Wednesday Rants: December 2015 Edition

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of, and last of 2015, the Wednesday Rants. Let's begin.

[Arcana Magi Pure Vol.6 - c.3]

The chapter is coming along fine, however, I am digging back a couple of volumes for continuity and I fear it may cause a delay Friday night. Stay tuned to Twitter for any schedule changes. I am pretty much trying to set up this Volume 6 for Volume 7 next year. I have not decided yet, but I may end Pure on Volume 7 for a total of 35 chapters. It's a long story but I do need to end this so I can move onto other stories I would like to write outside of 'Arcana Magi'. I will say, I fear it may end on a rush job if I do decide Volume 7 is the end, but I will make every bit an effort to make it worthwhile and exciting.

Next year in January, I will write Chapters 4 and 5 for 'Arcana Magi Pure' and move onto 'Arcana Magi Memorial Vol. 6' in February. 'Arcana Magi Zero' will not receive the 'Vol.' tag because the Short Stories already have that, so most it will have a letter or subtitle.

[Splatterbomb™]

Board game: The game has progressed along nicely, however I still have endgame issues. It's pretty much the only thing that stands in the way. No matter which I try, either as a 'race' or through 'scoring' the game ends with either Player 1 winning, or players quitting because they can't catch up. This week is another NYC-Playtest session so hopefully I'll have this ironed out.

Peanut Butter Jelly (Splatterbomb™ Theme): Just a reminder that the official theme song is available on Spotify as well as Amazon and iTunes. You can also grab a copy at Bancamp. It's still there. If you want to see Splatterbomb characters, visit my Studio Coqui Youtube and see who's who in the game.

Spreadshirt: New shirts will pop up next year in January. I may start off with the Athlete character this time instead of the Enemies. Also, I will be working on updating the character lore since a lot has changed in the game, for now what is described of the characters is only temporary.

Future Plans: My next plan is to try to write an 8-Page Comic Book short. I have an idea of where to go to accomplish this. I'm not sure how soon I'll get the story out to pasture, but I would like to get it in development early next year and hopefully ready for distribution before the summer. What I want to do is offer free samples at conventions and events that Splatterbomb will appear in, just like how I hand out free 'Peanut Butter Jelly (Splatterbomb™ Theme)'. What I might do is write either a world building story or just one competition, either way it will be to establish the look of the game itself.

[Year End Reflection]

This has got to be the most eventful year ever for me. I never in a million years would have thought this was the end result. I kind of went full circle where I got to demonstrate Splatterbomb at the NYC Arcade in Microsoft in Midtown Manhattan hosted by Brian Chung's The Sheep's Meow and end my year with that same even but at NYU Game Center. In between all of that, I went to as much NYC-Playtest sessions improving on Splatterbomb, The Hudson Arcade in Hoboken hosted again by The Sheep's Meow.

Splatterbomb's development evolved to the point that it became a video game on a board game. It worked but proved too much for the human mind to intake and caused information overload. I major strip down of the filler rules and Splatterbomb became and efficiently working game with only one thing standing in its way to the publishers.

Convention season was upon us, I had heavy playtesting done at Metatopia in Morristown, NJ and ran booth at Game-A-Con Festival in Atlantic City. I got to do some comic book networking at New York Comic-Con as well. I got to meet a lot of amazing artists, writers, and game developers. it was fun hanging out with all of them.

It was big year for 'Arcana Magi' as the 5th season ran longer than it should, but releasing all the short stories on Kindle was nice finish. Now 6th season is upon us, albeit slower than usual, but the stories are starting to reach their apex with season 7 next year.

So with that, I thank the following for 2015:

Thanks to NYC-Playtest for all the help in Splatterbomb's game development.

Thanks to all the playtesters at Metatopia for their input on Splatterbomb.

Thanks to the organizers at Game-A-Con Festival for a nice event and providing Splatterbomb a booth.

Thanks to all the people who started following me this year on Twitter. I started with a very small number this year and made it into the 60s.

Thanks to Brian Chung and The Sheep's Meow for all their "Arcade" events throughout the year.

Thanks to all the artists, writers, and game developers I met this year at all the conventions and event, and who are now following me on Twitter. We had fun times and look forward to seeing you guys again in upcoming event in 2016.

Most of all, Thanks to all the fans of Splatterbomb and especially 'Arcana Magi'. I know my grammar is not up to standards, but the fact that you all come back to read more gives that extra flavoring to all the stories.

[Schedule]

I will be taking an holiday vacation. You will not hear from me until January 4th with the first 'NEWS and NOTES' of 2016.

You all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.


Until 2016...

See ya.