http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Coolcomixb&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Coolcomixb en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:13:31 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/26474805/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/26474805/ Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:45:26 PDT
Do you remember 7-Days Chapter 4? Do you even remember what 7-Days is at all? Well, 7-Days Chapter 4 has been in the works for the last 2 years now, with Z-Man working on it on and off. If you recall, earlier this year he mentioned that the animation for it was finished, yet all this time we've held back releasing it since we have a ton of missing sound effects for it. And now, 2 years after starting chapter 4, and 4 years after starting the whole series, we're going to be re-doing the whole series. And yes, I mean remaking chapters 1-4 including the prologue, using a bunch of new character models that Z-Man finished up today. Knowing our work track record, I can't make any promises as to when you may be seeing something related to that, but that's what the plans are for now. Normally I would reject the idea of a rework this big, but I gotta be honest...7-Days is in desperate need of a makeover, both graphics and story-wise, and those are just the makeovers it would get if this plan goes through.

Do you remember Midpoint at all? I know it's been like a year since I've even mentioned it, but I've finally restarted work on it! I decided that I wouldn't restart work on it until I was sure that my schedule would allow me to work on it on a consistent basis rather than on an unpredictable basis, which is the only crap that school has ever given me. So maybe I might be able to get some episodes in pretty soon here (hopefully, I don't need anymore disappointment now that the college year is about to start up).

Speaking of college...man, I hate college. Gotta move away and get a job...I miss Washington...

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/26144803/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/26144803/ Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:22:07 PDT
But that doesn't mean we haven't constantly been thinking about it. We keep passing ideas back and forth occasionally, and hopefully we'll find time to work on them. My office job I mentioned earlier is actually a Web Development job, so I've been able to keep my skills sharp, and hey, I may be able to find time occasionally to work on stuff at the office. If nothing else, that should help out with the site redesign when we finally get around to it.

Z-Man and I have a couple of days off in the next little while, so maybe you may see a new comic or something in that time period. But right now we're trying to look at balancing development with other things going on in life, and luckily those things have become a bit more stable as of late (thank goodness for no homework and no surprise projects!).

All in all, there's nowhere to go from here but up! So hopefully the future will look a little brighter.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/25252057/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/25252057/ Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:29:39 PDT

As far as projects go, lately I've been working on a dynamic slideshow for my old web design teacher and also for my portfolio. With all of the different options it had, it came out to over 600 lines of code, and it's the largest programming project I've actually finished. While not important to BZ Comics, it's what I've been up to lately and it's somewhat significant to me personally. That goes without saying that there's still alot that we need to do for the site, so hopefully we can get cracking soon!

Which brings me to a hindrance in the plans. Z-Man decided recently to start playing World of Warcraft, which made me feel left in the dust for a little while, so then I decided to play too. So I don't know how long that will hold our attention for, but I suppose that's what we'll be up to for a little while. It's funny, we both join the ranks of the many deviants that have been caught up in WoW.

So some good news, some bad, but it's a status update. Hope everyone's enjoying summer so far!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/24627386/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/24627386/ Wed, 06 May 2009 22:22:20 PDT
Z-Man and I just finished the first of two AP tests today (AP Calculus). We're both taking the same AP classes, so we end up having the same AP tests. So anyways, that means the hardest of the tests I'm taking are done, so hopefully that means a bit more time for myself! The second AP test we take is AP Psychology, but that isn't nearly as hard, at least for me. Other than that, I have a health class I'm finishing up, so hopefully school troubles will be out of the picture for a little while at least.

IT Day was held today in our area, and unfortunately due to the AP test, Z-Man and I couldn't be there for the whole day (IT Day is a local convention put on by Lockheed Martin). It was still pretty cool though, though not nearly as cool as it was last year. I can't remember if I mentioned this last time, but last year the main event of IT Day was the Mythbusters! Man, it was so freaking awesome last year, being able to see Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman live and in person. I could have sworn I made a journal entry on that or something, but I couldn't find it, so I thought I would mention it. This year was just some guy from Fast Company magazine that I've never heard of, so it wasn't as interesting this time. But at least I got some neat swag! Our school also had a booth set up, and they showcased some of my stuff there for everyone to see, the most popular one being Classroom Chaos, so I guess that was pretty nifty. It's only unfortunate that I wasn't around when people were walking by; it would have been a pretty good opportunity to market myself. Oh well, there will be more times.

