#and then having to reference screenshots for what abilities would be usable back then to use for poses

[zahnffxiv]

that means!! i've managed to become a—wait, they're calling it a... sexlegend?? oh, i see...

[draco-omega]

10 months ago, I decided to make a game.

10 months later, I have a bunch of art and a bunch of interface code and a whole pile of design notes, and not much game.

This is my story.

(Now in bullet point form so that I can stop redrafting it >.>)

I have a treatment-resistant anxiety disorder which significantly interferes with my ability to work - both on my own projects and other things that might be called 'gainful employment'. (I still feel some shame at admitting this so bluntly, even though I feel ideologically that there should be no more shame in this than any physical impairment that resulted in the same. Fuck mental health stigma, defining self-worth by employment is toxic capitalist dogma, etc, etc.)

In part because of this, I had been effectively unemployed and living with my mother for a number of years. (I still did my best to hammer out projects, but nothing, y'know, actually PAID anything... >.>)

Then in late 2017, my mother died (somewhat unexpectedly) of cancer, which left me with no home (we'd been sharing an apartment that she had been covering most of the rent on) and literally zero income. Obviously grief and upheaval did not help with any of my prior difficulties managing employment, either.

After some debate, I decided to combine the savings I had left over from my last stint as a network administrator with a (modest) inheritance from my mother and try to actually make a living at making games. This is something I had always theoretically wanted to do, but never put actual money on the line for. (Okay, in a perfect world, I'd happily give all my work away for free and live on some minimum guaranteed income, but we do not yet live in such a world).

One of my historically biggest gamedev weaknesses was a lack of artistic ability, so this seemed a perfect thing to put money towards. I could hire an artist, which would not only allow me to make a more commercially appealing product, but would also free me up to focus on the mechanical and writing aspects of gamedev, which are the areas I most wanted to be working on and also consider myself best at. (Any followers that remember my work on ToK may recall me complaining there about how it seemed I spent my time on nothing but graphics? >.>

This was shortly after Touhou fangames had been given the official blessing to be sold on Steam, and some had already achieved great success there, so this seemed like a good way to create some instant appeal and interest in my game, while working with a franchise that I already loved to death and had written hundreds of thousands of words of fanfiction for (eg: This or that or this other thing)

And so Chronicle of False History was born!

...and yet I somehow still spent most of my time working on art. You see, having never worked with an actual artist before, I underestimated a number of things:

1) I underestimated how much work it would be to find a suitable artist in the first place (though at least this part is done)

2) I gravely underestimated how much of my time would be spent on 'art direction' or 'project management' or whatever you want to call it.

Every sprite that is created, even for canonical character designs, requires making a large number of decisions regarding:

What attack and spell poses it will have (and how to cover the broadest range of signature abilities with just two 'frames', for budget reasons)

Which of enumerable (and sometimes mutually-exclusive) costume details from canon (and fanon) should be selected (and do you have any idea just how many variations there are on things as straightforward as 'the hilt of Miko's sword'?)

Gathering a pile of reference images that clearly detail every element of the character (and action poses) to be drawn (which is also harder than you might think; a lot of art is sufficiently suggestive of details to view without actually being a good reference to reproduce and anything that isn't exactly what I'm looking for risks my artist misunderstanding my request entirely)

Designing alternate-history variants of this character in a way that can be clearly conveyed with minimal costume and color changes alone (as any significant redrawing would cost far more and the cast of the game is so large already) and doing so before the part of the game they would appear in is even written.

Gathering reference images for all of those things

Writing up a detailed description of all the decisions listed above (and often drawing actual diagrams of action poses and projectile overlays that are ambiguous to express with just words) and handing it over to my artist

Waiting a while, then getting sketches back and finding out that there is inevitably a whole pile of things that need changing (either because the artist misunderstood my request entirely - despite all that previous effort - or because an idea of mine looked far better in my own head than it does, or just the usual 'incremental improvements' to something that is on the right track but not quite there - like a sort of collaborative redrafting.)

Spending hours poking at these sketches in an image editor, testing how well individual details resolve at in-game size, how well the action frames snap together, and how I feel about each questionable element. This often extends to (crudely) adjusting and readjusting the position and angle of individual limbs and eyebrows and projectiles that feel 'off' so that I can figure out what I would like her to do with them (and whether it's even worth making her take the effort to do anything with them at all)

Finally, summarizing that feedback into a detailed list of change requests (often with new diagrams to clarify my words) and repeating the last two steps over and over and over again.

Like, she does great work - don't get me wrong. I'm very pleased with the end results and this is just an inevitable part of the process of making something professional. But it does also mean that my original idea that paying an artist would free me up to work on things other than art has been... laughable in retrospect, to say the very least. In fact, it's very possible that a greater percentage of my dev time is spent on art-related tasks than on previous projects where I was doing all the art myself - I just get better art for my trouble (and money....)

This is especially true given that:

3) I underestimated just how much art work I would still need to do completely independently of her

Raven is doing character sprites. These are arguably the most individually important art content in the game, and certainly the ones that give it the most screenshot appeal, but that has left me to do everything else. Which has included:

Figuring out how to make battle backgrounds that passably match the art style of the game (since commissioning enough of these to fill all the locations needed would absolutely blow my budget)

Designing the entire look and feel of the combat screen to mesh well with Raven's sprites while also being something I am personally capable of making (using only cheap/free resources)

Creating all tweened animations and particle effects

Designing every single little UI element that exists in the game:

Elemental symbols

Dialogue boxes

Spellcard icons (and the entire menu design that requires them in the first place)

Combat action menus

Icons to indicate spellcard usability

Spellcard tooltips

Targeting overlays

A turn order bar

Spellcard availability reminders

Font choice for damage/healing numbers, spellcard names,

More cursors that you can shake a stick at

Lots more stuff, I'm sure

And even the completed sprites I get from Raven still need multiple hours of processing each to split them into component parts with sufficient information to re-composite and animate in-game. (If you've ever wondered why my screenshots seem to only involve Nazrin while I've already shown sprites for multiple other characters, this is why)

It never ends!!

...which is a fact that has been extremely draining. Like, it is probably difficult to overstate just how demoralizing it has been to pay this much money and work this hard and long and still somehow be mostly doing art (or visual-related coding) when I naively thought this project would offer some freedom from this after the endless, endless hours I spent doing this for ToK.

