Hey there again everybody!
I pray that all of you are doing GREAT, I know I am!
In the past month I have learned a lot of new tricks in the software that I will be using to make the game, The Right Path. Most of what I learned was me just doing a trial and error type of thing...it’s a great learning experience! Now I know how to “fix” something that might “break” for making the game.
The other thing I have learned is….it’s going to take me a LOT longer to make the game than I originally anticipated. A few years ago when people asked “how long will it take to make the game”, I said something like about 5 years. Here it is 3 years later and I am not really that much closer to being finished for that 5 year time frame. It took me almost 3 years just to write the story I wanted written and put down on “paper”!
So it looks like it will be at least another 3 or 4 years before completion. Also I may have to have help with a lot of the other things for making a “world” become alive….I can “world build” pretty well, which you’ll get to see below. But it’s all of the little things that I WILL need help with….like coding!
But not to be of a discouragement, I do have a LOT that I’ve learned, both in writing the story and learning the software. With technology advancements in the software programs that I use, it is getting easier to develop what I would like for the game to be. I won’t go into to all of that, but lets just say WOW!….some GREAT and exciting things will be coming soon from some of those software companies.
So on to what I have for you this month!
THE PINES MALL
I have been working on a little scene where Helkena and her BFF Conny will spend a lot of their time….the mall (a girls favorite place...um...right?….OH WAIT I love the mall too!)
The mall itself; The Pines Mall (as it will be called in the game), which is outdoors, was a “template”, but it was kinda plain just by itself, it looks great for a “movie set” but for actually looking like a “living and breathing” mall it needed some work, that is what I have been working on in the past 3 weeks or so. I have LOTS of photos that I had taken during that process, but I’m NOT going to share all of them….it’s over 200 photos! A lot of it was getting that right shot with the “actors” in the right place!
But what I will share with you are some before and after shots of what the mall looked like before and obviously what it looks like now, so you can see what a difference it is; you can view those photos HERE. There’s also some photos that I added to “show-off” some of the more interesting area’s of the mall and some photos of the “work” to get things looking right!
I was going to try to do the whole mall area that came with the template, but I ran into the problem of having too many different types of items (models) in the mall area, it was causing my poor PC to chug along very slowly in certain areas of the mall. It is also the same reason why I didn’t make a video, the quality would have been very low (which you might notice in the video that is posted with the “scrolling” sign.)
Oh yes, one more thing! In the “after” photos, see if you can find Helkena in every shot! (Sometimes more than once, she is with Conny a lot of the time as well!)
RED TONJA COMICS
Red Tonja Comics is owned and operated by a very short (4’ 9”) and petite woman named Janet Smith. She named the comic book store after hers and Helkena’s favorite comic book hero Red Tonja.
Inside the comic book store you will find comics of course, but it also has collectible cards and video games (even a few computers where people can play some of those games).
ALL of the covers for the comics and the games were designed by me, along with the titles (IF there is a real world comic or game by any of those names it is purely coincident). 95% of the photos used where from free to use photo sites like Pixabay and Pexels. Some of the “characters” are some I made in the character creator program by Reallusion.
I posted some of those comic covers as well, they’re in the same link as above for The Pines Mall.
Also there is a photo of Janet Smith (owner of Red Tonja comics) being interviewed by Tyrone Ward from KGTV in Los Diego. He is doing a piece about the success of Red Tonja comics even though most everything is now digital. SIDE NOTE: I have to laugh! I didn’t look up the TV station where Tyrone works for in Los Diego (KGTV) if it was a real station. So I thought I better, it is real and guess where the real KGTV is located….in SAN DIEGO….LOL! (Don’t worry Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC, my KGTV has been changed in the game...I just thought it was really funny to leave it for now, since Diego is the common denominator)
***BTW: I just changed this at the last minute….KGTV WILL BE KLDU.
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With all of that, let me add this in closing. I WILL need help….lots of it!
WHAT I NEED
Prayer (LOTS)
Finding the “right” help and being able to pay them for it.
Finances (um...money!)
AND LOTS MORE PRAYERS!
So please, and I cannot stress this enough, please PRAY for this project that I feel God has called me to do. If you feel lead to help out financially GREAT! You can go HERE (please pray about that as well).
OK that’s all I have for this month, I pray that you can help (PRAYING) and that you enjoy The Pines Mall!
BE BLESSED!
Sam
🙂