5 March 2013: What Next?!

[willpell]

There's been no evidence that Oblivious can cut through anything any better than a normal magic sword. It didn't cut through Not-Walter's sword when they were fighting, after all. As far as we know, the only thing unusual about Oblivious is that it can't be moved by anything other than Minmax.

[CelineSSauve]

There's been no evidence that Oblivious can cut through anything any better than a normal magic sword. It didn't cut through Not-Walter's sword when they were fighting, after all. As far as we know, the only thing unusual about Oblivious is that it can't be moved by anything other than Minmax.

Thunt pretty much confirmed that in the chat the other night.

He said that no one can effect Oblivious, but if MinMax were to swing it at a wall, it would bounce off. Basically, it still interacts with the world, but MinMax has to be the one who starts the interaction. (At least, that's how I understood it. If anyone who was in the chat for that understood it differently, feel free to correct/add.)

[Occams Meataxe]

*sigh* I think what's next is Thunt realizes he can't fulfill a twice-a-week update schedule and goes to once a week officially.

[CelineSSauve]

*sigh* I think what's next is Thunt realizes he can't fulfill a twice-a-week update schedule and goes to once a week officially.

He also covered that. He needs to update two times a week. He had offered once (1) every five (5) days, but that was refused. {If you're wondering about the number thing, ti's because "once" can also be 11, depending on the language }

[willpell]

*sigh* I think what's next is Thunt realizes he can't fulfill a twice-a-week update schedule and goes to once a week officially.

He also covered that. He needs to update two times a week. He had offered once (1) every five (5) days, but that was refused. {If you're wondering about the number thing, ti's because "once" can also be 11, depending on the language }

Needs to how? Offered to who?

[CelineSSauve]

*sigh* I think what's next is Thunt realizes he can't fulfill a twice-a-week update schedule and goes to once a week officially.

He also covered that. He needs to update two times a week. He had offered once (1) every five (5) days, but that was refused. {If you're wondering about the number thing, ti's because "once" can also be 11, depending on the language }

Needs to how? Offered to who?

Implication was the host/publisher.

[Occams Meataxe]

*sigh* I think what's next is Thunt realizes he can't fulfill a twice-a-week update schedule and goes to once a week officially.

He also covered that. He needs to update two times a week. He had offered once (1) every five (5) days, but that was refused. {If you're wondering about the number thing, ti's because "once" can also be 11, depending on the language }

Need and ability are not always in sync

[CelineSSauve]

Need and ability are not always in sync

*blinks*

In case you haven't noticed, the last few pages (months' worth, really [if not years]) have not exactly been lacking in detail or quality. Thunt is doing quite well at meeting his goal more often than he needs to push it back. Much moreso than most other online comics I have seen, if not all of them.

[Occams Meataxe]

I never said they were lacking in quality.
What is obvious is that he has had trouble maintaining his high standard of work on a twice-a-week schedule.

[SamWiser]

True, but look at the pages he is drawing now. The tower room in the maze of many isn't simple. These are some of the biggest and most detailed pages we will probably ever see in this comic. It will probably be slow for the rest of this scene then it will pick up again. Based on what I have been seeing in these past few updates, it's worth it.

[Rorrik]

He needs to meet publisher deadlines, at least most of the time. He's doing very good work, and could probably use more time, we all could, but the truth of his arrangement is that he needs to try for two a week.

[RocketScientist]

While I accept the rest of your post as a pretty good explanation, many of the alt-verses operate under different DnD rules, such as Undead Forgath's large number of magic rings. Clearly, that universe didn't diverge because of a single decision, and neither did the increased challenge rating goblins one.

I don't know about the rings example you brought up, but for the other, I actually had that in mind as one of my examples.

I'd say the main change there was "What if Goblins weren't just XP fodder, but the biggest threat around?"

The rings-verse difference is just that "Magic rings are common items." There's no reason it couldn't have resulted from a single change/decision. A long time ago some wizard decided that yes, s/he would specialize in magic rings! They caught on like pet rocks, and between the original wizard and all the rings knockoffs that popped up, they flooded the market with them. Now they're everywhere.

