“Delta Rune" Illustration exclusively created for Buried Souls, a power metal music album inspired by the wonderful world of Undertale. :) Featuring DavidN as the music writer and recorder, and guest vocals from talents Pepper Coyote and Celine Kalante. You guys are amazing! I was hired to create all artwork for the album, which features ten original songs and one cover. Each song is accompanied by a corresponding illustration, which I’m now allowed to share with you all as we count down to the physical release of the album! You can download the entire album, or pre-order a physical copy over here: https://albion.bandcamp.com/album/buried-souls Others in the set: [Buried Souls Cover] [Undertale, Kill or Be Killed]

Just one of the astonishing pieces that Myla did for the Buried Souls booklet! I hadn’t intended to commission a fully illustrated book at first, but after seeing what she did with the album cover, I just had to. There are two pages left to be completed, and the physical copy will be on its way soon :)

Exciting news, Undertale fans!

Some of you may recall my work on the album art and booklet illustrations for “Buried Souls”, a musical fan project that has been in the works for quite some time now. I’m happy to announce that the entire album is now available for digital download, which you can get right over here: https://albion.bandcamp.com/album/buried-souls

This incredible album features ten original power metal songs and one cover, all inspired by the world of Undertale. Each song is accompanied by my artwork, created exclusively for the project.

The physical album is available for pre-order as I collaborate closely with David, the album’s writer and recorder, to get all illustrations complete and ready for print. I’ve seen the previews so far guys, and let me say, between David’s clever lyrical arrangements and my accompanying artwork, it looks absolutely fantastic! I’m very excited to keep you all updated as we near the finish line. I’ve been given the green-light by David to share the album’s illustrations with all of you in the meantime, which will be subsequently released over the coming weeks.

Personal thanks and shout-out to David for giving me this fantastic opportunity. This has been an enriching experience, and I’ve learned so much throughout the process. Thank you, David!

Special thanks goes out to guest vocalists Pepper Coyote and Celine Kalante. You guys are crazy talented and have done an amazing job!

Thanks of course goes out to Toby Fox, for creating this amazing experience known as “Undertale” that has touched so many of us on a personal level, making us reconsider what a “video game” truly is.

Lastly, thanks to *all of you* whom have been following this project with us, which has been years in the making. Watching this whole thing come together has been absolutely incredible, and I can’t wait to hold the album in my hands. :)

Just one of the astonishing pieces that Myla did for the Buried Souls booklet! I hadn’t intended to commission a fully illustrated book at first, but after seeing what she did with the album cover, I just had to. There are two pages left to be completed, and the physical copy will be on its way soon :)

Compared to being in Leeds, that’s a good deal

Flimsy’s first ZZT world is a creative remix of Town of ZZT where some unknown event has stripped the world of its colors.

I’ve always loved music, and have long wanted to make some of my own.  Unfortunately, playing an instrument is a skill I sorely lack.

Which is where I got the idea to try composing a tune using the one instrument I had any skill with: my own voice. Using nothing but my phone and Audacity, I recorded and modified a series of 8-second hums, whistles, and beats that I then put together over the course of 2 weeks to turn into the first song I’ve ever released.

For this track, I was going for the feel of an underwater or “deep crystal-filled cave” level of a platformer game, hence why the track’s made to loop (from 3:36 back to 0:24) for use as background music.

This track is available for royalty-free use under the Creative Commons Attribution license, and is available for download here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6nu4d0argq45tyq/Aquatic_Beats_-_Deep_Currents_A243.mp3/file

Icon of Sin, you were a glorified wall poster!

An Update

To begin with, I would like to apologize to everyone, particularly those who have supported and continue to support me on Patreon, for having disappeared for months. I never intended to disappear like this and even had a bunch of projects lined up for everyone to see.

The reason I’ve vanished for so long is because I’ve been dealing with depression, anxiety, and perfectionism on a scale that has left me incapable of managing anything beyond my work. And even then it’s been a struggle.

Despite getting help for it, my mind feels shattered and fragmented to the point that it feels like I’m thinking through a prism most of the time, or I have so many thoughts it’s like having a fork in a garbage disposal.

I’ve been almost completely unable to draw and when I can manage something I can’t focus or get anywhere with it which has been beyond frustrating. I have so many ideas I want to create and work on but have been incapable of doing any of them.

This is also part of why I’ve disappeared off social media. On top of all the negativity and crap that’s been going on lately, there’s also been an amazing amount of art memes, draw in your style challenges, and artists I admire doing awesome things together that I wish I could be a part of.

