#004: Quick Time Breathing

koobismo

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#004: Quick Time Breathing

We should all advocate for more quick time events in games. And webcomics. And theatre. And life.

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Grimh

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Man if I'd gotten a dollar every time I have waken up with a giant needle in my chest...

I'd have like 7 dollars.
 

Double A

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These are a lot shorter than MS, but one of the things that really makes your other comic stand out is the soundtrack. Are you gonna do something about that for this thing? Like a playlist for archive binges at least?
 

Bob_McMillan

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A syringe? The only games I remember where a syringe gives you health or revive you are Far Cry and Battlefield Hardline.
 

FPLOON

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So... There's [probably] 5 players... Pulse has been in this for 5 months... The highest number you can see fully on the syringe in the last panel is 5... The next episode would be Episode #5 in this series... And I'm now reminded that Johnny 5 is alive for some reason...

That's five reasons to convince me that Episode 5 will raise more questions than answers... and I will fucking love it for that exact reasoning...
 

koobismo

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Caramel Frappe said:
.. I have a million questions myself, but dem game references hidden in the comic.
I've spotted like 3 off the bat, and possibly another Easter Egg. I enjoyed those alone, the comic itself is interesting :)
Thanks, Caramel Frappe, really glad you're enjoying it! Would you mind spilling which references you've found? There are some pretty obvious ones, and a few I consider a bit less recognizable, unless someone actually played the game referenced (like the Tomb Raider jump in episode 3) - wondering how much of it is "in the open", so to speak.

zombiejoe said:
Gotta admit, I'm interested to see where this all goes.
Thanks, Zombiejoe! Hope you won't be dissapointed. All the episodes so far were basically the "intro", which I'm really glad to be leaving behind - not that I dislike it, but there's some really cool stuff incoming, if I may say so myself, and being clearer about the nature of the world is a big part of why I like it so much more than what we've already had.

Tigerlily Warrior said:
OMG. SO MANY QUESTIONS
Loving this story so far.
Thank you, Tigerlily! ^^

Grimh said:
Man if I'd gotten a dollar every time I have waken up with a giant needle in my chest... I'd have like 7 dollars.
Pretty sure that's an achievement right there.
Ploink, "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: 5G - My kind of party."

Double A said:
These are a lot shorter than MS, but one of the things that really makes your other comic stand out is the soundtrack. Are you gonna do something about that for this thing? Like a playlist for archive binges at least?
That's a really interesting question, and one I haven't really pondered. Despite a lot of "dry" fixes (like my obsession with making Cerberus a bit more believable within the rules and history of the ME universe, which leads to discussing a worldwide metro system and blahblah), "Marauder Shields" has always counted on the emotional side of things to carry it through - hence the music choices, an attempt to squeeze more engagement from peeps used to what the Mass Effect trilogy delivered in spades: feels. One of the MS readers (Gabril?) even suggested that MS has a very detectable rhythm to it, coinciding with music, each episode having its own opening, middle section movement and a crescendo... Something not really all deliberate, but I remembered the suggestion purely on the grounds of being holy-shitballs-excited that I might be doing something artful. And, admittedly, the episodes that seemed to stick closer to that formula usually got better responses than the ones that didn't.

With "Game On" I'm trying out something wholly different - there's an emotional side to it that I hope to jump to later on, once there are actual reasons to like the characters (which takes time), but insofar it's a bit more exotic, and I'm unsure whether any kind of music wouldn't feel odd when played alongside the panels. The fact that the strips are shorter, and differ between each other a lot (some are action-oriented, others will basically be panel-long jokes), also makes it harder to actually have the music add, rather than subtract, from the whole thing. I am, however, interested in this thought - do you have something in mind, specifically, a genre or type of music, or even a specific track that would work for you with this?

I might just throw in "go and listen to Led Zeppelin's Kashmir while reading" at the end of each ep, because Kashmir adds to everything.

Kaze006 said:
The cliffhangers man, all the questions I have! Curse you Koobismo! Curse you!
Curses you back, little hobbitses!

