A tide of change

I spent a fair bit of time yesterday discussing dome things with Xanos and Jac, and now have a new task added onto my list... it's pretty minor as far as my current task-load goes (with the new task weighing in at about 150 drawings, but meh), but i think that there's a LOT of you kids who will like it. I can't say too much about it now, except that it'll involve the Lightsaber construction tool that's on your administration page if you're a DJK or higher.

Yeah, I'm a tease. :P

Also, something that was brought up are the people who have two lightsabers or a saber-staff but don't use the correct forms. To be frank, it's not going to fly anymore. If you have two sabers and are fighting with them using Vapaad or Makashi, or even Soresu, yoou're going to be impeded, regardless of rank. The forms that aren't set up for two sabers (Jar'Kai Niman, Shien or Sokan) or Staves (Juyo or Shien) really don't accommodate their use. They'll often have maneuvers that require grip changes and counterbalancing that will be disrupted by a weapon that is unintended for it... And places you at a disadvantage in combat.

So, from here on out, I'm going to be pretty strict about what form you have as it relates to what sort of saber(s) you get made custom. It's going to be based on form more than rank now, in a nutshell.

If you have two sabers, and want to use a form like Shii-Cho, Djem So, or Trakata, you're going to have to take great care in your ACC matches to use only one saber at a time (keeping the other one as a 'backup'), unless you shift your form to use a form that supports the weapon... This is kinda confusing, so let's make an example:

DJM Sho'Nuff likes Vapaad, and has mastered it (5/5). He also is known to fight with two sabers, because he has 3 points in Jar'kai Niman. He dives into combat with SW Bruce LeRoy, who is known for her mastery of Makashi (5/5).

Sho'Nuff backs Bruce into a corner, using one saber, because... well, because he pwns. But he still can't manage to get the kill in, what with Makashi being pretty durn good. So Sho'Nuff pulls out his second saber and starts going to town.

Now, instead of using 5/5 Vapaad, he's using 3/5 Jar'Kai Niman, and is at a disadvantage against Bruce LeRoy. So, now Sho'Nuff is going to have to use a lot more Force powers to level the playing field, as he just made his own form sloppy by bringing in a second saber...

And there you go... have fun,

Ahhh...yesterday was good... I work a lot on things, but still I get this weird feeling that I'm not doing as much if I don't show you cats. Maybe it's just my insanity floating to the top, but I actually *like* putting reports out when I have something to report.

So, yeah, I put out a report, delivered a custom saber, wrote the html for a custom saber gallery (eek! Code!), and talked to a few people about some new saber projects.

The New saber gallery is here: http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.org/hrld/sabergallery.html
While I only have my sabers up there (and one of Raven's), I did get a pile of Kaine Mandaala's work, and I remember a fair number of the ones that Cyris had done... So I'll add those in. If anyone has a 'Spears-made' saber, drop me an email, please. I can usually tell who made a saber by the style, but I'm not able to go through 6 thousand dossiers looking. Well, I could, but then I'd not get anything else done ever. :P

Complicated Drawings

Well, spent all of last night working on lightsabers, which kinda threw off my plans of doing a report and getting back onto the Robes project...

anyway, I'm almost up to date on the sabers queue, and I'm putting finishing touches on a particularly difficult request... but after all that, I'll be able to get back on with the robes deal. I'll probably end up releasing that project in phases. That is to say, that I'll likely be releasing and implementing the 'order colour' robes before I release all the 'weird' (like 'winter', 'forest', 'jedi', etc.) colour variants.

Busy-ness

Whoa... I'm long overdue for a blog entry and a report. I'll do the report tonight, show off some of the cool stuff i've done lately. Been kinda busy with all sorts of goodies... I think you'll like.

Been working on a few sabers... Got one set out yesterday that utilizes one of the new DJM+ perks i was talking about. I'm working up the 'in-character' details for it, and will probably unleash those tonight.

Also, made good progress on a new saber for another DJM, that uses the other new perk... so you guys will get to see and read about the new stuff that gets unlocked at higher levels.

Also, clan feuds have started, building tensions, etc... and that means 24 hour gaming for 2 weeks. Huzzah!

And an honorable mention goes to Seraine Erinyes Tenoma of Taldryan, who put up one hell of an ACCLive! match.

Lightsaber Perks and a wee rant.

Well, for the past few weeks, I've been talking with Jac and my research team (who helped me with the construction of the Lightsaber Combat Guide) about a few new additions of possible styles for lightsabers...

A month or so back, I had announced that I had gotten approval for 'Multi-Phase Sabers' for those of the rank of Dark Jedi Master or higher. (A multi-phase saber is one that can shift from one color crystal to another, or has a fine-tuning knob involved in the chamber which enables the blade to have two or three 'pre-set' lengths)

I also am working on another perk... a specialized lightsaber crystal that does something very cool to the blade. I have it written up fictionally, but i'm still working on the actual graphic... So I don't want to say much more than that many people have asked about it... But, it will probably be another DJM+ perk.

"That's great, Muz but I'm just a low level equite... when are you going to make something cool for me?"