But I can’t manage even simple sketches and it’s becomes even more frustrating to have to sit on the sidelines and struggle while everyone else is doing amazing work.

I wasn’t sure if talking about any of this on a social platform was a good idea, mostly because I don’t want to make it as excuses, asking for pity, or “drama”. But I felt that for those who’ve been wondering what happened to me over the last few months, and for my patreon supporters, that I take time to explain things.

Hi Tkay, it’s great to hear from you again! I’m sorry you’re in a bad place - it happens to all of us and it’s not easy to talk about. I’m in a bit of a low point just now with my own anxiety/depression but knowing that I’ve come out of it before helps me to remember it isn’t permanent. Talking to a therapist worked wonders for me - I had been afraid for a long time because of the stigma around mental health, but now I try to be as open as I can about it to help others break that shame as well. It was a gradual process, though, and it sounds like you’re still making your way out.

Find the small things that encourage you and keep you happy. In the meantime, I’m very glad to keep supporting you for the artwork and characters that you’ve brought to us :)

Final Fantasy VI Translation Comparison (Day 5)

My latest Final Fantasy VI translation comparison update is up, and it covers so many things. If you or someone you know likes FFVI, this is some good reading!

These articles are always fascinating :)

A quick update on Hexen II, a game about pretty unicorns.

I beat the next area, but it was not too notable!  The one thing I’m realising is that, presumably because I’m playing on easy, there seems to be one section in each area that I’ve never needed to go to.

In the first world, the area behind the stained glass windows seemed to have nothing in it.  In the second world, there was a barred-off door that never opened.

It has actually made the levels more confusing to me, because I keep thinking “Okay, I definitely need to open this door, but I can’t find a switch” throughout the levels, and then I eventually end up going to the end of the level out of desperation and find that I had collected all of the required items already.

In this case, picking up the four elemental stones and then putting them in the slots was a fairly easy task, aside from the awkward platforming sections.

( @davidxn )

I’m almost certain that the difficulty setting only affects the number and placement of monsters in levels, as I’m pretty sure I only played it on the easiest difficulty at the time! It’s possible that I’m forgetting something, though.

The forgotten chapel behind the stained glass gets you the key to the wardrobe in the tailor’s house, which lets you... do something else that I can’t remember but is probably important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSzklIJLn2Q&list=PL-36gm0W-VKk7QWN4muN_PJ4MeJxmthTs&index=3#t=1m40s

Interestingly, the game is set up to have three possible locations for the buried key in the first part (the strings file is in plain text and mentions “the tree and the forge”, “the place where the water runs upward” and has an alternative note in the prison that says Anton has it in his grave), but I’ve only ever seen the first actually happen in the game. Perhaps the strings are just left unused.

I finished the first area of Hexen II!

As confusing as the game was, towards the end of the first area, everything started clicking into place… for the most part.  There were still a lot of problems!

I found a wall that implied something was behind it but I’d need an item, an invulnerable crystal golem, and an amulet of hunger.  I knew where to go from there because I’d previously found the weird room which said I needed to be part of the Brotherhood of Hunger.  

It didn’t make sense, but it pretty much translated into game terms as “You found the key for the door.”

Then it became confusing again.  It said I needed sand and glass, and to go to the fireplace. There’s about five different fireplaces across several level maps, and only one of them magically had a button next to it now.  There I got sand, but had no idea what to do with it.  Turns out I needed to run into some fire and it says “You melted it into glass.”

That caused me to get back on track, due to discovering the weird “You need a glass bead” message I found before at another fireplace.  There I somehow made it into a lens, which I used on the wall, which led to a crystal arch that said I could now defeat the crystal golem, which led to beating the golem and then the boss.  

Episode complete!  Now I’m in a new area, it’ll probably be confusing yet again, but at least I’ve made progress!

( @davidxn )

That’s exactly it, you start off in Blackmarsh with the stated goal of defeating Eidolon but you have to do a set of increasingly irrelevant things before you even discover what the ultimate goal of the area is! The threads eventually start tying together, but if you miss one secret area like the ballista that destroys the tower then you’re doomed to wander around for ages. How long did it take you to discover the portal underneath the bridge to the magician’s house with the pool in the middle? It’s a game about banging on walls.

Good luck in the Aztec Zone :) From my own memory it’s a lot less obtuse than Blackmarsh, but that mood will return with a vengeance later in the game.