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Happy Monday (and Valentine’s Day) all…
Some cool things happening here.
1) Our iPad App is now IN REVIEW!
This means that Apple is looking it over and making sure it’s not buggy.
Hopefully we’ll have some good news for you soon.
Thanks to Kyle and Chris from Dreamscape Visionary LLC
You guys were a dream to work with!
2) I’m going to start putting my kids books online as well.
Just finished (thanks to Phil Hofer) the Ed’s Terrestrials version.
Please take a look. Post some comments.
And of course…show your friends.
http://www.bluedreamstudios.com/edsterrestrials/
3) I’d like to have a “HUB” from the Blue Dream Studios site that people could go to.
From there…they could get to all of the books (including Dreamland).
But not sure how to design the page.
Here’s the current page.
http://www.bluedreamstudios.com/books.html
Anyone have any thoughts?
Or…
Should I just register edsterrestrials.com and have it a seperate entity?
Like Dreamland?
Thoughts?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO![/skywalker]
The big reveal! Waiting to see if Nic gets pounded after confessing such a terrible thing.
And this site: http://www.bluedreamstudios.com/books.html is quite nice as a hub for your books, including Dreamland. Very all-encompassing and easy to navigate.
Nast, don’t let grief make you act rashly. Stay calm, the dragon is going to get what’s coming to him. Do it under the light of justice, not hidden like he does.
I still think “No, I am your father” would be better 🙂
He’d better get pounded for that.
And I agree. The website looks good.
I…kinda sorta saw this coming ^-^’
BUT, I still like it. Hopefully she doesn’t flip and ruin the whole plan. Stay calm, Nas, stay caaaaalmmm…
Was that before or after those annoying, useless abominations called elves, who’re better off dead anyway, were turned into hotdogs?
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.. Filet Dragon inthe very near-future? Orr will it be “pounded-pin-cushion-dragon”??
Bow ready, aimed, and fired in an instant.
I love how everyone is just calmly discussing things in the same room as their archenemy, the GIANT, FIRE-BREATHING, BECLAWED, BEHORNED, AND DID I MENTION GIANT, dragon. “Oh, Hi, Alex, how are you? Really? We didn’t have much trouble… just a moment, Nick… Anyrate we had a little trouble coming over the wall when we… Nick, just a second, okay? Like I said, we came over the wall and then Paddington said the funniest thing…”
Provoking an assault, so he can rightfully “defend himself”…
Obvious kidnapper is obvious?
Crossed fingers the iPad app. Its pretty straightforward. As long as you did standard QA testing it should get through fine. I’ll wait for the grats for when its up. Hopefully it won’t be long 🙂
And as for obligatory Princess Bride content:
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv274/spamfooler/mawwiage.png
Saw it coming, but doesn’t mean I’m any less angry with Nicodemus. That evil, low-down…urgh!
And as for the navigation “hub…” I was thinking it might be kinda cool if you could do a sort of Flash bookshelf, with all the different stories arranged alphabetically or something. You could have the titles highlight as you mouse over them, and when you click on one the book can come out, open, and you could “fly into” the page.
‘Course, that’s probably a lot more work and/or bandwidth than you’d like to deal with, but there’s my two cents worth. 🙂
How can someone who has managed to usurp the throne and reign … for how long? … be this strategically dumb. Didn’t ever consider that hostile troops that don’t hit anything, might be aiming at something else. Or that further offending already successfully invading hostile units in lethal range is a very very stupid thing to do….
I don’t get some of the characters in this comic. At all.
Re the website question: I don’t think you should go through making separate websites, it gets hard to manage and expensive with all the domains. Keep it simple as it is now. You might even want to consider moving dreamland under the Blue Dream Studio when the sage ends with a redirect there. That would keep it simpler for you to manage.
The Blue Dream site is nice. It’s clean and easy to read. I think you have something good there.
Cue in the enraged attack, and Nic’s chance to get out of there…
1) There were no important objectives were the rocks fell. 2) He knew the supposed attack plan, since his scouts (aka wraiths) never told anything about Dan knowing about them. 3) If you are in a desperate situation, such as he is in, you have to unbalance your opponent. Should Nastajia attack now, she will not be able to use her abilities to maximum due to wrath and sadness. She has always been the calm warrior. So, strategically speaking he is doing the right thing. 4) He can fly, breath fire, and punch really hard. Only the dwarf king is strong enough for a one on one and, as we have witnessed before, Alex is no much for him on the air. So yes. He will taunt them as much as he likes. He is in the corner, but not out.
No match! I meant no match! Honest!
It’s not so stupid : From Nick’s POW, you are facing a well laid down plan, which you didn’t “conceive”, that probably is already taken care of your possible getaway, so making them act out of rage gives you better chance to get out. After all this is only a battle, not the war and you need time to be ready to counter attack, other than enraging yourself out of fire breaths and battling claws…
Nic…you’re bluffing…
Nastajia’s been in denial for some time now. I hope she keeps her cool and gets to exact proper vengenace. And that was the word I wanted to use, for there are times when vengeance IS justice.
I see that Nic is taunting Nastajia or something?
Is that a Moral Event Horizon over there? Careful, Nick, or you might not get out of this alive!
and with those words its time to make dragon kabobs !
I Killed Mufasaaa!!!
Scott: Much bigger covers.
“I will inflict upon him the greatest insult an enemy can suffer. To be ignored.” Remember this advice, ‘Staj…
Okay – I really did laugh out loud at that.
As did i 😀
Gotta agree. Must look nice on a really big monitor and for someone with perfect eyesight. But there’s got to be lots of folks like me around who’ve got neither.
Alternatively, these same covers could be placed vertically, with some explaining/promoting text beside them.
Actually what I might do is shift the array of covers leftward, and to the right have an area that when you hover the mouse over one of the covers it blows it up and gives the brief description of the book
Nick’s face in the last panel really says something like: Well, yeah, payback’s a bitch!
great page!
Nastajia: “I think you’re bluffing.”
Nick: “It’s possible, elf — I might be bluffing — it’s conceivable, you miserable vomitous mass, that I’m only lying here because I lack the strength to stand — then again, perhaps I have the strength after all.”
Somehow I doubt he’s bluffing. It’s been stated he never got along with them and if they left on their own, it’s quite easy for them to capture them. I just hope that he has them locked up in the dungeon rather then a pile of bones in the corner.
I’m trying to think of how the page can/should be viewed.
“Welcome to Blue Dream Studios! Our books are in book stores (link), on the ipad (link), and free to read online (link).
Click any of the icons/covers to start reading online…or go here to buy them directly from us in our store.”
Something like that.
Make sense?
I don’t know the current stats, but in past studies they’ve had 70%-90% drop off rates on a per click basis. That is, every click that’s needed to get from where you start to where you want to go loses you 70-90% of the consumers. Thus you want to a) minimize the # of clicks, but also b) give enough information that people want to make that first click. Right now, none of the images catch the eye. You could have rotating banners on the page that show different random comics when people connect (and track what % of people visit the displayed book on a banner vs a different book to see how effective they are) or you could use the model I mentioned where hovering the mouse over the icon brings a blown up image with more info about the book (including star user ratings, consumers like to immediately see third party feedback).
Consider from your experience as a story writer. How will you draw people into the site? Get them interested enough to make those first clicks, and help improve the chances they’ll find something suited to them after the first click or two. The less info they have when clicking on the cover icons, the greater chance they’ll pick on that’s not interesting to them and the less likely they’ll check out the other books.
I doubt Nic is bluffing. He has always struck me as the ‘plan within a plan within a plan’ type of schemer. He hasn’t remained the king/steward of Dreamland for so long without planning ahead.
True, he did get caught off-guard by them knowing about the wraiths and producing a fake plan for him to be suckered by. But I knew that wasn’t going to be it. Dragons are crafty, cunning creatures in all mythologies. He had his ‘ace in the hole’ against the principles, namely hostages….i.e., Nastajia’s parents. He also has a large contingent of nightmare creatures ready to attack should he call. Why else would he be sitting here, being all suprised and shocked and chatty? He’s buying time for his contingency plan to go into effect.
This is NOT the end of the battle. The True King’s forces may be inside the walls, but the fight is NOT over yet…….
Oh, and now the obligatory….
Nic: It was I who took your parents from you…
Nast: My name is Nastajia. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Nic: Are you still trying to win? You have an overdeveloped sense of revenge…
Nast: My name is Nastajia. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Nic: I should have killed you when I had the chance….
Nast: My name is Nastajia. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Nic: STOP SAYING THAT!
Peeked again. The info page for each book that you bring up when clicked is good, that’s the sort of thing that I was suggesting come up when hovering over a title. Gets people info without them having the leave the page/ie make a click they might not come back from.
I think that ol nic is using dialogue to shake his opponents concentration and throw them off balance. Seems to me that now is the time to watch him very carefully…
You just had to remind me of what they did in Star Wars to ensure secrecy of the plot. The only character they told what the line would be before they edited it was Luke, and that was only one minute before the scene! The actual line everyone on set heard was “Obi-Wan killed your father.”
Heh! 😀
Nic, you are writing checks your scaly bum can’t cash.
And I’m just fine with that.
I don’t understand why Nick isn’t dining on BBQ heroes right now. But I’ll roll with it. 😉
I did, too, but in spite of thinking that Nic was a horrible usurper (something they didn’t really understand until recent-ish-ly thanks to the sword), they really had no cause to think that he’d kill rulers of the races of Dreamland outright. He’s really only shown our heros a distaste for humans and a penchant for sicking Nightmare creatures on truth-seeking adventurers up to this point.
We live in a grisly world, detached from the action going on there. It’s only natural for us to perceive that option, and it kind of makes sense for them not to think of it.
LOL!!
Perhaps because he remembers that Alex can shield against fire (if he reacts fast enough) and his armor is apparently fireproof, and anyone who isn’t taken out first will have an opening to attack him while he sweeps his head to get the next one…plus dragons don’t usually have unlimited fire-power. Why waste your best weapon if it’s not a sure kill? Now, he could use it as a distraction and get away through the window…
Hmm. While I did work up another Princess Bride take off based on today’s strip (http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv274/spamfooler/mawwiage.png) , perhaps that’s passe and so last week. This week, Star Wars references anyone? I think its a winner 🙂 Good call
Do I see a flashback coming on? I think.
Curious wording, there: “took your parents from you.” It seems a rather circumlocutory phrasing. He could have said more directly what happened: “I killed your parents,” or “I kidnapped your parents,” or even “I banished your parents to the human realm.” The fact that he doesn’t makes me think that the wants Nastajia to believe they’re dead when they aren’t. Or maybe *Scott* wants us to believe they’re dead when they aren’t. Although in both cases, he could just say “I killed your parents,” since I can’t imagine that Nicodemus has any compunction against lying… although perhaps Scott does.
To me, the most likely reason is that Scott is stretching out the moment of truth for the readers with the nebulous phrasing. Or maybe Nic is stretching it out for Nastajia before outright saying he killed them in order to twist the blade a bit on her.
Considering it is DreamLand I can think of a half dozen ways ole Nic could take somebodies parents away with out killing them and atleast 2 or 3 where the parents would not even know they had been taken away.
Nic, you dummkopf, of course we realized it! We had our suspicions all along, and now you just proved it to us!
Mind you, I can’t speak for the other characters, but if NONE of them realized it…
In regards to the iPad App: Even if Apple doesn’t approve it, you could always go through the Cydia store for jailbroken devices. You can still earn money from it and they’re not as critical as the A’s at Apple.
OK He took her parents and stashed them in the Nightmare realm I think. Since a trip there is long overdue and what better way to take the battle to Nic’s allies.
Nastajia rage-explodes in 3…2…1…
Yes–even some villains know that death is awfully final, and there is a lot of merit in capturing and storing away your foes and other obstacles to your plans. Never know when you might need a hostage, or a controlled king…
Actually, I’m pretty sure they only told the guy in the Darth Vader suit, and Mark Hamil just improv’d his little whiny cry-baby bit.
It’s just what I heard. You could be right.
That’s just awesome! I love what you did! If I could suggest, next time post in the comments right after the next day’s comic is put up. That way you get the most people to look at your work.
really? like no one saw this coming.
Wasn’t that big a surprise. I figured at best, he was keeping them in a very deep and cat-girl free dungeon cell.
Ha!
Love it!
That’s a thought. Dunno how often I’ll do it of course 🙂
Nope, Mark Hamill was the only one who knew on set. David Prowse had absolutely no clue that Darth Vader = Luke’s dad, and he didn’t find out until he watched a screening of it. He was actually upset over that, because had he known, he would have done the scene differently.
Nicodemus: “It was I who took your parents from you. The bank had a reposession order out, so they’re basically impounded.”
I’m a little surprised that this seems to be presented as a big reveal; I thought that Nastajia suspected Big Nic even way back the first time they came to Astoria, and such suspicions would surely have grown ever since he refused to return the amulet to her.
While loosing is not the time to mock your enemies and make them want to kill you dragon.