Page 1630…
Happy Monday!
We just finished redoing the Blue Dream Studios site… which also serves as our STORE.
If you have just a moment… could you please go through the site and give me some feedback?
Let me know if anything doesn’t make sense… or if I need to add more text or graphics in places?
I truly hate making websites… so I tend to just “zone out” when it comes to them.
Any thoughts would be fantastic.
Also…
If you happen to want to order a PDF… or even some books… please tell me how the experience is.
š
Thanks to Brianna Reed from Nerdette Designs for her patience and talent in getting this site up… and working with me.
“Oh, and by the way.. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BEDROOM??”
Ehm… Wasn’t Alex supposed to have agree to some Centaurish person never to give the sword to anyone else? What about that promise?
I like the new site for Blue Dream Studio! I really like the bold header images, those are really nice. My only comment so far is that the links in the footer are pretty difficult to read. Also, the navigation menu sub-page list for books and toys is a bit awkward. I guess I’m not used to two columns with text that large. Hope that helps! š
Couldn’t I get just a bit of privacy while I’m still in my undies? Sheesh!!
He just needs to tell them one little sentence, actually:
“She’ll never forgive you, you know.”
Comic: Alex needs to ask the next logical question. Will it be possible to be with Nastajia again? Will you help me do that?
BDS website: Three things:
1 – the first thing I see is my favorite screenshot of Nastajia and the army before they take over Astoria. But couldn’t you change the direction of her gaze to look at the audience? She looks like she’s daydreaming. Plus it’ll involve the audience right away.
2 – MOST IMPORTANT!! The text description for book three reads “…becoming a prisoner of to the nightmare realm.” Gotta get rid of the word ‘of’ or ‘to.’ They both sound fine, but not together.
3 – The “SHOP” links at the bottom of each page that takes a person to the list of books, toys, or pdfs should open to a page with pictures too.
Just my three cents. It looks fantastic and I love the colors, large banners, easy to navigate pages, large lettering, and the simplicity to the site. It is child-friendly and inviting. Kudos to the design.
The new design for Blue Dream Studio is nice, but I think it’s unnecessarily large. I think you can easily drop the font size by 2pt, shrink the logo in the header a bit and reduce the header height. You probably want the search and shop right there with the other links in the header (merge “shop” with “books and toys”).
The website: as jonwaynew said the list of products should definitely have images attached to them, but perhaps it would help if they were in order? It’s a shade confusing when it goes 2, 3, 1, etc.
Also maybe a recently released slot for the most recently produced item in that series at the top of the page.
Hope that helps.
Oh, I LIKE that. yes!
“Yes, there are. which Is why you need to leave so I can go back to sleep and help her. We’ll talk more after she’s not in dire danger.”
I don’t know…if the alternative is Earth and Dreamland ending up in complete slavery to the Nightmare Realm, I think Nastajia is mature enough to handle losing Alex. I don’t think she would blame her parents for that. Besides, ulitmately it is Alex’s and Dan’s decision, not her parents.
Sounds like Oberon understands that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, even when that few is his daughter.
BUT is may buy Alex some time, at least.
Alex is also maturing. I don’t think he will make this decision (either way) without taking full responsibility for the consequences. After this, there is no way he can point the finger at anyone else…if he sacrifices worlds so that he and Nastajia can be together, that’s on him.
That said, the elves could be wrong, too.
I wish the elves could explain more of why they think THIS is the time to make such a massive change. I mean, if they know that (by entering Dreamland) Dan would have such magical powers that he could wipe out the Nightmare Realm with a wave of his hand, the brothers need to know this! But they’re being nebulous and I wouldn’t blame either Dan or Alex if they kept the status quo and sent Alex back.
As I recall, Dan never said he even *wanted* to be king, and all of this is muddying things, and this issue seems to be diverting them from their real issues. Were I the twins, I wouldn’t trust anyone who tells Alex to give up the sword. Is there some reason that Dan couldn’t just abdicate? He has no real investment in Dreamland, and that would allow them to focus their efforts on the real issues.
Honestly, I liked this comic *much* more before all of this who gets to be king garbage.
Should Alex be allowed that chance? How many more pages before we’re back in the Nightmare Realm and what kind of fate would BOTH worlds be in?
There’s quite a lot of things that need to be explained, actually. We’ve never heard the whole story. Starting with the ‘one grown-up at a time’ rule and ending with what ever happened to the pirate ship met by Kiwi and the crew when Alex and Nas went for a swim.
And what was the Banana Sketch, exactly?Seriously, Oberon, how is that even an answer to what Daniel just suggested? Now you’re just being cryptically annoying.
“How do you know Alex isn’t the rightful king?”
“The Fate Of The World is more important than Love!”
If Oberon doesn’t want to contribute any practical insight into the Alex-or-Daniel debate, he should at least stop talking and let Alex put on some pants. Personally, I’m holding out for a single panel in which Oberon shouts, “Hey! Listen!”
Yeah, I’m having a similar experience. This comic was wonderful when it was about an underdog “knight in shining armor” learning the magic of wingless fight and wielding a magical sword to slay dragons for the elven princess he loves. Cliche, but powerfully emotional because it’s nostalgic childhood fantasy at its finest.
I suspect this recent arc is supposed to be about the conflicts of loss (with Alex and Nastajia possibly parting forever), responsibility (Alex learning to be king or Daniel taking that responsibility for himself), redemption (Daniel being restored the opportunity he was always denied–the chance to visit Dreamland), and destiny (Daniel’s inheritance of the throne). These would also be great themes to explore, but for one problem: I’m not yet sold that the conflict should genuinely exist. As far as I’m concerned, Oberon and Niviene’s concerns have so far been without believable merit. Without any true justification for this conceived conflict, it’s been hard to take any of the dialogue seriously.
I’m holding on in the hope that Oberon has a legitimate supporting reason for his argument, that he is just about to get to it, and that this whole chapter will read better back-to-back without having to wait a day for the next few panels. The next few days could very well fix a lot of the issues I’m seeing at the moment.
Addendum: Have users/readers comments under product descriptions too. Not too many, just the choice ones.
Note: If this posts twice, I’m sorry. It didn’t seem to post the first time.
Sorry to be the grammar Nazi. “The fate of both our worlds is at risk.”
Other than that, awesome as always. It would be really cool if they could find a way to go directly to the source of the conflict and talk to the Sword of Kings. *in singsong voice* Oh, Niviennnnnnne!
You mean you don’t know the banana sketch? Hey guys, Desmond doesn’t know what the banana sketch is! š
Actually, “The fate of both our worlds are at risk.” is correct if you take fate used this way as a plural. Or maybe it is supposed to be fates, and thus a typo….
What Alex *should* have said several panels ago:
“You and a lot of other people can *entreat* me to give up the Sword of Kings, but you can’t *compel* me to give it up. By *your own words* the sword chose me, making me the *lawful* King of Dreamland. As *your king*, here is my first royal command ā get out of my bedroom and stop entreating me to give up the sword that freely and legitimately chose *me* to be the rightful King of Dreamland. Right now, Iām going to go save your daughter instead of arguing with you. The matter of who will be the King of Dreamland after this conflict is over is something my brother and I will discuss and settle between ourselves at that time. Now let me get back to sleep.ā
Seriously, Alex, grow up and stand up for yourself here.
This, from the fellow who walked into town in his smiley-face boxers?
Daniel is the strategist. Alex is the guy on the front lines wielding the sword.
Throwing Daniel out there without any kind of formal action experience is suicide.