And it has also revealed a very tangible (and extremely stressful and troubling) fact about this game's development:

I am going to run out of money before I am remotely close to having a saleable product

When I first laid out plans for this project, I ballparked a modest but realistic budget for the artwork. I chose an art style that could provide pleasing visuals for a very large cast of characters at a cost-effective rate (for a game, at least). I deliberately limited my cast size based upon the agreed-upon cost per character with my artist (and have repeatedly held myself back from various fun ideas because I felt I simply could not afford to make a habit of such things). I studied sales figures for comparable games to aim for a target that had a reasonable probability of sufficient return (or at least breaking even). Game development is always a gamble, of course, but I felt (and still feel) that I made a sensible budget call and it was an amount I was fully able to pay.

But in all this, I neglected to factor in what has been, by far, my most costly development expense: remaining alive.

You see, at the rate my artist is able to produce work, the cost of retaining her is utterly dwarfed by such banal things as food and rent and not freezing to death in the winter. I live about as modest a lifestyle as possible - a one-room apartment, no car, no eating out, nothing in the way of luxuries (I don't even own a cell phone) - but that is still awfully expensive when you have no income and no prospect of it in the immediate future either.

It's a vicious cycle. The less work I get done, the more I feel future financial pressures breathing down my neck, the less work I'm able to get done (due to stress and general demoralization), the more I feel future financial pressures, etc, etc, etc.

And there's a logistical problem even outside of my own stress and anxiety and being damnably human in my need for actual rest: I've spent nearly 10 months working together with my artist and thus have a pretty good sense of how fast she's able to get character art done. And unless something changes dramatically, the time required for her to finish the art assets for the game will be several years longer than I will have any savings left to pay for them - because, as it turns out, hiring an artist is actually a tiny expense compared to merely continuing to exist.

I... don't really have a good answer for this problem and I've spent a lot of time consumed by it at this point. I have faith that Chronicle of False History can be a great game... eventually. But that does no one any good if I can't stay afloat long enough to make it. I've considered pivoting to another smaller-scope game project in the meantime, in the hopes of generating some modest influx of cash that could be used to fund the rest of CoFH's development, but there are a whole slew of reasons this is dicey (not least of which is that small-scope projects have a tendency to not be nearly as small as one anticipates...)

I've also thought about exploring Patreon, but like... I'm fully aware that I don't currently produce nearly enough interesting content for people to just want to throw money at. Tantalizing glimpses of it, perhaps. The promise that in the future I might. But what do I really have to show for this at the moment?

And so, here I am, exhausted by a marathon of work I did not properly anticipate and without the tangible reward I'd expected to have by this point (not a finished game, by any means, but like... much more of one than I actually have). And every month that passes by in which I get less done on my game than anticipated is yet more cash bleeding out of my bank account, like I'm trapped on a badly leaking boat with no shore in sight. I need a rest from all these stressors (and some more personal ones not described here), but when time spent not working has itself become a stressor these days, where can I even find it?

...wow, this sure sounded upbeat, huh?

In any case, I still care a lot about CoFH and have no intention of stopping work on it. I just... need to figure out some way to allow myself to continue to do so without this enormous capitalist behemoth crushing me beneath it.

(I had originally intended to provide more of an overview of the useful work accomplished over these past 10 months here, with mockups showing the evolution of the game's visual design, but clearly that goes into a future post at this point).

[theonyxpath]

At the end of last week, we finished up the Kickstarter campaign for the new Trinity Continuum core book, and the Trinity Continuum: Aeon book. We pretty much unlocked a Stretch Goal a day, and built out two PDFs for backers; an Aeon Aexpansion containing added info on more cool parts of the TC:Aeon setting, and In Media Res, a collection of adventure ideas for the TC core modern-day time period.

There are a few reasons why the results of this Kickstarter are satisfying to our crew here at Onyx Path:

1- The two books with the two extra PDFs give us a great start on the two time periods featured in the books. Now we can have a few meetings and discuss both the continuation of those two settings, and we can start looking at what other time periods we can cover soon. Which brings us to:

2- Based on the response to this latest KS, we are confident that we can put together a team ASAP to create the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant book, and plan on another Kickstarter for it when its text is done. Why then? Well:

3- All available evidence shows that allowing backers to read the finished text for a book being Kickstarted in weekly or two per week sections like we did for this and the last couple of KSs, does indeed give folks a chance to read, absorb, and discuss that section pretty well until the next section drops. Folks have something new to check out every couple of days. Finally:

4- With this Kickstarter, we have revealed to our community the last of the first slate of projects that came out of our initial plans for the worlds Onyx Path would publish. We, of course, have a whole bunch of new projects coming up that we’re thrilled to be starting on, or finalizing the plans for, but getting the three game-lines I bought from CCP (Scion, Scarred Lands, and the Trinity Universe) recreated and available in one form or the other for our community is a fine indicator of how we’ve thrived these last 6 years. (Heavy sigh of relief as it was never, and remains never, a slam-dunk that folks would dig what we’re doing).

And while we’ve been bringing the Storypath System and our own game-lines to life, we haven’t forgotten our Exalted 3rd, Chronicles of Darkness, and World of Darkness projects. In fact, I just sent a raft of project pitches over to White Wolf for approval. Some of them are projects that fans of those lines have heard of already (or at least the rumors of) and a couple are brand new.

More on those when we hear back from WW and can move on to outlining and getting writers a writin’.

      Dragon Blooded illustration by Yihyoung Li

      One thing we did not have in mind when we started was the ability to put together formats that creators in our community could use to make their own projects. I’m referring of course to Community Content programs, and our first is the one for Pugmire called Canis Minor that I announced a month and a half, give or take, ago.

We already have seven PDF projects up there, all either pay what you want or below $2.00 and it’s clear that the writers were just all having a blast exploring the world of Pugmire. A character creation guide, heroes and villains, a bunch of adventures, the list goes on.

And you can add to it if you have a yen to join our happy band of creators – the guidelines and formats are easy to follow, and you’ll retain half the earnings. Plus, Eddy Webb is a really nice guy and loves reading how folks have taken his ideas and run with them!

We’re finishing up the initial stages of our Scarred Lands Community Content site, and then we’ll be moving on to Scion, and we’re not done yet.

