Do Creative “Golden Ages” Matter? – A Ramble

It seems like every creative medium, genre etc… has at least one “golden age” – a time when it was consistently at it’s absolute best.

For science fiction, this was probably the 1950s-60s and/or the 1980s-90s. For computer and video games, this was probably the 1990s (no prizes for guessing what inspired this article. Surprisingly though, it wasn’t “Doom II”). For British comics, this was probably the 1980s-90s. I could go on for a while… but all of the “golden ages” I can think of are in the past.

But, if you’re an artist, comic-maker and/or a writer, should “golden ages” matter to you?

The answer to this question is a bit more complicated than a simple “yes” or “no”. On the one hand, things produced during a “golden age” can be an invaluable source of inspiration. Although these things are fascinating to look back at in retrospect, I have to imagine that actually being an active member of the audience during a golden age must be an even more inspirational and fascinating experience.

On the other hand, producing “golden age” quality and/or “golden age”-style things when you aren’t in a golden age can actually be advantageous, since there’s less competition. At the very least, you’ll attract an audience who are fans of the “golden age” things and are glad to see “new” things in a familiar style.

However, the thing to remember here is that you should always try to put your own spin on things that are inspired by something from a genre’s “golden age”. If you have many different sources of inspiration, then this will probably happen anyway – but it’s something that you should try to achieve. Merely making thinly-disguised copies of famous things may be easy, but it’ll mostly only attract fans of the original thing – and they probably won’t think that it’s as good as the original.

However, not being in a “golden age” can be somewhat dispiriting. If everything that is popular in the genres that you love is significantly different to your favourite things in that genre, then this can be slightly alienating. Of course, if you’re smart, you’ll know that this sense of alienation can be used as a powerful source of creative motivation. If no-one else is making the things you love, then it’s up to you to keep the tradition alive.

The other thing to remember is, of course, “golden ages” are often something that can only be seen in retrospect. If I’m being very cynical, then I’d say that this is because things are getting progressively worse and yesterday’s rubbish looks better by comparison to today’s rubbish.

However, if I’m being less cynical, I’d say that it’s probably because people need time to see and to define new trends. To use a computer game-related example, when “Doom” was originally released in 1993, there was no specific term to describe what kind of action game it was. It was only after several other games were made in the same genre that the term “Doom Clone” emerged to describe them. A while later, this term changed again to “First-Person Shooter”. But, this took several years.

So, you could be at the very beginning of a “golden age” right now and not even know it.

The other thing to remember is that good things are produced every year. Just because you aren’t in the middle of a “golden age” doesn’t mean that your creative works have to suffer as a result. Likewise, although there are some widely agreed-upon “golden ages” for various artforms, a lot of them are also up for debate too. So, your idea of a terrible cultural desert might be someone else’s idea of a “golden age”.

At the end of the day, it’s probably best ot use the “golden age” of your favourite artforms as a source of inspiration. But, don’t let the fact that you don’t seem to be in the middle of a “golden age” at the moment get you down.

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Anyway, I hope that this was useful 🙂

Today’s Art ( 9th December 2016)

Wow, it has been way too long since I last made a 1980s-style cyberpunk cityscape painting.

As usual, this digitally-edited painting is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.

“District Metropolis” By C. A. Brown

The Complete “Work In Progress” Line Art For “Damania Regrown” :)

Well, since my “Damania Regrown” webcomic mini series finished recently, I thought that I’d show off the ‘work in progress’ line art for each comic in the series.

If I remember rightly, there weren’t that many post-production changes between the line art and the finished comics. The final comic had a couple of small reductions to the cluttered second and third panels and there are a few small dialogue changes too.

Larger versions of each comic’s line art can be seen by clicking on the comic in question.

Anyway, enjoy 🙂

“Damania Regrown – Of The Same Coin (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Installation (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Burlesques (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Knowledge (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Inner Life (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Laser Tag (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Cheating Death (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Back In Time (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Mainstream (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Political Cartoons (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Drone (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – BBFC (Line Art)” By C. A. Brown

COMING SOON: Christmas Cyberpunk Stories & Cynical Comics :)

Woo hoo! I am very proud to make two awesome announcements about extra Christmas stuff that will be appearing here soon 🙂

1) Daily cyberpunk stories! Just like the collection of horror stories I wrote for Halloween this year, there will be also a series of daily short stories (posted at 9:30pm GMT) starting on the 12th December.

These will be Christmas-themed cyberpunk stories (since it’s been way too long since I last wrote any cyberpunk fiction), with a fair amount of humour and a slight variety of narrative styles. I’m not sure how many I’ll end up writing, but I just finished the seventh one a couple of hours before writing this announcement.

