The third exciting installment of "Epicdemic" has landed! Is it suitably epic? It i-- well, sort of, yes!
And, yes, okay, it's worth noting that despite Arnie's insistence otherwise, there's dozens and dozens of suitably epic MMORPGs that are, for all intents and purposes, being given away -- Lord of the Rings Online amongst them, which is notable because that's actually the first MMO I ever subscribed to. I played as a hobbit, and did peaceful hobbit things, and finally quit when I realized that virtual me was even duller than real-life me.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Progress, the Report
As I write this, it is January the 5th, which as it turns out is the birthday of both renowned animator Hayao Miyazaki and my very own father. I am fonder of the latter, of course, although in fairness it should be noted that despite my father's good points, he has not, as yet, produced an animated version of "Nausicaa." Happy birthday, Dad!
So, this post is the first in what should be a regular series of progress reports on everything currently in-progress here at Spookingtons. Take everything that follows with a grain of salt and considerable patience for the numerous quantum fluctuations that plague all creative projects-in-progress. Features may change, release dates may extend, projects may be cancelled, natural disasters may occur and creative individuals may completely snap. In other words, nothing here is etched in stone.
Except for our ultra-secret tombstone-engraving project. Let's get started:
On the Web:
"Hsu and Chan's Epicdemic" -- H&C's newest full-color adventure is on-track for a strip update early next week. We've pretty much just started, and I confess there's not much along the lines of a script on this one, but expect this to provide some of the more-fantastic imagery yet seen in H&C's universe. There may be dragons!
"The Mummy's Tooth," -- totally complete, and already available for instant download in the store, but next free update will be sometime Friday.
TOP SECRET WEB PROJECT: codename "Floppy Dawg." In pre-production, this project will represent something fairly new and different in a genre that's otherwise been as beaten as a dead horse can possibly get. You'll know it when it gets here -- but it's gonna take a while.
In the Store:
"The Keepers" -- Spookingtons' next downloadable comic release will be this classic Otters' strip, in which our little, furry heroes go to the zoo. The comic's receiving a splash of graytones in order to give a little visual boost to my circa-1999 cartoon art.
Spookingtons Gaming:
TOP SECRET GAME PROJECT: codename "Bacchus." In early production, and easily the largest project Spookingtons has yet undertaken. Keep your eyes open, because you'll be seeing a lot more of this one fairly soon.
And those are the projects that have seen significant work in the previous week. Note that there are other projects in progress that HAVEN'T been updated recently, but you'll hear about those as they become relevant. Got questions? Anything you want to see? Drop us a line in the comments!
So, this post is the first in what should be a regular series of progress reports on everything currently in-progress here at Spookingtons. Take everything that follows with a grain of salt and considerable patience for the numerous quantum fluctuations that plague all creative projects-in-progress. Features may change, release dates may extend, projects may be cancelled, natural disasters may occur and creative individuals may completely snap. In other words, nothing here is etched in stone.
Except for our ultra-secret tombstone-engraving project. Let's get started:
On the Web:
"Hsu and Chan's Epicdemic" -- H&C's newest full-color adventure is on-track for a strip update early next week. We've pretty much just started, and I confess there's not much along the lines of a script on this one, but expect this to provide some of the more-fantastic imagery yet seen in H&C's universe. There may be dragons!
"The Mummy's Tooth," -- totally complete, and already available for instant download in the store, but next free update will be sometime Friday.
TOP SECRET WEB PROJECT: codename "Floppy Dawg." In pre-production, this project will represent something fairly new and different in a genre that's otherwise been as beaten as a dead horse can possibly get. You'll know it when it gets here -- but it's gonna take a while.
In the Store:
"The Keepers" -- Spookingtons' next downloadable comic release will be this classic Otters' strip, in which our little, furry heroes go to the zoo. The comic's receiving a splash of graytones in order to give a little visual boost to my circa-1999 cartoon art.
Spookingtons Gaming:
TOP SECRET GAME PROJECT: codename "Bacchus." In early production, and easily the largest project Spookingtons has yet undertaken. Keep your eyes open, because you'll be seeing a lot more of this one fairly soon.
And those are the projects that have seen significant work in the previous week. Note that there are other projects in progress that HAVEN'T been updated recently, but you'll hear about those as they become relevant. Got questions? Anything you want to see? Drop us a line in the comments!
Monday, January 3, 2011
New For 2011
The odometer just rolled, people, and Spookingtons is there! Well, here, anyway.
I've always found it somewhat ironic that the new year always begins in what is, for our hemisphere, the deadest season of them all. By rights, the changeover should happen in March, when there's some visible indication of the cycle renewing itself. That wouldn't screw anything up, right? I just don't see why we should connect cyclic rebirth with gray, frozen skylines and colorless landscapes.
Maybe ancient peoples chose to observe the new year in January as a passive-aggressive response to overly-optimistic New Year's Resolutions. Kind of telling the citizenry: whoa, there, Icarus, don't get your expectations too high. Start small. Survive through February with your fingers and toes intact, THEN conquer the world.
I've always found it somewhat ironic that the new year always begins in what is, for our hemisphere, the deadest season of them all. By rights, the changeover should happen in March, when there's some visible indication of the cycle renewing itself. That wouldn't screw anything up, right? I just don't see why we should connect cyclic rebirth with gray, frozen skylines and colorless landscapes.
Maybe ancient peoples chose to observe the new year in January as a passive-aggressive response to overly-optimistic New Year's Resolutions. Kind of telling the citizenry: whoa, there, Icarus, don't get your expectations too high. Start small. Survive through February with your fingers and toes intact, THEN conquer the world.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Amuse
And so another Christmas day fades off in the rear-view mirror of history, leaving behind dried pine needles and twenty pounds of leftover Christmas ham. It's always a bittersweet occasion, not least of all because there's only six days to settle one's stomach before New Year's.