So onto site-related stuff. As busy as I've been (as you would expect, knowing me), I haven't been able to work much on our redesign. I've got a rough sketch of what we're planning on doing, but I really need to spice it up before I decide to go through with it. Z-Man's been working on and off on closing time, and he's made some decent progress, but he's still got quite a ways to go. So hopefully he won't be too lazy and maybe he'll progress at a nice pace.

Other than that, I really want to play Fallout 3 for some reason. Unfortunately I have to wait till summer though, since my 360 is at my dad's house. Ah, well, I guess that's all I can think of for now.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/24467009/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/24467009/ Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:41:38 PDT
The spam bots have discovered us!!! Man, I've been totally free of spam on all of my email addresses up until the last several days. My CoolComixbz inbox has been completely flooded with all sorts of nasty stuff, and even though my poor little spam filter catches about 95% of it, it's been getting frustrating to deal with. I'm very careful with my email addresses to make sure that they are not in vulnerable places online, but that one in particular I've had for years and years, and I suppose it was bound to be discovered eventually. As a result, I've done away with that email address and moved all of my important mail from that one to a new one. If any of you remember my old one, just know that you won't be able to reach me there anymore.

So that leads me into some actual site info. Z-Man and I had been discussing getting rid of the forum entirely, since no one uses it, and my guess is that it is a likely candidate for being the culprit behind the spam flooding our boxes. We may decide to implement some sort of user interaction later (one of our own design) such as a guestbook or mini-forum, but for now it looks like the forum is going to go away with the site redesign. Sorry everyone.

But we can't just do away with fan communication entirely, so when the new site comes up we're going to have a new system that will allow people to communicate with us without email, and we'll also implement a CAPTCHA. devaintArt is a great way to get in touch with us, but not everyone wants or needs an account, so we're still going to have some interactions available site-side.

As far as other things, go, I'm sure you've heard of Z-Man having a Closing Time music video in progress. More info on his journal ([link]). Aside from that, we're still working on the Frame by Frame game and the overall site redesign.

Well, that's all I can think of for now! Ciao!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/24100836/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/24100836/ Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:22:18 PDT
What's funny about that is that this time it's not homework or school in general. Most classes I'm in are just studying for the finals and AP tests coming later this year, so there's no actual work that needs to be done for several of them. The real pains this time around is the coordinating that needs to get done for my Eagle Project (so annoying!), and scholarships that I need to apply for and various other things.

Nevertheless, I'm still trying to work on various bits for our site and stuff, and Z-Man and I have reached a few conclusions. Expanding on that website redesign that I mentioned before, Z-Man and I have decided to try to move forward with it and try to work it in with other things we're doing. We've also decided something else, something that we had to take into careful consideration: changing our site name from CoolComixbz to BZComics. We've had BZComics.com registered as a domain name for quite some time now, and if you go to it it will just redirect you to our site. Right now, we're planning on making it our main domain, while still keeping CoolComixbz.com parked.

Why would we do this, you ask? BZComics just seems more catchy and easier to remember, and it takes the "Cool" out of the name, which, we decided, would be better left out because it sounds a bit cheesy in an official name. It sounded good back when we made the site back in middle school, but now we mainly just ignore that it's there because our tastes have somewhat matured. We're also going to have to make a new logo because of the change, and you may see some concept designs on either my or Z-Man's profile. Not making any promises though, seeing as though there are still some things I've said I'd upload but as of yet haven't.

As I said before, the design of the site will also change in the future to match our 'rebirth'. We're still in the pre-concepting phase of the actual design though, so we're not going to work on it just yet. And for both mine and Z-Man's convenience, the site will also have a backend and internal database so that we can release more updates more easily, and it will also help me gain some experience in building and managing that sort of thing so that I can do better in the internship/job that I want to hopefully get this summer.

Anyways, being as busy as we are, I can't promise that you'll see some of these things soon, or even at all (but I don't think that will be the case, hopefully ). But that's whats rolling around in our heads as of late.

