Work in Progress and Short Stories
As the year 2024 is soon coming to an end, I have a lot of threads to close, so to speak. I’ve published my first real Short Story here on my website (Go read Rocco!), and even showed off my pixel art skills as I made the cover for it.
I plan to keep to this new ‘branding’ of mine, where the site would become a hub for Stories and art, even DevLogs. That means that there are indeed, more Shorts coming in the future. And here is a secret – they will all be related to the current WIP, the bigger book I am writing at the time. Rocco, while he lives in the world I am writing out, was not directly related to the book I am writing. The poor guy lived in another Sector entirely. Either way, look forward to having some glimpses into my projects through the eyes of random side characters who, I figured, deserved to be seen more!
As far as my WIP goes, for now, I have given a rest to The Narcissus Blood Bank, and am halfway through the first book of the realm of Gechemo – Rialar. As it was a story written for a long lost family member in a more… juvenile way and times, I’ve had to rework it a lot as well as fit it into my realms. It has been a marvelous journey to see my boys Jaxon and Jace mature from kiddos into two teens who find themselves in the middle of some divine struggles. Soon, I will have reworked the first half of the story, and so I can go on writing the second half. Currently, the book stands at 31,000 words!
Art Project
As you may know, I have begun learning pixel art in my efforts to bring as much as I can to the Game Development aspect. It would be so amazing to be able to craft the worlds that we here at VanaVerse create, and have my hand in all of it!
That being said, I still have ways to go. That is why I am taking my studies seriously. Currently, I am working on a rather large piece as a study of leaves and all sorts of green things. Yet, I had to shove three trees into the scene, massive ones at that, and got stuck trying to make bark for two weeks! Trees are hard, I’m telling you.
Either way, I’m now working on the Guardian, a sort of Leshen-type creature, the one from Witcher. It is a sort of long and thin humanoid creature, made from wood, and featuring a deer skull as a head. Antlers and all. After that, it’s all about polish, polish, and more polish. And adding lights and shadows. And dealing with the grass. Good G-d the grass is hideous!
Game Development
As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve taken it upon myself to learn about Game Development. I do this with courses from Udemy, and with the help of all the wonderful Indiedev YouTubers and more. I swear, after my YouTube purge it’s all GameDev, D’n’D, Art, and Hebrew I see with the occasional ‘How to make a cracker’.
Currently, I am going through Code Monkey’s Visual Scripting course. He also has some stuff on YouTube, if you’d like to check him out. While his course is going through in what feels like light-speed, it has been most informative. And I actually think that Visual Scripting may just be a soft fall for all those who are interested in this type of Coding, as it takes out the drudgery of well… code.
I’ve already gone through one course in basic game-making and c# by a collaborative effort from several parties. The long and the short of it, I’m over the halfway point of my current Course, and have way more to go! The lesson I’m learning now is about making action RPGs, so that’s fun!
What else…
I have started the process of turning this website of mine into a different kind of beast. While complaining about various things was cathartic, and giving my soul into the aether reached some people, I’ve decided to move on. It has been a journey to find what I actually wish my life to look like, and well, the old format didn’t quite fit it. I want to be a creator, not a commentator.
That means that my Website will slowly turn into a hub for Stories, Art, and Development, as I start posting my various News and Logs. I want to keep track of what I am doing and learning, and I want to share those moments with whoever deems fit to take a moment to sit with me.
Currently, I’ve made the major changes, but much has to happen behind the scenes to clean up the mess there. On top of that, I will do my best to polish the visuals. As for the News and Logs, well, I’m hoping once a month will be plenty to cover everything as a summary of some of the things I’ve progressed in or learned about.
That’s it for this report!
I wish you a wonderful Autumn, go check out the colors outside, and breathe the air that is starting to get crisp. Play with the wisps of vapor that come out when you exhale! I love the reds and yellows, though the end-of-the-season brown is not so pleasant. Eesh!