Hey there! Antares Complex is not dead.

by on December 20, 2019 at 10:51 am
Posted In: Antares Complex, Life, Updates

Hey everyone,

So I thought I had a post up about how I was going to be taking an extended hiatus to sort some things but, there’s this word next to the post that reads “Draft” so I’m going out on a limb and going to say that somehow didn’t get posted. Whether it was my incompetence or a error by WordPress- I can’t say.

But, okay- let me try and get this short as possible!

So, Antares Complex is not dead for one I’m simply ‘taking a break’ which is a lie because I am still working on it but I’m not posting it. What does this mean? I’m still trying to get pages ready and out but I have a lot of projects going on that is making it hard to get these pages out on time as they are taking quite a long time. I have said in the past that I have a buffer and that is true but I do not have the dialog applied & I’m not rushing to get that done- more on that in a minute.

Other projects, like what?
Well for one I work with a small business that I made with my brother. That makes me money and that has to take priority over AC which is 100% unpaid. If you want to help move things along I have a patreon & ko-fi.

As for another I am currently working on a store to sell my art. Given that I’m the ONLY person working on this comic & Journey to the Skyline AND two separate stores? I’m a bit buried to say the least. Also, Journey to the Skyline has to be cut up for webtoon posting.  Why doesn’t Antares Complex get the same treatment? More on that in a sec.

I am also taking care of a family member. I’ve glossed over this in the past but it’s basically 2 people at this point. I’d rather not dive into it but the short is, one is disabled, the other is depressed and I’m trying to make things work for both of them.

Getting back to why I haven’t been rushing to get dialog onto comic pages- Because the current issue I am making art for I’ve been struggling with some issues. I had to rewrite a chunk of it and the issue is VERY effect heavy and it’s slowed me down greatly. So, it burnt me out and is taking a while to get done.

So, why am I not cutting up AC for webtoon?
Well, I hate to put it this way but it’s the honest answer: Antares Complex is a series I’ve been working on for many years and I’ve learned a lot since then. Early issues, the way the documents are set up are chaotic to say the least. I’d have to do a lot of work to cut them up for their format. Also, I’d have to redo every, single, word balloon- which I want to do anyway given I have a new font and I don’t think the formatting is very good.

So, there’s a lot to do and I’m ONE person trying to tackle all of this as fast as I can.

What can you do to help? Well, not much I guess. As I said you can help by making Antares Complex something I am financially motivated to do, faster and you can let me know on twitter if you’re looking forward to reading more.

To some I’m sure this comes off as cynical and maybe at worst- greedy? But look at it from my perspective I am working on this and I have put out over 12 issues, for free. Years and years of work and I am going to do more.

It’s just hard to justify it when I need to earn a living for myself and the job isn’t paying, so I work on it when I can and it’s been a struggle.

Either way, I hope your holidays are going well. I am doing my best to make them good here and I hope you have a merry xmas.

-Mike

 

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New live stream recordings

by on May 5, 2019 at 5:58 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

I’m tired, woke up early to repair my bike so I have a means of getting around without worry that the rear axel would break, so, I’m not sure I ever posted live stream recordings here. I wanna say I’m 90% sure yes but eeeey here’s some recordings.

Please keep in mind these will contain spoilers for the comic so if you just want to listen to me and my co-hosts chat you can treat it as a vlog.

Got 5 live stream recordings opened to view on youtube:

 

Due to spam, I’m removing the comments section from Antares Complex

by on April 30, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Posted In: Updates, Website

Hey everyone,

As said in the title I’m removing the comments section for Antares Complex. Why? I’m tired of having to log in several times a week to kill spambot comments that are awaiting approval. I had disqus prior to this which I think handled that better, but because they added in ads I decided to opt out of that since this site is supported by Patreons/ko-fi and not ads. I didn’t want people getting the wrong idea about the site.

Why are there so many spam comments? Because wordpress, that’s why. There’s bots that seek out sites using wordpress and actively try to get into it or fill it with spam content.

If my firewall is to be believed, the site in it’s wordpress incarnation has already had thousands of attacks:

Over 5000 attacks on the site

RIGHT then, if you want to leave a comment or interact with me, go to my twitter account: https://twitter.com/Gx3RComics where I’m plenty active.

Sorry if you’re disappointed but, the comments section sees more action from bots pushing bullshit than readers.

As usual I’ll put this out there, drop me some support if you’re feeling generous at my Ko-Fi or Patreon

The Xbox One S All Digital is SAD

by on April 17, 2019 at 3:37 am
Posted In: Video Games

How did Microsoft, again, not see the poor naming idea here? They didn’t see the Xbox One being called the XBone and here we are, with an even worse name.

