Once I completed Episode Four and finished uploading it everywhere, I realised that I had all but exhausted the scripts that worked out for the story. I am way behind in doing them. I was thinking I should be almost done the scripts for the entire "Rude Awakenings" story line by now. Turns out, I'm not even close! So, I figured that instead of starting with more screenshots, I should figure out what those screenshots would entail for set up and dialogue. So, last night I started typing away, filling in the void between E04 and the next relevant episode I have the outline for.
What I ended up with, between last evening and now, is six new episodes written out with setup ideas and dialogue. A lot of dialogue. It feels more like I am writing a novel than a comic book. I think that most of these episodes will require so many screenshots to accommodate the dialogue that I will have to split them in half. Doing that will, in theory, bring me up to episode sixteen or so being scripted.
"Hey Druu! Sixteen episodes you say? That's great!"
Yeah, maybe not. I planned on a few episodes that involved Cameron giving you a look into who she is and what she knows of her origins, as well as Cameron being brought up to speed on the world she now finds herself in. Two maybe three strips, just so I don't bore you folks to death, then back into some action. Well, as it sits now, episodes eight and nine are the big dialogue ones that I think I will need to split in half. That's four episodes, if I actually have to do it. Problem is, Cameron hasn't really started answering questions about herself, nor has she really begun to ask about the world outside the Surface Monitoring Station either. I could end up writing out two more scripts that turn into multiple episodes. I'm not sure that I want to do that at this stage.
So how do I prevent you, my readers, from suffering from information overload and boredom? Hmm...
Well, I guess I could break up all the talking with some interludes. I have a couple of ideas for episodes that set up new sub-plots, or continue one that I have going now. Those might help keep things fresh and keep the interest high (I hope). I don't want to start jumping back and forth too much; that would make it difficult to keep track of who is doing what and with whom. Maybe do two strips of with all that dialogue, then do an interlude, then back to the dialogue.
By the way, those six new episodes I have typed out cover only two episode outlines! This is starting to look like a much bigger project than I originally though. Not a bad thing from my point of view ;)
I recommend studying the works of Alan Moore, especially WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA. (Forget the movies ever existed.) In those two works much information was conveyed to the reader through the images themselves rather than elaborate dialog or caption boxes. Pictures really can convey a thousand words. I'm not suggesting that you skimp on the text, but a screenshot that's set up properly can also tell a story without any reading involved. Finding the proper balance between the two will likely take some experimentation, but it'll be worth it.
ReplyDeleteMy only exposure to Alan Moore's work is through the film adaptions, despite the amount of time I spent hanging out in a local book/comic/gaming store with the people that worked there. You are also not the first person to speak highly of his work to me. It won't hurt to take a look through one of his graphic novels. I'm sure that I can get my hands on a copy of one of his books from one of my friends.
ReplyDeleteI can only speak here from my own experience trying to arrange screenshots in-game to convey a proper image, so this certainly won't apply to everyone...
ReplyDeleteWhile I nominally agree with Herculine that images can (and should) be used to convey things -- or even be arranged in such a way to leave it up to the reader's imagination to decide what exactly is going on -- I've always found the games pretty limiting.
In a graphic novel, the artist can literally do anything he can draw.
In-game shots are relegated to what we can get pose mods for, or creatively press other poses into service for conveying.
That's one of the reasons Nos' Adventures is wall-o-text rather than comic form -- there's just so much that I couldn't make them do in game that it would have come out some warped hybrid with massive narrative boxes.
I've seen both movies Herculine named (and second the recommendation to avoid them like the plague) but have never read any of Moore's work. I'm not generally a fan of western graphic novels. That said, if you're looking for some talented storytellers to draw a bit of inspiration from, you might also check out Neil Gaiman; his work is pretty highly regarded, too.
Other than that, just accept that writing -- or any creating -- is an evolving process. You learn as you go, and mistakes will be made. Just accept it, and if you don't like how something came out in retrospect, learn from what went wrong and do better on the next one. You've certainly got some talent, I think you'll settle into it fine once you find your personal style.
Thank you Nos!
ReplyDeleteI am slightly more acquainted with Neil Gaiman than I am with Alan Moore. I actually tried following his Sandman series and ocationally peeked at issues of The Books of Magic (I think that is the correct title) and Death: The High Cost of Living.
As far as Alan Moore's works as movies go, I have seen "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta", as well as "A League of Extrordinary Gentlemen". I'm sorry I saw the first one, will sit through the second if there's nothing else to watch, and wouldn't mind having a copy of the last: more for Peta Wilson as Mina Harker than any other reason ;)
I cited the examples of Alan Moore's graphic novels because I assumed they would be the most recognizable; I guess I forgot where I was typing (that and the fact that I'm still living in 1995).
ReplyDeleteXD
Since I've never attempted to do a game-based screenshot web comic, I sometimes forget how challenging it can be to get those characters posed the way you want them. It must indeed be more difficult than an artist simply drawing exactly what he wants. Still, I maintain that using some captionless images could help break up the monotony here and there if possible.
I do try to have the image speak for itself if possible. There are instances when that doesn't seem to work well, and others that I'm on the fence for. There is one screen I have for Episode 5 that I'm still not decided on using captions or not. With the addition of a sound effect (like, bang, boom, thud) the shot will pretty much speak for itself. I can move the descriptive caption on to the next panel though, and it should still work.
ReplyDeleteOh, and don't worry about still living in 1995, I'm stuck in the mid '80's ;P