EQ Tiles - Earth Inclusive

I've been hitting the assets for my Earth Inclusive game pretty heavy lately. Working in the 32 x 32 realm, iteration is your friend. You can really do so much, with so little.

Some EQ tiles for my sandbox RPG. I think they need one more pass, then good enuff. #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart pic.twitter.com/hm75uH4Ygw
— Arthur H Walker (@ArthurHWalker) January 30, 2015

Why Deadlines Are Important

Ahem, @ArthurHWalker. Impatience is a virtue. pic.twitter.com/ppiij6piRG
— Arctic Arcade (@ArcticArcade) January 26, 2015

December 2015

I've had thoughts of starting a new blog. Most of the reasons I started the blog was to reach out to certain goals and achievements as a writer, seek out milestones and roads to wander on. It feels like I've done a lot of that, and that I need to move on to building my own website or checking out something like Tumblr.

I'd like to change the tone and make my blog less personal and more about the crafting process I engage to make all my things.

Life Hacks For Writers

I Make Text

Word Craft & Pixel Smithing

I want a catchy title, something that is concise, but encompasses what I do.

Also, I want to start cooking again next year, and maybe do a cookbook.

Even saying that makes me feel old.

Self Promotion

Self promotion via the Internet is an interesting beast.

Where to get all my books? @Amazon has this handy book series link: http://t.co/VyskN2NyxT #indieauthor #sciencefiction #Dystopian #ebook
— Arthur H Walker (@ArthurHWalker) December 2, 2014

I've been playing on Twitter for about a month, a couple hours a day, to see if it is the social media option everyone seems to think it is. I've managed to quadruple my following in that time but I still have no clue how Twitter really works or the best method of using it for promotion. I would imagine it is like anything else, you have to buy advertising for it to be really useful.

I'm holding off on spending any money until I've got more product on the market. I wouldn't mind having six novellas for Uroboros Saga and maybe one of another series before I start giving the Internet my advertising dollar. Most people seem to think that if your book doesn't sell like crazy on the first day it is a failure. I don't think that selling your works on online works that way.

I think you'll have to give away a lot of free stuff, make a lot of product on a predictable schedule, and do all the free self promotion you can in the meantime. Being successful online as a content creator takes time and patience. All the people I look to for examples have been tirelessly giving the online community their talents for almost a decade and have probably starved a little in the process.

I've spend some time being discouraged with it all. Putting out even a single book is a lot of work and I know that some of what goes to the market isn't perfect because of the release schedule I keep. I think when I have more product out there, my audience will find me and see that I'm serious, I just have to keep my head down and make text. Fortunately, I don't lack for things I want to write about and producing content relative to ten or more Uroboros Saga books is very doable.

I'd like to hit my release schedule early, or at least produce the works for it so I can focus on other things. I'd like to get my dev partner @livestrom all he needs for assets to make Earth Inclusive feature complete. I'd like to write the text for my "A Boy Builds" book and maybe combine everything I've done for "Dreams & Echoes" into a single massive tome and make a bad ass cover for it. Also, producing a working version of Storytelling Sciences is still on my list.

2015 will be busy.

Uroboros Saga - Book 4, 2015

Perfidy, Kale, and Brook

Microsoft Universal Keyboard

Picked up Microsoft’s Universal Mobile Keyboard via Amazon yesterday and I’ve spent the morning getting used to typing on it. I had been using a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard as my portable but it felt huge in my bag alongside my Thinkpad 10. Microsoft’s UMK will actually slide inside the sleeve with my tablet, a definite plus. 

The keyboard, particularly with the keyboard attached has some heft to it. The cover accounts for some of that weight as it can detach and serve as a stand for your tablet. Depending on the tablet it can have two positions, but my Thinkpad 10 is too slender for both, working at about the 45 degree angle only. The case and keyboard attach to one another via magnets. 

This is a small keyboard. Being me, my hands adapted to it quickly, but if you’re used to a full sized mechanical keyboard there will be a transition period to endure. The keys have pretty good travel, given the size of the device, and have a satisfying thud that accompanies each keystroke. So far all the features work and I’ve had no typing errors like what plagued me with Logitech devices. 

I don’t have an Android device to test it with, but the Microsoft UMK has a switch allowing you to pair it with Windows, Android, or iOS devices. The transition is easy. As I write this, I’m jumping between my iPad Mini and Thinkpad 10, opening and closing the same document in Word. I don’t think the frequencies are specific, as I was able to pair the iPad while the toggle switch on the keyboard was set to Android. Likely, you could pair the keyboard to any three Bluetooth devices you want, and the markings are just a way to sort that out.

Update 11/20/2014: This keyboard does not work with Windows Phone. I knew that when I bought it, but thought I should include that for anyone reading this. Add it to the list of ways Microsoft have left Windows Phone users out in the cold. 

iPad Mini w/ MS UMK 

Thinkpad 10 w/ MS UMK

From top to bottom; UMK, iPad Mini, Thinkpad 10

Earth Inclusive Preview

  

 

Five Years, Sum Total

I started writing full time in September of 2009. I let the milestone blow by without giving it more than a gentle nod. I looked back at some of my old posts for some of that brutal introspection I used to talk about all the time. I love-hate reading my old posts, but they give me a lot of perspective I'm thankful for.

In five years, I've gained some things.