P.S. Game progress is going slowly but surely. Hopefully we'll have a playable version in the near future. By the way, the game is, for the most part, a higher priority than the redesign so that we can make better sure that it gets done. I can't wait for you guys to be able to see it!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/23854431/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/23854431/ Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:58:59 PDT
Man, it has been several weeks since I've even worked on anything related at all to CoolComixbz. School has been nothing but a pain in the butt, and there are a bunch of other things tying me down at the same time. Man, I really just want to get to work on all of the ideas that I have for CCBZ, but things are going pretty slowly right now.

No big news this time really. The only thing is that Z-Man and I have a site redesign in mind, if we can ever get around to doing it. Our site has not changed design at all since I was in the 8th grade, and it's time that it had some serious changes, especially since my website design skills have increased tenfold since then. But right now the biggest problem is actually finding time for it all, and we're pretty busy all the time it seems. Not to mention that content takes priority over the site's design method; why make a delivery method for content if you don't have much content?

Anyhow, that's a small little ramble. So recently Z-Man and I have had a big school project involving making illustrated childrens' books for 2nd graders. That was actually pretty frustrating, and for all the effort put into it I would actually like to upload the artwork I did for it sometime; that way I can feel a little more accomplished for all of it. Dunno if Z-Man will decide to submit any of his stuff.

Anyway, I just had to change the journal. Hopefully there will be something more newsworthy in the next one.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/23498621/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/23498621/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:19:49 PST
If you've forgotten already, Z-Man and I recently started on a new project that puts all of us - the Frame By Frame characters - in a situation where we have to fight off the nightmares of our past. The game is a beat 'em up, and similar in presentation to the old TMNT arcade games. We're in the real early stages of development, so there isn't much physically there that's presently working. You can read and see a bit more about our development in this scrap [link] .

So anyhow, Z-Man has officially made the game a project he is working on as a graduation requirement, and Andeni has also decided to help us out as a part of his own graduation requirement, so he's going to be providing us with concept art. If he actually gets motivated and starts getting to work, then we'll probably scan some stuff in from his concepting and post 'em on deviantART.

As far as actual progress goes for Z-Man and I, Z-Man's been working practically every day on sprite animation, and they're turning out pretty good. Unfortunately, we're still missing some of his Omak sprite animations due to the lost flash drive, but we're presently ignoring that in the hopes that the flash drive will turn up sooner or later.
As for me, I've been hard at work on the coding (and you can see some of my effort in that scrap), and so far (including comments) I have approximately 280 lines of code put in so far. Not so much when you consider the other game I was working on earlier, which had over 500 lines done and about 800 when I (temporarily) halted production on it, but that's mostly due to me not having a Web Design course in school this year. So overall, I think I'm doing an OK job.


As for the rest of life, schools been getting harder for the both of us to keep up with. Calculus and Psychology have been real pains as of late for us both, and Creative Writings been giving us one heck of a work load. Speaking of Creative Writing, today Z-Man and I visited an elementary school today to interview 2nd graders. Why you ask? Cuz Mrs. Teacher wants us to write a children's book for each of them, and if you know Z-Man and I well enough, you know kid's books just aren't our specialty. But if our illustrations come out well enough and they aren't too embarrassing, we might show you guys.

So that's the summary of life for us so far. Hopefully that's convinced you that we aren't dead!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/22748144/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/22748144/ Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:35:04 PST safari!!!

Well I did want to update this journal more.

So some new stuff is about, some good, some not so good. The good news is that we are making some headway on various projects; Z-Man and I have started drawing up some more comics (that need to be digitized of course), we've been slowly but surely making progress on that beat em' up game (which Z-Man wants to use as part of his graduation requirement, which means further incentive), and we've made a little bit of progress on finishing up 7 Days. I've also looked through some Midpoint stuff and still really want to work on it, but I'm not in a position where I can do that right now unfortunately. Still, it was good finding that I still have interest in it. Also, this weekend is a 3-day weekend for me, yay!

Now for the less-than-good news. Z-Man lost his flash drive which contained all of the models and animations that we need to produce the beat 'em up game (still haven't decided on a name for the game yet), and he and I have backups of all of the files except for Omak's attack animations. I've been nagging him to look for the flash drive for over a week now, but he still has yet to have any luck finding it. I'm worried that if he can't find the animations, he's going to lose interest in the game and that will put all of the work that we have put into it so far to waste.