It's a time to reflect on the events of the past year, and we here at the Spookingtons Ranch can reflect with the best of 'em. 2010 saw a massive redesign of our site, exciting new comics featuring Hsu and Chan and Violence Man, and the release of our very first -- if not terribly ambitious -- PC game! Rest assured that there's much, much more in store for 2011, and we'll thank you to keep your eyes open for it!
Well, not for ALL of 2011. You're still allowed to sleep.
For now.
It's a time to reflect on the events of the past year, and we here at the Spookingtons Ranch can reflect with the best of 'em. 2010 saw a massive redesign of our site, exciting new comics featuring Hsu and Chan and Violence Man, and the release of our very first -- if not terribly ambitious -- PC game! Rest assured that there's much, much more in store for 2011, and we'll thank you to keep your eyes open for it!
Well, not for ALL of 2011. You're still allowed to sleep.
For now.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Turns Out To Be Correct
We're less than a week from Christmas Day, gentle readers, and I'd like to share the following holiday message with you: "Home Alone 4," the made-for-television sequel to what can only -- very generously -- be described as "Home Alone 3," will burn out your eyeballs and melt your brain like a butter sculpture of a gremlin in midday July sunlight.
I grant that I only watched about five minutes of it, so the remainder of the movie -- in which the entire family from the first two movies has been recast with less-expensive "actors," shall we call them -- may have been better than the portion I saw would indicate. Also, I may be a unicorn.
What makes it all the more unfortunate is that the original "Home Alone," and its actual sequel, "Home Alone 2," weren't exactly GREAT movies to begin with. Certainly, they're remembered affectionately by those who were children at the time -- kids who, like me, lived vicariously through young Kevin's improbably-successful tricks and traps. But upon watching the movies with older eyes, one realizes that Kevin and his entire family are horrible, despicable, bickering wretches, all deserving of grievous injury. Only the brisk, competent direction saves the audience from dwelling on this.
"Home Alone 4: The Five Minutes I Watched" is not competently directed. Also, I should mention that the movie's star power consists of French Stewart, who has made a small career replacing slightly-higher-priced actors in made-for-video sequels. I don't mock him for this, mind you. Depressing as it may be, "Replaced Matthew Broderick in 'Inspector Gadget 2'" is still a more-notable epitaph than most of us will ever get.
At any rate, "Home Alone 4" is most likely a bad, bad movie, and I hope the vagueness with which I've described it does not inspire anyone to look it up and see, because -- I want to emphasize this -- it's not the FUN kind of bad. It's the bad kind of bad. If you must learn more, you can read all about it in the Necronomicon.
I grant that I only watched about five minutes of it, so the remainder of the movie -- in which the entire family from the first two movies has been recast with less-expensive "actors," shall we call them -- may have been better than the portion I saw would indicate. Also, I may be a unicorn.
What makes it all the more unfortunate is that the original "Home Alone," and its actual sequel, "Home Alone 2," weren't exactly GREAT movies to begin with. Certainly, they're remembered affectionately by those who were children at the time -- kids who, like me, lived vicariously through young Kevin's improbably-successful tricks and traps. But upon watching the movies with older eyes, one realizes that Kevin and his entire family are horrible, despicable, bickering wretches, all deserving of grievous injury. Only the brisk, competent direction saves the audience from dwelling on this.
"Home Alone 4: The Five Minutes I Watched" is not competently directed. Also, I should mention that the movie's star power consists of French Stewart, who has made a small career replacing slightly-higher-priced actors in made-for-video sequels. I don't mock him for this, mind you. Depressing as it may be, "Replaced Matthew Broderick in 'Inspector Gadget 2'" is still a more-notable epitaph than most of us will ever get.
At any rate, "Home Alone 4" is most likely a bad, bad movie, and I hope the vagueness with which I've described it does not inspire anyone to look it up and see, because -- I want to emphasize this -- it's not the FUN kind of bad. It's the bad kind of bad. If you must learn more, you can read all about it in the Necronomicon.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Knowing is Half the Battle; Avoidance is the Other
Another minor frontpage update -- you'll now see notices of the most recently-updated items in the game, comic and video categories, respectively, under the featured header image. If that sets your world aflame, then we're glad to be of service, and you could probably do with a couple more hobbies in your life.
In other news, I don't know if you've ever seen "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," but if you haven't, it's as if someone took all the concentrated dumbness of all the collected mid-term essays written by a classroom of sophomore physical education majors, compressed them until they turned into a liquid, then set it on fire and served it in a cocktail glass with the Tasmanian Devil printed on the side.
You wont be smarter for having watched it, but you may find it affecting your movie choices in the future. Hopefully it will function as a vaccine of some sort.
But if you're simply inspired to violence after watching -- and who could blame you? - it's worth noting that the Ready Deaddy Cat contest announced last post (scroll down) is still running! Get a free download, and spill some cougar blood!
In other news, I don't know if you've ever seen "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," but if you haven't, it's as if someone took all the concentrated dumbness of all the collected mid-term essays written by a classroom of sophomore physical education majors, compressed them until they turned into a liquid, then set it on fire and served it in a cocktail glass with the Tasmanian Devil printed on the side.
You wont be smarter for having watched it, but you may find it affecting your movie choices in the future. Hopefully it will function as a vaccine of some sort.
But if you're simply inspired to violence after watching -- and who could blame you? - it's worth noting that the Ready Deaddy Cat contest announced last post (scroll down) is still running! Get a free download, and spill some cougar blood!
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