      Night Horrors: Enemy Action illustration by Luis Sanz

    Finally, I just want to briefly touch base on the Chronicles of Darkness‘s Night Horrors series of books – particularly since the one for Demon: The Descent, Night Horrors: Enemy Action, goes on sale this Wednesday. Long-time members of our community will recall that the Night Horrors “brand” was a sort of cross-line series of projects for the “new World of Darkness”, and were designed for one line but usable by all of the others.

With the advent of the Chronicles of Darkness, it made sense to me to bring back this popular series of antagonist books for the 2nd edition rules. Plus, the way the books present discrete write-ups for the various “baddies” is a great way for us to try out the new writers we’ve been looking to bring aboard for the last couple of years. If there’s a problem with a write-up, it’s just one creature, and not a huge word count to replace.

So go ahead and check out the blurbs in The Blurbs below and on DriveThru and see if there might not be some antagonists that could fit into your home chronicle, or be used to throw your players a surprise, even if that particular Night Horrors book isn’t from a line you’d normally play.

And with that, I’m outta here, and dropping this here motto right there:

 Many Worlds, One Path!

    BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

  Our next Kickstarter is slated to be EX3‘s Dragon-Blooded near the end of March.

      As we try and find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

The devs have added a whole bunch of new game lines’ dice and rolling bg’s and got caught by a bug Apple needed to fix, so be sure to update your app and soon that should be fixed.

There’s been tweaks to all elements of the UI, you can now preview every die type in the store, and you can use multiple die types per roll! Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

(The Solar Anima special Dice above)

  Promethean: The Created and Demon: The Descent dice on a Demon: The Descent tabletop

  Hunter: The Reckoning and Mage: The Awakening dice on a Mage: The Awakening tabletop

      ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook stores on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble). Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

  And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

  Andand six more more:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

  And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

    OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

    Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

    DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

Ask the darkness, and it shall answer: the Beast: The Primordial Player’s Guide Advance PDF will answer your questions when it goes live on DTRPG.com this Wednesday!

The Beast Player’s Guide expands on the material presented in Beast: The Primordial, with additional information on the Families and Hungers, what it feels like to be a Beast and experience the Devouring, and how to commune with the Dark Mother. You’ll also find two new Families and two new Hungers!

The book also includes a plethora of new Atavisms, Nightmares, Merits, and Birthrights, as well as systems for creating smaller, subservient versions of the Horror, new forms of Inheritance, and details on the mysterious Obcasus Rites.

      There are some things that even a Demon fears – Night Horrors: Enemy Action for Demon: The Descent arrives as an Advance PDF this Wednesday on DTRPG.com!

“Fighting the Machine is like fighting the ocean. You literally cannot hurt it. Doesn’t matter how much poison we dump into the ocean. We’ll only kill the things in it. We’ll never kill it. Same with the God-Machine. Kill angels, traitors, stigmatics, cultists, cryptids, whatever, you’ll never hurt the Machine Itself. No, that doesn’t mean we stop trying. You stop trying, you drown. Screw that.”

—Mr. Bliss, Guardian Inquisitor

Night Horrors: Enemy Action includes:

• Dozens of Storyteller characters, including Unchained, angels, exiles, cryptids, and stigmatics, for use as antagonists, allies, or just inspiration

• Multiple plot hooks and story seeds for your Demon: The Descent chronicles

• A brief look at cults in Demon, including the Ten Thousand Names of God, a secret society fueled by the God-Machine

        With a howl of RAGE, the W20 Changing Ways PDF and physical book PoD charges at you this Wednesday on DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229183/W20-Changing-Ways

Changing Ways is an in-depth look at what it means to be a werewolf, both on a personal level and as part of a pack. It digs deep into what it feels like to have bones re-knit after breaking, the range of senses available across all forms, and the sudden heady rush of the Gifts and Rites bestowed by spirits. It also provides a look at what life is like for lupus and metis werewolves, characters who have had experiences alien to any person. It shows the many ways that werewolves organize in packs, and how those packs are designed as groups of warriors, rather than aligned to the behavior of wolves.

Changing Ways contains:

• A detailed look at what it means to grow up as a lupus or metis werewolf, and how that colors a character’s perspective.

• More information on what it feels like to be a werewolf, a creature that changes in both body and mind.

• Frameworks and organizations for packs, along with new tactics and systems for forging the pack as part of play.

        Appearing on DriveThruRPG this Wednesday are the PDF and PoD physical book versions of Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

        Coming this Wednesday as an Advance PDF on DTRPG, we reveal The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb, a Jumpstart adventure for Pugmire. (And yes, there will be a physical book PoD version coming soon). www.drivethrurpg.com/product/232337/The-Secrets-of-Vinsens-Tomb–A-Pugmire-Jumpstart

A cat living in Pugmire disappears, but neither the police dogs nor the cats of the Cat Quarter know why. When zombies attack the heroes, however, all signs point to an invasion by the Monarchies of Mau. But how does this intrigue tie into the lost tomb of the first king of Pugmire?

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb is a Pugmire story for three to six characters. This jumpstart contains all the rules and characters you need to play — just grab some dice and go! You can also use this adventure with the full version of Pugmire.

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb contains:

• An evocative and mysterious setting that’s both family friendly and deep enough to create compelling stories.

• A summary of Pugmire’s traditional fantasy rules system. It’s designed for streamlined play, with an emphasis on cooperation and action over competition and violence.

• A complete adventure for a Guide to run for three to six players. Also useful for Guides running a full Pugmire game of first or second level characters!

• Six ready-to-play characters, so you can jump into the action.

Can your good dogs discover the secret of Vinsen’s Tomb?

  Also releasing this Wednesday on DTRPG is the physical book PoD version of the Pugmire Core Rulebook itself!

          We unveil Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Half-Damned as PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG.com this Wednesday!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227500/Half-Damned

I love her, she’s family, but I don’t love what she is.

– Antonio Ramírez, dhampir

This book includes: 

• An exploration of what it means to be one of the Half-Damned, dhampir, revenants or ghouls.

• Mechanics for creating Half-Damned characters.

• Information for creating and running chronicles using the various Half-Damned character types, both with vampires and alone.

• Information on Half-Damned antagonists for vampire chronicles.

        A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The Award-Winning Fantasy Setting Returns

Scarred Lands has been a favorite fantasy setting since the release of the Creature Collection for the d20 System in 2000. In subsequent years, over 40 titles were published for Scarred Lands, making it one of the most fully supported fantasy RPG settings ever and the premiere product line of Sword & Sorcery Studios.

