Weekend Update 09/30/12

Is it just me or does it feel October has come way too early?

Authors should be wrapping up their parts to the Anthology this week.

Cover artist Greg O should be wrapping up the cover.

Bluffside C&C is really moving fast, the two new designers are moving at great speeds, and all races and classes are converted, I am almost done editing all the POI's places of interest in all of Bluffside, after that it is time to edit the rest of the book but that should go fast.
We will be sending parts of the book to playtesters soon, if you play C&C and want to playtest the conversion, please email me for more information.

I hit level 33 in Guild Wars 2 and ran my first dungeon....I died, a LOT.

Still real congested so need to find something to let me breathe so I can use my machine to help me sleep, I am not getting very much rest.

One Shot RPG Kickstarter

I normally do not plug specific items on my blog, but if this item reaches a goal of 11k, I am one of the people who will send in a short story and hopefully get it published by them, I have a really cool idea, so I would love to have it seen.....
Here is the info:   One Shot RPG

Weekend Update for 09/23/12

The two newest editions to Bluffside for C&C are doing fantastic! Goal is to have conversion done by 11/1 and playtest it for a few weeks and then send in any tweaks that are needed.
Slow week on Anthology, no updates.
Had a bad cold that made it tough to do much of anything.
Did play a bit of GW2 and still enjoying it.
Saw friends we have not seen in a few weeks, it was a very nice lunch.
Back to the grind, today...real life *sigh*.

Bluffside for C&C Update

We brought in two more writers and with the passion and experience in C&C they bring, I am nothing short of confidant on how great this book will be.  I am not giving out names yet since I have not heard from them if they want to be known.

I am shooting for a finished draft by 11/1, have playtesting till mid-January, then send it off to the trolls.

That is your update folks!

Guild Wars 2

I recently purchased Guild Wars 2, I did not read about it much, but the response seemed well to it and a HUGE advantage for me was it is free to play, so I will always have an active account and will not get mad if I pay in advance and then not play for a few weeks.  This does tend to happen to me since there are times I have deadlines to a publisher and will play less and some weeks of an open schedule that I can play more.

I am really enjoying the game, what it does right:

Any race can be any class from first logging in (PvP) is world vs world so it does not matter

The armor weapons look cool (yes looking at you Star Wars)

The animations are great, from combat to jumping, each race really stands out

Account wide bank

Account wide gathering bank, you’re at a crafting station, if you  have mats in your gathering bank it is just there for any of your toons

The questing and exploring feels fresh

The group events are fun

The Karma point system is intuitive and lets you get fun stuff as you level

The automatic down leveling of your character as you go through zones so everything you kill is your “level”, so easy to group with anyone of your level or lower

It is really a smooth, exciting, innovative game in an oversaturated boring field.

More Anthology Goodness

As of 09/14/12 I have 6 accepted final submissions, with 2-3 read first drafts with finals coming in soon and a bunch more that should be here over the next 2-3 weeks.  It is an exciting time for me to see this setting come alive and by a very talented pool of people.

On a side note due to my health and some issues with some other writers if any people are interested in helping on Bluffside for C&C, please contact me, I will be up front this will not be a job you do for the money, but email me.

Anthology 2 Weeks Until Turn In

The soft deadline for turn ins for the anthology is 10/1/12.  I just received 2 more short stories that I approved so I am up to 5 approved so far, the stories are great very rich in character development and tone, so different but all in the same setting, I am very pleased at how it is going so far.

Weekend Update 09/10/12-Late Edition

Spoke to a few writers and anthology is moving along
Worked a few hours on Bluffside, it is moving slowly but it is moving.
Saw the first few episodes of Copper on BBC America, I think I will watch it, on demand.
Barely got any sleep again, this whole thing is driving me nuts.
Bought and played Guild Wars 2, it is fun, no monthly fee is what brought me over to the dark side, plus I have a panel next month called RPG's vs MMO's so I need to do research!
Weather here in FL was crap rained for almost two days.

Necronomicon Schedule

 

    Necronomicon Schedule

 Florida's Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Convention
October 26-28, 2012 - Hilton Bayfront St Petersburg

DAY	TIME	ROOM	EVENT NAME
Friday	4:00:00 PM	HTC 3	RPG vs. MMORPG
Saturday	9:00:00 AM	DEMENS	Getting Started: Writing Game Modules
Saturday	11:00:00 AM	DEMENS	What's New in Gaming?

Accomplishments over the Long Weekend..sort of.

Anthology had a few nice updates, really looking forward to seeing the work now.

Bluffside C&C has more edited, npc's and some of the POI's. 

Caught up on Alphas and watched the last Breaking Bad of 2012, man was it GOOD!

Went to the first of many girl scout meetings this year, my ex decided she did not want to go this year so I need to do it again-yipieee!

Started writing a second short for The Awakened just to keep me writing since a lot of Bluffisde at this point is editing/tweaking.

Getting around 3 hours of sleep per night so on some nights I stay up to 10pm!!!!  P-A-R-T-Y.

Reminding everyone about Nercronomicon and that I am one of the guests this year and it is in October.

Concept to Cover: Background

First read Greg's blog on reference, it is great!

This section is simple for me, I knew I wanted the cover to focus on the characters.  So I made sure they were main stage, the awakening only happens when the two moons of Grimaton "look as one" so I knew it was important for me to have the two moons shown, but Ed Greenwood also reminded me that if the cover is a night shot the colors tend to darken a bit and it may look too dark overall.

I also knew I needed room at the top and bottom for the names of the writers and the title of the book so we had to have art that would not be impeded of slightly covered up, also I knew the setting of this picture was woods/plains so I gave that to Greg and he took it over from there.

Weekend Update: 09/02/12

This month went so fast!
Working on Bluffside C&C, and since Monday is an 'merican holiday get a bonus day to work on it.
No updates on The Awakened anthology except I got a WIP update from the artist Greg and it really looks good!
Caught up on Alphas yesterday with my daughter, it is still holding my interest.

Today, write, write the next blog about the cover, laundry, grocery store, family dinner at Sonny's BBQ and final episode of Breaking Bad for 2012 (add cry face here).

Tomorrow, write, be lazy and hopefully write some more.
Hope to get some updates from writers of both projects as well.