Well, it seems that the “special project” I worked on a few weeks back has gotten the green light, so it’s moving forward. I’m currently doing Character Layout work on it. I’m not sure how this is going to effect my revision work next week. I haven’t done Layout in a while and it’s a LOT of work in a very different way than doing boards. I hope I can get my work done by the end of the week, just in case.
In the meantime, at least it seems this thing I’m working on will get seen at some point.
Go to the article to download the pdf of the tips as well as a more organized written version of the info in the video. Also, leave a comment for them if you found his information useful.
MOVIES
My wife Alesha and I got to do something we don’t often get to do now a days, namely, go to the movies. Alesha REALLY wanted to go see THE HUNGER GAMES, which we both enjoyed quite a bit. I wasn’t as gung ho as she was but I went along because she was really excited about it. Neither one of us had read the books but we both thought the premise was interesting. This isn’t to say that the premise was original, especially since there was a Japanese movies, years ago, called BATTLE ROYALE, with a similar premise. But THE HUNGER GAMES was a lot less twisted.
In my mind, what really set THE HUNGER GAMES apart from BATTLE ROYALE was that it wasn’t ABOUT the actual games. It almost felt as if the games themselves where secondary to the set up. This isn’t to say that the games weren’t interesting. It’s just that without taking all the time the movie did in setting up the characters and the universe before showing the games, I don’t think it would have been as good of a movie. In fact, it’s the lack of set up that makes BATTLE ROYALE much less interesting. Also, BATTLE ROYALE was much more gruesome, while HUNGER GAMES, which also dealt with a similar subject matter, didn’t relish in any gore.
I found myself thinking of stories like 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD while watching THE HUNGER GAMES. When watching BATTLE ROYALE, I wondered why I was watching it at all. Because of this, I concluded THE HUNGER GAMES was BATTLE ROYALE done right.
I will note one observation that came to me as I watched HUNGER GAMES. Much has been said about the commentary this story makes on society when it comes to materialism, media, and the devaluing of human life. I mean, part of the story is about how a desensitized culture gets together to watch young people kill each other for entertainment. This works very well in book form, since it’s written words on a page, without the reader partaking in the entertainment in the same way the people in the story are. The thing is, I couldn’t help but notice the irony of sitting in a movie theater and paying to see exactly the same entertainment that the these “bad people” where tuning in to watch. As movie goers, we participate in and condone the entertainment put forth by the story as wrong and bad, when we’re entertained by the games ourselves. Because of this, I think the movie adds a extra element of reflection, that the story in book format didn’t.
What do you think? Am I off on this point?
ART
Don’t know what to say here except that I’m slowly narrowing the gap and getting closer to finishing page 7 on my script. I think next week I’ll be “off script”. What I’ll have to board will be something new that I have no script or treatment to work off of. It will be completely off the cuff.
I’m actually excited about it. For now though, here are my latest thumbnails.
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Week two of three revising episode 21’s Act 1 board. I’m so glad I have another week left to finish this board up. The revisions are pretty heavy. I’ve got everything roughed out, it’s just a matter of cleaning everything up for the layout crew to follow.
Meanwhile, in other news, that special project I was working on last week and the week before has gotten approval by some people high up. It’s one step closer to actually being produced. There’s one more step left to get through so it could get green lit. It would be nice if it happens.
ART/WRITING
After a two week break, I finally got back to working on my film. Here’s what I did:
It was good to get back to it again, but I’m SO tired of working on it. I just want this part of the process to be DONE. I took a look at what I still had to thumbnail, and it was a TON. I had two really big fight scenes to do. Too much, far too much. I’ve been questioning myself from the start if all the fighting is really getting me anything. I’m still not sure but I’m sure as heck cutting some it as of right now.
I took a look at what I had written in my Treatment and simply cut two of the fight scenes right out of the film. They will be replaced by one much smaller fight which will, hopefully, have the same key information in it in much less time.
The info I need to convey will be that the demons that give the Sorcerers their power manifests visually when they tax their power, and that Rob’s hammer, knocks the demon out of Sorcerers. That’s what I need to say. As long as that info is there, the rest of the fight can be intense but short.