Other than some minor economic issues (stupid economy!!!), we're doing alright except for that. Hopefully I'll have some more news the next time I update.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/22497609/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/22497609/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:28:38 PST
Anywhatsit, a whole new year and a whole boatload of new challenges!
This year in real life I must: earn all the credits necessary for graduation (which will require squeezing another class into my schedule), decide on a college to attend (I just can't decide!! At least I've been accepted everywhere I've applied so far ), actually try to get my Eagle Scout award (I personally am really tired of that, but my parents keep nagging on me to get it), and juggle the usual classwork and PM duties as well. Oh man...with all the junk I need to get done this year, I'm going to have a tough time doing my New Years resolutions: get more site and art work done and have more fun this year. I've felt like the stuff I've needed to do has taken completely away from my social life, and that's only going to get worse this year unless I can figure something out to balance out my work load.

Alright, so like Z-Man said, 7 Days Chapter 4 is almost done, but it has fallen on me to finish up all the necessary sounds and music so that it can be released. Hopefully I can finish that up pretty soon, but we'll see. Aside from that, I'm going to be working on that Frame by Frame game, also hoping that significant progress can be made on that in the near future. If you haven't noticed already, the Midpoint series has been put on hiatus, but that's not because we've lost interest or anything (because I do really want to produce that series), it's just that we haven't had enough time to work on it yet. And as far as FBF itself, we'll hopefully be able to pick back up on it and start doing the comics again.

So there's where I stand right now. Oh, and if I haven't said it to you already, Happy New Year!
Here's to a good '09!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/22132251/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/22132251/ Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:45:45 PST
So anyways, for Christmas break this year I go to my Dad's house (my parents are divorced; I live with my Mom most of the time, and my Mom and Dad switch off holidays). The flight here was slightly delayed, but overall uneventful.

So, my first surprise getting here is...I found out that my Dad actually moved. He and my step mom wanted to keep it a surprise, and boy was I surprised! The house is bigger than the duplex we lived in for awhile, so that's somewhat of a plus. It's about a half an hour away from the duplex, so not too far location-wise.

But now to the bad stuff...
Most of my stuff from the other house is still packed up in various boxes, so I have yet to even begin to make myself comfortable here. We can't get cable around here, so we have to stick with satellite TV (right now only a basic package, with very few of the channels I want to watch in it) and satellite internet. We get the internet from this company called Digis, and the issue with it is that is not exactly slow, per se, it's just tha-

*internet cuts out*
...
...
*reboots modem*
...
....
.....

Uuuhg, I can't believe it's doing that agai-

*internet cuts out*
...
...
*angerly reboots modem*
...
....
.....

You get the picture, it keeps failing. So anyways, we apparently need to call them tomorrow and see what's up with that, but knowing customer service from ISPs, I doubt it's going to resolve all of the internet issues. Aww man...and I was so looking forward to gaming it up with Z-Man all Christmas break!

Anyway, I really hope that all of the problems around here stop. And part of my ranting is just trying to get used to the new surroundings, cuz after all, I had no idea that he had moved and I had expected something completely different this Christmas.

Can't wait to get Fallout 3...maybe that will cure a little bit of my anxiety.

Note: The internet cut out twice during the writing of this journal.

Edit: We called Digis up this morning and everythings working right now. I'm crossing my fingers that everything will stay working.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/21823763/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/21823763/ Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:58:33 PST
Erm...Well I guess to start off, Z-Man did indeed finish the animation for 7 Days Chapter 4 (it's been about a year and a half since he started it, though I'm not criticizing him for it cuz I haven't gotten very far on Midpoint myself). Anywhosit, I need to write some music for it because even though the animation is nice, it feels pretty boring without any sort of musical icing on the cake. He and I also need to finishing getting sound effect in it, then we can go ahead and finally release it. Buuuuut...the release may have to wait for about another 2 weeks because Z-Man went off to the land of sun and surf for the remainder of this week and the entirety of next week. Gee, I don't think my prediction from several journals back was far from the mark, it did take until about the end of this year to finish 7 Days.

