in the first thread there was an instance when Mu tried to grab the goblins hand. Why it failed? Well, I don't have a good answer for that. The rationale I settled for was that Mu was off-balance and had just been stabbed. The problem is that since it could be disputed it was probably not satisfactory for the players. What I want is a system that accurately determines success or failure so that there can be no debate. Whether or not it uses dice. It should be something simple and easy to understand, yet very customizable (at the very least our current techniques should be doable in that system). If you know of an existing system that does this, let me know. Something that actually has stats. I will eventually work something out on my own but I'd prefer to use something that has seen some actual playtesting.


5) Style of storytelling
There are a lot of problems with this one. Most of them are a direct result of my lack-of-planning but there are some things are very typical for me, though not exclusive to me.
An update should always end in a decision. After all, the players are the decision-makers, there needs to be something for them to do. It can be an explicit choice, it can be deciding a new destination or something totally open-ended. I don't always remember to include this. I'm not the only one to do this, but it is a huge mistake. Other times I think that the choice is there, but it just turns that that the players didn't realize it, or they didn't think that X was an option. This is actually the reason I've been including suggested actions in some of my posts. By the way, do you think it's a good or a bad thing? I'm trying to think of a way to highlight this in a less explicit way, but so far I've got nothing.

In summary:
In the future I will be moving my focus from quantity to quality when it comes to updates. I probably won't be doing all-day update runs quite so often. I'll also be changing the structure of the quest to a more modular, encounter based system, with largely self-contained chapters with titles like "Mu and the Mountain God" or "Mystery of the Weeping Ghost".

Kudos to everyone who managed to read this far. I think I've rambled enough for today. Over and out.
-Nahkh
>>
No. 7817 ID: 954933

>>317608
>1) Artwork
Your call, though I really like the artwork style in Mu's Journey. I don't think it's too sketchy at all.

>2) Planning and structure (more spoilery)
This I can agree with - it hasn't been a major issue yet, but it's pretty clear that some of this stuff was just kind of playing it by ear.

>3) Update times
Frankly, I don't think anyone reading /quest/ has any business whining about update times - it's entirely up to the quester. Do what works for you, don't destroy your life for /quest/, and have fun. It's that simple.

>4) Combat mechanics
To be honest, I think Insomnia's quest is the only one I know of that uses a concrete mechanic - everything else is kind of handwaved as part of the storytelling. It's up to you, as always, but I don't see it as necessary. I liked the idea of audience suggestions for that strategy, but in the end, you're God, you make the call. I wouldn't get too bogged down in the technical parts of it, though. The important part should be the story and having fun, not 'roll for toad circumference.'

>5) Style of storytelling
I like suggested actions. Definitely try to be more aware of ending stuff on decisions - if there's only one logical decision, you should put up a [cutscene] tag and just start drawing the next step.

Hope this helps. I enjoy this quest. :) Good luck!
>>
No. 7818 ID: fcf3ef

I have to say, I really like this quest and I also like the artwork.

Your planned changes sound interesting and I'll look forward how it'll work out.

And concerning this point:
>Frankly, I don't think anyone reading /quest/ has any business whining about update times - it's entirely up to the quester. Do what works for you, don't destroy your life for /quest/, and have fun. It's that simple.

Quoted for truth and importance. Take your time, don't feel pushed. I don't think that people who like your quest will stop participatig just because they are not online at time the update was posted.
>>
No. 7908 ID: c5b152

Thanks for the input.

I'm currently spending the holidays over at my parents' place, and as such I'll be a bit slower on the updates. Having to spend my time doing housework 'nstuff. In addition I'm taking a bit of a planning break to catch up with all my undone work.

The reason I sometimes feel forced to update during nighttime isn't because people demand it, it's because it's the only time of day I can get suggestions. The whole of tgchan is pretty much dead during other hours.


So, taking a page from captain slowpoke's book, I have a little questionnaire for you.
1) Why do you read my quest?
2) What would you like to see more of?
3) What would you like to see less of?
4) What do you hate about my quest?
Answer my questions and I'll draw you a sketch of anything you like.
5) What would you like to see drawn?
>>
No. 7918 ID: 5ba271

1) Why do you read my quest?
The dialog, characters, and reactions are awesome.
2) What would you like to see more of?
John Steinbeck references. :V
3) What would you like to see less of?
Plans for bestiality, but that's mostly /quest/'s fault.
4) What do you hate about my quest?
Sometimes what happened is unclear and I don't know what happened.
5) What would you like to see drawn?
Mu drawn in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure style, with his stand "Alive and Kicking"
>>
No. 7928 ID: c5b152
File 126134934893.jpg - (19.32KB , 274x360 , VillagePeopleBiker.jpg )
7928

>>317718
Thanks for the feedback.
'mafraid you'll have to provide me with a representative sample of the style and pose you want, because I've never read Jojo's, and googling the name gives wildly varied images. Yes, up to and including the picture included.
So yeah, sample please.
>>
No. 7949 ID: 6164e0

>>317728
First off, this is a link to Jojo's Bizarre adventures. It's a comic from japan, very, VERY strange, but after a shaky first few dozen chapters, it really hits its stride, and is a zany, intense thing.

http://www.onemanga.com/Jojo%27s_Bizarre_Adventure/

If you have the time, I suggest reading it. Or, if you want a brief descriptor on the work, since I also think Mu's journey could do with a bit of influence from it, try the wikia:

http://jjba.wikia.com/wiki/JoJo%27s_Bizarre_Adventure


1) Why do you read my quest?