IF after I’m done with a rough cut of the film, I discover that it needs a longer fight, I’ll see about incorporating some of the original ideas. Otherwise, I will be happy with doing far less work.
Below is the part of my treatment that is now getting cut, in case you were wondering what it would have been like:
Rob is on his knee exhausted. The Female Sorcerer, though exhausted and bruised, sees this as an opportunity. She takes out her last blade. Sprinkles blood on it and throws it. Rob looks up just as she does it. He moves his hammer in the way to block it. The Sorceress splits her hands apart away from each other and the blade splits into two blades. They go around the hammer and stab Rob sinking into his shoulders. As if they were syringes, the blades suck Rob’s blood glowing red. The Sorceress feels the blades grow powerful with the blood and receives new strength from them. The demon that gives her power, manifest around her visibly.
Rob goes to take out the blades but they pull themselves out. The blades attack again and split into four blades when they do. Rob manages to block some but some get through and stab him taking blood. Those that do, multiply as well. Rob runs toward the Sorceress while hitting blades away. He knows, once she’s knocked out, the blades will stop. As he approaches, she throws Blinding Dust from a small cylinder. The dust hits home and blinds Rob. The blades (which are many now) fly up in the air with a gesture from the sorceress and then, with another gestured, rain down on Rob.
Rob reacts as best he could and spins his hammer as fast as he can. The blades bounce of like an umbrella.
As He does this, the Sorceress uses his temporary distraction to try and stab him in the back.
The Raven sees this and squawks out a warning. Rob quickly turns and strikes at the Sorceress. The hammer hits her square on the chest. The manifestation of the demon inside her gets knocked out of her as if IT, not the Sorceress was hit by the blow. It leaves the Sorceress’ body as the Sorceress cries in pain and passes out. The demon seems to evaporate in a silent scream.
A cry from the Other Male Sorcerer, makes Rob turn.The Other Male Sorcerer had just managed to recover, only to see the Sorceress go down.As far as he’s concerned, Rob has gone too far. He knows what Rob has just done to the woman he loves and he will pay and suffer for it. Exhausted as he is, he takes out a vile, opens it, puts some blood in it with an incantation and throws it on the ground. He then pours power out and a mist begins to raise around Rob and himself. The demon that gives him his power physically manifest around him. His fingers grow into talons.
Rob readies himself. He can’t see where his enemy is going to attack from. Suddenly claws flash out of the mist. Rob dodges and blocks the attack. The claws hit a bush behind Rob. It instantly dries up and rots away. The attacks stop. Rob realizes that if the claws hit him, he’s going to die.Seconds later, the attack begins anew, only this time, it seems like the claws are coming from more directions. It’s all Rob can do to stop the attack. Just as suddenly as it began, the attack stops. Rob doesn’t feel so good.The Sorcerer’s voice comes from the mist and needles Rob if he’s feeling okay. Then he informs Rob the mist is rotting his senses and his mind.Looking into the mist, Rob sees the enormous silhouette of the Sorcerer. As if the mist is giving him power. It slips into the mist and he gets attacked by a barrage of claws. It’s all Rob can do not to get touched by them. He manages to just barely survive the attack when it suddenly stops. He can barely stand. He staggers back, hoping to hit a wall. He does. At least with a wall behind him, he knows there won’t be any attacks from behind.The Sorcerer laughs at him and tells him mocking that it won’t help him. He imparts to Rob that not even his Raven can help him out of this.
Rob’s vision is blurring and he’s having trouble thinking. Still, he begins to spin the hammer before him, faster and faster until the mist begins to rustle and move away.
Realizing what’s going on, the Sorcerer decides he needs to finish things off. The Claws come out in all directions at Rob. Rob won’t last without help. He hopes he managed to clear enough mist for his Raven to be able to see him. The Raven flying overhead had been scanning desperately for Rob. He sees the gap he caused and sees the Sorcerer attacking. He swoops down into the mist and attacks The Sorcerer.
