Category: video games

Interesting Times Friday Mailbag: "Thompson Twins"

Posted on by

One thing I was pretty inconsistent on was with representing recognizable (e.g. celebrity) faces. Sometimes I used actual pictures, as in this comic. Sometimes I redrew but attempted realism, like in the one with Ernie Coombs. I forget the number. That method actually turns out to be the most work, which is not what I’m about.

The correct answer, and the one I go with nowadays, is to draw them in my own style. The reason I would just paste a face in would be about a 90/10 split between laziness and lack of self-confidence that the person I’d attempting to draw would look anything like reality. Over the years I’ve gained in self-confidence and become slightly less lazy, and therefore drawing them myself, as stickpeople, is the way to go. [January 18, 2012]

now it just sits on the shelf next to my copy of Ringtales for the SNES

Posted on by

Got a question to throw in the mailbag?
send it to journalcomic at gmail dot com

Begin Commentary – Regarding “Ringtales” — no it is not real, although nobody ever asked me anyway. It is an obscure reference to a game that the popular comic Penny Arcade made up. They didn’t just reference it, they drew box art and wrote a glowing description that compelled me to write in and ask why I couldn’t find it. (They let me down quickly and apologized, very sarcastically, for tricking me).

It’s described as “StarFox” with platform and RPG elements, which sounds amazing. But just now I realized that we actually have that game in the form of “StarFox Adventures”, which is not amazing. [January 17, 2012]

you want to think you’ll improve a little each time you try, but no

Posted on by

This comic was likely inspired, at least in part, by my Mom. Over six years ago I introduced her to the computer game “Bookworm” and she has been playing it ever since. Oh sure, there have been other things in the meantime (“Peggle”, and more recently some hidden object games) but Bookworm was her first big gaming fixation.

If she’s ever not playing it regularly, it’s because of the issue brought up by this comic; one day the pieces will fall into place and she’ll get a higher score than she’s ever gotten. Too high, she thinks. Impossibly high. And then in subsequent games she won’t even be able to get close. It’s funny and a bit sad to watch, because I’ve been in that place so many times — if you set the bar too high and aren’t even sure what you did to get there, what hope do you have of ever getting there again? [January 3, 2012]