• At will, I can sit down and just write. It doesn't matter what it is, I can sit down, and just go. 
• I know who my friends are. More than that, they know who I am. 
• The perspective that comes from having self-published three books. 
• The experience of releasing our (Livestrom and I) first game for a mobile platform. 
• More bags. 

In that same span, I've lost some things.

• The false certitude my faith once gave me about the nature of all things. 
• A great deal of personal darkness and anxiety about life.   
• People. Circumstance and death have robbed me of a few. 
• My spot in Idaho. Fortunately, Kansas is letting me crash on the couch.   
• Many hair ties, and at least one pair of sandals.  

I wouldn't have gained anything without a few choice friends, family and allies. October also marked fifteen years of my wife and I being a couple. Success isn't measured in book sales or Twitter followers, but by the number of people with their hands at your back pushing you forward. The third book was the most difficult to produce, and would have been delayed some additional assistance.

Thanks Dad.

If you liked the layout, arrangement, and cover work for my books, rejoice. Red Couch Creative and I will be working together for a similar release schedule in 2015. There will likely be 2nd editions for Uroboros Saga 1 and 2, with new covers as well. Thanks for reading.

Dogs

I remember laying in my own driveway, breathing heavily and wondering what to do next as I looked at my mauled leg. I limped inside my house, and took a moment to cool down. My first instinct was to arm myself, and go after the dog, make sure it didn't hurt anyone else. Being who I am, I had all sorts of mental preparation for preventing myself becoming a victim, but not much in the way for grappling with actually being one.

When I went over to the neighbor, he was there with his friend (who owned the dog). The dog freaked out, lunging at me again barking and basically going crazy.

I backed slowly away with my hands raised in a non-threatening manner.

I cried out, "your dog attacked me," and pointed at the wounds.

My neighbor turned to his friend shaking his head, and said "told you".

The dog owner seemed baffled that I had a problem, even as blood ran down into my socks. It wasn't until I explained the legal situation he was in that it sort of dawned on him what was going on. In the end they paid for my medical bills and the dog went away. That would have been the outcome regardless as soon as I called the police. In the end it didn't come to that, but the encounter changed me forever.

Tuesday afternoon while I was on a stroll, a large black dog rushed at me, barking and going basically bat crap loco. The owner, trailed behind screaming and freaking out at the dog, basically mimicking the dog's behavior.

I backed slowly away with my hands raised in a non-threatening manner.

Having been attacked and bitten by dogs more than once, I'm pretty much done with the animals. In every case I was just minding my own business, and the dogs went after me. In every case, the dog had an owner that was imperceptibly brighter  As an adult it was in my own driveway. I have had extremely close encounters with Pitt Bulls, Bull mastiffs, and Rottweilers working in my previous occupations.

Once, I had a customer ask the company to make a delivery to their back door. When I got there, the gate was locked so I had to climb it. Their two mastiffs had broken through the backdoor to the garage and streaked toward me as I made my descent. I don't even remember going back over the fence it all happened so fast. The fence barely held them as they barked crazily trying to get at me.

Why do people delight in having large and extremely dangerous dogs for house pets? I make a lot of assumptions about these sorts of people. If I meet someone new and they own dogs, they have to be pretty awesome for that encounter to become a friendship. I know, it isn't rational, but neither is my fear of dying in the vacuum of space.

My maternal grandparents had an amazing dog.

My mother had several great dogs that I loved and enjoyed.

I have friends who had lovable dog companions that I looked forward to seeing when I saw my friend.

I think there are some people who have an affinity for the animals and are able to train them and raise them to be good companions. I think these people are extremely rare, and that most people lack the wisdom or the empathy to competently have any pets, let alone one capable of harming or killing someone.

If you do have a dog, and it isn't in your home or fenced yard, pretty please, with some fucking sugar on top, keep it on a leash. .

Thank you.

Thinkpad 10, In Use (Part 1)

A couple nights previous I was out with friends on an unplanned excursion for pie. I had been working on a poster for a presentation for my wife and had an idea for how I could change the background. All I had with me was my Thinkpad 10 tablet device.

I didn't think it would actually work. Opening a 48" x 36", 300 DPI poster with twenty layers of images and text did not seem likely to go well on my Thinkpad 10 (fanless tablet device). I wanted to open a slightly smaller file, pull a layer from it, manipulate it, and drop it into the poster at the proper resolution.

My Thinkpad 10 did it.

I opened both images in Photoshop, select the layer I wanted from one, and then drag n' dropped it into the other. It took a second for the image to appear in the proper place, but once there I was able to manipulated it into the right place, apply filters, and so forth. Being a 250+ MB file it took thirty seconds to save once I'd resolved my pixelated meddling, but it actually let me do real work between bites at the diner.

I think there is something to be said about the software in all this as well. My Thinkpad 10 is clearly capable of doing more than I thought, and yet it struggles to play back video from Vimeo and Amazon at times. It struggles with Sketchbook Pro sometimes as well, in just re-sizing brushes and things. But, in Photoshop? Or Word? Or OneNote? It performs extremely well, exceeding what I thought it could do, handling huge documents and images. My experiences have made me a lot less likely to blame the device when something doesn't work properly.

Maybe it is a 64 bit vs. 32 bit thing? Or, something with the architecture. As updates come out for the new Sketchbook Pro, I guess it remains to be seen. For video playback inside browsers, I may need to just convince the site I'm visiting from a mobile device to fix it. I'll post with whatever I figure out.

From The Poster Presentation