Distracted by the bird, the claws stop for a moment. Rob recovers just long enough to hear his bird squawking. He runs in the direction of the sound. The sorcerer realizes he’s coming and attacks but it’s too late. Rob swing the hammer and hits the Sorcerer in the face. The manifestation of the demon that gave the Sorcerer his power reacts as if IT was hit in the face. The demon flies out of the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer screams in pain. The demon evaporates in a silent scream as the Sorcerer falls to the ground. The mist dissipates and goes away. His body suddenly seems to deflate like a balloon and becomes scrawny and weak. The hair covering his face had been knocked out of the way revealing a shriveled ugly face. The other Male Sorcerer sits up, looks at himself, looks at his hands and cries out that he has lost his powers and then begins to sob.
Do you see what I mean about this being a lot of fighting?
VIDEOS/WRITING
Speaking of story and writing, here’s a TED Talks with Pixar writer/director Andrew Staton who also directed the new movie JOHN CARTER, talking about writing by telling us the story of his career in reverse:
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I finished my work early last week and was put on a special project that may or may not see the light of day. I worked on it all of Friday and all of Monday. I was also put on the new episode I’m going to be working this week. Show 21. I was assigned Act 1 which I began on Tuesday. Then, about midday Tuesday, I had to do a little bit more on the special project before I was able to continue on the Act.
This would really be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re giving us three weeks instead of two to finish our work on this episode, so I’ve still got time to do my work. I hope I can make the most of the time.
It would also be nice to have that special project see the light of day so I can talk about it at some point.
ART/BOOKS
My wife’s book, THE TOWER’S ALCHEMIST, has a new cover:
Why the change?
Because the original cover had a swastika on it. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that anything with the image of a swastika is illegal in some countries in Europe. This meant that the book didn’t show up in some European sites, and it would be illegal to buy it. So we changed the cover so it was much more internationally friendly.
How do I feel about this after spending so long on the original? I’m alright with it. Enough time has passed that I’m not really bothered by the change. I got just as into creating this cover, as I did the last one. I also made sure that the symbol on the cover had to do with the themes and plot elements in the book. The symbol is actually three alchemical symbols combined.
The center most symbol, the one the looks like a swirly cross, is one, of many, alchemical symbols for silver. Historically, silver has been used by civilizations for it’s germ fighting properties. I put it on the cover because one of the plots in the story is about fighting off an alchemical disease.
The curved symbol with the circles on the end, is one, of many, alchemical symbols for sublimation. Which Alesha suggested because the main character does it so much. I thought it would be appropriate since it’s so unique to alchemists.
Finally, the big “x” looking symbol, is one, of many, symbols for time. This is there because of something that happens in the story that deals with time. But I can’t say exactly what it is because it would be a big spoiler. So read the book and find out.
To start reading the first five chapter for free, CLICK HERE.
The $2.99 Kindle copy of the book:
or…
The hard copy of the book:
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Slightly less hectic work week this week. I’m trying to finish up both Act 1 and Act 3 this week. I would have been done with Act 1 last week but Tuesday of this week, we got revisions on the revisions. I had to go back and adjust what I’d finished. Turns out this show is too long and there need to be things cut from it.
Act least the rewrites on Act 3 are lite.
MY WEEK
I’m still trying to recover from two weeks ago. It tends to directly effect my creativity outside the work place. I’ve found I need a longer break from my personal project, just to get the energy back to really WANT to get back to it. I’m working on a small project for my wife right now. I hope to get it done fast. I’m already almost done with it.
I think the break will do me good though.
Whenever work gets me stress out, I tend to alleviate the stress with games. My mind just automatically goes there. So here’s the result…
APPS/BOARD GAMES
I love playing board games but I don’t often get to play them. Mostly because I just don’t have the time or the people around to play them with.
Well, the next best thing is actually playing digital versions of board games on my iPod Touch. I can play them on my own time and I don’t have to have anyone around to play them with. It’s not as fun this way but I take what I can get. Although there are plenty of board game apps now, that allow you to play asynchronously against other people. Which greatly increases the social aspect of playing theses games.
That said, I thought I’d write up a list of my top 10 board game apps. ALL of these game have physical board game counter parts. So if you like the app, you might really like the actual board games.