As far as my productivity goes, I've been hard at work on our school's LAN party video announcement. I might have been done by now if it weren't for various snags (including homework, but I've tried not to complain as much about it lately). Anyways, I feel like I work real hard on Flash-type assignments for various school functions and not as much on things I do for fun, so I was thinking at some point I might upload some of the things I do for school to dA, with real names removed of course. Good stuff there.

Which reminds me, the next announcement I do for the club will be a Phoenix Wright style announcement, and I can't wait to make it cuz it's hilarious! I will definitely have to upload that when I'm done!

Anyhow, there's the world of B-Man for ya. Thanks for reading!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/21572420/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/21572420/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:35:04 PST
The first is that yes, I have been working on some things, namely frame by frame comics and I have been programming that game I talked about last time...but I have a few snags.

The first snag is (no surprise) homework, which is a burden I can never ever seem to get off of my back. I know Z-Man tells me all the time to just forget about homework and that it has no importance, and I should just get to work, and I never do anything, ect. You all know that just isn't possible to do and still maintain a good GPA. Anyhow...

The second thing is video announcements. I'm publicity manager for our tech club at school, and for the LAN parties we have I like to get everyone in the school in the know for the party by making an animation to be played in the form of an announcement over the TVs in the school. Z-Man always used to help me out with video announcements and various displays in the past, but all of a sudden he's decided publicity has little importance and he's just not going to help me out with this next one. Which of course puts the whole thing on me to get done...

And like I said, I have done some comic work, but I'm not going to upload anything until I have a few more done (you'll know why). But that's probably not going to happen soon for reasons I already mentioned... Anyways, just wanted to let people know I'm still alive and thinking of you, I just haven't been active lately.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/20643557/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/20643557/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:10:30 PDT
I'm actually surprised that Z-Man hasn't said more than he has concerning it, but me and him are working on a new game! It's a beat 'em up style game, similar to the old arcade TMNT games. It's going to be starring all the Frame by Frame characters you know and love: Jeff, Omak, Andeni, B-Man, and Z-Man! We're going to be fighting a deep dark nemesis from the past: all of our vengeful comic ideas that were never digitally published. They've come back to take revenge on the living, (or rather just the ones who thought them up and never used them) and they will stop at nothing to drag us down to the miserable existence that they must also suffer.

Anyways, enough with the dramatic introduction. Z-Man's doing animation, Andeni is conceptualizing, Omak and Jeff are providing ideas, and I'm doing the programming! We're going to release the game in stages, so once one character's part of the campaign is done we'll release it and get started on the next one. The game will feature 2 player co-op on one keyboard, and we plan on having up to 4 player co-op with external peripherals (which include joysticks and XBox 360 controllers).

Given that we don't lose interest and school and work don't soak up every spare moment of our time, we hope to have the first stage (featuring Jeff) up in a month or two. From there we're going to go through Omak, Andeni, B-Man (me), and finally Z-Man.

Z-Man may probably release a journal pretty soon here with more details, but we'll keep you posted if we're making good progress. We're really excited about this game and so far it seems to have alot of promise, so hopefully we'll get it finished!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, for all you BoBoBo lovers (which may be the reason you found Z-Man in the first place, and thus me, for all his fan-art) try going here ([link]) for all the episodes, just in case you missed one (curse Cartoon Network only playing it once) or you want to reminisce in good times. Just thought I would throw that in there.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/19445137/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/19445137/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:54:14 PDT
I guess summer laziness has just caught on to me, and I've mostly just been kicking back and doing nothing. I guess I just feel like I've been so dang busy during the school year, and being able to rest easy now is feeling really good.

However, that doesn't mean that I don't intend on doing anything during the summer. As soon as Z-Man wakes up this morning (or should I say afternoon), we plan on doing some more toon work and getting back into our routine and stuff. So hopefully you'll see more comics/toons from us in the near future, but I dunno, we'll see.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/18585743/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/18585743/ Fri, 30 May 2008 23:31:13 PDT
So anyways, Z-Man and I attended an awesome LAN party today. I owned at Super Smash Bros Brawl while Z-Man sold soda drinks, and later on I discovered a previously unknown love for Warcraft III during a mini competition. After the party, I tried going around to the local game stores to see if I could buy Warcraft III, but sadly none of the stores I went to had any in stock. Sigh....well at least I'll be able to save money for stuff I want this summer like Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition and Battlefield: Bad Company.

