Edit: It has not been NINE YEARS. No, it can't have been. Omg.. omg.. it has been. Daaaamn. o_o
Durr... SIX years, that is.
Well, I don't know if I there's any point in saying this, considering how long it's been, but my username here used to be Arasan Nayamu. I'm female, 29, a serious hardcore gamer, and the only thing I contributed here last time was my voice for the milk maid in "Apprentice". And after looking myself up on here out of curiosity, I gotta say... I'm not at all proud of who I used to be. I learned that I was a complete jerk, overdosed on mean-spirited sarcasm, and all around shitty to everyone. I am aware of the reason why, but a bad relationship is not an excuse to be an asshat to others, so I sincerely apologize for any previous bad behavior. Please, please forgive me? -_-;;
Why have I returned? I don't really know, honestly. I have nothing new to show, not even any new art really... just some goofy plant sprites that I had worked on and off for a couple years. Er, sorry, not those kind of sprites... faeries. Mandrakes, if you know the term. I meant to use them in many different things, like cards, totes, children's stories, and maybe even an adventure game down the road, but so far haven't gotten around to any of it because several medical issues arose out of the blue. Possibly even a degenerative muscle disease, but the doctors still aren't sure, so I'm just trying to stay positive and productive in some manner.
Alright, alright, I know why I came back. It's just kind of embarrassing, I guess. I had given up on making any adventure games previously because Mister Abusive Boyfriend was.. extremely negative toward all ideas, constantly berating me on the futility of adventure gaming ever becoming popular again. Since he was very adamant about it and had a computer science degree, I figured he was right, like pretty much everything I believed him on... like a damned fool. I have since replaced Mister Abusive Boyfriend with Wonderful, Geeky, Loving, Caring Husband that supports me in whatever endeavor I choose to get myself into about once a month or so. lol He is also the reason I am much more laid-back, calm, and contemplative, and not so knee-jerk defensive and derisive.
Recently, I've been playing a lot of adventure games on Steam and I think it's amazing how Steam and other incredible sources have brought back the adventure game genre as a viable option for serious indie gaming in only a couple years! Some of my friends (and even my mother! wait--what?!) who had never once touched an adventure game in their life are buying them, playing them, and enjoying them! I saw the new Blackwell Legacy yesterday and also saw that it was made with AGS, and I realized just how long it had been since I'd set foot here, so I wanted to see how you all are doing and check out any awesome games I've missed.
How's the little creation program holding up? Better? Worse? Easier to use? More complicated? Either way, I'll probably still suck at doing anything with it. lol
Is Migs still around? If he is, I have a question for him. I have a few tracks of music he made and gave me to ponder over. I've been listening to them for nine six years and I've grown attached to them and I wanna know if they're still available to use at some point in the eventual future. lol
So, yeah. Hello again. I promise I'll be a good geeky gamer girl this time around. =^_^=;;
Hey, welcome back. I frankly don't remember you at all, and how could I, 31 posts and all of them before 2006, it would be impossible for me to remember you.
Regardless, I'm glad you have a nice husband, and I'm glad you understand the mistakes of the past. Everyone who takes a "Harvey" approach to life, is really remarkable to me.
Hope to see more of you around.
I'm with dual... Welcome back, though I apparently missed you by about a year.
Oh, and adventure games are dying. Nobody plays them anymore, especially not all of us :)
-Bill
Some sad stuff in there, mostly good stuff.
I don't remember you as a forum member, but I do remember the voice of the milkmaid in the Apprentice, of course, which was a lovely easter egg in a lovely game.
Welcome back.
I also don't remember your first stint around these parts, but welcome back.
Glad you shook off Mr Dick and found yourself a nice guy. And I'm glad that the nice guy got the girl :D
See you around :)
Since my game inspired you to come back to the forum, I suppose the least I can do is say welcome back. So welcome back. :) And congrats on finding a better place in life.
I remember your username!
I can't recall your offenses, though, but I'll be damned if I'm going to forgive you.
The creation program is still a piece of shit; we're all here only to prevent CJ from realizing that and being sad.
Goldmund, edit your post before CJ sees it and gets depressed all over again.
Quote from: Spectreincarnate on Wed 18/01/2012 06:22:13
It has not been NINE YEARS. No, it can't have been.
Actually, I was right. It's been six. I was looking at the wrong year. No wonder it didn't feel like a full decade. Hah!
Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 18/01/2012 06:58:47
Hey, welcome back. I frankly don't remember you at all, and how could I, 31 posts and all of them before 2006, it would be impossible for me to remember you.
Understandable, cause I mostly hung out on the IRC and gave art critiques to people who asked, while gawking at everyone's work and all the games in progress, feeling like I'd never be able to live up to that type of standard and asking myself "What the hell am I doing here?" quite a lot.
QuoteRegardless, I'm glad you have a nice husband, and I'm glad you understand the mistakes of the past. Everyone who takes a "Harvey" approach to life, is really remarkable to me.
Hope to see more of you around.
Thank you. ^_^
What is the Harvey approach? Harvey Dent "Two-Face"? He was nice, then turned mean, though, didn't he? The only other Harvey I can think of is a 6' 3.5" pooka.
Quote from: poc301 on Wed 18/01/2012 09:37:05
I'm with dual... Welcome back, though I apparently missed you by about a year.
Thank you, also. Is the math still correct? I was off by three years. lol
Quote from: ThreeOhFour on Wed 18/01/2012 09:40:38
Some sad stuff in there, mostly good stuff.
I don't remember you as a forum member, but I do remember the voice of the milkmaid in the Apprentice, of course, which was a lovely easter egg in a lovely game.
Welcome back.
Yeah, I tend to lament a bit.. sorry.
Thanks. I kind of wish I could do that piece over, cause I've practiced my voicing by reading books to my husband and I think I could do so much better now. He thinks I do a really good Snape, strangely enough. I don't know about that. lol
Edit: Oh yeah! There's this awesome thing called a Franklin.. something.. that when you talk into this pen it records it onto a sticker! You can send a book full of stickers to a child through a charity, and I want to do that, but I can't imagine stopping there. I'd run all over the house putting stickers on the dumbest things, making voiced descriptions of each item, and then have my husband play a real life adventure! Haha! I'm such a dork.
Quote from: Stupot+ on Wed 18/01/2012 13:55:06
I also don't remember your first stint around these parts, but welcome back.
Glad you shook off Mr Dick and found yourself a nice guy. And I'm glad that the nice guy got the girl :D
See you around :)
Thank you. Yes, we are a very geeky couple and extremely weird. We had a pinata and Rock Band set up at our wedding and we danced to the Magic Knight Rayearth waltz and I walked down the aisle to the Final Fantasy Theme. My aunt was disgusted by the whole thing, but we don't care. (However, hubby is going to ream her out if he ever sees her again, cause she plugged her ears while I sang a love song to him... which is just weird and we have no idea why. O_o;) Heck, if we had had the time to prepare we would have shoved a D&D adventure in there somewhere. I almost wish we had, it would have been amusing to watch her storm out. ^_&
Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Thu 19/01/2012 00:21:41
Since my game inspired you to come back to the forum, I suppose the least I can do is say welcome back. So welcome back. :) And congrats on finding a better place in life.
Thank you! Sorry to admit, but I haven't actually played your game, yet. I'm waiting to see if we win the Steam bundle in a blog contest in a couple days, so I'll let ya know if we do. And even if we don't, we plan on buying it. I love it when ghost characters having unfinished business and the way the clues in the notebook work remind me so much of Eagle Eye Mysteries adventure games*, which I loved to bits as a kid! I'm also speechless at some of the amazing art that I've seen so far and I admire the patience and talent of pixel artists that can make a scene look like a freaking painting. o_o
*My Eagle Eye Mysteries CDs have not worked for at least ten years and I can't find them anywhere online. Does anyone have these two games? I miss them greatly. :(
Quote from: Goldmund on Thu 19/01/2012 00:37:54
I remember your username!
I can't recall your offenses, though, but I'll be damned if I'm going to forgive you.
Your username looks familiar, too.
I was just very cynical and snarky all the time. As a serious female gamer I still have a hard time becoming a part of communities that consist of mainly male gamers, but I'm not so defensive about it anymore.
No forgiveness? None at all? Sad ghosty.. ;_;
QuoteThe creation program is still a piece of shit; we're all here only to prevent CJ from realizing that and being sad.
Hmm, well I don't remember *it* being shit, just me being a dunce and sketching backgrounds at the wrong resolution and having to do them over again... >_> Can it handle high resolutions yet?? It looks like it's had some updates over the years; a couple complete rewrites even? I hope I'll still be able to grasp how it works.
You've seen Harvey then :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Quote from: Dualnames on Thu 19/01/2012 13:28:40
You've seen Harvey then :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
It's been a long time, but yeah, I generally remember it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that can appreciate a very well-made black and white film. I also love the much more recent movies Big Fish (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/) and Neverwas (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418004/), which have really similar themes of an eccentric man that shouldn't be criticized for his belief in fantasies if it's not hurting himself or anyone else.
Also, have you ever heard of the Emperor of the United States? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton)
I think I remember you from irc mainly because you mentioned drawing fairies and stuff. I don't recall ever having any punch-ups with you so welcome back!
The irc is still there btw. Still filled with amazingly untalented people. Except for Progz. Progz helps to balance the scale. ;D
Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 19/01/2012 17:42:08
I think I remember you from irc mainly because you mentioned drawing fairies and stuff. I don't recall ever having any punch-ups with you so welcome back!
Thank you. I'm mostly into high fantasy stories, so yeah, you'll see centaur, dragons, faeries, and unicorns from me, but rather than go with the typical standard ideas, I try to incorporate different kinds of animal features and mannerisms to them, which I hope is much more interesting than the norm. My studio website is in shambles at this time, so I don't have anything professional to show yet, but here's some sketches I'm still fairly proud of.
Shindig (http://www.durasianstudios.com/D&D_satyr_c.jpg)
Durasian Unicorn Ideas (http://www.durasianstudios.com/durasianunicorns_c.jpg)
Tanneth Bowdren, High Court Mage (http://www.durasianstudios.com/mf_tannethfullbody.jpg) (Little overboard on the silky clothing folds there...)
Elonya in Slave Rags (http://www.durasianstudios.com/D&D_Elonya_c.png) (And her satchel full of knick-knacks.)
Elonya in Fancy Dress (http://www.durasianstudios.com/D&D_Elonya2_c.png)
And here's some of those mandrakes I mentioned earlier, in colored pencil. They're called BlossUm Buddies and there's around 70 images, so here's a sampling of my favorites. I really should upload higher quality versions, as they are much nicer looking, but this was for kids to put them on their pages as little pets, so I never bothered.
Lily of the Valley (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/Bea/003.gif)
Peppermint (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/Bellamausi/025.png)
Money Plant (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/faerain/021.gif)
Zinnia (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/Peanuts/029.png)
Balloon Flower (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/RandomGeekyGuy/018.gif)
Ookami and Issun Cosplay (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/Ryuukokoro/cosplay002.gif)
Tulip (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/Peanuts/015.gif)
Wild Violet (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/Sushidragon/023.gif)
Sheet Ghost (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/ArasanNayamu/Blossum%20Buddies/SakuraPetal101/holiday004.gif)
Quote from: Dualnames on Thu 19/01/2012 20:34:34
The irc is still there btw. Still filled with amazingly untalented people. Except for Progz. Progz helps to balance the scale. ;D
And could that perhaps be because they all hang out on IRC? ^_~
Seriously, though, I don't get a damn thing done while chatting. Extremely easily distracted and talkative, as I'm sure you've noticed by now.
I should start working on something before heading over there again, but thank you for the reminder. Fail ghosty.