Bob_McMillan said:
A syringe? The only games I remember where a syringe gives you health or revive you are Far Cry and Battlefield Hardline.
The text on the syringe - Revivo - actually comes from an MP of Far Cry 3! However, now you've got me wondering, I always kind-of-sort-of remembered there were more. The Binding of Isaac has a shitload of syringes, no? Weren't there some in older FPS-es? Now I'm just scratching my head at the fact that my mind tells me "revival shots" in syringes are a prevalent and often-returning trope in video games, and I can't put my fingers on why I started thinking that.

...should've went with sprays, maybe.

FPLOON said:
So... There's [probably] 5 players... Pulse has been in this for 5 months... The highest number you can see fully on the syringe in the last panel is 5... The next episode would be Episode #5 in this series... And I'm now reminded that Johnny 5 is alive for some reason... That's five reasons to convince me that Episode 5 will raise more questions than answers... and I will fucking love it for that exact reasoning...
5, of which 2 players are already presented = 5-2 = 3 = Half-Life 3 confirmed! Glad you're liking the mystery-filled style of the story, Fploon! :)

Also, Johnny 5, damn, I now have an urge to start listening to "I need a hero" over and over again. Damnnn youuu.
 

Cyrromatic

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"Sometimes you just have to die to get the story rolling."

On the Normandy. You sly devil, you.
 

Lightknight

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Heh, Revivo.

I like the cell shaded feel to it. Kinda gives me a feel of something between borderlands and reboot for some reason.

And the hooks just keep on pulling me in. Where to? Koobismo knows!
 

koobismo

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Redlin5 said:
Adrenaline, med kits, stimpacks... So many pointy things in gaming medicine. >:eek:
After Bob_McMillan's comment above, I'm still trying to find all the syringe instances I can, wondering where the hell comes my assumption that they're in basically every other game. :D Fallout's Stimpacks are indeed a good proposition!

Lightknight said:
Heh, Revivo. I like the cell shaded feel to it. Kinda gives me a feel of something between borderlands and reboot for some reason.And the hooks just keep on pulling me in. Where to? Koobismo knows!
Borderlands feel was very much a part of the plan - I will, however, be entirely frank, I absolutely forgot about Reboot. Holy shit, it's been years! That and Jonny Quest Adventures virtual world.
 

Double A

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koobismo said:
That's a really interesting question, and one I haven't really pondered. Despite a lot of "dry" fixes (like my obsession with making Cerberus a bit more believable within the rules and history of the ME universe, which leads to discussing a worldwide metro system and blahblah), "Marauder Shields" has always counted on the emotional side of things to carry it through - hence the music choices, an attempt to squeeze more engagement from peeps used to what the Mass Effect trilogy delivered in spades: feels. One of the MS readers (Gabril?) even suggested that MS has a very detectable rhythm to it, coinciding with music, each episode having its own opening, middle section movement and a crescendo... Something not really all deliberate, but I remembered the suggestion purely on the grounds of being holy-shitballs-excited that I might be doing something artful. And, admittedly, the episodes that seemed to stick closer to that formula usually got better responses than the ones that didn't.
I noticed that rhythm too. Every time the music shifts a bit, it seems to match up with a new panel I just get to. I fucking love it.

With "Game On" I'm trying out something wholly different - there's an emotional side to it that I hope to jump to later on, once there are actual reasons to like the characters (which takes time), but insofar it's a bit more exotic, and I'm unsure whether any kind of music wouldn't feel odd when played alongside the panels. The fact that the strips are shorter, and differ between each other a lot (some are action-oriented, others will basically be panel-long jokes), also makes it harder to actually have the music add, rather than subtract, from the whole thing.
Yeah, feels are pretty important, but everyone reading MS already had an attachment to ME characters so I guess you do have to actually establish why we should care about these people-shaped pixels first. OH NO, WORK!

I am, however, interested in this thought - do you have something in mind, specifically, a genre or type of music, or even a specific track that would work for you with this?

I might just throw in "go and listen to Led Zeppelin's Kashmir while reading" at the end of each ep, because Kashmir adds to everything.
Yeaaaaaah that'd do it. BSG's version of All Along the Watchtower might work too because everything's so alien at this point.