TEW Issue 2 Now Available on IndyPlanet

Click the image to go to the listing, or click here.

Remember, you can also get the first issue of TEW here!

If you've been wondering what I've been up to, I've been a bit busy because life got in the way, and haven't worked on much since my Channel trailer. I do want to offer more regular content, though, so you may be seeing a little something on my YouTube channel in the near future, perhaps near the end of the week.

-- LockedOn.

TWO NEW COMICS! And an Update!

Read the new comics by clicking the image, or just going to the "Comics" page on the blog!

Yes, it's been a really long time since I announced the second issue of The Evolving World: The Comic and the Nihility spin-off, but the wait is now over!

First of all I should explain something that hasn't been mentioned on this blog yet. I held a design contest to create a character for the Nihility spin-off comic and the winner of the contest mistakenly submitted a character that wasn't original. That character was Jinx from the game League of Legends. Unfortunately, the error was spotted AFTER I'd already penciled, inked, colored and shaded the page. Since the character with Jinx's likeness in the comic acts nothing like the character in the game, I figured I'd just let it slide, so in she stays. It's kind of a fun reference, anyway.

Oh, and I almost forgot the new update...

Click this image to see the new update!

This new update has a lot of announcements, which I won't spoil here, save for one, because I thought the larger version of the images deserved to be seen.

The NEW LockedOn Compendium

Yes, on April 3rd I will be releasing a complete new made from scratch with Scratch compendium, completely and totally vectorized. I've never been completely happy with the old compendium, because it isn't organized very well and there isn't enough to do. It also didn't completely merge my Archive Projects into one – the Games Timeline was sorely lacking. So I've added it back! Now it's all arranged by franchise, and you can read summaries for the specific, individual projects! I spent half an hour looking up the specific release dates for every single project to be as accurate as possible.

With the previous update full of somewhat depressing news, it's nice to have an update that's nothing but good news! Well, sort of. But you'll have to read it to see what the bad news is.

-- LockedOn.

The January Intensive, The Future of TEW and More!

Due to how successful my last intensive was, I'm going to be doing one again in January. Even though the actual total creative output wasn't as high as I would've liked, there's no helping that when there's simply so much to do involving my projects. The less time I spend online the more time I spend on my projects, which means that even when I'm not being productive during an Intensive, I'm still being more productive than when I'm not doing an Intensive.

Anyway, here's some good news! The Evolving World Issue 2 is out of my hands at this point. I've done everything I need to for the most part, and so it's up to Shoko to color and shade all the pages. This means I can focus on more important things, like telling the full story of TEW.

I've decided to do that in comic format. TEW is a story that's more about visuals than anything else, and putting it in novel format was a mistake. I'm not the right writer for a TEW novel, and I'm not about to hire someone else to do it for me. So instead I'm sticking with what works: comics.

I'm going to collect a bunch of origins and stick them in a big graphic novel which will be subtitled "Prequels". This book will fill in the missing pieces of the story. You'll find out what Arrdo's deal is, why Oliver and Watch have weapons in their hands, what Catalysts 1, 2 and 3 are, how Sadie and Suave fit into the universe, and why Oliver and Watch drifted apart.

The second graphic novel will be subtitled "Sequels", and will be released after Part 4. Obviously, I can't say anything about that one.

 I'm not going to nail down dates for these books, because it takes a long time to make a comic, but I'm going to try to make each story really good so it may take a while.

While one or two stories from each book may make it online for free as a kind of preview, the full versions will only be available through purchasing. I try to release as much as I can online for free, but these are going to be really substantial volumes, filled with my usual pages and pages of behind the scenes content, posters, codes, previews, articles etc. It'll be like a huge Games Update.

I may also collect TEW Issues 1 and 2 into the Prequels book, but no matter what I do, it's going to be loooooooonnnnnnnng.

After TEW's books and Part 4 are out, and Pageturner 2 and Generation Quest 2.0 are released, I'll only have Jak's pilot to worry about, (and it's probably going to stay in script form for the most part). After that, I have one or two tricks up my sleeve. Stay tuned!

-- LockedOn.

News 20/7/14

Well, my printer's broken and it can't print, only scan.

This is sort of a blessing in disguise because there were problems with pencil lines showing through in the inked versions of pages, so this means there'll be less of that.

Summer is the LockedOn Season of Never Releasing Anything, hopefully I can break free from that trope but it'll be difficult. I will say, however, that Pageturner 2's been plotted out pretty much all the way, so I know what happens next to these characters. The sequel will take May and Benedict to a darker place, still with the same sense of humor but darker altogether, and it's all tied together with a fun and unique crime solving mechanic. More details on THAT in my next update. All in all, while it's not a PERFECT end to the series, and it doesn't provide much closure, it'll still be a fun, twisted mystery adventure.

I wish I could say I've been working on GQ2.0, but I haven't. There's a lot to do there graphics-wise and every time I play it I wish there was time to really improve it.

I drew up a design for a Razer that included cool new movement and attack types, that would add excitement to the stand-and-blast battles, but unfortunately there's just no time to implement it. I had also planned new weapon types with different ranges, so it wasn't just lots of blasting.

