I'm at that Combination Fighting Game and Comic Book!

 Hi, it's been a while!

Okay, so remember that post I made a couple months ago? Y'know, the only other one? It's been assimilated to a new - or old, depending on how you look at it - project that combines so many of the things I've come to enjoy in life - video games, art, music, and tomfoolery. But, I'm jumping several steps ahead, while you're thinking about the ridiculous blog title. Allow me to explain!

While I continue to work, train and take classes at Ithaca College, things get ever busier. The mathematical theorem that has led to me returning to my original alma mater (long story short, I love math...though not necessarily academically) got me to thinking. Over the course of years, I've had many admirable & lofty goals, the comic included. However, due to my program I never seem to put as much focus on them as I ought to have been. Some goals are bigger than others and, obviously, require a lot more investment, but there's still a level for which I ought to be able to account on some of my projects.

Well, okay, for obvious reason, becoming a masked vigilante isn't something I can fit on my plate, so I'll let that one slide.

Anyhow, about three weeks ago, I realized there was no way that I could complete a comic of the scope I was desiring in a reasonable amount of time while healthily juggling everything else. I began to brainstorm ways that I could finish the damn thing: shrinking the scale of the project, making a sandwich and procrastinating, even hiring a legit project team...at gunpoint.

Fringe benefits to working for me: I will never fire you, just AT you.

Ipso facto, I remembered the game idea I'd been struggling with bringing to fruition (simply because of laziness, which is often, though not always the case with me). It wasn't hard to decide on game style. There's one game genre that will always have my full attention. No, not eroges. Fighting games have always been of significant interest.

It all started when my older brother Disashi first handed me a SEGA Genesis controller and Street Fighter Tournament Edition. Picture a young, impressionable Lushima, with less hair, a tiny body but the same size head. Now, every time we played, he would always whoop my ass...fucking Ken, man, fucking Ken. Anyhow, between the whooping, I noticed that there was so much strategy involved with the game in conjunction with your ability to string together powerful combos and position your opponent such that they are in an inescapable situation. When I learned how to Hadouken, there was no turning back, only down-back kicks.

It's just great. In fact, I love the stuff so much so that I may or may not have already completed a movelist for each major player in my planned comic, complete with Normal attacks, Special attacks, etc.

The best part is that I can easily incorporate my comic panel idea into the game idea. Every person has a back story, so what better way to present that story in the form of a 3-4 page strip for each? =D ...Well, yes, a fully-animated sequence would be gr-hey, shut the fuck up, this is MY blog!

"But, Lushima," you say, "who's to say that you won't just procrastinate and not finish the game?" Excellent question, Billy! For the answer to that question, I present Exhibit A.

The fight at the bottom of the page lasted until each fighters' larynx fell out.

"What's this, some sort of checklist! Why's it done by hand?" you ask? You ask way too many goddamn questions...and what kind of name is Billy, anyway? Anyhow, yes, it's the checklist. However, it's not for me to complete. I've been looking for someone impartial from anywhere who would be willing to advise me in doing the deed, and by "advising" I really just mean make sure I complete the shit and kick me in the nether-regions if I'm late on any of these checkpoints...figuratively.

I've already started working on the first October checkpoint (scanning and coloring the sprites), and not because I'm such a hard worker. Here's why.

The above pics are to become the image sprites of the game. If you don't know what a "sprite" is, look no further than this! Believe me, a sprite is far different from the sketches you see. It will take time to make each of these into one of these in-game image sprites, placed atop a background and in action, as shown here.

Anyways, I hope you've seen enough of the non-chibi versions of those shown above to know that they are characters (or unmanned killbots) in my strip. I want to be realistic about a time scale, I'm keepin' it chibi. Though they're miniaturized, the relative size is accurate (i.e. the TANK Behemoth could crush Floyd's face, Nameless towers over others and I have big ears.)

Drawing was step 1 of the process (and by far, the easiest). Once I've scanned the pic, I begin the process of coloring. The original plan was to use Photoshop to color and edit the picture and make it into a sprite. However, during the process, I discovered that to create the excruciating detail into every single character to-be-sprite, it would end up taking me 4 hours (it took me that long just to solidify the edges on Floyd's to-be-sprite). That's when I got the idea to go for a retro, Sega Genesis pixelated look. At first I was glum about having to remove so much detail from a picture...at least, until I looked at the finished products. I feel like it adds a nice, nostalgic style!

 

Each player will have multiple frames so, as you saw in the video shown before, the neutral stances will be animated, albeit with fewer frames, so as to save time. Also on the plate but not mentioned is that I'll need to make sound effects for attacks, block, hit, impact (landing, falling) various elements (fire, wind), etc. Another fun sticking point will be voice-overs. It'll be interesting to breathe life to some of these characters, as I've been sketching them for a while withou timagining how they'd sound.

Anyhow, that's what I'll be doing in my free time this & next week. The encompassing project is lofty, yeah, but I seem to respond best to lofty goals in the end. It's how I eventually learned how to stop sucking at TKD and what drives me to train (for Rio 2016!!! if I can stop getting injured long enough to even have a shot to qualify...but THAT is something for another blog). Making this game will be a task, but in the end it will leave me with a greater appreciation for pursuing what I love. It's not just for me, though: if you, the reader, get something positive from this blog and decide to pursue your goals, I'll be happy.

Now that it's on like Donkey Kong, expect a post every week. Not one of those "imaginary posts" where I think about doing it then see a squirrel and run off. Oh, sorry if you're actually a Billy or some variation thereof, I kid.