Sorry for the delay on this issue - I ran into a weird infection situation (staph, cellulitis, near-sepsis…) resulting in 2 ER runs and 2 days hospital stay… I am stable and home now, so here we go…
I should talk about my stalling on game development for… many months now. I was curious myself - I reflected and re-affirmed myself that making games is still my passion, and every week I have blocked off at least a few hours to do it… then why am I still blocked? Then I remember this concept about rewilding - I first heard it from the great Jake Parker - and seek out other aspects of the setup to help. Eventually it still took me back to time management strategy - I ended up splitting up the one big time block into smaller time blocks to do game dev. This allows more balance between focused work and the in-between time I can switch to non-related tasks. I hope to share better progress on this next time!
Here are the things that kept me busy this past month, aside from the day-to-day ‘job’ related stuff…
Creating and hacking stuffs
Game Dev
Continue trying but not much progress on making Game#2…
Feel free to play my game#1 Qin (early access release)! Available on Google Play store (Android phones and Chromebooks), Itch.io & gd.games (web)
Drawing
Weekly project drawing (comics) - here is a taste of the comics I’ve done this month - full 3-panel versions are on most of my social feeds, Artstation, and of course, my (paid) Patreon page.
Study drawings (#inktober52 ) - can you guess what is the prompt word for each of these?
#FanArt (always fun to do!)
Writing
Book#2 project -“100 Drawings of Tang Dynasty Poems” (唐詩一百畫) - continuing with editing - from the feedback I’ve received so far, I’ve been slowly working through a rewrite / re-edit process…
The pre-released drafts of this book will continue to be published/shared with my Patreon members every week!
New substack “Echo of the Worlds”! I have been writing on and off through the years but never put out much, and feel like now is a good time with Substack’s setup. I plan to write a piece of short story, or a screenplay, or something short each week, and make this a paid only sub. So far I’ve put in 2 stories, but once I put in the 3rd story I want to share/broadcast more about it. Stay tuned!
This substack will focus only on writings, while my Patreon membership will have all the visual art content including drawings, game dev, and [illustrated] books.
The Web
Updates on Heta Studio:
Consuming Stuffs
Reading - Read 我們的荊軻 “Our Jing Ke” by the famous author in China, Mo Yan (it’s quite great!); Started “Stories of Your Life and Others” by Ted Chiang (“Tower of Babylon” was fascinating, and I want to read the original story that inspired “The Arrival”); Castle in the Stars: The Moon King & The Knights of Mars by Alex Alice (What a treat! I found this gem from the local library, I am a fan now); resume Game of Thrones Book 3 "A Storm of Swords" also progressed on “Three-body Problem” by Cixin Liu;
Gaming - continuing Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince + Remnant: From the Ashes; and started Star Wars Squadrons + Escape Room Simulator + A Plague Tale: Requiem (yes, a new gaming PC means more gaming time :D)
TV/Movies - True Detective S2 (yeah… the 2nd season dragged… it had potential but now I’m just glad it’s over); finished Game of Thrones S4 (wow, the season was wrapped up so nicely!); Past Lives (so good! 9/10), Minari (9/10)! Us (creepy and ending is great. 8/10); "6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park" (love those guys and that show!);
Learning: Guitar… I injured my finger so had to take a break here; Procreate Dreams - this is a nice addition to the drawing app on iPad by the same developer. I’d hope to be turning my drawings alive (as animation) somedays.
That’s it for this issue of my newsletter! If you really finished reading the above, I thank you, and wish that my sharing would either entertain you, or inspire you (if you’ve been thinking about your own creative projects).