Well, I've heard that a few times. And I'll point out that upon entering the equite class (that's one promotion above knight, kids) you do get a few more lightsabers 'unlocked' for you through the lightsaber construction tool. So you do get something. (plus, with another promotion, you get to request a fully custom lightsaber)

And with the robes project getting closer to completion, there's going to be a heck of a lot of stuff for equites...but more on that later.

"Gah...why do the DJMs get all the cool perks?"

Well, two reasons. First and foremost, it's to get you guys to do more for the club so that you *want* to get promoted that high. The activity helps make this club grow. The other reason is because they earned their rank, and didn't have any 'saber perks' before (like how DAs get saber-staff, etc)

"Well, okay... about those robes, then..."

I think I'm going to install a crash-counter to show how often my computer crashes, trying to export these robes. Just the other night, I was working on a rebirth thing with Jac, and had twelve crashes in the space of three hours. I don't need to tell you, but that's rediculous.

I've been looking into reducing the size and complexity of the texture fills I've been using to minimize the strain on my poor computer, but i haven't found the happe middle ground between too basic and too complex yet. Once i manage to figure that out, I'll be a much much happier muz... and the Robes project will come at a lot faster rate.

"OMG, I could make these robes sooo much faster and better than u...."

Yeah, I've seen this a few times. And that's fine. I've given those people small tasks, to see how their skill and dedication stacks up. I could almost always use help on the graphics side. It's only Shin and I doing all this work, and we only can do so much.

But the sad thing is that most of those people are all mouth and no trousers. I've yet to see anything back from those people who want to run their mouth. And that's just too bad. The Robes project alone will require around 900 renders. And that's just one of the projects I have slated at the moment. It's a heck of a work-load, especially for a volunteer position.

And by the way: I am not a communist. I actually vote Libertarian most of the time.
But Kromtal and Famosus crossdress competitively. I have pictures. ;)

Screaming backwards...

..or 'Yawning', as most call it. Either way, I'm doing a bit more than usual of it today.

Well, that'd be because I was up way past my bedtime (for a weeknight, anyway) working on spiffy stuff with Jac for the Exodus celebration DV and so on. I'd say more, but i don't want to ruin the surprises... So check out the Dark Voice when it comes out. (Hey, kids, that's the DB's newsletter, if you didn't know.)

Anyway, for ramble factor (as this *is* a blog), my media player which has been on shuffle all day just started playing a Free-for-all song. For those of you unfamiliar with them, It's Cyris Oscura's band... he sings, and it's pretty durn good. I particularly like 'Drowning Youth', it's bloody catchy as all hell, and I've cought myself singing along to it in the car.

and yes, i just said 'durn' in a sentence. :P

And it occurs to me that there's a lot of musically talented people in the DB. Dalthid rocks hard on the Guitar (and Bass and so on), and Nekura Manji has his own viking style metal band, which I've heard good stuff from...

Cool story about that... During my ACC battles, my character goes a bit insane at times, and starts spitting verse. I don't know when exactly it started, but it's one of those things that just happens... anyway, in one of the last ACC CHL matches, Manji asked me if the verses i was using in it were mine, or if i ganked them from somewhere, because he wanted to use them in a song. Since they were mine, i hooked him up with the whole thing i had written (I only use about half the verses i actually write in the battles themselves), and he began working on it with his band. About a month ago, i got a video in the email showing his band practicing and, it turns out, doing that piece. I was positively jazzed.

I do music myself, but it's more electronica/industrial and whenever i write lyrics for a piece, i end up tossing them out because, frankly, I hate my voice. So it was pretty cool to hear my words sung in a song. Maybe i'm just being a geekdweeb about it, but the hell with it.

Anyway... I thought about a week ago (right around when Dalthid released 'Remember the Exodus', which has a gut-stomping guitar stream) that we should get all these musical people to lay don some tracks and put a CD together, maybe for charity, or for server donations, i dunno.

And there's my ramble for the day.

Mrah!

Ah, the power of the Mrah. My own personal zen Koan, as it were. ;)

And Congrats on Xanos for making DGM. Even though it means that i have to work for him again. :P Seriously though, he and I worked very well together.

Anyway, did a bunch of work the last few days. Worked through a bunch of issues i was having with one of the lower end models for the robes (i'll show pretties in my next report or so), and got a couple of sabers done. All of this working up to exodus day is crunchy...and i still have a couple of things to do before tomorrow... provided my computer doesn't hate me. :P

Also, I'm hosting this month's 'Monthly Topics'. I did the usual fiction "The Ties that Bind", and a poetry one "Silence", and added a graphics comp to the mix (being herald and all...:P) called "Artifact Hunt". That's a lot of cool medals to be earned... and it seems that people are digging them. Get your submissions into me at muz(dot)ashen(at)gmail(dot) com.

and, i suppose i should flesh this thing out so that it has some cool stuff, like pyralis' blog. weee!

Testing: one, two

I am following the great suggestion of a DC member Blog.

Anyway, I worked on a bunch of stuff for Exodus Day (February 12) today, and a few medal things...

More to come...