2) Christmas comics: Ok, anyone who has read the comics index page probably already knows about this, but I’ll be posting a special 6-comic webcomic mini series called “A Cynical Christmas (2016)”, featuring the characters from my long-running occasional “Damania” webcomic series.

This mini series will start on the 19th and, hopefully, it’ll also have a fairly simultaneous release both here and on DeviantART too. There will also be an extra seventh comic (albeit just a single-panel one) posted on Christmas day too.

The Complete “Damania Regrown” – All 12 Episodes Of The New Webcomic Mini Series By C. A. Brown

Well, in case you missed any of it, I thought that I’d collect all of my “Damania Regrown” webcomic mini series into one quick and easy-to-read post. If you want to see the previous seven mini series (and other comics), then links to them, and information about upcoming comics, can be found here.

All in all, although some of the later comics in this mini series were a bit rushed, I quite like how it turned out. I was able to include slightly improved art in many of the comics and many of the comics also ended up being a bit more philosophical too (although the last one kind of turned into a bit of a political lecture about film censorship). Needless to say, this series was a lot of fun to make 🙂

And, yes, two of the cartoons are greyscale/sepia tinted for the simple reason that they were out of date before they were even posted here. One of the problems with preparing comics months in advance is that you have to try to predict the future when you include political references. On both occasions, I got this wrong.

For example, David Cameron stepped down as the UK prime minister after the EU referendum disaster (and George Osborne was thrown out of the cabinet). Likewise, Hillary Clinton didn’t win the US election (and the optimism expressed about her in this comic seems poignantly naive now).

You can click on each comic to see a larger version of it. Likewise, all 12 comics in this mini series are released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.

“Damania Regrown – …Of The Same Coin”

“Damania Regrown – Installation” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Burlesques” By C, A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Knowledge” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Inner Life” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Laser Tag” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Cheating Death” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Back In Time (alternate history version)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Mainstream” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Political Cartoons (Alternate history version)” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – Drone” By C. A. Brown

“Damania Regrown – BBFC” By C. A. Brown

Today’s Art ( 8th December 2016)

Well, here’s the final comic in my “Damania Regrown” webcomic mini series. I’ll post a full retrospective later tonight, in case you missed any of it. If you want to catch up on the previous seven mini series, links to them can be found in the “2016” segment of this site’s comics index.

Wow, it has been way too long since I last made a cynical comic about film censorship in the UK. So, since I couldn’t think of another idea, this seemed like the obvious subject to finish this mini series with. Originally, this comic was going to feature two additional examples of absurd film censorship (and they’ll still appear in the line art if I remember to make a line art post), but they were cut at the last minute for pacing/ legibility reasons.

As usual, this comic update is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.

[CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] “Damania Regrown – BBFC” By C. A. Brown

Review: “3D Pinball Space Cadet” (Retro Computer Game)

One afternoon, I was feeling a fascinating mixture of boredom and curiosity. I’d planned to look for some “Doom II” levels to review, since I haven’t reviewed one in a while and I was beginning to worry that playing nothing but “Red Faction II” recently had dulled my “Doom II” skills. But, not daring to see how many IQ points this more modern FPS game had leeched from me, I ended up playing… the free pinball game that comes with Windows XP… instead.

I got this game quite a while ago, when I got Windows XP. Versions for other good incarnations of Windows, such as Windows 98, also exist too.

A quick Google search shows that users of modern parody versions of Windows can furtively download copies of this game from *ahem* less than legitimate sources. Given the steep cost of this game (well over £100… albeit with a free copy of Windows XP and/or a free PC), I can see why people might be tempted into space piracy. But, beware, Starfleet Academy *ahem* I mean, the Space Cadet Academy is watching you…

Yes, this is probably going to be a silly review.

Game over? High score? Ooops! I SHOULD have added a spoiler warning!

As you may have guessed, this is a pinball game . In fact, from some quick online research, I learnt that it was actually a cut-down version of a game from 1995 called “Full Tilt! Pinball”. Whilst the original game contained three tables, this one only contains the eponymous “space cadet” table. This table is, quite fittingly, accompanied by an illustration which never ceases to amuse me.

LOL! I don’t know why, but his expression is just hilarious. And is that the flying car from “Blade Runner”?

The controls for this game can take a bit of getting used to since, like many great games from the 1990s, the controls are strictly keyboard-only. You’ll be using the function keys for various game functions (eg: “F3” pauses the game and “F2” starts a new game), the spacebar to launch a new pinball and the “Z” and “/” keys control the left and right flippers respectively. You can also use other keys to tilt and bump the table, if you’re a filthy cheater.

