November is, as some would say, the month of months. It was the culmination of months of planning, scheduling, and no small amount of work. Thankfully, with everything having lined up nicely with work and all the other projects, I finally had a chance to get things done.
What’s happened so far
November was a bit of a mixed bag in getting things done overall. Some things that were on my list to get done weren’t done, but some things did get finished. Call it a 50/50 split either way. While I haven’t managed to get everything posted that should have been posted, I’m not falling behind either. So that pretty much makes November better than October, I guess!
There’s been a little more movement on getting some art done, but not as much as I was hoping for. Mind you that’s not the end of the world; artists have their own lives of course, and I can’t expect them to drop everything and do what I want at my beck and call! But I’m hoping to see a bit more completed artwork done this year, hopefully one or two more pieces. It’s getting in towards christmas after all, and even with COVID, perhaps even because of COVID, there might be a desire to have a few more bucks in the wallet. But we’ll see how that goes.
I’ve gotten one prototype sketch back from one of my artists, which is good. It’s got a lot going for it, so I think I’ll be approving it. Other than that, I don’t have any new art or other projects going… but you know how things go. It’ll be all nothing nothing nothing, and then there’ll be a deluge all at once.
Anyhow. I’ve gotten one completed bit of art from them that needs to get posted up on my website in addition to what already needs to go up. I’m going to work on putting an hour or two aside this week to get all that stuff posted and set up, and then follow up with my other artists to see how they’re doing. After that, look at seeing to getting the last two bits of concept art done, and then I can start looking at next steps.
What’s happening next?
My time off in November worked out pretty much as planned, though I confess I took a few more days off than I had initially planned, which meant that I didn’t quite get as much Starfire stuff as I had wanted to get done. But it’s important to stay sane as well as productive. Especially in 2020.
1) Push the turn processing up to get everyone lined up and done 140
This one is all done and completed, with 3rd Elysium already complete. All that remains is the aftermath. For that, see below…
2) Set up and run the 3rd Battle of Elysium to a conclusion
This was the big bit of progress for November. I had a few days off and I finished off the battle in its entirety. Not just that, but also managed to write up the battle and get it all posted done. With the fixed and updated Tabletop Simulator module, I was able to pound through the rest of the fight and get it to completion. It’s really quite a challenge to run a whole battle by yourself, handling both sides. Especially for a large battle like this one. There’s a lot to keep track of, and it takes a bit to get into a good cadence to get things completed properly.
The big thing that still remains is writing and gaming up the aftermath. What, you thought the battle was it, and it was all said and done? No such luck! There’s a bit of aftermath still, but before I do that battle I need to write up the immediate aftermath, and what happens to the Elysians now that they have a very cranky deWulf fleet in orbit. For a lot of them, this moment has been a LONG time coming.
3) Do a full overhaul and update of my map (as seen on Fleet Management Mk2) so it’s all on one well-organized map WITH space to expand
Mapping software is still installed. While I’m going to try and get this done in December, January of 2021 is looking more likely than not.
4) Finish the writing work for Scenario Book 1 – The First Contact War
No real work on this in November. This is going to be carrying on to the 2021 Task List.
5) Go do a second pass on the artwork for Scenario Book 1, incorporating new details and design concepts over the past year
Nothing here has been done yet, but this is looking more and more likely as I start to get more art done. It’s honestly quite amazing to see how things come together when new artists have their own take on things. Especially with more details on the basic hull forms. The work they do will definitely be flowing back into the 3d models, making them more detailed and more “real”. Based on the first bit of art I’ve gotten done for the Sintillan ships, this will be on hold until all the contracted space art is completed, so then all the details can be added in one pass.
6) Start fishing in my contacts to find someone who can do proofreading for Scenario Book
There’s a little progress on this one, mainly with a few light google searches to look for some potential people to do proofreading. Some likely candidates and places to do more searches came out of it, but #4 still needs to be done before anything substantial is done.
Dollarton Proxima Shipyards 