First though, here’s the honorable mention. Game that didn’t make my top ten but they’re worth trying out anyway:
Dominion is THE game that created it’s own genre, the “deck building game”. This is a really fun game.
The object of the game is to have the most points by the end of the game. You do this by buying card from the center, which eventually become part of your deck. In turn these cards will allow you to do more interesting things in your turn that may make your deck better so you can have more points at the end of the game.
Why didn’t it make the list?
The interface and A.I. isn’t all that good and it can be downright confusing. But it’s free so it might still be worth a download if you don’t mind fighting through the lousy interface. Give it a try and find out why Dominion is such an incredible game.
If you’ve seen the second PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie, you’ve seen this game played. It’s one of the funnest games to play with friends and family. That said, if you want to try out how it plays and don’t have any friends around, this is a good place to start.
The object of the game is to be the last player left. You do this by rolling dice hidden from everyone else and betting on how many dice of a certain number is rolled by everyone on the table (which are also hidden) without going over. Everyone takes turns raising the bid until someone thinks the bid is too high by calling out “Liar!”. Everyone reveals the dice they rolled. If the dice show the bid was lower or equal what the dice show, the accuser losses a die from his hand, but if the accused has bid OVER the dice on the table, then THEY lose a die.
Why didn’t it make the list?
This game is no where near as fun to play digitally. You really need to play this with real people. But again, just like Dominion, it’s free, so why not.
COST: $0.99
Hive is an abstract game, similar to Chess, only the pieces move in a way that resembles bugs. The game doesn’t have a board. As you place down pieces a board of sorts is created by the way the pieces are touching each other. The object of the game is to surround you’re opponent’s Queen Bee.
It’s a decent version of the board game. I’d rather play the real deal but this is a good alternative. As you improve, you get more difficult modes.
Unfortunately, as of the time of this writing the game is…well…a bit buggy. As in, the code is buggy…well you know what I mean. It needs a few updates.
I tend to like dice games. This one is a fun one. This game is a “dice dueling game”. The object of the game is to capture you’re opponents dice. You pick a character who has certain types of dice that have different sides and affects. You then roll and depending on the outcome, you decide what dice you want to capture from you opponent. It’s a fast game and it has enough decisions to make it much more than a luckfest.
The best part of the app is that it has a pass and play mode. I found it’s best to play the game this way. That said, the A.I. gives you a good challenge so it’s a fun game played this way as well.
Okay now, with Kingsburg, we’re getting into a much heavier game. This one take about 20 to 30 minutes to play. The point of Kingsburg is to be the person with the most points at the end of the game. A game lasts about 16 turns and what you generally do each turn is roll dice in order to get the help of a specific person which will give you a special benefit. The sum of all or some of the dice will tell you which person you can choose to get help from. The “help” can be in attaining resources to build special buildings for your town, increase your military might, peek to see who will raid the town in winter, or buy special effect that will help you manipulate your dice rolls. The buildings give you special abilities or protection from attack, as well as victory points. Since each round of turns is one year with four seasons, at the end of winter, there is an attack. Everyone rolls a die and adds their defenses to it. If it roll over the raider’s attack number, you fend them off. If you don’t, you lose a building. At the end of 4 rounds of 4 seasons, the person who has gotten the most victory points wins.
This is a fun game. It’s a little difficult to get used to because the actual game board is so big, it couldn’t all be fit in the iPhone/iPod Touch screen. This means you have to switch screens a lot to really be able to decide what to do. Once you get past that, it plays great. It even has a pass and play option but no online option.
The only reason I don’t play this more, is because it takes so long to play.
One of THE best board game strategy games out for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The object of the game is to reduce your opponent’s base to zero points. You do this by placing hexagonal tiles on the board with programmed special abilities. Every turn you may put down, 1, 2 or no tiles down and then your opponents may do the same. At some point, either when the whole board has tiles on it and therefore no one can put a tile down, or when someone puts don’t a “combat” tile down, all the tiles are activated and you see how the battle plays out, based on each tile’s special abilities and turn order.
If the bases are still there after combat ends, you continue putting tiles down as before.
The game can be played with up to 4 people and there are 4 different armies to choose from.