I read it partly because I like martial arts, partly because your setting is a refreshing change of pace from most quests on here, partly because you have a highly stylized sense of art that I enjoy, partly because I like your humor.... wait, where was I going with this?


2) What would you like to see more of?
Idyllically, I would like to see more.... flare. Realism is fine and all, but if you are doing a semi-mystical to full-mystical martial arts quest, people should act flashy when they can do such crazy stuff. Now, we haven't met any crazy martial artists just yet, but still, I think some hot-blooded, dynamic characters/behavior styles would really make your quest shine.


3) What would you like to see less of?
Honestly, I can't think of much that isn't relevant to the story in some manner. Maybe less blank backgrounds? Even a rough sketch of what is supposed to be in the background would be nice.


4) What do you hate about my quest?
...This is a trick question, as there is nothing about your quest I find severely disagreeable or worthy of hate.

...Although I will admit Mu's loose shaved-head pony tail dealie bugs me. Personally, I think he should go full bald, that thing is asking to get yanked, especially unbraided as it is.


5) What would you like to see drawn?
I would like to see your take on Ogres seeing as how we may try to learn from them. If possible, a male/female set, with something to use as scale for size. If not, just a typical Ogre.... or some crazy powerful one that has legends about it. Your call.
>>
No. 7973 ID: 115e3a
File 126142135169.gif - (98.92KB , 800x1000 , ogre.gif )
7973

>>317749
I know these are supposed to be done in first in first serve basis, but I was offline from the internets while I was drawing. Here's an ogre, Mu Brando coming up.
>>
No. 7977 ID: 115e3a
File 126142459119.gif - (442.14KB , 800x1000 , oraoraora.gif )
7977

>>317718
Apologies to all involved.
Also, I have no idea what "alive and kicking" means.
>>
No. 7978 ID: 115e3a

>>317777
After having been informed of what a "stand" means in this context, I'll be making a new sketch. Until it is posted there will be no updates.
>>
No. 7982 ID: 115e3a
File 126142809410.gif - (76.19KB , 800x1000 , sketch2.gif )
7982

Second attempt.
>>
No. 8165 ID: 115e3a

Ok, so this whole rhyming business is waay offtrack. I don't know what I was thinking.
I'll be back with fresh updates in about ten hours. Then some more when you americans are awake.
>>
No. 8343 ID: 426169
File 12622077776.gif - (21.68KB , 500x400 , suggestion.gif )
8343

I didn't want to clutter the thread with this one
>>
No. 8345 ID: 426169
File 126220976355.gif - (12.04KB , 500x400 , alternate.gif )
8345

or this one
>>
No. 8346 ID: af3e6d

>>318145
That's more our style, really.
>>
No. 8350 ID: 426169
File 126221480579.gif - (58.51KB , 400x700 , christmas.gif )
8350

I'm feeling like an ass.
A late merry christmas to all'yall.
>>
No. 8394 ID: 059c31

>>318150
Maybe it is worth checking one the veracity of these "stories" Mu had heard.
>>
No. 8406 ID: 426169
File 126230591011.gif - (72.57KB , 400x500 , bonus.gif )
8406

Felt like posting random crap for the new year.
>>
No. 8454 ID: 059c31
File 126237798024.jpg - (82.62KB , 542x800 , 1262294111102.jpg )
8454

Results of a different choice perhaps? Not mine, but I found it and it seemed... relevant.
>>
No. 8474 ID: 426169

What, suddenly not having suggested actions is too hard?

You will note that if the captain was completely unfazed by the events going on he would've clapped Mu in irons the moment he stepped inside.
>>
No. 8475 ID: 426169

Oh yeah and >>318254 is bloody brilliant
>>
No. 8487 ID: 426169
File 12624176451.gif - (47.86KB , 500x800 , bonus1.gif )
8487

Practicin mah fabrics
>>
No. 8488 ID: 426169
File 126241861132.gif - (44.46KB , 500x800 , bonus2.gif )
8488

Same thing, no wind this time
>>
No. 8489 ID: 426169
File 126241949588.gif - (30.18KB , 500x800 , bonus3.gif )
8489

Here's what I usually draw, the fabric lacking all possible character.
>>
No. 8491 ID: 426169
File 126242205942.gif - (25.36KB , 800x600 , bonus4.gif )
8491

Using this as an imagedump, sorry.
>>
No. 8496 ID: 426169
File 126246497659.png - (415.62KB , 800x600 , bonus5.png )
8496

More imagedumping.

/tgchan/, more convenient than photobucket.
>>
No. 9684 ID: d1210a

Any idea when the next Mu's Journey session shall be?
[Return] [Entire Thread] [Last 50 posts] [Last 100 posts]

Delete post []
Password  
Report post
Reason