Vision Riders Entertainment Blog

I Am Not Dead

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:29:46 -0700

Wow, has it really been a year since I posted anything here?

Work on Junction is slowly proceeding and I hope to have a site up for it soon with information and screenshots; maybe even an early trailer. If all goes well the full game will be out by the end of the year. As for Swordmaster Odyssey... I honestly don't know what to do with it. There really doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in the comic, and I haven't even had the desire to work on it in a long, long time.

"Higher Daddy, Higher!"

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:55:21 -0700

One day I'll be big.
Way bigger than I am now.
I'll be taller than my big sister, so she'll have to be nice to me even when other people are watching.
Maybe I'll be taller even than my dad, and he'll have to look up just to see me!
I'll be stronger and braver, and all my friends will think I'm cool.

But for now, for today
All I want to do is fly.

This is based on an old sketch I drew some time ago. Families and the dynamics of their unique relationships have long been a fascinating subject to me. Brothers and sisters; parents and children; the way they interact. I don't know why. Maybe it's the blood bond they share that is not so easily broken? Even though at times, of course, sometimes they wish they were. On that note, I'm the oldest of my siblings, so I can only wonder what it's like to have an older brother or sister...

Regardless, the theme of this piece is not siblings but fathers and sons. In hindsight, I guess it's kind of appropriate, what with Father's Day coming up and all. Dads that take the time to actually play and talk with their sons are always cool in my book.

Painted in Photoshop. Time taken: ~3-4 hours. Brief prose intro is nothing special; just something that kept coming to me while I worked. (And it amused me thinking about how the boy's big sister is implied to be really sweet to him whenever no one else is around to see it.)

The Many Trials of Dale

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:25:43 -0700

I wish I enjoyed reading more than I do. I really do. But even when I read fiction that I enjoy, it's difficult for me. This is not because I have trouble reading--I can read English very well, thank you very much--the problem in fact stems from the fact I cannot turn my brain off. While most people praise reading because it requires the imagination, this is why I loathe it so. I want to enjoy the prose and the narrative, the author's wordplay and the feeling that it invokes. But instead I'm too busy staging scenes in my head. I'm too busy imagining the story as a movie, an animated series, a comic book; at times, even a video game. I substitute dialog on the fly, change environments and pacing, add entire scenes and characters that are nowhere to be found in the story, often to the point where I can't remember which parts were the book and which parts only were in my head. At my worst, I'll physically set the book aside to finish playing through a made-up scene in my head before continuing.

I hate this. It keeps me from enjoying the book, and it's only gotten worse with age. I'm to the point now to where I do this when watching movies. Is this something everyone else does and actually enjoys, and I just don't realize it?

Regardless, over the years the best remedy I've found is to find enjoyment writing stories instead of reading them. It's why I have so many half-finished manuscripts littering my hard drive. Unfortunately, I'm my only audience--no one else seems over the years has given them more than a glance, but what else is new--but even more dreadful in my mind is thus: a writer who does not read is nary a writer at all. If I don't read, can I really improve my craft? I seriously doubt it.

Not to mention I think it's only aggravating my condition...

This is News

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:14:24 -0700

Updated the company website for the first time in a bajillion years. Of note is that I killed off all links to the old news page (which was never really used anyway) and the site map (which was a pain to keep current). From now on the blog will function as the main news page, since that just works better anyway.

All references to "Vision Riders Entertainment, Inc." that I could find have been removed, except in the terms of use and privacy policy pages which I'll update some other time maybe. Right now the future of the company is a little uncertain, you see. And by "little" I mean "Ha, ha, wasn't this business a waste of my time."

REFERENCES:

Vision Riders Entertainment website

Quoted For Truth

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:54:11 -0700

I stumbled across an article by Derek Yu of Aquaria and Spelunky fame, in which he shared a surprisingly insightful grain of enlightenment:

We’ve all had that feeling about at least one game, comic book, movie, etc., that comes out: “Gee, I could do better than this! This is overrated.” But it’s important to take a step back and realize that, hey, they put in the time to finish a project and I haven’t. That’s at least one thing they might be better than me at, and it’s probably why they have the recognition I don’t! If you treat finishing like a skill, rather than simply a step in the process, you can acknowledge not only that it’s something you can get better at, but also what habits and thought processes get in your way.

(Emphasis added.)

I must admit, looking at it from this perspective does kind of change the way I look at other people's projects!

REFERENCES:

"Finishing a Game" by Derek Yu
Aquaria Official Website
Spelunky Official Website

Progress!

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:07:47 -0700

Here's some more screenshots from the latest build of Junction!

Junction is an adventure game. The key to making progress is to investigate your surroundings, find out what you have to work with, then determine how to use the things at your disposal in order to move closer to completing the goals set for you.