Available in both 5th Edition and Pathfinder compatible versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193014/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-Pathfinder

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

      CONVENTIONS!

    And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

  Redlines

Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

  Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

  Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

Fetch Quest (Pugmire)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

  WW Manuscript Approval:

  Editing:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

  Post-Editing Development:

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

  Indexing:

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero

Changeling: the Lost 2 – Art is contracted.

Trinity Continuum

Ex3 Dragon Blooded

Boggans – Contracted.

Monarchies of Mau – Sorting through buy and figuring out roster.

Fetch Quest – KS art contracted. Taking some time this week to tweak the card design.

  Marketing Stuff

  In Layout

Scarred Lands Community Content –Figuring out the covers and the Slarecian Vault Logo.

Scion Origin

Wraith 20 Screen – Front approved… now waiting for errata phase to assemble all the charts.

Cavaliers of Mars – Laying out while new art coming in.

  Proofing

Book of Freeholds – Maggie has 2nd proof.

Pugmire – Pan’s Explorer’s Guide (or whatever)

  At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – To fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Books and Screens created and preparing to ship from printer to fulfillment shipper.

Prince’s Gambit – At press.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– Deluxe edition files sent to printer.

C20 Ready Made Characters – PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire Artisan Cards – PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire Shepherd Cards – PoD proofs on the way.

Scion Dice Packaging – At press.

Wraith 20 – Backer PDF out, and errata is coming in.

Ring of Spiragos – PoD proofs on their way.

Pugmire Vinsen’s Tomb – PoD proofs on the way.

Beast PG – Advance PDF on sale at DTRPG.com this Wednesday.

DtD Enemy Action – Advance PDF on sale at DTRPG.com this Wednesday.

  TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: In the US, March has indeed come in like a lion and we’ll see if it goes out like a lamb. But: “Now look, pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out like a tapir. And they don’t even know what it means! All right? Now listen, there are nine different countries, where March comes in like a frog, and goes out like a golden retriever. But that- that’s not the weird part! No, no, the weird part is, is the frog. The frog- The weird part is-[has seizure and falls off chair]”

[collaborativedocumenteditingsoft]

The No. 1 Question Everyone Working in premire 'collaborative video editing Should Know How to Answer

If you want to strike that same balance on your video project, this tool might be useful. For instance, video teams can use Workzone to access a range of reports that outline the progress they have made on a given project. General video production software can often be a great choice, given that these tools strongly emphasize usability. As an added bonus, these tools can be adjusted to fit your exact needs. Your team members will work very hard on your project, and their time will often be limited.

How do I export Premiere Pro to mp4?

MP4 is a file container format, while H. 264 is actually a video compression codec that requires a video container to host the encoded video. Most of the time, H. 264 refers to MP4 file encoded with H.

Tags: Editing, File Management, Organization, Premiere Pro, Productivity

This development further boosts workflow efficiency for media professionals, allowing them to work within one interface without the need for jumping from one UI to the other, which takes extra time and stifles the creative process. Axle 2016.2 is the latest edition of axle’s award-winning media management software, now optimized for media libraries with up to 1 million assets. Simply point axle at the media files you want to manage and it automatically creates low-bandwidth proxies you can then access from any web browser. There’s no need to move your media files or change your system setup. Our new plug-in panel for Adobe Premiere® Pro CC, included with every axle 2016 system, enables editors to search, see previews and begin working on footage without leaving their favorite NLE software.

Production, without the stress

But the Digital Asset Manager is more than just a big geek overseeing information and data in all its forms. While the role requires sharp analytical skills, it is the crossover skills tied to people and how they interact with digital technologies that are equally important. Metadata for an asset can include its packaging, encoding, provenance, ownership and access rights, and location of original creation. It is used to provide hints to the tools and systems used to work on, or with, the asset about how it should be handled and displayed. For example, DAM helps organizations reduce asset-request time by making media requests self-serving.

For whatever reason, it’s always nice to be able to work off of a version of your project that is linked to proxy media (meaning low-res versions of your clips). In the past, it was critical that editors would plan for a proxy workflow before they would start editing, and generate proxy files to be ingested into their NLE when first setting up their session.

Limelight Video Platform is the fastest and most intuitive way to manage and distribute online video to media devices everywhere. The power and simplicity of Limelight Video Platform lets you manage, publish, syndicate, measure, and monetize web video with ease.

How does digital asset management work?

Mid-range systems, supporting multiple users and 50-300GB of storage, have entry-level products in the range of $2,300 - $15,000 per annum. These can be hosted, cloud-based or installed on your own infrastructure.

How To Edit Vocals On Neva 7 Post Production Software?

How does a digital asset management system work?

A much better way to use illustrations is to employ visual assets — photos, charts, visual representations of concepts, comics or annotated screenshots used to make a point. Visual assets complement a story rather than telling the story entirely like an infographic does.

You can also subscribe to my Premiere Gal YouTube channel for weekly video editing and production tutorials to help you create better video. Both Adobe Premiere vs Final Cut Pro offers almost the same kind of video editing but still, they differ in a lot of ways. Because Adobe Premiere comes as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, which is a Marvel’s Avengers-esque suite of tools to support your video making.

Support for ProRes on macOS and Windows streamlines video production and simplifies final output, including server-based remote rendering with Adobe Media Encoder. Adobe Premiere Pro supports several audio and video formats, making your post-production workflows compatible with the latest broadcast formats. Over time, these cache files can not only fill up your disk space, but also slow down your drive and your video editing workflow.

Some filename extensions—such as MOV, AVI, and MXF denote container file formats rather than denoting specific audio, video, or image data formats. Container files can contain data encoded using various compression and encoding schemes. Premiere Pro can import these container files, but the ability to import the data that they contain depends on the codecs (specifically, decoders) installed. Learn about the latest video, audio, and still-image formats that are supported by Adobe Premiere Pro.

Now when you load a timeline from the Media Browser it automatically opens a sequences tab called Name (Source Monitor) that is read only. Premiere has always had a Project Manager but what it was never able to do is transcode and what it wasn’t very good at was truncating clips to collect only what was used in the edit. I have had only partial success with the Project Manager over the years and with some formats it would never work properly with Premiere copying the entire clip instead of just the media used with handles specified.

