Colin’s ability to freebase guacamole may or may not have played a part in the band’s disintegration. (The first parts to Floorpunch Cowboy can be seen here, here and here.)
Hope everyone is well this fine Sunday. There is much to discuss, so I suppose we’d be get to it:
SITE NEWS:
In the bottom of the left sidebar, you will see a new search bar (The one labeled as “powered by ohnorobot”). This new search will let you search by dialogue, comic title and keyword, as opposed to our old search which really only worked via title and blog post text.
The new search will be a lot nicer for you all I hope. Eventually the plan is to implement the reader-transcription aids that ohnorobot supports, but until then, you’re stuck with following my logic to find strips. If anyone wants to help test the search, just think of a comic you like and type whatever keyword(s) you deem fit into the search field. If you find what you’re looking for, I’m doing okay. If not, please let me know what search term you used and what you were looking for, and I will alter the search terms accordingly. Additionally, if you’re getting results that don’t pertain to what you’re looking for, please let us know of this as well.
Right now I have about 18 comics transcribed, stopping at “Avery, Age 2.” It’s taking me a bit of time to key them all in since I no longer have the old scripts (computer crash). I’ll continue plugging away at loading them in, and the process should pick up once I get to the newer comics, because then I can just copy and paste them in. I will be sure to say when all the comics are keyed in.
I suppose the other site-related news item worth mentioning is that Google hooked Dana and I up with $100 in free Adwords cash. Neither of us have ever used the program before, and I have to say that I personally find it hilariously complicated and unintuitive, though Dana and I have managed to cobble together a decent campaign, and are getting solid results besides. If anyone could point us towards any good reading material in regards to how to best use Adwords, or even just offer a few tips, it would be much appreciated.
Last thing: I have yet to implement the new social networking links for the site (it’s next on my to-do list, I promise!), so until then, for those interested in following Dana and I on Twitter, you can reach us here.
VIDEO GAME NEWS:
I’m about 20 hours into Dragon Age: Origins, which depending on what you read, is either 1/2 or 1/4 of the way though the game (probably 1/4 for me, since I tend to play a bit slower and muddle around in menus a lot). Regardless, all I can report so far is that I’m still incredibly thrilled by the game.
For your standard “save the world” rpg, the story is quite strong and entertaining. Not so much the main plot, which is “Kill all the monsters before they kill you,” but moreso all the world lore and sidequests and character drama that happens along the way. There is an insane amount of detail in the in-game lore: every monster, quest, place and item will at least get one entry in your quest book, if not more, which is really fun if you’re into that kind of thing.
I think what I like most though is all the character dialogue within your party, and the quests and plot twists that involve them. The voice acting and dialogue is really very sharp, and when combined with the strong ploting and writing in the game, you get a lot of really great and fun drama that really makes the game worthwhile.
Story aside, the actual gameplay in Dragon Age is quite good as well. Combat is fun and interesting, and you’re routinely put in situations to keep things from getting repetitive, like avoiding complex enemy ambushes or fighting monsters in the dream world. Character skills are fun, numerous, and diverse, with most choices you can make being just as good as other options, so you can really build the character you want without being punished for it. Most of the classes and characters seem more or less balanced as well, so once you’ve collected a good number of party members, you’re really able to approach the game how you like. You can have a party of all rogues, dropping monsters through stealth and all kinds of traps and poisons, make a group of all warriors and smash up everything with classy weapons, armor, and potions, go all casters and get nuts with the shape-shifting and AoE nukes and stuns, or some mixture of all of the above.
I did pick up the DLC for the game this weekend, and I’ll let you know once I play through it how it was.
-Mike
The very first thing I searched for was ‘Floorpunch Cowboy’
That should turn up the first three floorpunch comics, correct?
-Mike
I love the Floorpunch Cowboy strips. I want to make a band, and name it that.
I don’t like reading about people playing Dragon Age. I’m so jealous of all of you! I have to study and save money and shit, but I’d rather blow everything on that 80-odd hours of gameplay.
I tried out the search function a couple of times and usually didn’t get any results…
For instance, “carebears” turned up nothing, even though you have more than one comic featuring them.
Just thought I’d let you know!
@JBonm: Glad you like the Floorpunch strips J. Honestly, if you want to make a band and name it Floorpunch Cowboy, I would be honored if you did so. My only request is that once you’re a millionaire, you still allow us to keep our four little comics up on our site.
Studying is important, and video games can be a real bad scene, especially in college when it’s easy to knock out several 10-hour video games days in a row. I admire your discipline, and stay tough. Soon enough you’ll be making that rich post-college bank (since I think you’re a math dude, correct?), and will have all the time and money in the world to play as many video games as you can stand. It’s going to be awesome, I promise.
@Margo: Thanks for testing out the search. I haven’t entered the Carebears comics yet, but they should be loaded in a few weeks. I started from our earliest comic, and have been working my way forward as time permits. It’s a tedious process, partially because I have to key in all the dialogue by hand. I think right now I’m up to our first color relaunch comic, “A shore thing.” Anything after that has yet to be loaded.
Sorry to waste your time like that. I tried to explain myself in the news post that not everything was loaded yet, but I suppose I could have been clearer. Thank you for the effort though, it’s much appreciated.
-Mike