Tuesday, January 1, 2013

New Year's Task Resolutions

Writing this in the last few hours of 2012... that was a crap ol' year. I know it is just an arbitrary dating system, but I do hope 2013 proves to be better. Lost a lot in 2012, I'm determined to make sure that 2013 is better.

One of the ways I'm planning on this is I'm going to force myself to do some things. Well, not so much "force", let's just say I'm setting goals and I'm hoping I'll be able to meet them.

So here goes:

1) Finish WILD. This could be the hardest of the lot, but I'll put it first. I have the game system, I've started writing character creation, and I've started writing up the background and how the cards can be used. I just need to stop procrastinating and actually write the damn thing. And I need to produce a basic game system document so that I can start giving it to a select few to start playtesting, to make sure the system works.

2) Finish Extinction. This is another tricky one. I'd started work on it before my mum died, and then I just couldn't really face it. It's a dark and harrowing tale of warfare and survival after an alien invasion, and I guess my head wasn't in the right place to deal with some of the issues. But, I'm determined to get that finished for Eden. Sorry, George. I will, I promise.

3) Take part in NaNoWriMo again in 2013. NaNoWriMo was a great motivator, and I've already had some ideas for a sequel to the WILD fiction novel that I managed to write for the last NaNo. Of course, if this gets in the way of actually finishing the game, then I don't mind sacrificing this one.

4) Get out of Retail. Every Christmas I say "x Christmas in retail, that'll be the last one." Well, this year it was "12th Christmas in retail" and I'm determined that it'll be the last one. It destroys all of your festive spirit, and frankly, I'm getting too old for it. Then again, I say it every year, and every year I'm still there...

5) Draw. I used to draw all of the time. Hell, I set up a comic publishing company to get my writing and art out there to the public. After that, I really haven't tried much artwork since. I've purchased "Sketchtime" for the iPad, bought a stylus, and while the actual art I've been tinkering with for WILD won't be produced this way, it's a good habit to get into. I've taken to wasting my lunch hours playing GTA: Vice City or Carmageddon, when I should be producing something useful, so I figured I could be spending this time drawing something. I've decided that, no matter how little or crap, I'm going to draw something every day. I may even post them on the blog as a way of keeping track of my vow to keep going. Hopefully the first one coming on the 1st Jan... if I can figure out something to actually draw... and remember how to draw...

6) Do something with the video camera. No, not that you perv. I'm just sitting on this nice video camera (well, not actually sitting ON) that I bought for the Cheesemint stuff, and it's not doing anything any more. I really want to do some video stuff. I've had an idea for a short that is almost an introduction to the game, but that's at the more ambitious end of the filming spectrum. At the least ambitious end, I'd at least like to do some "blog" supplements, some unboxing of classic RPGs so you can see what they were like, and to show off what the new stuff is like and how cool it is.

So that's it.

Let's hope 2013 is a great one. Anyway, tasks to do, things to get done, so I'll leave it at that and go back to watching Firefly yet again. Genius...

2 comments:

Shaun said...

I recall chatting to you about Extinction at Dragonmeet...2007 I think. Take the time you need getting it done, I think the Conspiracy X fans would rather you did the job properly rather than rush brought it just to get it done.

As for WILD, do you still want people to send you their dreams or have you accumulated enough for source material?

David F. Chapman said...

Oooh, please do send them on! If you email them to dreams@autocratik.com then I'll add it to the WildDreaming.blogspot.com blog for inspiration!

Thank you again!

Dave