Also, Kin explained why it's only other FMK parties in the maze back when they first entered it. http://www.goblinscomic.com/02112011-4/

[CelineSSauve]

The rings-verse difference is just that "Magic rings are common items." There's no reason it couldn't have resulted from a single change/decision. A long time ago some wizard decided that yes, s/he would specialize in magic rings! They caught on like pet rocks, and between the original wizard and all the rings knockoffs that popped up, they flooded the market with them. Now they're everywhere.

Oh. I thought the rings were related to the undead due to:

such as Undead Forgath's large number of magic rings.

My bad.

[gamecreator]

PipeMax had many rings too, only he was not able to equip them all at once.

[RedwoodElf]

Implication was the host/publisher.

If it's the host, they owe him a bit of slack for that massive downtime.

I think my poor Egg (in my sig) is gonna die from loneliness...only 3 clicks so far...then again, too many clicks and it would get broken...heh.

[Liesmith]

Also, Kin explained why it's only other FMK parties in the maze back when they first entered it. http://www.goblinscomic.com/02112011-4/

But it's not just other FMKs...there's Kliks and One-Eyes as well. I wonder if, for those groups, the "one different decision" was something a member of the group made (such as One-Eye surviving instead of Big Ears, or Klik being saved by Minmax instead of Dies), and that's why they aren't facing off against their actual duplicates.

[RocketScientist]

The rings-verse difference is just that "Magic rings are common items." There's no reason it couldn't have resulted from a single change/decision. A long time ago some wizard decided that yes, s/he would specialize in magic rings! They caught on like pet rocks, and between the original wizard and all the rings knockoffs that popped up, they flooded the market with them. Now they're everywhere.

Oh. I thought the rings were related to the undead due to:

such as Undead Forgath's large number of magic rings.

My bad.

No worries. He had a ring of undeath, IIRC, so they're somewhat related.

[Occams Meataxe]

True, but look at the pages he is drawing now. The tower room in the maze of many isn't simple. These are some of the biggest and most detailed pages we will probably ever see in this comic. It will probably be slow for the rest of this scene then it will pick up again. Based on what I have been seeing in these past few updates, it's worth it.

The issues have been ongoing, not just for the last couple weeks. And it's happened even with sequences of less complicated strips.
Hiring a colorist has helped, but he still hasn't been able to stay on schedule let alone build up a buffer for quite a while.
Server downtime shouldn't have prevented him from drawing, although the publisher does deserve to be taken to task for it.
It's a problem other artists have had to deal with. Let's hope Thunt is able to do the same. It would certainly reduce the stress in his life.

[Changes_everything]

Quite. And while we waited, our new favourite colourist has drawn a shading update of the tower room that must be called the most awesome job he's done for Goblins so far!

Look at that, it now seems to be truly three-dimensional, as if he'd created a model of it in 3DsMax and made a screenshot of a rendering, incredible!

[Liesmith]

True, but look at the pages he is drawing now. The tower room in the maze of many isn't simple. These are some of the biggest and most detailed pages we will probably ever see in this comic. It will probably be slow for the rest of this scene then it will pick up again. Based on what I have been seeing in these past few updates, it's worth it.

The issues have been ongoing, not just for the last couple weeks. And it's happened even with sequences of less complicated strips.
Hiring a colorist has helped, but he still hasn't been able to stay on schedule let alone build up a buffer for quite a while.
Server downtime shouldn't have prevented him from drawing, although the publisher does deserve to be taken to task for it.
It's a problem other artists have had to deal with. Let's hope Thunt is able to do the same. It would certainly reduce the stress in his life.

As a non-artist myself, to me it seems like the issue might stem from his constant improvements. Instead of any non-creative skill where repetition breeds efficiency, repetition of artwork can lead to a more complex style. In a different situation, this wouldn't be a big deal, as the artist could spend more time laboring over each piece...moving from two "simple" pages per week to one "complex" page per week, but Thunt doesn't seem to have that option. He's trying to cram a much more labor-intensive style into the same amount of time he used to use for much simpler pages.

I don't think there's much of a solution from his end, other than consciously sticking to his current style instead of improving. I can't conceive of how that would work...it'd be like trying to learn a musical instrument "only a little", then refuse to learn any more, even though you play every night.

The real solution has to come from the publisher, or whoever shot down his last attempt to change his schedule. It would be in their best interests to not try to influence that decision from him. Forcing faster work does not improve throughput, any more than turning up an oven will cause food to properly cook faster.

[CelineSSauve]

Quite. And while we waited, our new favourite colourist has drawn a shading update of the tower room that must be called the most awesome job he's done for Goblins so far!

Look at that, it now seems to be truly three-dimensional, as if he'd created a model of it in 3DsMax and made a screenshot of a rendering, incredible!

I can agree with the assessment of 3D, but I personally find that the majority of the shading starts too dark, and that caused a marked lack of detail (especially in the smaller, background characters) in this page.

I will be the first to admit, though, that I don't have any sort of HD laptop screen or whatnot, so maybe others view it differently. Perhaps, indeed, all that detail will "reappear" once we get the dead tree editions.

[stevedj]

He also covered that. He needs to update two times a week. He had offered once (1) every five (5) days, but that was refused. {If you're wondering about the number thing, ti's because "once" can also be 11, depending on the language }

Needs to how? Offered to who?

Implication was the host/publisher.

True, but look at the pages he is drawing now. The tower room in the maze of many isn't simple. These are some of the biggest and most detailed pages we will probably ever see in this comic. It will probably be slow for the rest of this scene then it will pick up again. Based on what I have been seeing in these past few updates, it's worth it.

The issues have been ongoing, not just for the last couple weeks. And it's happened even with sequences of less complicated strips.
Hiring a colorist has helped, but he still hasn't been able to stay on schedule let alone build up a buffer for quite a while.
Server downtime shouldn't have prevented him from drawing, although the publisher does deserve to be taken to task for it.
It's a problem other artists have had to deal with. Let's hope Thunt is able to do the same. It would certainly reduce the stress in his life.

I think what needs to happen is for THunt to reassert himself as the True Owner of his work -- THunt owns it, not the publisher. So THunt needs to tell (not ask) the publisher that this is going to be the schedule going forward.

Oh, sure, in the early days of the comic it might have been hard to find a publisher -- but today? I would think publishers would be lining up for the chance to handle THunt's work. If this publisher isn't working out, fire them and move on.

[stevedj]

Oh, and now I just got a look at the newly shaded Tower Room! That is absolutely awesome! And I love how the clues have been spread around the room (and solving the line-ending rhyme alignment problem, too). IMHO, it also suggests that FMK didn't really notice/read any of the clues, even on the walls.

Just one new question though -- wouldn't all that smoke collect up against the ceiling? That mouth should more more like a smoke-stack, and FMK should be having a hard time breathing... ... but that's ok with me - it is still a cool looking room! Job well done, again!

[CelineSSauve]

And I love how the clues have been spread around the room (and solving the line-ending rhyme alignment problem, too).

Good! So I'm not crazy (on that point). The placement of the text did move!

IMHO, it also suggests that FMK didn't really notice/read any of the clues, even on the walls.

Well, Forgath did read the thing about selecting the key or the mouth would close.

[willpell]

I think what needs to happen is for THunt to reassert himself as the True Owner of his work -- THunt owns it, not the publisher. So THunt needs to tell (not ask) the publisher that this is going to be the schedule going forward.

Oh, sure, in the early days of the comic it might have been hard to find a publisher -- but today? I would think publishers would be lining up for the chance to handle THunt's work. If this publisher isn't working out, fire them and move on.

You probably have a point, but if he's pushing to get Alternate Realities out, he might not want to rock the boat. Also it's possible he signed a hellacious contract and is now stuck with terms that he now (at least) deserves better than.