Well, it has been a very long time since I posted anything. To be honest I have been woefully unproductive on the painting front, and almost as unproductive on the gaming front... Last Saturday night I did get a chance to play the Gears of War boardgame, which is a really fun solo/co-op game. The enemy AI is really rather effective and you feel under constant pressure as a player, two things which are essential to a solo game, in my opinion.
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| A hoard of Tickers prepare to be blown sky high... |
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| My guys getting brutalised by the far superior AI! |
Today I got to play my first games of Commands and Colours: Napoleonics. I was a slightly unsure as I have mixed feelings on the underlying system from my experiences with Memoir '44 and Battlelore, but this was a very different beast. Highly enjoyable. We played twon and a half games and perhaps were a little ambitious trying to re-fight Waterloo when we didn't have much time left, but the end result was that I really want to play this again as soon as possible.
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| Waterloo, C&C:N style |
Apart from that I have a whole new 15mm project which I will be starting soon. I will be posting more on that as soon as the figures arrive, Can't wait!
I am really inspired by your use of the Comic editor. As a matter of fact I am using it right now.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could do a post or two about how you are using your Comic making program and all the considerations going into making a game into a comic panel.
Best Regards,
Hi there, thanks for your comment. I would certainly consider doing a bog post about this, but fear it would be a disappointment! The thing is, Comic Life makes it so very easy. All I really do is chose the occasional font or colour.
DeleteAside from that, I just try and take pictures which reflect some of the key elements of the game narrative. The important thing that I do here is make notes so I remember why I am taking a certain picture. Aside from that I just try and think of how the picture will be framed to make space for any bubbles and boxes. Typically, the section of the picture in the frame is a fraction of the picture I took and I may use half of a picture in one frame and the other half in another if it makes the story flow better.
I have to say I am still learning and am never 100% happy with what I achieve. But if it is providing inspiration to others then perhaps I should not be so hard on myself!
Ultimately I started off by just sitting down and playing around with it to see what would happen. To being with I wasn't even playing a game, just taking a few pictures while I was learning how to use the software, a process I used when I posted the Doctor Who comic recently. All dialogue and such is made up as I go. Thinking about it, it might be pure luck that it all works!
Oh, and running the final article by the wife helps with identifying which parts don't work or if there are typos!
Hope this helps a little.
Thanks
Chris
I have asked for a large undertaking on your behalf. ( So forgive me.)
DeleteWould it be wise to call all of what you do,
"Mise en scène" ?
Not that I am expecting you to know-it-all about the program, the lighting, ect..ect..; but I think the fascinating aspect is not only the capture of the narrative but how it is portrayed on comic panels.
I think you could easily get lots of blogging material out a large concept such as "mise en scène."
I'll see if I can put something together, although my reply above really does describe everything I do.
DeleteI try not to think about the process too much otherwise it becomes more like work and less like a fun hobby.
I would like to say that, having looked at your blog, your efforts so far are easily as good as anything I have produced! Great work.
I really enjoy seeing those comic strip reports. I wouldn't mind seeing a write up on how you do it as well if it's not too much trouble!
ReplyDeleteI'll see about putting a few notes together. :)
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