 September 2, 2008 - 6:05am | Ok, as fore-warned in another thread, here is my shameless self-less plug of my digital comic book that starting up in the Fall. I will offer a lot of tie-in materials for Star-Frontiers gaming especially since I play-test some of the plot deivces and storylines in gaming sessions. If you are into the digital artwork I have posted here please stop-in and enjoy the previews and teasers. If your not, well then I appologize for taking up the room here on the site, but since there will be tie-in materials I hope folks don't mind too much. If everyone really likes the new story-line maybe a module might be produced for SF gaming, we'll have to see and I don't want to put the cart before the horse. Thank you everyone for tolerating my digression from the normal game based project threads. |
September 2, 2008 - 6:09am |  HERE IS THE TEASER - READY TO SEE MORE?  |
 September 2, 2008 - 6:16am | Thats all I need, another comic to follow!! Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
 September 2, 2008 - 7:17am | Impressive cover - nice use of font and colours spot on! Look forward to seeing the end product |
 September 2, 2008 - 8:24am | Digress all you want with great content like this... |
 September 4, 2008 - 5:08pm | Cool cover work, love the Laser font (might catch some of that in one of my avatars). |
September 8, 2008 - 1:07pm | Nice looking ships. Interesting alien. Are we going to have to subscribe to a website to read this? Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
September 9, 2008 - 12:53am | Good question Rum Rogue, that will depend on a couple of things and how they play out. My comic book projects are always comercial endeavors. The amount of time, resources and labor they require are baffling. The last project took 6 hours a day for four months. This project, the first issue of which is nearing completion has taken 4 hours a day for about a month. I have spent about $300.00 on software and pre-made 3D mesh models (the wireframe 3d objects that make up the scene) and countless hours over the last two years researching and downloading freebies. All of this on top of holding down a full time job in residential security and a part time job teaching martial arts. So how do I do it,buckets of diet pepsi (my choice source of caffine), and lots of sacrificed sleep. Not to mention the fact that on my days off, when I have them, that my night time work schedule keeps me up when everyone else is asleep, so I have hours of either watching info-mercials or being creative. So obviously I can't just give my project away, as this will most likely irritate my family who has to endure the hardships of putting up with me while I spend hours working in front of the computer. However, be assured by this, I will offer, post, or email any of the project for free as I possibly can. What does that mean? Simply, it means I will attempt first and foremost to sell my product on whatever market will have me. Whatever doesn't sell or I can reasonably give away as a promotion I will give away for free. For example, when the pilot issue didnt sell, I started sending it around to whoever was interested for free. This project however, has a built in market, it is going to the Arizona Comic-Con and will be hosted at the SCI-FI Weddings and Photo Booth vendor tables. So obviously I cant sell the homeplanet until its up for sale. Now, what I would like to have happen is this... I would very much like to open a website for the Titan Rising Universe and sell my products online there. Subscriptions would be available to buy at extremely reasonable rates, Hardcopy printed versions of the comic would be sold, and older issue would become available for download after their for-sale distribution was over. Of course some may ask, well why offer a subscription if the old issues will be given away, and the answer is, those who pay for a subscription get the issue first, those who dont will have to wait a little while. This model, is just that at the moment, a model of what I would like to see happen with my project. However, the reality may be different when put into practice. I love working with Star Frontiers and this site, but due to Wizzards Of the Coast refusing to reprint the game, I am forever stuck to pro-bono work. As you have seen with our friends at the Frontiersman this makes life very very very difficult when you have to balance life, job, and a hobby that never has a chance to even pay for itself let alone male a profit. Through my work and projects the goals is so simple it is pathetic, I hope it pays for the expense it costs to put into it and possibly makes a little money so I can upgrade software, buy more models and stuff, and maybe just maybe pay for some hardware upgrades. So in conclusion to answer the question in a nutshell and with a smile: hell yeah i'm gonna charge money for people to get the comic. But as I am not an steel hearted captalist I will make every effort to give away whatever I can whenever can to whoever appreciates the art for what it is. Please enjoy the artwork and purchase a copy when goes online at a website or e-bay so I dont have to live on the street and draw spaceships on the sidewalk. |
