#011: Tap Y To Ask Questions

[CrazyGirl17]

Damn, I was really interested in seeing where this was going... Guess you can't get everything you want, I suppose...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

That's too bad man, best of luck to you.

 

[Rylot]

Not sure if this is helpful as feedback, but I barely noticed this was on the site since the thumbnail on the frontpage doesn't really identify it too well. The other webcomics usually put their name as part of the thumbnail so it's easier to tell but for all I knew this could have been a random Escapist article or podcast or something.

I agree, it can be hard to tell what's what on the front page a lot of the time. With new content showing up out of the blue I'd like them to fix up the front page and organize it in a sane way to let users know what are articles, podcasts, comics, and editorials. It's too jumbled right now and things can't go on name recognition if I've never seen it before.

Sorry for the tough break. I really did enjoy these and the world you've set up sounds like an interesting one. Hope you can revisit it.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Spoiler: Press F to Pay Respects

F

You were a good bloke m8 and I hope the future treats you better

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

There was so much else to see and read... Damn you fickle internet market! Damn you to HELL! :c

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Already?

That seems...absurdly quick, in all honesty. Really sad to see this comic go. :<

 

[koobismo]

I can't imagine what went wrong. New content is always a welcome sight to me. Maybe the build was too slow, I dunno. Well, I thought it was a good comic while it lasted. I'll just take the classic internet stance that everyone with a different opinion is wrong.

As long as that classic internet stance goes my way, I'm all for it. All in all, I think that a complex, multi-tiered answer would have to be issued to the question of "what went wrong?" (one I'm actively chasing in this topic, as you can see) - and I believe the slow build did play an important part in it, yeah. Lessons to be learned, everywhere.

That's quite a shame, but it's nice to be appreciated as niche. That said, the bigger let-downs I guess was the art, it's so cheesy, like someone took some photos and threw on an edge finding filter. Also, maybe the pages are a bit too long, but it's either that or an even more stunted narrative; then again, the benefit of shorter pages is that content can be released at higher frequency, keeping people more easily invested, because they don't have to recall last week to remember what happened.tl;dr: frequency of pages too low.

Oh, my process uses whole sequences of filters and whatnot along the way, but I'm afraid that most of those cheesy pen-lines you refer to are, well, my own handiwork. I wanted to go for a bit of a cel-shaded feel, or rather a mix of cel-shaded with some old comics I enjoyed as a kid... Many of which were printed with outstanding contrast, making the black lines stand out, often thickening them in the process as the ink spilled on the cheap-ass paper. I know it's really nothing special when you have thousands of pro artists surrounding you with magnificent art all the time (damn you, Internet), but, well, after some asking around over the last three days, I'd say the style itself wasn't unpopular. Personally, I'd give myself three funny pictures of Pres Obama making a thumbs up out of five, as long as we're playing in the "amateur" category.

The frequency is definitely something I'll be putting in the post-mortem - it actually surprised me how much was lost (even for my friends) when I carried a thing from one week to another. Also, props here to Grey, who at the very beginning slapped me for not making this a twice-a-week affair. But, hey, other commitments.

This is sad. I was really enjoying the comic. I was intrigued by the story and the art style was unique - reminded me of cel-shaded graphics in games. It was a bit slow-paced, but it's a shame people couldn't stick with it.

Thanks, Debber! Appreciating your enjoyment of it, and this nice comment. If you're active on some social media - from Facebook, to Twitter, to Tumblr, to DeviantArt - do follow me somewhere. At this point I have no idea what will become of the series, but if there will be a chance to ever resurrect it in one way or another, I will (and will try to improve it with the lessons learned now).

I was interested to see where this comic was going. Sorry to see it go. Though admittedly for the past two or three weeks it seems The Escapist has had some DNS issues so I couldn't get to the site at all without going through Google's cached mode and it just wasn't worth the effort for the most part to do so. It's only started working for me this week. I'm sure I wasn't the only person who couldn't access the site, which certainly couldn't have helped the comic viewing numbers... Good luck with your future endeavors!

Funnily enough, I've been running into some DNS issues...with my own site. Kept blocking me out. I'm unsure this premature demise could be blamed on technical issues, though, as they would hit other series as well. As it stands, it was "Game On" that didn't arrive at solid numbers. Also, thank you for your wishes, good luck will be needed!

I blame the Catalyst. It first killed the creators, then it killed Shepard, and now it killed "Game On, Hardcore". (jk)

D:

Spoiler

The curse

Spoiler

is real

In a serious note, I'm sad about this. I was really enjoying the comic. I hope that you have more success in the future.

Thanks, CaitSeith! I have a few things in the oven - including my lil' game - and need to make a solid count of what I can, should, and can afford to finish and bring out next... Alas, regardless of what the next thing will be, some success would be nice.

Sorry to hear it. I wanted to like the series, but really I've been reading it out of habit more than interest. My biggest problem, if you are looking for feedback at this point, is that I don't know the characters, don't know what's going on, and don't know why I should care.

Sure, thank you for the feedback. Lots of people have extremely differing - and often exclusive - ideas about how to improve what they're reading/watching/playing, but I try to sift through it all and observe trends to get an (somewhat-shallow-sometimes) understanding how all of this works with different kinds of people. So, yeah, very much appreciated, even at this point.