On the bright side, there are more costume previews and the Razers are finally going to look cool.

Oh, and the menus and HUDs will now be vectorized.

Here's a quick rundown on progress, that's more accurate then what you'd find in a Games Update, but a bit messier.

TEW Comic Issue 2: script done, 2 pages out of 29.

GQ2.0: Gorbash sprite done and integrated into the game.

Pageturner 2: Menu screens set up, opening cutscene started (probably going to ditch what I made, though), some music composed.

TEWP4: I rewrote a lot of the script, mostly the ending. The script's still not done yet, though.

TEW Novel: I tried to run through a bunch of plot ideas, but there aren't many stories that I'd planned through perfectly.

I'm really hoping I'll get to finish all of this stuff in time!

-- LockedOn.

TEW Issue 1 Available to Order and Other News!

The Evolving World's first issue has been available on Smackjeeves for a while, but the printed version has what the free online version does not: extra pages of exclusive TEW content!

I'm sorry that this couldn't have been released earlier, but there were a few complications getting it all set up.

Click here to order it!

Meanwhile, I've been very busy but I managed to draw a few pages of the second issue. I only have one background environment done, (this time there are three new interior locations and one exterior - with no retooling), but the others will come along shortly. Good thing I'm handing off the color to someone else this time, or this could be going a LOT slower.

I'm also currently plotting the next Pageturner, and I'm considering turning it into a visual novel, because Scratch is so glitchy when it comes to the old one.

More stuff's coming soon, but expect me to be quite busy in the coming months.

-- LockedOn.

General Updates and News

So you may remember this page from a past update:

I got TEW's Teaser in on time, but I know I missed the deadline for Jak's Opening Theme. Here's why.

Jak's theme's been changing along with the story. Now it resembles the original Scratch myth even less, and doesn't really have anything to do with Scratch at all. I'm trying to create an interesting, dark story that'll provide a contrast to my light-hearted action-oriented TEW series. In order to reflect that, I've been trying to make the animation as exciting as the theme I composed for it.

Also, my Flash stopped working on my computer. Fortunately, I have a new computer, but I can only run the trial version of Flash Professional for now, so I'm rushing to get as much animation done as possible. I may be able to buy it sometime soon, which will solve that problem.

Short version: Jak's theme is still in the works.

On the TEW side of things, there's some good news and... some good news. Oh, and some bad news. First of all, I may be getting some help with animating the series soon, but even if that doesn't work out I'm resolved to finish it. Also, there's some episode shifting going on. The sixth episode was originally going to be the flashback episode. Now it's a bit different. The flashback episode is now going to be Part 5. I'm also going to split it up by backstory, meaning that the episode will be released in small parts featuring various characters. Part 4, which has taken ridiculously long, will be split into two parts as well. This means you'll get TEW content faster. I'll then rush to get the second half out, and when it's released, I'll combine them into the single part it should've been in the first place. Finally, the bad news, which isn't really that bad: the surprise I was planning for TEW fans, announced last update, didn't work out. It was originally supposed to be a short comic, but then that expanded into a larger idea, and now it's going to be the second issue of TEW's comic.

Short version: TEWP4 will be split in half and the first half will be released soon, Part 6 is now Part 5 and will be split into separate flashback stories featuring different characters.

Hopefully that wasn't too confusing! Now I have to get back to animating Jak's theme. When I get the time to do it I'll release a new Games Update.

-- LockedOn.

The Evolving World The Comic - First Issue Complete!

The full The Evolving World comic's first issue is now available right here, on the blog! Click the link here!

I'll be working on the exclusive pages a bit more before submitting it to the folks over at Kablam for the printed version. I'm looking forward to seeing this in print... and after a quick test, I found out that the issue's going to be just under four dollars, which is less then a snack at Starbucks, and certainly less then a snippet of useful info bought from Watch! Buying the printed version is certainly worth it, since with it you get bios, notes on the design of the new characters, and a look at how I made each page.

But if you want it all for free, it's right there for your perusal.

Enjoy! I'll be taking a bit of a break this month, but I'll be working on Games Update 7.1! And don't forget that the TEW Recap will be out on New Year's Day. :)

-- LockedOn.

The Comic Is Out! (Sort Of)

Well, after a bit of a wait, I figured out a method for delivering The Evolving World: The Comic's first issue to you online! Check out this new page for LockedOn Comics!

On the not-so-bright side, I only released the first half of the comic. That'll have to do for now because the second half isn't yet complete. The entire comic will be 25 pages when finished, and the printed version will feature the new characters Sadie Losten and Suave's bios, as well as behind the scenes of my process for creating the comic.

The second half will be released sometime later this month, and the printed version will be available to order a business week or so from the second half's release date.

-- LockedOn.

The Evolving World Gets a Comic!

COMING SOON!

A new comic based on my animated series The Evolving World!

This issue's story takes place four years before the events of The Evolving World Part 1 and follows Oliver and his brother Julio, (later known as Watch), as they try to stop an assassination.

The issue will be in color and available to order in print, though you'll be able to read it for free on this blog, (sans extra content that's only available in the printed version).

More details coming in my next Games Update!

-- LockedOn.