In terms of the gameplay, it’s actually fairly solid. The physics in the game feel surprisingly solid and everything that the ball hits will react with an impactful animation and a sci-fi sound effect that could have been taken from only the finest toy laser guns that the 1990s had to offer. Joking aside, the sound design is actually fairly awesome and, if you grew up in the 1990s, you’ll feel a pang of nostalgia as soon as you hear the game’s many stylised sound effects.

Although you can just hammer the flipper keys wildly and hope for the best (like I did with pinball games when I was a kid), this game rewards you for playing strategically. Not only is the board littered with wormholes, hyperspace and all manner of other cool things that you can hit if you aim carefully but- once your score reaches a certain point – you’ll actually be given missions. I’ve only found one of these so far (where you have to hit the bumpers near the top of the screen eight times), but it added some variation to the game.

I’ve accepted a mission? I’m pretty sure that giving space cadets missions is against Starfleet protocol !

Still, as missions go, this one is ridiculously easy, given that you’ve probably already hit these bumpers accidentally about fifty times before you are given the mission.

This gameplay also has that wonderfully addictive quality that all good casual games do. In fact, it was a casual game before casual games were even a thing. So, yes, it’s also ahead of it’s time. In fact, it’s almost as if it’s from the future….

The graphics in this game are actually fairly good for 1995. Although everything on the board is quite clearly a pre-rendered sprite, this actually looks fairly good – especially considering that it’s a small pinball game that was released before “Quake” was. Not only that, some elements of the board’s visual design (eg: the lens flare stars around the edges of the board) reminded me of the (already-quite-old) “Blade Runner” fan sites that I loved to visit in 2005.

Yay! Lens flare! From back when it was cool, BEFORE J.J.Abrams ruined it through overuse!

One strange feature of this game is that the music is turned off by default. This is a real shame because the music is… actually surprisingly good. It’s the kind of cheesy, fast-paced “futuristic” music that will quickly and permanently bore itself into your brain like the creature from “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan”.

Seriously, this music really sounds like it’s from 1995 – a more innocent time when games could be cheesier. It is an absolute joy to listen to, fun distilled into MIDI (or vaguely MIDI-like) form.

You’ll notice that I’ve been mentioning “Star Trek” quite a bit here. This is because it’s fairly clear where this game gets it’s inspiration from and, by god, do I miss 1990s Star Trek! This game was made between the time that Picard gave his last order and Janeway took an unexpected detour via the Delta Quadrant on her way back to Earth. So, it’s wonderful to see some extremely vague “Star Trek” references in this game. In fact, on my first attempt at this game in several years, I was soon promoted to the rank of ensign!

Unfortunately, I took the screenshot a fraction of a second too late! I’ll never make captain at this rate!

All in all, this game is a brilliant piece of addictive 1990s sci-fi nostalgia that, like an unexpected wormhole to the Delta Quadrant, will steal years of your life if you aren’t careful. It’s the kind of game that you’ll decide to play once out of curiosity and then end up playing multiple times. The sound effects, visual design and animation are hilariously awesome but, since they’re paired with surprisingly solid gameplay, they’re endearingly nostalgic rather than annoying.

If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get at least a four. It’s random, silly… and extremely fun. And, yes, it’s better than “Red Faction II”.

Today’s Art (7th December 2016)

Well, here’s the penultimate comic in my “Damania Regrown” webcomic mini series. If you want to catch up on the previous seven mini series, links to them can be found in the “2016” segment of this site’s comics index. Stay tuned for the final comic of this mini series at the same time tomorrow night 🙂

This comic was a bit rushed, but I quite like how it turned out.

As usual, this comic update is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.

[CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] “Damania Regrown – Drone” By C. A. Brown

Five Ways To Make Your “Newspaper Comic”-style Webcomic Instantly Accessible To New Readers

[Note: This article was originally written (in advance) when I was fascinated by self-contained webcomics. However, there will be quite a few story-based webcomics posted here next year. Still, I’ll post this article for the simple reason that it might be useful if you’re interested in making self-contained webcomics.
But, as a bonus, this article will include the unedited version of a comic that I posted here recently (which is totally not because I forgot to update that part of the article).]
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Although I’ve talked about a lot of this stuff before, I thought that I’d talk again about how to make “newspaper comic”-style webcomics “accessible” to new readers. We’ve all had the experience of finding an interesting-looking webcomic, only to find that there are long character histories, unfamiliar occasionally reccuring characters, obscure in-jokes etc.. and other things which can be fairly confusing.