Depending on the clips you have and the types of metadata you are working with, you might want to display or hide different kinds of information. On one hand, this is great – you get updates to the software as soon as they’re pushed out, and the $20/month annual subscription fee beats paying hundreds of dollars up front. Regardless of how deep you want to go into the video editing rabbit hole, the best reason to get Premiere Pro CC are its time-saving features. JKL trimming is the most noteworthy as it lets you watch a clip and edit it in real time just by using three keyboard shortcuts!

What editing software do Youtubers use?

Many effects and plugins for Premiere Pro CC require GPU projective post production editing acceleration for rendering and playback. If you don't have this on, you will either get a warning or experience higher render times and very slow playback. To make sure you do have this on, go to File > Project Settings > General.

The footage is stunning, and I find myself wanting to work on it right away, but before I can do that I must back it up, but before I can even touch it I must make sure I have the contracts for each drive that is coming in. We work with and commission many different videographers and photographers so I need to know which office the drive came from and who it belongs to, what the rights are, etc…that is something I highly recommend. I have a folder labeled contract/release forms on our internal server so I know which contract goes to which hard drive/footage. One of the first things I do now, is label a drive since we are working with so many, I need to know what footage is on what drive. Once I get the drives and back up the footage, I then create stories depending on the project and I will also create b-roll packages.

[t-baba]

10 Quick Tips to tighten your Landing Page design

I’m proud to say One Page Love features over 6k websites now. To add more value I write a micro-review with feedback on each website featured.

Unfortunately, with the continuous push to increase quality, not all submissions get in. These 10 tips below form the most common feedback I give users to help improve their Landing Page design.

What (exactly) is a Landing Page?

Before we begin, let’s define a few things…

A Landing Page aims to provide the perfect (read minimum) amount of information for a user to make a decision and act upon it. This website page is often seen as a standalone long-scrolling One Page website and has no additional pages (like about, services, contact).

The purpose of a Landing Page is to encourage user interaction (sign up, download or sale) without the user clicking to other pages. This successful interaction is also known as a conversion.

This article can be your checklist to communicate in the clearest way possible, cut through clutter and in-turn, increase those sweet sweet conversions.

eBook Format

If you really enjoy the article and want to support – I’ve added all these tips into a neat eBook (pay what you want) in PDF and ePub (iBooks) format.

I also threw in a couple bonus tips on “Deconstructing your About paragraph” and “Understanding Storytelling in Landing Pages”. At the back is a printable 20-point ‘Design Checklist’ to ensure your Landing Page is watertight.

The bulk of the eBook is all below but the contribution helps keep One Page Love ad free:)

Hope you find value in the article!

Much love, Rob

ps. the awesome cover illustration is by Karolis Strautniekas

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” ~ Hans Hofman

Tip 1 – Keep brand capitalization consistent

So often overlooked, inconsistencies in your brand name affects first impression and can even create confusion. Here are the possible variations I’ve seen using “One Page Love”:

One Page Love (correct)

Onepagelove

ONEPAGELOVE

onepagelove

one page love

One-Page Love

Onepage Love

Here are some popular ones:

WordPress (1 word, 2 capital letters)

MailChimp (1 word, 2 capital letters)

Stack Overflow (2 words)

Facebook (1 word)

Avoid ALL CAPS if you can but choose one and stick with it.

Tip: Visit your live Landing Page, use your browser in-page search and try find all possible variations of your brand name.

Tip 2 – Don’t neglect Retina optimization

If anything, you absolutely must have a Retina-optimized logo. A “pixelated” logo affects first impressions like you won’t believe.

This basically means your logo needs to be double the size on Retina screens or must be in Vector format ie. SVG

Note the “pixelated” logo on the left and crisp Retina-optimized logo to the right:

Next on priority list would be app or website screenshots, the crisper the better first impression:

Lastly is your big imagery:

Tip: Use ImageOptim for optimizing bigger, rich color images. It’s debatable what the ideal page load size is, but optimizing everything is always good practice.

Useful links:

PNG to SVG resources – a link filled article on Stack Overflow

IconFinder – tons of free vector social icons

Ready-To-Use SVG icons – copy & paste resource

Hero Patterns – repeatable SVG background patterns

Textures.js – SVG patterns for data visualization (infographics)

Tip 3 – More padding and then some

The majority of users are going to skim your content. If you bundle everything together they are going to skim even more.

81 percent of people only skim the content they read online. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen reports the average user reads at most 20 to 28 percent of words during an average visit. (source)

Whitespace is often technically referred to as negative space. But it’s really the breathing room for your content and also for the user. This slows them down and increases focus.

The Brenner Cycles websites features gorgeous breathing room

We talk about “graceful downgrading” of padding from desktop to mobile (eg. 40px desktop, 20px mobile) but what about “graceful upgrading” to huge monitors? What a delight it is to see optimization with generous padding (along with bigger fonts) on larger resolutions:

Tip: If you’re questioning if you should increase padding, you should probably double it.

Tip: Increase padding but still stick to a grid.

Tip: Reverse engineer your padding allowances by working around the perfect line length (characters per line) based on your font size.

Useful links:

Websites with good whitespace – for inspiration

Golden Ratio Typography Calculator – optimize characters per line

How to Tune Typography Based on Characters Per Line – by Personified

1200px Grid System – in PSD, AI & CSS

All about Grid systems – by Rachel Shillcock

Tip 4 – Consistent vertical spacing

So we covered grids (commonly used for horizontal padding) but we often overlook vertical spacing in a Landing Page.

It can get pretty technical with things like Vertical Rhythms and Baseline Grids but what about consistent section spacing and padding between elements?

Here is a classic long-scrolling Landing Page I threw together with “sections” of content:

Now note the consistency in vertical spacing and secondly how the smaller gaps are half the ratio of the bigger gaps:

Tip: Keep spacing within consistent ratios. Example: if we set 50px button, then set section title bottom margins also at 50px and section diver spacing at 100px. Consistency is key.

Useful links:

4 Simple Steps to Vertical Rhythm – by Shelly Wilson

How to Create Vertical Rhythm and Harmony – by Carrie Cousins

Designing Faster with a Baseline Grid – by Pierre Marly

CSS Baseline: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly – by Espen Brunborg

Basehold.it – JavaScript-free, baseline grid overlay for your designs

Modular Scale – Size your type in a more meaningful way

Type Scale – A visual calculator to test your type

Tip 5 – Less images, better images

It can take one good image to completely change the emotion of your user. Unfortunately, same goes for one bad image.