Speaking of money, Z-Man still is working most of the time at his job at the mall. It's like I mentioned earlier, he's got a cycle of:
1. Work
2. Spend earnings on new video games
3. Play games when not working
4. Repeat
He doesn't do as much animation anymore, and I think we'll be lucky to see 7 Days Chapter 4 out before the end of the year.

Hopefully that's not the same thing that will happen for Midpoint. I've been up to my neck in homework for the past several weeks, and with finals coming up there's going to be no relief for me until school gets out. I haven't had much time to work on Midpoint, sadly, but I work when I can (I'm actually working on it right now). I recently got the voices finalized and I am able to start moving along with things alot more smoothly. I can't make any release date promises yet though, there are too many factors to consider.

Oh, and the Flash game thing that I mentioned earlier has been put on hold while I work on other things. I still plan for it to be finished and released sooner or later, but right now I'm not doing much with it.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/18280833/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/18280833/ Sun, 11 May 2008 20:53:45 PDT
So anyways, Z-Man and I got to visit DigiPen the other day ([link]). If you don't know what that is, it's basically a college that teaches students how to create video games. And I do believe that some students from DigiPen were the masterminds behind Portal, the game from the Orange Box. So we got the run down on how to make video games and even got to make one of our own using their in-house beginner software. It was pretty cool.

Anyways, I have my usual school projects, assignments and junk that keeps me at bay. One of the projects I'm doing is for Web Design, and I'm making a Flash game! That means that I can show off my finished project on the internet when I'm done! So maybe within the next month keep an eye out for something related to that. And this is a pretty big project that I've been working on for a few months, mind you, not some simple little filler. I've got about 500+ lines of ActionScript code so far, and I don't even think I'm halfway done with the game engine, and don't even get me started on the AI. I've got to bump up my production speed so I can get it done in time, so that will pretty much consume my time, but I think it will be worth it in the end (hopefully!).

As far as toons and comics and stuff....we aren't really working too hard on them as of late. Z-Man's got a job now and has to work pretty often, and he uses his paycheck to buy video games which he plays when he's not working. It's a vicious cycle, and I don't think he's gunna break it, so don't expect too much from him. As far as me...I still need to get voices! I've got the script done, but I need to finalize what the voices are going to sound like for each of the characters.

Alright, so that's all I got for now! Thanks for reading!

Edit: Yay! 1000 pageviews! Thanks guys! But no kiriban, I'm just too busy!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/17581847/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/17581847/ Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:18:44 PDT
So anyways, series progress is currently....not progressing very quickly. Since my last journal, we've made our theme for the series ([link]) and we officially named it Midpoint. But that was a few weeks ago, and I had hoped to make it through (at least most of) Episode 1 by now. I've had alot of homework lately (I stayed up all night on Thursday doing it), so that's my excuse for the last 2 weeks. I have another big project coming up that needs to be done by the end of the week after spring break, so I might end up being loaded down by that. But other than that, I guess it's just been laziness...or something.

Anyways, I have part of the first scene of Episode 1 done, but to get further I need more voices (Z-Man is unavailable for the weekend, so I can't get his voices for the next part till after the weekend is over), and before I can come up with the voices, I need to finish the script. I have my basic idea for the whole episode, but it needs to be finalized into a script so that it can be voiced and then animated. I'm hoping that after I can get used to doing my process then I will be able to do it more frequently and without trying to come up with excuses to make myself stop working (like "I've worked for an hour, that's good enough for today" or "I added a few keyframes, that's more than I do most days so I can go ahead and quit for now" or "I'll just come back to it tomorrow").

Since Z-Man is unavailable, I can't really continue the episode just yet. But Z-Man might be getting a job pretty soon here, and then he'll be unavailable almost all the time. So I've decided that in such a situation where I cannot continue without Z-Man, I need to start working on a side project that I can do individually and just when Z-Man isn't around. I want my project to be something worthwhile, since I could be spending alot of my free time on it, but I don't have any ideas just yet. I was thinking that it could be something dedicated to something that I'm a big fan of (since that way I could draw in a little bit more viewership to my profile), but no ideas immediately come to mind.