Yes, if a webcomic is interesting enough, you’ll probably end up putting the time into learning the backstory and learning about the characters. However, this can sometimes be off-putting to new readers who just want to enjoy a comic for a few minutes without a large time commitment.

This is especially important for webcomics, for the simple reason that they are often read in a non-sequential order. So, making them instantly accessible is important.

To use an example from my own occasional webcomics – the mini series I posted last month should be as instantly readable as the one that finishes here tomorrow night and the very first mini series . All of these comics feature the same characters, but they don’t have to be read “in order”.

So, how can you make your comic instantly accessible to new readers? Here are a few quick tips:

1) Clear character design: If your main characters look different from each other and have distinctive personalities (reflected in their dialogue and actions), then your audience will be able to quickly get a sense of who they are -even without knowing their names or a lot of their backstory.

If you read the comics I linked to earlier, then you’ll probably know these four characters, even if you don’t know their names:

These are the four main characters from my long-running occasional “Damania” webcomic series (in chronological order, based on first appearance).

In fact, even if your characters just have fairly distinctive (and memorable) visual designs – whether realistic or unrealistic-, then this can go a long way towards making your comic slightly more accessible to new readers.

2) Character rotation: I’ve talked about this at length in another article, but it’s usually a good idea to ensure that all of the main characters appear fairly regularly throughout your comic. In other words, your readers shouldn’t have read more than a few random comic updates before they’ve seen all of the main cast.

In fact, if possible, it can sometimes be a good idea to make the occasional comic update that includes the entire main cast of your comic. Like in the unedited version (the edited version can be seen here) of a comic I posted here on Sunday:

“Damania Regrown – Back In Time” By C. A. Brown

By doing this, you avoid the problem of re-introducing old characters and confusing new readers. If possible, it’s also best keeping the main cast relatively small too.

3) Story arcs: If you’re going to include a short (and be sure to keep it short!) story arc in your “newspaper comic”-style webcomic, then make sure to briefly explain the premise of it at the beginning of each comic! Likewise, each comic in the arc should also contain a self-contained joke.

This can be as simple as having a character briefly explain the backstory during the first line of dialogue (eg: “Music festivals are a lot different than I expected”, “we’re halfway through the festival already?” etc…), to use a small title at the top of each comic strip (eg: “Meanwhile, at the music festival…”) and/or make the backstory very clear through visual details (eg: by drawing a music festival in the background).

This is a trick that you’ll often see in traditional newspaper comics and it’s important because not everyone reads a newspaper every day. As such, if someone only sees two random comics from a six-comic arc, then those two comics should be just as funny and as instantly readable as a “normal” comic is.

4) Organisation: If possible, it might be worth organising the “back issues” of your webcomic into something that makes it easier for new readers to jump between different points in the comic. The traditional “back”,”forward”, “first” and “latest” buttons on many webcomics are useful for looking at very recent or very old comics, but they aren’t so useful if – say- you want to see a comic from a few months ago.

There are lots of ways to do this – from a traditional “archive” page, to a calendar-based system. The best way to do it will depend both on your webcomic itself and on your own web skills. But, you need to have some way for new readers to easily navigate your comic if it interests them.

For example, since my webcomic is an occasional one (posted in mini series of 6-17 daily updates every month or two) and because I don’t really have that much knowledge about HTML etc.. what I usually do is to collect all of the updates from each mini series into a single post (eg: like this one) once that mini series has finished. Then, I post links to these collections on a larger index page – along with a short description of my thoughts about each mini series.

5) Self-contained comics: This one almost goes without saying, but each of your comic updates should be a self-contained thing that can be enjoyed on it’s own without reference to any other comics.

After all, many of your readers might read your webcomic in a random order, or they might miss several updates. So, making sure that each comic update is it’s own self-contained thing is vitally important to attracting new readers.

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Anyway, I hope that this was useful 🙂

Today’s Art (6th December 2016)

Well, my long-running occasional webcomic has returned for another mini series. If you want to catch up on the previous seven mini series, links to them can be found in the “2016” segment of this site’s comics index. Stay tuned for another comic at the same time tomorrow night 🙂

Like with the comic I posted a couple of days ago, this one was originally made several months in advance (before the EU referendum, and the change of prime minister and chancellor that followed). So, it’s completely out of date. But, I’ll post it for historical reasons anyway (albeit with a greyscale filter and an additional note).

As usual, this comic update is released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.

[CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE] “Damania Regrown – Political Cartoons (Alternate history version)” By C. A. Brown