 “Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.” ~ Dr. Koichi Kawanaite

Good imagery builds trust. Trust leads to conversions.

Spend the money. Get a photoshoot of your team, your product, your food. The ROI on a photoshoot is always guaranteed.

The Dona Rita website features only 4 quality images that completely capture her product and brand.

Tip: Once you have a good selection, ask yourself if each image truly captures your story or compliments your brand. Eliminate everything non-essential.

Useful links:

Unsplash – Free (do whatever you want) high-res photos

Beautiful Team Images – for inspiration

Tip 6 – Less fonts, more weights

Different weights within one font family can really strengthen the heading and paragraph arrangement.

This paired with quality text contrast (next up) will create a beautiful reading experience for your user.

Tip: Try stick with two font families (maximum three) in your Landing Page.

Useful links:

Google Fonts – over 800 free web fonts

Font Pair – help pairing Google Fonts

Typekit – beautiful premium web fonts

Tip 7 – More text color contrast

Never have pure black (#000000) text on a pure white (#FFFFFF) page background. Soften the blow with an off-white background and a grey text hierarchy. Example:

#f8f8f8 background

#111111 main headings

#222222 sub headings

#444444 paragraph body copy

#666666 block quotes

Illustrated to the right:

Same goes for pure white on pure black. The contrast is too high. Note the softer color scheme with a dark grey hierarchy to the right:

Tip: Experiment with completely different color palettes within your Landing Page. Start by taking your main brand colors then creating a softer hierarchy of colors.

A quality color scheme is instantly remarkable and can strengthen your branding.

Useful links:

Colorful websites – for inspiration

Coolors – great color scheme generator

ColourLovers – massive collection of color schemes

Color Lisa – famous art color schemes

Tip 8 – Make sure your Call-To-Action button is an Ace-drawing Maverick

Not crazy Mel Gibson but more classic, winning Gibson.

Try softer pastel colors for backgrounds then use a Maverick (stand out) color like orange, red, green or blue for your call-to-action buttons.

Keep your call-to-action button style consistent. It will remind your user what you want them to do as they scroll.

The ‘Pattern by Etsy’ Landing Page features the same color and styled buttons but they change the wording to correlate with the section copy.

The ‘Oak by Absolut’ Landing Page features strong call-to-action buttons as they match the brand color.

Tip: Make sure the first call-to-action button is above the fold.

Useful links:

31 Call-to-Action examples you can’t help but click – by Brittany Leaning

Tip 9 – Polish with Text Kerning and Font Smoothing

It’s incredible how the smallest kerning tweaks can transform a Landing Page design. This example shows subtle kerning in the headings only:

Tip: Different font families act differently, some will need more kerning, some will need none.

By adding just a few lines of CSS code you can really polish a Landing Page design. Here is the code I use on most of my projects:

body { -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -moz-font-feature-settings: "liga" on; }

The difference is seen below:

Both are taken off the same Mac device. The right having the additional Font Smoothing CSS styles.

Useful Links:

Font Smoothing Explained by Krzysztof Szafranek

Font Smoothing in Webkit and Firefox by David Walsh

Tip 10 – Declutter throughout

Earlier we cut down on images but why stop there. We are not trying to convince the user with as much as possible, it’s as little as possible.

“One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.” ~ Bruce Lee

Get in the mindset that every piece of content needs to contribute or it must go:

2 brilliant testimonials – not 8 average ones.

2 highlighted power features, with 4 smaller features below – not a grid of 12.

Your 8 best wedding photographs – not the past 4 years of work.

Launchday started gathering email address simply with a minimal Landing Page containing intro copy and a demo video. Note the beautiful Maverick call-to-action button too.

Tip: Kill those social share icons, especially the embedded ones. If they are essential, hard code them.

Tip: Replace, don’t add. When you get new testimonials or images, try replace the old ones.

Bonus Tip: Make it remarkable with love

When something is remarkable it sits in the easy-access area of the brain. This is what triggers word-of-mouth, your free form of advertising.

remarkable (adjective): worthy of attention; striking.

Make the user feel you actually give a fuck. Show you care by adding love:

Style the default UI in 3rd party scripts like Lightbox (more)

Add subtle CSS load transitions and fades (more)

Add personality with an emoji ( )

Add a custom preloader animation (more)

Highlight the menu item matching the current page section (more)

Add an x-factor (more)

Spend time on your website footer (more)

Give away something of value

Conversely, show you care by removing:

Misspellings

Pop-ups

Scrolljacking

Lies

Verbosity

Jargon

Clutter

You love your product, you’re proud of it.

Much so you spent a huge amount of time and energy nurturing it’s Landing Page.

Further Resources

Private Landing Page Feedback – I offer a private feedback service where I record myself interacting with your Landing Page while pointing out issues and offering suggestions.

Landing Page Inspiration – A collection of over 300 Landing Page references.

Landing Page  Templates – A collection of over 100 Landing Page templates to get you started quicker.

Landing Page Hosting – Bluehost has an exclusive deal for One Page Love readers at only $2.95 per month for hosting.

Enjoyed the article?

If you really enjoy the article and want to support – I’ve added all these tips into a neat eBook (pay what you want) in PDF and ePub (iBooks) format.

I also threw in a couple bonus tips on “Deconstructing your About paragraph” and “Understanding Storytelling in Landing Pages”. At the back is a printable 20-point ‘Design Checklist’ to ensure your Landing Page is watertight.

Thanks for reading!

Please pass it on to friends if you think it will help them: http://ift.tt/2jgUjyu

by Rob Hope via One Page Love http://ift.tt/2j52AlK

[cabinboy100]

12 MONKEYS SEASON 3 TRAILER

* UPDATE *

I’ve posted a v.2 of this, now with screenshot visual aids *and* more rambling! I know—how’s *that* possible, right?

So…Syfy’s posted a new trailer for season 3 of 12 MONKEYS. Usually, I would do my best to dodge promos before a show or movie is actually released. I like to get hit w/the text without as few hints as possible. Go in with as little pre-text as possible. But, given the paradigm-shifting “linear-binge” release of this season—leave it to 12 MONKEYS to Splinter an entire season (encompassing centuries =) into a single weekend, with all 10 episodes beamed in order over May 19, 20, and 21—I’m thinking I’ll need to get my wheels-spinning crazy talk wherever I can. And thusly, I tumbl…

The first new shot of Cole, from the front and then from behind, has him holding a tech-festooned staff. The design calls to mind a computerized tuning fork, *just* the thing for time/dimension/reality-hopping, or tuning/dialing. Perhaps one of its components is a tank of red tea, reloadable via Keurig-like cartridges? With a regulated IV feed or retractable needles in the handle? Maybe this device enhances or adapts Cole’s mental time travel abilities, allowing him to view specific points in time or even what-if?s. Could it be a way to enable him to physically travel? A staff version of the vests? =)

Titan appears as a complex/city in the distance with a sea with rocks or wreckage or maybe ice floes in the foreground. Does Titan only move in Time and not space (relative to the Earth)? Is it always in Colorado? Climate change is real, people!

We see someone with great posture ascend the steps within Titan to meet w/Tall Man, or perhaps his father, both surrounded by robed figures. RE: that posture…It reminds me of Ethan Seki, but knowing that he’s in this season, I’m thinking Gaius Baltar.

That first shot of the four hat-and-coated figures, silhouetted in the fog or smoke in the dark…The three lights on each of their vests powering on…Gorgeous! Evokes DARK CITY for me (a good thing =), and some kind of clockwork men. I want the tech to be embedded in these people, but a later shot shows us that this is likely tech mounted on a vest. Portable Splinter/Titan units, a la Doctor Who’s Vortex Manipulators? In a future world (like, the future of the future, post-2044) of 12 MONKEYS, that’s where my head immediately goes. Although, honestly, that seems very unfair, no?

Still, if that IS what they are, I'd associate them with some very interesting story/logic that necessitates their not being usable before some year. After all, if the Witness's forces *ever* had this tech, they could have used it in the times Team Splinter has visited, right? Maybe the use of these vests shreds spacetime, and jumping back beyond a certain point would undo their invention in the first place? Or, y'know, something like that. =)

I’m *really* hoping that these figures are Something Else, tho. At the bottom of the season 3 poster, we see them standing in front of a console with the Witness’s/Titan symbol, and so, we want to associate them, right? But what if that’s just a couple of these…Time Shadows entering the Titan city limits? What if these guys are representatives of another player in the war across/for time? Perhaps descendants of the Witness and the Titanians, who know more than W does…Or are using W as their agent in their relative past?

Or maybe they serve a Time Variance Authority. Some organization—who knows under what authority/morality?—that watches over and polices Time and History, countering and punishing anyone who seeks to change too much. Maybe to preserve their own existence, Time’s existence (assuming damage is done by reckless splintering), or their own ideal mission outcome.

Cuz, how great would it be to have everyone we know, set up as enemies and rivals in so many permutations, ultimately be on the same side versus some (apparently) greater Time fascist?

Or greater threat to Time itself? If we take the Red Forest being an End-of-Time paradise as a feint, constructed to get all the splinter chess pieces into the right places to bring about the birth of the Witness, then the Witness was never really about that, right? Maybe he didn’t come up w/that threat himself, tho. What if he adapted it from a greater threat to Time? So…Casserole & Son (*and* Jones, Jennifer, Ramse & Son, Olivia, the Daughters, the X-Monkeys, & Agent Gale, Primaries, Monkeys, Druze et al) are destined to fight someone who truly does want to destroy all of Time and replace it with… Well, nothingness seems like a good ultimate goal, let’s go with that for now.

What if the super-future is amazing, but in a universe in which time travel is ever invented, history must be choreographed in order for it to be realized and persist. So, this paradise future has a black ops arm that manipulates events in the past to keep it safe. The paradise is a wonderful destiny for humanity, but it robs humans in the past and present of free will. Which side would you fight for in that scenario?

Hrm…Looking a little harder at the season 3 poster again…Are there four Time Shadows (that works, right?) holding, like, an Ark of the Witness between them? I thought it was some kind of console/control panel, but now I’m seeing it differently. Interrrresting…

A funeral for Time? For the Witness? 

A Time bomb? 

If the vests aren’t vortex manipulator-y, maybe their portable splinter device? 

A Witness trap or cage? 

Time picnic dinner?

The Word of the Witness is shown preserved in plastic panes or lucite, hanging in a candelabra-lit room, a red-vine patterned banner (or glass pane?) behind it. Its Ramse-torn corner is still absent. Does Ramse still have that swatch tucked in a coat pocket somewhere?

COLE: The man behind the apocalypse is my son?

A clip of some creepy Edgar Allen Poe-y Masque(rade) of the Red Death…Cole and Cassie apparently in attendance. Hrm…Red Death…I had a theory back in season 1 that the Army might be an influence throughout history responsible for all major epidemics/plagues, as a way to thin the herd, perhaps disable or control meddling Primaries, and keep a population manageable via their resources and manipulations.

Cross fade to Cass and Cole going Nicholas Nickleby/Christmas Carol on some cobblestoned street…

KATARINA: It's been about them…

That's Jones apparently referring to Cass and Cole.

<aside> What would Cassandra name her child? I’m guessing, sadly, that Cole won’t be present for the birth. Assuming it’s a boy, maybe she’d go with her father, whom we haven’t met yet. Has Cassie mentioned him by name on the show? If not that grandpa, then how about Cole’s father, Matthew? (I don’t think we have confirmation that he’s James’s bio dad, but we never saw anyone question it.) Or—How about someone important to *both* of them? The person responsible for bringing them together? Katarina Werner Jones! Boy, *that’s* gotta sit well with Katarina, eh? (see/watch above line of dialogue =)

So, how about Jones? Like the space cat in ALIEN! Or Jonas? Jonas Cole. Jonas Railly? Or…Werner? Not so cute, but somehow fitting for a Witness-to-be, eh? Werner Cole, The Witness. Yeah. That’ll look good on his business card. =) </aside>

RAMSE: About time we set things straight…

If that is actual dialogue between Jones and Ramse, it signifies the formation of an alliance, between Ramse (and Olivia and her X-Mon/Orphans of Time) and Jones and Project Splinter. Their goal? To undo and/or destroy the Witness, which would likely pit them against one or both of his parentals. Ramse *does* like to boast about how he eats blondes for breakfast…~

Next we see an eyes-burning return to the Emerson Hotel, sometime in the mid to late 80s.