Edit: Hot DANG! Z-Man DID get the job. So yeah, this confirms it, Z-Man's availability definitely will be a factor in getting my work done (and obviously, getting any toon work done on his part too).

So anyways, sorry for my long entry, I just had to put my thoughts some
where. So to sum it all up, here are my priorities:
- Finalize the script for Midpoint Episode 1
- Get all of the voices done for Episode 1
- Animate Episode 1
- Write music for said episode
- Come up with a side project (that I can work on when I need Z-Man but he's not available)

All while homework comes at me from all sides. Dang....I just need to get to work...

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/16093564/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/16093564/ Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:54:16 PST
Bamboo Wacom Tablet (trying it out now)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - DS (it needs online play)
Mario Galaxy - Wii
Socom US Navy Seals: Combined Assault - PS2 (can't play it yet cuz my brother is playing Guitar Hero 3 on the PS2)
A new digital camera

I'll get more this Friday, because that's when I go to my dad's house (I have a 360 there). I need to get in touch with Z-Man (for various reasons) but he's still opening all of his gifts. All I know so far is that he got a new widescreen monitor for his computer (I'll have to resize the 7 Days background just for him).

In other news: I'm getting really excited to start the new series, especially now that I have my new tablet. The only thing holding us back now is the name, and as soon as we get that taken care of, we can get this cartoon boat off the rocks and out to sea.

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15784069/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15784069/ Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:32:45 PST Coolcomixz just got finished releasing the official CoolComixbz online store ([link]). We don't have a lot of people looking at it yet, but we hope to. And remember, the stuff in the new shop makes a perfect gift for just about anyone, even if they don't know about CCBZ.

In other news, I just got Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney over the weekend for the DS (making it my second game for the DS, along with Mario Kart DS; I really need to get some more games). It's a pretty sweet game, and for a good price as used, and I've been wanting it ever since z-Man started making parodies of it (but even he doesn't have the game, or a DS for that matter). I think I'll get the second and third game in the series at some point in the future.

As for things regarding CCBZ, I gotta get moving with that new series that I've been talking about for awhile. Z-Man's been butchering me nonstop about that store, so I haven't been on about the series for awhile, but now that it's done I (and he) can finally move on. We still need ideas for the organization and series name, but as for the city name, we settled on Palmo city (thanks to ~Doomios for part of that name). I'm still stuck on the intro song, and I'm adding to it on a case by case basis as I think of random rhythms and such, but it is still pretty incomplete.

Edit: Dec 6. I finished the theme song today! The theme song was buzzing around in my head while I rode the bus home today, so I was able to finish the theme song up pretty impressively when I got home. By the way, it's snowing right now! Yay!

The biggest thing holding me back right now is schoolwork. Doesn't it always seem that teachers load you up with the most work right before Christmas break? But yeah, I've got a lot to do as far as schoolwork, I have several projects I need to get done, plus the day-to-day homework assignments that just keep adding up. It feels like it just never stops, and as soon as I get an elephant off of my back, two more jump on! Ah well, I guess I'd better get to work...

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15395836/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15395836/ Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:34:52 PST Coolcomixz and I are coming up with the theme song to the series, and he wants to put together an intro for it sometime in the next week. Go ahead and submit any ideas towards the song (instruments, or even notes if you want to) and the intro if you want.

So far we have a general idea of what we want for the first four episodes:

Episode 1: The pilot, the group steals something of value, they are introduced as well as their broken-down-shed headquarters.

Episode 2: They confront Mr. McDogal, the filthy rich entrepreneur who confuses Ren with his long lost cousin from Sweden. In the end, Mr. McDogal funds their new high-tech underground base.

Episode 3: Derek Darkness is introduced, his story is told and he summons his spire-like headquarters. We are still coming up with a subplot for this episode.

Episode 4: Ren and Stevensky are sent to investigate Derek Darkness's spire, they are captured and must somehow destroy Derek's first attempt at a superweapon.

These are just general ideas, and we would love some additional ideas if you could give them to us.


