Planets³ taking cubes to the stars and beyond, one Planet at a Time.

Welcome back to the Conversation!  Today I am pleased to be talking to Michel from Cubical Drift who is here to talk to us today about Planets³. Thank you for joining us today Michel.

Hi, I am pleased to be here, thank you for your invitation. I will present myself: I am 32 years old and I am the Planets³ project director. Last year when I saw the potential of our project I quit my job to focus only on Planets³.

Ever since a certain mining and crafting game showed up any time a game shows up with cube style graphics people immediately make a comparison, so how does Planets³ differ from other cube games?  

First by it’s art. With our 25cm square blocs and their different shapes, it’s really something else.

Secondly Planets³ is a RPG. There is a story, quests, dungeons … Some characters will accompany you along your adventure, helping you to progress.

And third : Space !

How hard is it to create a storyline in a world that can be changed so dramatically?  Does that ease in changing the landscape play into the story at all, say in a Hercules and the stables kind of way?  

Planets³ is all about bringing a story over a voxel world. So yes there will be some “awkward” situations, it will be our job to avoid or resolve them.

Lot of story elements will be “placed” manually in all the landscape and caverns.

Will it be possible to simple build a tower into the sky or will buildings have more stresses than just gravity to deal with?  Will space elevators be an alternative form of getting into orbit or even traveling between planets on a “bridge?”  

There will be some altitude constraints for construction. But “space” elevators should be something possible. It’s a little too early to talk about that in fact, but I would love that this will possible.

Add Some "POW!" to Your Role Playing Combat

Welcome back to the Conversation!  I’m joined by Mark Scott from ConflictRPG who is here to talk to us about their Combat Description Cards.  Thank you for joining us today Mark!

Hello James. Thank you for having me aboard.

The Combat Description Cards seem like such a simple but powerful game mastering tool, could you tell us all about them?  

No problem.

Okay, I'm a long-time gamer. Over the years, I've sat at a lot of gaming tables, as both a player and gamemaster. And if there's one thing I've come to realize it's that combat is a lot better when it's vivid and descriptive, rather than being just, "You hit for 17 points of damage."

But all too often, that "17 points" is all we get.

I'd been wanting to tackle this particular issue for a while, and I'd been playing around with the idea of having some kind of list ready-to-hand that people could consult whenever they needed something interesting and fresh to say during a combat. But there was one major issue. How do you get the words to people in a quick and simple manner that doesn't involve consulting books and lists? How do you get those words to them in a way that doesn't break the flow of ideas?

Then I had an epiphany - cards. Quick, simple, ready-to-hand, and with just a touch of randomness to keep things always fresh and new. And thus the Combat Description Cards deck was borne.

Are these cards only for fantasy settings or do they work well for gunshots and vibroblades as well as swords and fireballs?  

The CDC deck is as system neutral as we can make it. What we have done is split combat up into damage types, and kept our wording as generic as possible, offering it to the GM to fill in the details as needed. So, in the deck, we are describing cutting, slashing, and piercing damage, but not the weapon that does the damage. That is left for the GM to fill in.

Thus, the CDC deck can be used for just about any RPG, regardless of its game system or its time frame. We do have plans for expanding the CDC deck outside of the range of physical damage, but getting just physical taken care of was a large enough project as it is.

E-Depth Angel

Welcome back friends to the Conversation!  Today I am joined by the creator of E-Depth Angel to talk about the Anime Kickstarter that was recently launched.  Thank you for joining us today.  

A: Thank you so much for inviting me. :) It’s an honor to answer your questions.

Why don’t we start off by talking a bit about E-Depth Angel?  What made you want to make a webcomic?  

A: E-depth Angel is a story about a girl without any superpowers being forced to face a family of crazy cyborgs with mechs and all sorts of weapons that want to kill each other. Not only does she need to survive, but she will also have to help bring them the peace they have been missing.

In the past, I have always read about comics, western and eastern alike focusing on the power of force and wealth when it comes to a hero or heroine like character. While I loved the idea of relating to characters that stir my fantasy with their super powers or weapons, I can’t help but to feel empty walking away from this fantasy world back into my world, powerless.

I want my audience to be able to walk away from my story with some kind of encouragement that can relate to their real life, to empower them with their decisions, while still create a world with new things they can discover. Taking something out of a fantasy world.  

And why a nurse? It was inspired from a documentary, where a nurse in China took care of a group of people with leprosy.  They would fight and bite each other viciously. Yet she still managed to turn them around and live with each other in peace by caring for them. I felt that story should be reshared in some other form, and this story is what came out of it. Except now her patients are a bunch of rich and mighty cyborgs that hardly listen to her.

And to the people who are very curious about her young look, it’s modeled after myself, because my face is a baby face. Yes, and I still trick people unintentionally. If I line up with my brothers, I always look like the youngest… That’s the part of the inspiration behind Angel, our main heroine. I want to talk about a girl who has a hard time being taken seriously.

When did you decide to try your hand at animating your work?  

A: My first try was probably around 2004. Using flash to try to turn my characters from still images to moving images.

Ex: My short clip “Morning”  and Renel walks

Back then I had no previous animation training except some training in using flash so I couldn’t even get a character to walk consistently. Later I enrolled into School of Visual Arts for 4 years under 2D traditional animation department. That’s when my animation skill shows a jump and learned to work with a team.

Through out the school, I have done shorter animations as tests, starting from 30 seconds, to 1 min, 2 min, eventually to 6 mins. Each step of the way is an individual lesson on its own.

SpaceBear

Welcome back friends to another Kickstarter Conversation!  Today I am once again joined by Andres Salazar whom long-time readers will remember from his successful Pariah, Missouri campaign.  Thank you for coming back to the Conversation Andres!

Hello James, thank you very much for inviting me.  I can’t do this crowdfunding thing without great people like you.

You’re too kind. Before we get to your newest project could you tell us how Pariah, Missouri went?  I understand you did a second Kickstarter for it to produce a “director’s cut” version as well, how has that project gone?  

Both went extremely well.   I did almost 300% goal funded for the first one and then another almost 200% for the second (which was at a higher goal amount)  I didn’t get rich off them, but I was able to cover all the production and shipping costs, which is really all I wanted.  I’ve had some great emails and responses from the backers on the book, and they were all shipped on time, I pride myself that I have always came through with the goods on time.

Your latest project SpaceBear seems to be a stark departure from your previous project.  Can you tell us all about it?  

Sure!  SpaceBear is a children’s book, ages 3-6.  It’s a fun sci-fi story like from the 50-60’s, but told for children and enjoyed by parents who are into that genre.  I add pop culture references, like Adventure Time to make it fun for the adults to read.  my goal was to make it fun for kids, educational and can be read in different ways, depending on the development of the child.

This is also the first in a series in the Bear-verse with other Bears in different worlds that I’m excited about and so I hope to build this into something VERY special.