September 9, 2008 - 4:47am | Wow. That was a lot of information. I almost feel bad for not quoting the whole thing. (snip).. Subscriptions would be available to buy at extremely reasonable rates, Hardcopy printed versions of the comic would be sold, and older issue would become available for download after their for-sale distribution was over. Of course some may ask, well why offer a subscription if the old issues will be given away, and the answer is, those who pay for a subscription get the issue first, those who dont will have to wait a little while. (snip) I have seen a few othere online comics do this as well. None that I followed for long, but I have seen some do well from this. Also there are a few that offer "extras" for the paying subscribers, such as behind the scenes information, concept drawings, in-depth backgrounds. This comic offers a bonus story with donations. Please enjoy the artwork and purchase a copy when goes online at a website or e-bay so I dont have to live on the street and draw spaceships on the sidewalk. How about WOWIO? Supposedly they pay you for each copy that is downloaded. Good luck with mighty undertaking. I am intrigued, and will certainly check it out. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
September 9, 2008 - 5:50am | +1 for the new piece, nice work and good composition. P.S. I've found Diet Mountain Dew keeps me awake more efficiently than Diet Pepsi. Regular keeps me awake AND wired... |
September 9, 2008 - 6:26am | What about using Lulu to publish your comic? It worked for Starfrontiersman - I have a grand copy in my hands (very nice too) |
September 9, 2008 - 6:29am | Be assured folks that I will make sure that as much product that I can share for free I will. I am also toying with the idea of offering the first issue of the new project for free (ever-crack) and then charging for new issues. I had also thought of the idea of offering more with the subscriptions and just the no - thrills comic for the free downloads, i like this idea with excpetion of one part, the more part. Because more means more work, more time, and much less sleep. But I can remember when my favorite comic book, Rom The Space Knight, was 40 cents in the early 80's. I certainly hope to produce as good of a product for as reasonable as possible so as many as possible can enjoy it. I also dont get a big head about this thing since it is also a learning experience for me as I try new techniques and apply better skills with every episode. Also, the work is alot like working with paper dolls, since creating meshes is extremely difficult and time consuming, I often purchase commercial products that are ready to be customized and adapted for my projects. Ok, gotta work on the worst part now, fitting dialogue into tiny little speach bubbles. The writing process for comic is so funny, first I write the narratives and dialogue then I have to go back and rewrite them all when they don't fit. ugggggggggggg  |
September 9, 2008 - 6:31am | Thank you elpotof, but what is LULU? |
September 9, 2008 - 12:16pm | http://www.lulu.com/uk/ check the link out ( think because i'm Uk based it's gone to the UK site) Its a self publishing site. Just register, input your comic, set your price and off you go! options include booklets, e-format - best thing to do is check it out! |
September 9, 2008 - 5:00pm | Thank you Elpotof, i'll check it out. |
September 18, 2008 - 6:10pm | Ok! Issue #1 is in the can and ready for release! I have decided to give my friends here at SF the first Issue free as a pre-release promotion! If you want a copy please drop me a message with your email address and I will send it to you. Please do not distribute it without my permission as this is a commerical endeavor. So if you request a copy here please DO NOT copy or distribute it or any of its contents withoout my expressed written permission. Enjoy and please give lots of feed back! Once I get episode #2 started I will post some info here so interested parties can convert characters, equipment, races, and settings to their Star Frontiers Game. As always, please feel free to copy and use any artwork I post here with the only requirement I ask being that you credit me in any work you use the artwork in (which like in the picture above is already present). Thanks again for your support |
September 18, 2008 - 6:42pm | Above is the Trinity Explorer a HS 8 or 9 Deep Space Exploration Vessel. A prototype starship in its phase 3 space trials. This vessel is strictly scientific exploration in nature and only has a basic bow mounted laser cannon battery, hull armor, reflective hull, and limited repulsor shielding for defense. Like the Hyperion, the Trinity uses a specialized modular hull design which allows for mission specific modules to be droped into the open space frame seen in the middle of the ship. Which makes this type of ship very versatile as it can refitted easily for each specific mission. Then forward command module houses the crew areas, astrogation, and all primary control systems. The command module can be detached and used as an life boat in the event of a catastrophic emergency but has no form of propulsion other than rc thusters. |