Where to even start with this ripoff of a console? I’ll condense this to a list to why this thing is useless:

Keep in mind the date of writing this, but it won’t change all that much honestly.

Hardware wise:
-It lacks a disc drive, and costs $50 dollars more. So, you’re getting less hardware for more money. ($250 for the SAD and $200 for the XB1S). Nevermind many XB1S’s come with games or a controller, some stores even bundling extra.

Software wise:
You lose out on the ability to:

  • Lend
  • Borrow
  • Trade
  • Sell
  • Buy used

Games and movies by buying the SAD, you’re locking yourself into Microsoft’s ecosystem which leaves you with 0 options. A store like Best Buy/Target/ Walmart/Gamestop/etc has a sale? Too bad for you! Hope MS has a sale eventually, where you’ll pay the same price for a digital copy which you can’t sell/buy/le- you get it.

I know some are already saying “this is how gaming is gonna be now, all digital” defending it by pointing at steam and saying “People love that but not the XB1SAD?”.

Well, the big difference is steam lets you buy off of many storefronts. Don’t see a sale on steam? Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, Humble Store all have sales and bundles where you can score games for super cheap. Don’t want to get a game on steam? Try GoG or one of the other launchers out there.
With microsoft? It’s just their store. Only their store. You don’t get a choice. So, 0 competition with pricing, I don’t see that working out very well.

So, that comparison is right out the door.

I get it, some are super into digital because you don’t need to get your fat ass off the couch to swap discs, or go to a store, but there is no denying that paying more money for a console that objectively does less for you is not a good deal. If  all digital is the future? Microsoft better stop doing it so ineptly and figure it out because this is the second, major blunder they’ve had with the XBOX One that involved getting in the way of players enjoying games.

Missed a few updates.

by on March 27, 2019 at 8:54 am
Posted In: Antares Complex, Updates, Website

Hey everyone, I’m aware that you’re aware that I’ve missed a few updates here and there recently and I wanted to address this.

I’m pretty sure I made it clear that I have a decent sized buffer for pages, a lot of them. So I’m sure some might be wondering why have I missed two updates in a row? The pages I’ve been working on with Antares Complex are pretty effect and background heavy so it’s taken me a while to get that sorted. I’ve also been pretty stressed out recently so writing dialog has been a bit of a headache when my head isn’t in the game. So, I’ve missed updates pretty much because I’ve not been able to add the dialog.

The thing is this has been double-difficulty because the last few pages of Journey to the Skyline have also been bg/effect heavy. So I’ve taken small breaks to. . . work on other things. Some fanart, a bit on an animation I’m trying to get done. Yeah, taking a ‘break’ from work to work on something else, it’s dumb I know.

But, I’m not slowing down in terms of making anything but I am just not focused at the moment. I’m going to be back on track soon as I’d like to get to the end of the issue for Antares Complex so I can have the actual normal short break there so I can catch up on dialog and writing.

So, as usual I’m going to plainly state, Antares Complex is not going anywhere, the comic isn’t dead/dying/etc. I have plenty of pages to post that just need finalizing. (wordballoons, text, some special effects, at worst 3D models for ships).

 

This next part is a bit more in detail for other things, so if you’re not interested in reading that? Then don’t sweat it.

I think part of the stress is that, I was hoping to be a bit further along with some projects here. I was hoping to get one of the two comic series on Comixology or something.

With Antares Complex, the earlier issues are rough both in art and how it’s formatted. I’d have to redo all the dialog. . . Again and take hours to set it up in a format friendly for tablets and such and honestly? I feel like the early issues are so rough no one will be interested and it could likely scare off anyone from being interested in later issues.

With Journey to the Skyline, the comic pages have been set up proper from the start. I have the first issue all set up and done, even have the extras sorted out. I’m just. . . Nervous to proceed, I don’t know the steps required to get it on comixology. I’m sure it’s not so bad but I’m fairly overwhelmed as it is with making all the stuff and I don’t have the cash to pay someone to sort it for me. I’ve heard the process can be a bit annoying, with submissions getting denied for no reason- I say no reason because my friend submitted the same thing, twice and it was accepted the 2nd time no problem.

So, that’s the update,  bit of a sour note on the end there but I’m being honest as possible here. Thanks for reading and if you have any thoughts, let me know.

As usual I’ll put this out there, drop me some support if you’re feeling generous at my Ko-Fi or Patreon