I'm one of those dudes that really, really like slow-paced unveilings and I do recognize - even more so today - that it's not an entirely popular thing. The point to actually start caring wasn't far off from where we ended up - I just hoped we would get there on the promises of the concept and the otherness of the events shown.

A real shame the series is ending, just as our protagonist was getting answers, too! It's rare that I get into anything with a slow burn... usually I prefer episodic content. I think the closest was Burn Notice, which used each episode to tell a self-contained story (to develop characters and ease in new viewers) and hints at a larger story (as a hook), only breaking that mold for a season finale. Eh, whatcha goin' do? Better luck with the next project!

Thanks, man! I am actually quite the opposite - ever since discovering serialized content, I can't be all that bothered with fully episodic stuff, at least as far as TV and comics go. Whenever I catch a show that follows a formula that goes back to the status quo at the end of the ep, I get disinterested pretty quickly... Just goes to show how differently we all approach this culture stuff, huh.

Bums. I was enjoying that, and loved the art

Thanks, Al! Glad you did, here's hoping the comic will have a chance to bounce back in one form or another.

Aw, sorry to hear you go. If you do continue it on a separate site, give a head's up. I'd gladly keep reading this unique story.

I will, Stringtheory! Right now I'm in a bit of a chaotic place, not yet sure how I could afford continuing it on my own (it really takes a bit of time to deliver an episode), but I'll keep searching - if I'll find a good option on how to continue, I'll spam around the forums. Also, shameless plug: might want to keep in touch via some social media or my site for smaller updates too.

Wha? WHA?! Ah, great, now I feel guilty for tuning out of this series for genuine *Real Life* reasons, and only recently bringing myself back up to date. This is honestly one of the more stylish webcomic worlds that I've come across in a long time, and I'll be very sorry to see it go. I was looking forward to the slow build of answers mixed with more questions... Dammit website statistics! *Shakes fist*

*Shakes fist in unison, then quietly sits down in the corner*

Well Koobs, you're a man to watch regardless, so I look forward to the final episode and (even if it maybe takes me a day or so to do so) you can bet that I'll be joining in the post-ep foruming. And I'm still tuning in for Marauder Shields

Thanks, dude. Much appreciated!

*Reads comment above* Discover that Koobs doesn't like Guardians of the Galaxy* Okay, I take all the nice stuff I just said back, you're - I'm kidding

Weeeell, it's not like I felt tortured while watching it, I enjoyed it - just not *that* much, not nearly at the level everyone told me I would. It was fun, but little else to me - very possibly due to the amount of hype that I got blasted with beforehand (with a smaller fault in the fact that I really liked the comic when I was a bit younger and didn't really feel the surprise some did of this being a part of the MCU). If everyone puts "I am groot!" on everything for a long while before you get to watch the movie, the whole one-liner joke becomes nothing but tedious. But, again, fully recognizing its qualities - chose it as an example of my subjective weirdness on purpose!

Press F to Pay Respects. You were a good bloke m8 and I hope the future treats you better

*Taps F repeatedly*
*Presses G to gurgle down a sorrowful cup of tea*

Damn, I was really interested in seeing where this was going... Guess you can't get everything you want, I suppose...

Aye, tell me about it. There's still a small flicker of hope I'll get to finish it elsewhere, but definitely not with my current financial state. Onto the future, as they say.

There was so much else to see and read... Damn you fickle internet market! Damn you to HELL! :c

We're all just gears in the machine, maan. Gears in the machine...
*slides back behind the collar of his imaginary trenchcoat, sucking vividly on his imaginary cigarette, drenched in imaginary darkness of his imaginary cyberpunk apartment*

That's a damn shame. I was really enjoying this and looking forward to where it was going. I really hope you get to continue this somewhere else. Best of luck mate!

That's too bad man, best of luck to you.

I'd rather see Full Frontal Nerdity die than this comic.

Already? That seems...absurdly quick, in all honesty. Really sad to see this comic go. :<

Sorry for the tough break. I really did enjoy these and the world you've set up sounds like an interesting one. Hope you can revisit it.

Thanks, guys. Sorry to group you like this in the answers, but I'm assuming I'm getting close to the limit here, this post is getting humongous as it is (plus, I need to sprint to the vet with my dachshund in a sec). I really should've replied as the posts started coming in.

Thank you for reading, thanks for the wishes, and thank you for the sad faces here - all mean a lot. It's actually funny how much one cares for a nod from absolute strangers, no? I'll try to update you folks as soon as I know what will be the ultimate fate of the series. So, Camaranth, Johnny, Houseman, Solaire, Rylot... Tip of the Rift to ya'. And, of course, there's still the next ep to close us off on the Escapist.

 

[The Wooster]

Spoiler: Sad to see you go, Koobs. You had a genuinely interesting thing going on here.

 

[koobismo]

Sad to see you go, Koobs. You had a genuinely interesting thing going on here.

Thanks, dude. I'll track you down one day to have that beer or something.

Spoiler: Oh, also, I almost forgot to give this back, silly me.

 

[FPLOON]

Aw shit, dude... And I was having so much fun reading these... Now, I feel like I was reading a[n extensive] prologue to something bigger than I could think of that's, at least, as consistent as what was presented here in these Game On Hardcore episodes at this point...

With that said, I do hope this could be continued in some way, shape, or form... Was not expecting this to be as niche as the numbers would indicate, though... (Now, I'm reminded of those anime adaptations that only adapt a few of the several or so novels in the series in question... Or what happened to the TV series version of Constantine..)