You can play asynchronously online or pass and play.
This is a fantastic game and it’s tough to beat the computer in higher difficulty levels.
Wanna play a Civ game that lasts about 10 minutes? This is your game.
The point of the game is to get the most points by the end of the game. You do this by rolling special dice, “Yahtzee style”. In other words, you roll some dice, and you chose what to keep and what to re-roll. The dice faces have food, workers, money, jars and skulls. Workers can be used to build wonders or build up your town so that you may roll more dice each turn. Food allows you to feed your workers so you don’t lose points each turn. Jars allow you to build up resources that you can use to get special civics. The civics give you victory points and provide you with some sort of special ability or benefit, like protection from famine. Coins supplement your resources when buying civics, but if you don’t use them on the turn you roll them, they go away. Skulls are bad, they do bad things when you roll them (like cause famine) and they can’t be rerolled once you roll them.
For a game that shares a mechanism with Yahtzee, this game manages successfully NOT feel like Yahtzee and totally feels like a Civ game. I really like this game, it’s simple but deep. You can play it solo and try to beat your own score, or better yet, you can play pass and play. But it has no online play.
Now we get to one of the “modern classic” board games. Ticket to Ride Pocket is a very good implementation of it’s board game counter part.
Once again, the object of the game is to be the person with the most points at the end of the game. You do this by connecting cities on the board by placing train pieces, but you can only do so if you have the correct number of matching colored cards. At the start of the game, you chose between getting 1 to 3 destination tickets which you must complete by the end of the game. Doing so gives you the points written on the tickets, failing makes you get negative points written on the ticket.
For a more in depth overview of the Ticket to Ride games, I suggest you read, my Ticket to Ride article HERE.
For an article on Ticket to Ride Pocket, CLICK HERE.
Being aware of who is placing things where is key. Deciding when to place your trains and when to pick cards lends a good tension to the game. I’ve found the AI is really tough to beat, which I think is good.
This version of the game supports, solo games, pass and play, and online games. The interface is simple and the tutorial is very good. Expansions are also available to purchase so you can change the game up a bit. I recommend it.
The people that haven’t heard of Settler of Catan is slowly shrinking. Here’s yet another way people can become aware of this fun little game.
The way I see it, Settler is a “Civ lite” game. The object of the game is to be the first to get 12 points. You do this by building your civilization, or colonies, as best you can with the resources you have on hand, and by trading wisely with those civilizations around you.
For a more in depth view of Settler of Catan, I wrote an article comparing it to Monopoly HERE.
I think the best part of playing this version is the Campaign modes with unique winning conditions. Not only that but you can also buy expansions that change the game up. But even if you don’t get those, the game is different every time because of the nature of the games’ variable board.
The iPhone/iPod Touch version allows you to zoom in and out of the board so you can place things the way you want, and the interface is very intuitive. There’s a hot seat mode, but no online mode. Still, it gives a solo player plenty of options and unique ways to play. Great game.
Why is this game my number 3? Because I play it quite a lot. This is ALMOST a brainless game (ha, ha brainless…I is funny). Seriously though, this is a fun quick game. It’s a dice rolling game where the object is to be the person to collect 13 brains or more. Once someone collects 13 brains, the other players try to get more, if they fail the person with 13 brains wins.
On your turn you roll the dice, and you see what you get. If you roll brains, you keep them. If you roll foot steps, it’s neither positive or negative, they don’t do anything. If you roll the explosion, that means you got shotgunned. You can then decide to continue to roll, or stop and keep your score. If you choose to roll again, you have the opportunity to get more brains, BUT at any point during your rolling, if you accumulate three shotguns, you lose your points for this turn. What makes this game just a tad thinky, is the color of the dice. Green dice have only one shotgun while the red ones have the most and the yellow ones are somewhere in between. Depending on how many brains you have, how many shotguns you have and the probability of the dice you need to roll, you make up your mind as to whether you should continue to roll or not.
It’s a fun little diversion of a game that you can play in minutes. It’s also very silly. Oh, and it’s FREE! Well, it is if you plan to play it solo. If you plan to play it pass and play, then you can spend $.99 for that option. I had so much fun playing the game solo that when given the opportunity to play with my brother, I bought the option. I haven’t regretted it. It’s so fun to play this game with others.