And last, but most definitely not least, we need to come up with three more names: the name of the city in which they live, the name of the organization they are in, and most important of all......the name of the entire series!

The names of the characters are somewhat finalized, but nothing else is! Go ahead and post some more ideas!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15323890/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15323890/ Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:58:31 PDT
Ok, here are the notes we've got for the two new protagonist characters. Their models are posted at the corresponding links.

Ren: Model is here ([link])
- Comes up with crazy, ridiculous ideas
- Schemes quite a bit
- Often seems separated (like not interested or uncaring about what others have to say)
- Blames others for his mistakes
- Intelligence is not stupid, yet not smart at the same time (like somewhere in the middle)

Neil: Model is here ([link])
- Points out other people's problems
- Sometimes the voice of reason
- The 'smart' one, puts things together (but it is often ruined by other characters)
- Can be a bit reckless at times

Thorn ([link]) and Stevensky ([link]) are going to stay somewhat the same. If you've watched the toons before, you should know what to expect.

We've also been trying to come up with ideas for their HQ. Z-Man thinks it should be an underground base, and I'm still kinda stuck on what I want it to be, but I think it should have a major part over ground as well so that the outside would have some application in the toons.

Now for the antagonists! We're going to stick with Derek Darkness ([link]), except he's going to have a different backstory and reasons for opposition. We've decided that he should be a space general from a dark race originating from the other side of the galaxy. He ended up on Earth by chance, and is now out to enslave the human race in order to both add to his army, and allow himself a way to return to the war raging in the outer reaches of space. Unfortunately, the big thing standing in his way (or at least he thinks so) is this group of protagonists (still coming up with a name) and their 'high-tech weaponry and gadgetry'.

As far as his base goes, we were thinking about some kind of evil spire that he summoned upon the Earth as his headquarters for his evil doing.

Update

We've made the decisions for the new henchman! We've decided that his name should be Lloyd ([link]). He's basically a different transformation of Derek's species. He is able to breath in Earth's atmosphere for a short amount of time from time to time. In combat, he uses his sharp teeth, fangs, and claws against his opponents.

Personality wise, he's pretty much the smarter one that tries to point out flaws in Derek's plans, but is utterly ignored. Derek also uses him as a guinea pig for his experiments and inventions.

There's a fairly 'basic' description of what we've come up with. Remember, NOTHING is final as of yet, so feel free to submit any changes, ideas, and additions!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15218276/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/15218276/ Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:05:38 PDT Coolcomixz (aka Z-Man) and I are trying to come up with a new series for CoolComixbz.com to replace the so called 'main series' that isn't getting anywhere. Some of you may know what I'm talking about. Anyways, we want to replace the series because we lost interest, the models are outdated, the plot stinks, the characters can't develop, the list goes on....

We would like to keep many of the characters from the old series in this new one we're developing, especially Thorn (Z-Man's trademark character) and Stevensky (he's a good comic relief), and possibly Rose and Derek Darkness if our ideas keep going in the same direction they are now. We're looking into a replacement for Rex just so that we can keep everything in the same drawing style (which we've decided will be similar to Frame by Frame).

As far as plot goes, so far we've been looking into something similar to GEOweasel by ~NikoAnesti, but we don't want to rip it off or anything, but maybe just use it like a framework. So far, the plot we're looking into is a group of teens bent on seeking self-gratification by whatever means necessary (rather than world domination), and a group of antagonists (likely to be Derek Darkness) who seeks to cash in or disrupt their plans for their own self-gratification.

So far everything is a little shaky, and nothing is final as of yet. We hope to get this redesign decided on quickly so that we can get our cartoon making back-on-track, but we're still in the brainstorming stages. If anyone has any ideas that they would like to add, go ahead, we still need all the ideas we can get!

]]> ~Coolcomixb http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/14829254/ http://Coolcomixb.deviantart.com/journal/14829254/ Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:42:07 PDT
In case you haven't guessed, Z-Man (aka ) joined a few months ago and recommended me. We both make Frame by Frame comics, which is a series that we have on our website (which you can find here [link] if you're interested).

Anyways, I look forward to trying out deviantART for myself, so until the next time I say something, see ya around!

]]> ~Coolcomixb