Will we ever see the lightning storm/strike that freezes the lobby’s clock? =)

Cole is dressed as Marty McFly. O, man! Are we gonna get an in-universe origin/inspiration encounter for BACK TO THE FUTURE? Whoa…

So, how about this? Agent Gale’s granddaughter, Roberta, has somehow inherited his dossier on his wacky misadventures with Cole & the Gang, and is staking out the Emerson in the 80s, perhaps at her grandpa’s direction, but maybe on her own. She meets them, maybe joins them in splintering, if the tech allows (Deacon as Time…ummm…Peter? Paul? Judas doesn’t seem right, right? =) helps them out, but of course, is sworn to secrecy—who’d believe her, anyway?—but hey, disinformation as a 3-movie franchise wasn’t disallowed, right? Story credit: Bob Gale. =)

CASS: Help me save him.

It’s just a pronoun, people. "Him" could be anyone…Junior/Witness, Cole, Deacon, Witness the Time Puppy… =)

Christopher Lloyd, wearing the Titan pendant, apparently standing in an event-y tent illuminated by standing and hanging lamps…a remote location? An excavation site? A wedding reception? A pop-up portrait studio?

The pendant and wardrobe sells the Tall Man's father identity pretty hard. As far as we know, he wouldn’t have any Messenger blood. So, if he’s not enhancedly long-lived, what era/s would he have been operating in? Given the garb, perhaps from within the clergy? Maybe late 19th century into the first half of the 20th, to find/meet Vivian in the 40s. There’s gotta be a story there about why/how Vivian returns to the Army after rejecting the Witness. I still would really love for Tall Man to be playing a long con within the Army, a sleeper agent of revenge upon the Witness for doing his mother wrong.

Maybe Christopher Lloyd's playing TM’s adopted father or Army mentor? Cuz I still *really* want his biodad to be Agent Gale! =)

COLE: If there's something wrong with him, he got it from me…

We see some drawings of gun-pointing Cole, surrounded by arcane, rune-ish characters… There’s also a shot somewhere earlier in the teaser, looking down on a figure in the center of a spiral of similar marks on a floor, suggesting that the figure has drawn them. Jennifer? Young W?

The drawings are followed by a matching image of Cole pointing the gun in reality, the exact some POV. If this were season 2, I’d say the drawings were done by a Primary who’d been targeted by Cole. His mission would have been to kill the Primary before a Messenger could paradox him or her. Could that strategy still be in play by the Witness or another party?

Or are these drawings by the Witness, who has seen that Cole would come for him as a child? Does Cole know at this gun-pointing time that W is actually Jimmy, Jr.? I’m guessing not. Hrm…

We see Katarina approaching the mothballed/covered up Splinter device. When is this? In history and in her personal timeline? Could this be a flashback to when she first arrives at Raritan National Labs from Spearhead? Or a visit that calendar-year predates that (maybe in Kat’s past, maybe her future), after the Army shut down Mr. Dr. Jones when Cole and Ramse went off-Word. Or her return to the lab, in a future (splintered-forward?) visit, post-2044.

OLIVIA: …the very edge of time…an inch from falling over…

I *think* that’s what she says. Is there an End of Time? Following thru on the idea that Time is a living thing, given life by Humanity, the End of Time would be coincident with the end of Humanity. Maybe Titan’s “home” setting is that era? If only Titanians live then, then they (and their one or few Primaries) basically ARE Time, no? Whoever lives then, would essentially *be* Time.

We see Cass approach a pedestal with a Witness plague doctor mask mounted on it…The mask is lit from above, but the space is lit by candles. This may be the same space in which the WotW is hanging.

JENN: Stop talking like a super villain.

Jennifer continues to rock! Olivia and Jennifer seem to be speaking to each other through a chain link fence. Olivia’s lucky there’s something separating them, cuz *that* is going to be an interesting reunion. I wonder how close the nearest stabby item is when that happens. =)

THE COMPLETE NEW SEASON

KATARINA (or the new girl?): Don't make me put you down…

As Jones pushes thru double doors (at Project Splinter?)…Daughters behind her?

JENN: They're coming—they're coming!

This may be Jennifer the Titan-zapped girl-out-of-time dropped into WW1 (or later, 2?), exercising her Primary abilities to warn her unwitting captors or guards of imminent Monkeys Army meddling.

DEACON: Go!

This looks like a shot from the season 2 finale, caught between a rock and robed-and-masked place, facing Witness acolytes in Titan, holding the pass so that Jennifer can escape get coin-tossed into Time. Maybe just cuz that footage is available, but maybe cuz we’ll see it again when we learn how he survived.

Ramse, leading with a gun and firing…Nothing new there, right? =)

IN ONE WEEKEND EVENT

CASS: He's mine…

Cut to Cass apparently giving birth…a new age-y red leaf infused water birth?

Tall Man looking true-believer-ecstatically pleased…Maybe a shot we’ve already seen?

EVIL ANNIE LENNOX: You can't have him…

She's sporting a 3-lights vest vortex manipulator over her MIB/Stranger/Observer/Chosen One/Time Shadow coat…

Jenn and Cole stomping thru a complex (looks like Project Splinter), Cole loading his gun, Jenn following…

A chapel or small-ish cathedral(?), the sanctuary heavily candlelit…Are the walls decorated with gilded red vines? A figure before a table before the altar with his back to the pews…It seems the voice we hear should belong to that figure…

W: Mother…Father…After all this time…

Two people walk down the aisle, approaching the figure at the front of the chapel… Seems like Cass on the left, Cole on the right, possibly in those black coats—in disguise?—maybe wearing Time Vests.

Cut to a figure raising a mask to reveal his face during "After all this time…"

Knowing that James “Gaius Baltar” Callis is in this season, I think it's him and his Brit-ish/aristocratic accented voice. Not sure that the unmasking happens in that same chapel space or as part of that same scene.

Based on W’s choice of words, seems like Cass will be separated from her son at some point in his infancy. Sad. =(

Then again, if that’s the case, who’s to say that this person confronting them *is* actually Jimmy, Jr., huh? =)

12 MONKEYS NEW SEASON MAY 19

It’s later than you think =)

Keep on keepin’ on~