For the same reason I like Zombie Dice above, I like this game too. It’s free. It’s fun. I like it. I play it a TON and this version has a great interface. It let’s you play against computer opponents from the start and it’s not just a “beat your best score”, solo game.
This game is considered, by many, the best iPhone/iPod Touch board game port out there. I bought the game mostly from the hype. I played it and didn’t quite understand what all the fuss was about.
This is a “deck building game” like Dominion above, (I think it was the 3rd game of it’s kind on the market) only much more random. The goal of the game is to have the most points by the end of the game. You do this by buying cards (which give you points) from six random cards that are placed into the center row. These cards give you special abilities once they show up in your deck after they get shuffled into it.
You can also “fight” and destroy monsters that show up in the center row. When you do this, they get banished into the discard pile. Many monster, once you destroy them, give you a special one shot ability.
So I played it and thought it was a bit too random. I didn’t really get it. The game was easy to beat and it didn’t seem like it had many decisions. THEN I played it four player with each AI opponent at it’s highest difficulty setting. I couldn’t win the game. The AI consistently beat me. WHY?!
Turns out the game has all kinds of depth I didn’t realize it had. I started playing this game like crazy. Trying to at least win ONE game. Many many close games later, many many strategies later, and I finally did. That doesn’t really mean I “solved” the game. I still lose more games than I win, but at least now I know ONE way to play the game that can give me victory.
Like Poker, it has that random unpredictability to it that makes it a new experience every game but, like Poker, the game pays off best when you play what cards you have in the best way you can.
This game can be played pass and play as well as asynchronously online.
Alright, that’s it for me. I have nine other board game apps in my iPod Touch I didn’t write about. Perhaps I will some other time. This list was my Top Ten though, and I’m sure as time goes by, it will change.
If you download any of these games or own them already, let me know what you think of them. Or better yet, let me know so we can play together. Bye.
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Onto show 20 this week. Count down to the end of the season for me. There’s only two more show to work on and the season ends. I’m hoping I can get put on a show as a layout artist or a Story reel artist once I’m done with boards. That way, I don’t go on hiatus.
In the meantime, I’ve got Acts 1 and 3 of show 20 to worry about.
ART
I’m taking a break from thumbnailing my script this week. I just haven’t had the time or energy. I’ve been filling a little drained. I think last weeks big work load did it. So instead here are some sketches from my sketchbook of one of my favorite writers ever, G.K. Chesterton, done with a red color pencil under drawing, Pentel brush pen, colored with Copic grey and black markers and a white Prismacolor pencil for the highlights:
“THE Christian admits that the universe is manifold and even miscellaneous, just as a sane man knows that he is complex. Nay, the really sane man knows that he has a touch of the madman. But the Materialist’s world is quite simple and solid, just as the madman is quite sure he is sane. The Materialist is sure that history has been simply and solely a chain of causation, just as the interesting person before mentioned is quite sure that he is simply and solely a chicken. Materialists and madmen never have doubts.” ~GKC: ‘Orthodoxy.’
“TWICE in my life has an editor told me in so many words that he dared not print what I had written, because it would offend the advertizers in his paper. The presence of such pressure exists everywhere in a more silent and subtle form. But I have a great respect for the honesty of this particular editor; for it was evidently as near to complete honesty as the editor of an important weekly magazine could possibly go. He told the truth about the falsehood he had to tell.” ~GKC: ‘The Outline of Sanity.’
“WHEN learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven’t got any.” ~GKC: ‘Illustrated London News,’ November 7, 1908.
VIDEOS
The video below is this years Oscar winner for the Best Animated Short Category. It’s beautiful. I noticed that the acting on the man is very much in line with the acting you would see Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin do in their silent movies, even down to the sped up looking timing.
It’s also worth noting that there isn’t any dialogue at all in this movie, which really shows how animation is not tide to any voice acting. If you find this film moving, it’s not because of anything a film actor has but rather, it’s all do to how good an actor the ANIMATOR is and how well the story was told. Check it out:
