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Phenotype posted:Hah, I don't really watch anime, so I wasn't aware there was a whole genre of shows revolving around getting dropped into a videogame world. It still feels like a relatively novel idea to me. The specific combination of tropes people call "isekai" is fairly new; there was another and largely different vein of portal fantasy in the 90's that was more female-focused.
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Apr 7, 2019 02:34
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Rand Brittain posted:The specific combination of tropes people call "isekai" is fairly new; there was another and largely different vein of portal fantasy in the 90's that was more female-focused. New isekai: Sword Art Online Both are poo poo.
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Apr 7, 2019 02:37
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Konosuba is a pretty decent isekai comedy as well as being a demonstration of extremely powerful abilities being largely neutered by the fact that the people who have those abilities are morons.
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Apr 7, 2019 02:38
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This new story thingy is even worse than the previous all text crap. It's gonna be a year or more before the main story continues if old signs hold true. And even the main story is such a mess I've no idea what was happening there anymore with all the minutiae. 's a goddamn shame, the first book is still very enjoyable to read.
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Apr 7, 2019 02:40
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Usually, the problem with isekai stuff these days is that it gets caught up in a power fantasy where the main character's Earth memories or world-hopping somehow make them the best person in the world who either has overpowered stats or manages to break the hell out of the game rules and put all kinds of broken poo poo. And while perfect warlord Parson certainly seems to fall into that category, to give Erfworld credit, it managed to make that work. The grand strategy scale and the fact that magic's pretty vague on the rules means that Parson himself mostly serves to contribute ideas for other people to execute, so rather than personally dominating battlefields or smashing armies with genius strategies, he's usually just providing Wanda and Jack with an opportunity to turn around an unfavorable battle. The problem is that Charlie is the classic powergaming rear end in a top hat bad isekai character who spends all his time recreating Earth stuff in the other world and figuring out how to break the rules, on top of being a well-established Erfworlder who's been around for a very long time. And while that sounds at first glance like that could lead to an interesting dynamic with Parson being Charlie's rival and the only one to recognize Charlie's Earth poo poo for what it is, the grand strategy scale ends up working against it there because it puts too much distance between them. So Charlie just gets to pull as much super diolomacy bullshit and mega-magic fuckery as he wants with no real repercussions whatsoever, with Parson incapable of acting as a meaningful check on him, and the only reason the two are even at odds is because Fate says so.
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Apr 7, 2019 05:24
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Main Paineframe posted:Usually, the problem with isekai stuff these days is that it gets caught up in a power fantasy where the main character's Earth memories or world-hopping somehow make them the best person in the world who either has overpowered stats or manages to break the hell out of the game rules and put all kinds of broken poo poo.
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Apr 7, 2019 05:42
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One thing that I liked about early erfworld, was that you had this little one off bit where parson gets drunk and goes out and explored how falling mechanics work, and how they interact with fly mounts and also him being a heavy unit. This was a little adventure entirely consisting of characters we already knew, and the information gained later proved relevant, as a major part of parson's opening attack on Jetson capital. This little side diversion was neat and somewhat relevant in its own right, and also later the main story tied back into it in an interesting way. Now 20 different sides are being introduced with little stories about characters we've never seen before, and I don't know what would be worse: that all this new information is relevant to the upcoming story and the whole thing is going to be a convoluted mess concerning 300 individual actors, or if none of it is relevant and the whole prologue is just entirely skippable and a waste of time.
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Apr 8, 2019 00:58
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Main Paineframe posted:He only got through a couple of them before the supposedly short introductions started getting bogged down in a need to show every event from every character's perspective, explain the backstory and reasoning behind every action anyone takes, explain the full rules behind every new thing that gets introduced, and so on. The current one has been going on for months, due to things like spending an entire page explaining the rules and mechanics of a particular flavor of feral scouting unit.
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Apr 8, 2019 01:20
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After all that, we finally start hooking back into the main plot.
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Apr 14, 2019 01:20
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And yet, my eyes still glaze over.
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Apr 14, 2019 01:57
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After a month with nothing, an update! TL,DR: Some crisis means that Erfworld isn’t update for the foreseeable future, but they’re still going all in on replacing artists with 3D models, and they’re going to do a bunch of mini kickstarters to replace the funds they got from actually doing things.
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May 15, 2019 06:18
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Since we last talked, this webcomic has gone through so many permutations. First, we reimagined the whole webcomic as blocks of text with a single picture at the end. Then we realized it was actually more of a series of pinup illustrations, but that didn't feel right either. We thought, is it a bunch of plush dolls? A procedural city generating engine? A crypto mining operation that if you turn it upside down, it's a gem? No, it's none of those things. That's why we finally settled on this. Voila! Erfworld is a bimonthly deck of tarot cards. I know, it's confusing. Not the bimonthly that means twice a month, the bimonthly that means every other month, and each time it's a different deck. This is the future of webcomics.
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May 15, 2019 08:11
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This is like "goon in a well" on a massive scale.
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May 15, 2019 08:19
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While I can appreciate them having another crisis that needs urgent attention, just ell oh ell that it might require putting the webcomic on hiatus for the rest of the year. I've not clicked the bookmark I have for it in about 2 months now, I think I'll just delete it.
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May 15, 2019 11:53
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this is a really bad crisis! it's worse than cancer! can't talk about it, but i can talk over and over about how bad it is!
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May 15, 2019 12:17
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I can sympathize with having bad poo poo happen and needing to put everything on hold, but their plan B for making money is selling limited edition 3D model site profile badges that are numbered based on how much money you spend? And they're expecting to make $5k from Sizemore's shovel, which looks exactly like a normal everyday shovel? I see Rob's famous business sense is on full display.
Main Paineframe fucked around with this message at 13:15 on May 15, 2019 |
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May 15, 2019 13:10
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I'm more concerned about how they don't show any of the 3D-modeled characters, presumably because they know how bad they're going to look compared to the drawn ones.
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May 15, 2019 14:29
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DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:this is a really bad crisis! it's worse than cancer! can't talk about it, but i can talk over and over about how bad it is!
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May 15, 2019 16:20
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PMush Perfect posted:It could be legal trouble, in which case, they really can't talk about it. I wonder what the legal trouble could be if that's it. Not fulfilling backer pledges, maybe unauthorized mining?
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May 15, 2019 16:35
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Have to say, it's kind of liberating to know that vague references to vague problems with vague loved ones is all it takes to not actually do your job.
Daduzi fucked around with this message at 09:45 on May 16, 2019 |
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May 15, 2019 16:48
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It seems pretty reasonable to say "family emergency is taking up my time right now, can't talk about the details because I'm not the one directly affected". Especially in comparison to "our main revenue stream is now selling tiny pictures of shovels, and this will work because we're only selling 100 of them".
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May 15, 2019 18:55
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Donkringel posted:I wonder what the legal trouble could be if that's it. Not fulfilling backer pledges, maybe unauthorized mining? Let's count the red flags: Foray into cryptocurrency to turn other people's electricity into money (why not donations? Why make a game of it that is eerily reminiscent of games that target teenagers and gamblers?). This can plausibly be used to launder money. Uses company scrip, schmuckers, as store credit, earnable through regular donation or as some sort of microtipping thing in the pattern Libertarians seem to like. Seems like a tax accounting nightmare, at best. At worst, a way to hide revenue or exchange of value. Balder promised comics, but presented illuminated short stories in image form only (this makes the written material utterly inaccessible to the blind and presents a possible avenue for someone to claim discrimination against the disabled, as unlikely as that may be). The appeal of only presenting stories in image format is it saves on possible formatting issues and simplifies workflow. And also means he can claim he presented a comic-sized image, reducing liability from Tools claiming, "The update wasn't really a comic was it?" Had an elaborate custom written website and community management platform made, and a custom written shop and donator rewards management system, and also a custom permatweet system. Also put a bunch of weird cheap crap in the shop instead of, you know, keeping the books in print. Employed his girlfriend and then later wife to run all the shop stuff. Did not plan well for moving stock from one warehouse to another (liquidation would have been appropriate, or failing that hiring a local at the existing warehouse to handle shipping out orders while Linda was in treatment for cancer). Pretty much a clear case of being eaten alive by sunk costs and an aversion to downsizing staff (I like Red but his job can be replaced by a subscription to a few off the shelf services by competent companies). All this custom stuff presents possible "attack surfaces" for contract disputes, depending on how clever Balder was with his contracts. Comic workflow includes "programmer art" mock-ups by Balder, instead of just trusting his amazing artist from the fan community Xin (who it should be noted replaced Noguchi after he and Balder finished the tightly written and superior product of Erfworld Book 1). Eventually overwhelmed, she leaves for a time and art is left in a professional's hands, until he eventually leaves too for unspoken reasons. Xin returns with the stipulation that the work be split between her and a colorist. Said colorist is now leaving, after Balder decided he can do all the coloring in a 3D program that he is learning this year. No idea what implications all of this has for contracts again, but the high turnover and downright weird solution of training Balder to be a 3D artist should be raising eyebrows from paying patrons at least. Balder threw a fit about a year ago, exposing himself as a gigantic primadonna. That rant stands, on Reddit and in a quote in this thread. It was extraordinary in its unprofessionalism. Apparently Balder can't telecommute because he actually paid for Red, the redundant website guy, to move out near him, before Balder and Linda moved to another state for healthcare reasons. Not sure what to make of all that, the healthcare part at least makes sense... Erfworld has a fanbase that often sounds like abused spouses, always apologizing and deflecting for the extremely real shortcomings that outsiders point out about Balder. From an outsider's perspective that makes rational people start to think things like, "maybe I should tell the FTC there's something weird going on with these Erfworld people." John_A_Tallon fucked around with this message at 23:18 on May 15, 2019 |
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May 15, 2019 22:48
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Otherkinsey Scale posted:It seems pretty reasonable to say "family emergency is taking up my time right now, can't talk about the details because I'm not the one directly affected". BRB, going to have a chat with my boss. Will let you know how it goes. Edit: got fired 
Daduzi fucked around with this message at 09:46 on May 16, 2019 |
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May 16, 2019 07:14
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I kinda sorta understand why B wants to make 3D models. His artist turnover is too great to create a consistent product and it must be frustrating to write a lot more stuff than can be drawn. But hesucristo, this is such a silly way of conducting business. He should write a GRRM style book series or something instead of turning to 3D modeling. Sunk cost, indeed.