The game has a rich story, steeped in an atmosphere of suspense.

You'll need to interact with the other characters in the narrative in order to move forward. As you explore more of the game's world, new conversation topics will appear.

Progress?

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:10:40 -0700

In the interest of making it look like I'm actually doing something productive and useful to society, I am posting a screenshot from our upcoming adventure/puzzle game which is ~~taking forever~~ totally almost finished.

I'm hoping to have it out by the end of May. Maybe even May of this year.

No, I'm Not Dead

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 10:44:35 -0700

I'm currently in the middle of restructuring the legal entity that is Vision Riders Entertainment. Not sure what I'll be doing with what's left of it in the near future, but I don't plan to shut down entirely. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few pages of Swordmaster Odyssey or something up in a few months.

Moving is Annoying

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:42:57 -0700

We are currently in the middle of a (physical) move from Texas to Kentucky. We're not sure about the company's fate right now, but once I have something I'll post it.

Sketchbook Monday #88

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:57:21 -0700

Goodness, it's been a long time! I should have updated the Monday after I got back from my extended trip to Kentucky and beyond, but I was too lazy then—and also busy! Many of these were sketched after I returned.

A much older version of Iccari, playing with his son. This never happens in the book, and it's not exactly canon. Still, little things like this are what make me want to finish the story so badly!

"The Playful Prince" Though most teenage monarchs who are thrust upon the throne at such a young age in fiction are either pawns, manipulative back stabbers, or wise beyond their years, this boy retains his youth. Even though he may be the absolute ruler of his realm, everyday is an adventure for him and, to the chagrin of many, he can't stand to stay still for long, often delighting in pranks. His enemies in the court may be powerful and great in number, but because of his kind heart and concern the common people have come to love him. Just a concept stuck in my head, mind you, I'm not planning anything with him.

Concept sketch for the cover/main page art of Under a Different Moon.

Concept art of Iccari's sister, Nanno, and the design of her outfit.

Concept art of Iccari's best friend, Namko, and the design of his outfit.

Concept sketch of the river near where Iccari's clan lives.

Concept art of the two human boys Iccari and Namko spot playing in the river when they go out exploring beyond where they're supposed to be.

Sketchbook Monday #87

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:24:24 -0700

This will be the last Sketchbook Monday for about a month, as I will be away visiting family in Kentucky. Today's sketches consist of concept artwork for our upcoming game!

Serenity (you, the player). This is closer to what I'm looking for than how she looked the last time I featured her. She wears a backpack because that's where she keeps her inventory.

David, an NPC in the story. This is quite different from my initial concept of him, but I've taken a liking to it.

This is "your" son (id est, Serenity's son) Travis. He plays a key role in the story, but you'll have to wait to find out what it is! He's much younger here than he was the last time he was featured, as the story has been altered and reworked since then.

Sketchbook Monday #86

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:31:08 -0700

Random character design I was toying around with.

Ditto.

Advance Wars meets Civilization!

Fundamental Flaw

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:34:03 -0700

There's a freeware Civilization clone by the name of C-Evo that I've never been particularly interested in, but I recently chanced across their design philosophy. As a bullet point under how the game should focus itself on strategy, they note:

"The fun you'll have playing the game without reading the manual is comparable to the fun it is to move pieces on a chessboard without knowing the rules of chess."

I'm going to have to point out that, in my opinion, this is a pretty lousy paradigm. I learned how to play chess by actually playing the game with my father. "This is the goal of the game. These are how your pieces move. This is what you should be thinking about at this stage." I learned as I went. I didn't read any books on the subject until after I learned how to play, and I did so in order to understand and develop my knowledge of the game's strategy, not to learn how to move pieces around the board.

A game should already know how to "play itself" and should be designed to help the player along in getting their feet wet, if the player so desires. I like have a nice thick manual at hand as much as the next person, but I shouldn't have to read a textbook just to play a video game.

Sketchbook Monday #85

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:50:03 -0700

As per tradition, I am a day late.

The offensive-minded Feral class from Project Overworld. Oh, I want to make this game so bad!

Another, much rougher sketch of the Feral.

The ranger/nomad, from the same game concept.

Sketchbook Monday #84

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:54:24 -0700

Goodness! What's it been? Three months now since the last Sketchbook Monday? Life has been unkind to me as of late and, honestly, I haven't been drawing a whole lot lately. That's not a good thing, I guess. I promise I'll try harder.

An updated version of Kirimaru, a character I designed for the Tactics Heroes Project.

A very rough sketch of Glenn, who has never appeared in anything, but shows up pretty often here on Sketchbook Monday.

An early pass of Serenity, the possible main character for an upcoming project.

An early pass of Professor Waetcher, a supporting character from the same project. His face is a little lopsided here, I guess. D: