Seems I missed quite a bit over the last two days.
Really not so much a personal attack, or even malice, as it is a general statement in reply to a line of thought expressed by KiDra. I tried to walk the fence, apparently went too far, I'll own up for that one. My bad.
Fangs captures the essence of the Elite universe in glimpses and moments that any player can jump in, experience, and feel connected to - not story arcs, character progressions and plot twists. If that's what you're looking for, then allow me to assist:
http://bfy.tw/3fS
Davidthehall, For the record, that link you provided in your post is leading to a "Let Me Google That for You" search for "comic book stores near my dumbass" and I believe you can agree that, no matter how much good will, that is hard to not regard as personal attack or malice.
It is true that text-only communication is a fragile thing. I read somewhere that usually 40% of a text-message is misinterpreted. I never had any malicious intent with my criticism, so maybe some clearing up and context can help here:
I am no native speaker and I do not like beating around the bush. Thus I try to word my responses precise and to the point, but certainly not to appear condescending or negative. I am not in a position to act like that and I am no authority.
My opinion about writing and arts stems from my background in creative online-communities with many artists and what I could observe there. For years I volunteered as a high ranked member of moderation staff on one community with over 200k users. Many of my friends work in the creative business and I am not unaware of the processes there. For some time now I am also dipping my toes into writing fiction as a hobby and thus am learning the rules for good fiction writing myself. It is the reason why I would indeed notice some mistakes in plot building.
So, I am well aware of the challenges it takes to write a good story and how tiresome it can be. Draft scenes, plan plot, write, rewrite, gather feedback, rewrite, proofread, maybe start over etc. It is also my experience, that simple positive feedback of the "wow, this is awesome"-kind may be nice for the ego, but is ultimately useless. It is quickly posted, does not refer to content in any way and frankly, I have seen such comments on really poor works (grammar, structure ... neglected basics) and as a result I can hardly take them serious. Lee's work is not poor! I am not referring to his work with this statement and everything I say in the following paragraphs is spoken in general. I want to reply to Lee and his work at the end of this post.
For your interpretations of my post:
"So far the comic consists of ships, ships [...] with every new post." Translation: I don't get it.
I was mislead by the title “Graphic Novel”
"Maybe you turn this personal impression of mine around with the next post and that would be awesome." Translation: My idea is the best.
I meant to say I would be glad to be proven wrong in my impression, as I do not wish to be right for the sake of being right.
"I ask you to take it as an individual's opinion on your project that may differ greatly from the impression others got." <-- Feigned Humility.
It was not feigned at all.
For the 2 major points you listed, Davidthehall: A fan creation is no different a creation than any other and "a labor of love" as in "having an emotion for what you create" is the base on which every good story is build. Without an emotion that you want to express and put in your work, it can at best turn out mediocre. The reason to write as a hobby is emotion that wants to be expressed. It is common ground, not the special attribute of a few creative minds. Hobby writers and artists do it for their content in their time and professionals do it as a job. Thus I find your second paragraph of your second major point to be an apples and oranges comparison. I have much respect for sole artists that manage to create a good story, be it visual or solely written, but the reason you need so many specialists in a studio is the money business and deadlines. That is a different context.
Whether a work is free or paid content only affects the "right" of the reader/customer to complain ("I paid for this nonsense?!"). A free work does not have more artistic value than the same work with a price tag. Of course I know what it feels like when you are committed to your content and it goes neglected or gets you less positive feedback than you hoped for, but that a work is put out for free does not make the reader owe the author. It would be nice if it was any different, but I also had to grow out of that mindset.
In general I hold no grudge and I hope I could change the impression you got a bit. I would not mind if we all met one day in ED and went hunting bounties as one wing to enjoy the game that brought us all here. So, if you agree, let's draw a line under this misunderstanding.
Lee, thank you for your reply and for clearing up the misunderstanding. The term "graphic novel" was misleading me and as you aim for mood pieces and not a full story, you are doing a good job. In that context my critique no longer applies.
If you wanted to, you could clean the area around warning messages on the hud a bit to remove the white "splotch-area" around them, but that is a matter of taste.
If you want to turn Fangs into a coherent story plot one day, allow me to make a suggestion:
Ultimately you do not need figures to have characters in your story. Characters only must be distinguishable, e.g. by their way of talking, the ship they are flying (unique decals, maybe?) and unique behavior quirks and structures. You would not necessarily need to show a figure to achieve that. I could imagine it to be very interesting if we never saw the humans in the ships and you still would pull off a good plot.
Finally I have to thank Erik for taking up the cudgels for me. It is much appreciated and not to be taken for granted.