 September 20, 2008 - 12:00pm | Hmm, with a battleship or battle carrier module in that open frame.... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
September 21, 2008 - 10:37pm | Yes you are correct, however the Trinity explorer is purely a scientific vessel but her sister ship the Hyperion is a warship and is fully armed with four lateral batteries, one bow battery, one dorsal battery, and one anterior hardpoint that can mount a heavy cannon (ie distruptor cannon, laser cannon, or mass driver cannon) or a dropship docking collar. More to come on the Hyperion a little later. As you will notice in the render the open spaces in the mid space hull. The surrounding space frame contains connecting corridors, maintenance access, some light cargo storage and additional ships stores. The empty space in each module of the space frame can be loaded with mission modules as can be seen in my renderings of the UPFS Daedalus & Nightshade which are a ships of the same design class as the Hyperion and Trinity. In the SFman 9 some of my renders feature a heavy destroyer with twin weapons pods and an assault ship with an anterior mounted weapons pod and hanger bays on the mid space frame. All ship designs which are featured in the comic book can be translated to SFKH most easily by changing the ship designation from Terran Defense Force to UPF. Most of the weapons will be the same with only differences being their placement and configuration. Stats for weapon damage etc remain the same and as new weapons are introduced they will be highlighted in the tie-in articles. If you don't care for the weapons descriptions feel free to adapt your own definitions in your SFKH games. The 3d models for these ships were created by an artist known as Simon 3d and available for purchase at renderosity.com for use in Daz studio, Poser, and Bryce. |
September 25, 2008 - 2:58am | New promo wall paper is up. This one features the nemesis of the Titan Rising Universe, The Shi-an. An ancient and mysterious race whoes entire advanced society is based on bio-tech. After the Xin revolt, the Shi-an were almost completely extinct with the exception of a small handful of survivors. The creators and puppet masters, of both the biomechanoid Xin and Tal (the Tal replaced the Xin as the Shi-an's warrior cast). These masters of bio-engineering are motivated by a dark and twisted logic that drives their wars of interstellar conquest. The Shi-an are rumored to be extra-dimensional beings who came from the void of hyperspace and unlike the other races are un-effected by prolonged exposure to the void. However, since no Shi-an has ever been captured or studied this fact remains unverified. No one has ever seen a Shi-an outside of it's protective encounter suit and wild rumors abound among the Xin that speculate gazing upon a Shi-an's true face is certain death. Only one thing is certain about the Shi-an and that is that no one really knows anything certain about the Shi-an. |
October 14, 2008 - 8:43pm | Good to see the website is back up again, I started to worry there for a moment that the revival site had gone the way of the boxed set. |
October 15, 2008 - 2:17pm | Did you get a copy of the comic Imp Lord? If not, want one, I would be happy to send it. |
October 30, 2008 - 2:09am | HIT BY A VIRUS |
 October 30, 2008 - 6:35am | Really bad luck AZ. If you haven't already reformatted your HD, I wouldn't completely give up on those saved resources. I admit I'm not at all familiar with all of the software you are using but I would believe that they have to be files somewhere on the disk, it's just a matter of locating them. If you can, you can save them off to a back-up drive, make sure they are clean, and the reload them once you've reinstalled. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 October 30, 2008 - 7:12am | Ewwww. That stinks. I thought AV companies wrote the viruses? How else can they thwart Day 0 attacks? LOL. |
October 30, 2008 - 9:20am | I tried to recover what i could, even tried a system restore to an earlier version, everything was corrupted by the virus. A lot of the saved documents won't open or load because when my av found the virus and deleted it the virus ripped through my system like it was swiss cheese. Some programs would even open because operating files had been deleted with the virus. Its a mess. Spend yesturday reloading programs just so I could do my normal computer work. At least gimp, word, and paint are working still so I can continue to finish episode 2. Well its day light and I have to get some sleep. |