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May 16, 2019 11:53
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Artist turnover is too great because he's a primadonna and a perfectionist.
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May 16, 2019 14:37
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PMush Perfect posted:Artist turnover is too great because he's a primadonna and a perfectionist. I don't think any of them have ever said so. It's possible they just left because there's not enough money in it for them to follow somebody else's dreams.
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May 16, 2019 16:16
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someone posted on the erfworld subreddit something I hadn’t really considered before, but which explains a lot of balder’s strange behavior quote:Rob's reach has always seemed to exceed his grasp; everything about erfworld always screamed "putting the cart before the horse". How much merch has there been that no one really asked for? There were plushies from pretty close to day 1, sets of playing cards, an abc book, and likely more I'm forgetting. This was in addition to printed books, shirts, calendars, and all the normal stuff that comes with any property. Rob wanted to create the Erfworld Expanded Universe. that’s why so much of the recent comic reads less like a story told through characters and more like a series of Wikipedia pages on game rules, in-game organizations, their leadership and secret plans and so on. he never really wanted to tell a story, he wanted to create a media universe.
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May 16, 2019 16:26
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I never put that together before but it really is Dozerfleet for the Kickstarter era.
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May 16, 2019 17:15
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I think the success of Order of the Stick's Kickstarter was a huge influence on Rob's dependence on crowdfunding. Rich Burlew got over a million dollars to reprint some of his older books and he has never used crowdfunding since, even though he could easily make money on Patreon if he could churn out more content (which likely isn't possible due to his health issues). Rob can't do anything without begging the fans for money first, which has become a crutch as it allows him to make risky/unwise moves, as he knows that he always can ask for more.
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May 17, 2019 15:40
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Nice that this comic I stopped reading a year ago can still entertain in other ways.
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May 18, 2019 02:19
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Zoe posted:Nice that this comic I stopped reading a year ago can still entertain in other ways. I feel kind of bad about it, but this is my position too. Virtual shovel model collectibles!
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May 18, 2019 02:59
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Okay, I just read the long version, and it honestly seems kind of odd that he's not considering moving forward on Erfworld without art. Webnovels are a much harder sell than webcomics, but they do exist.
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May 18, 2019 03:00
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Literal shovelware! They're selling literal shovelware! How is this not an extended performance art piece.
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May 18, 2019 03:01
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Rand Brittain posted:Okay, I just read the long version, and it honestly seems kind of odd that he's not considering moving forward on Erfworld without art. Webnovels are a much harder sell than webcomics, but they do exist. Honestly I enjoyed the writing with the art pieces. Sure it slowed things down because it's easier to fit purple prose and tangents that panels couldn't show, but I thought they were quality. Do mwf updates with writing and black and white sketches, then maybe a Sunday or monthly update full panel and color. Take two months off to create a buffer and trim down on all this random stuff. Out of curiosity, what so the comments from the tool folks look like right now?
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May 18, 2019 21:00
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Two powergamers broke the game so badly the entire webcomic crashed.
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May 18, 2019 22:00
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Hob_Gadling posted:I kinda sorta understand why B wants to make 3D models. His artist turnover is too great to create a consistent product and it must be frustrating to write a lot more stuff than can be drawn.
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May 19, 2019 01:16
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I would be very surprised if the hold up in production were anything but Balder's fault either. Slow writing or micromanaging the artists amounts to the same missed deadlines. Not that they are particularly strict deadlines anyway, if you look at all the wiggle room Balder wrote into the Toolbox definition of when a comic is delivered on time.
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May 19, 2019 03:17
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I was so sure Generica Online was going to be the title of some new web thing they were developing.
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May 21, 2019 22:21
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I guess I must have punched my email into their site once for some reason, because today I got an email they sent out to their entire site userbase to beg for more Kickstarter backers! quote:The Arkenhammer must squeak in gently caress this poo poo. The part that frustrates me the most is the whining, all the little snippy bits about how inconvenient running these fundraising campaigns is and how he'd really love for us to make his life easier by chipping in more cash. He's raised $11k in ten days by selling digital profile badges on Kickstarter, he doesn't get to loving whine about how it's taking up too much of his time or whatever.
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May 24, 2019 20:52
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I lost interest in this comic(?) years ago, but the behind-the-scenes grifting is fascinating.
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May 24, 2019 21:33
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