Showing posts with label FringeWorx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FringeWorx. Show all posts

15 July 2020

Fighting To Die

Our incompetent administration has decided, as usual, to attack reality as the enemy when it's inconvenient to their delusions. No longer able to pretend that the Trump Flu isn't there, and having been forced to wear a mask in public after ranting on the evils of mask wearing (though the lying wimp is so damn weak he can't even admit that he was against them previously). So now they're out attacking the medical experts, and Dr. Fauci in particular, by boldly lying once again.

Though, maybe they're not actually lying. When they talk about things like Fauci 'flip-flopping' on masks, maybe they're just too damn stupid to understand things like qualifiers and transitory conditions. Phrases like "that may change" and "Under the current conditions" are just too much for their feeble minds to grasp?

Nah - they're frelling liars, twisting the truth because they know that anybody that'll march along behind them at this point is either too stupid to understand or simply doesn't care as long as they continue to hate the 'right' people.


Oddly enough, contemplating the herd lumbering along behind fake pres, i was reminded of an old Fringeworx short story - I, Marik. Fringeworx, as you may or may not recall, is the web series i did way back in the mid-90s that was recently folded into The Third Colony. And, heck - it's even a prelude to an episode that heavily featured Frag, the character now wandering around in the T3C game whom we saw in the promos.

So, what the frell. It's quite short, so i'm going to run it this morning.

Now, as a matter of fact...


 I, Marik
by -3-

(This is a prequel to "...Of Darkness And Glory" These events take place just prior to Frag's arrival on Lancer's Reef.)


He rubbed his wounded shoulder as he tried to quiet his ragged breathing and draw back deeper into the shadows. He tasted the blood in his mouth and wondered what his name was. His heart racing, head pounding, blood singing in his ears; he wanted something to cling to. To steady himself. He knew he had a name. could almost remember...

This morning. This morning he had another life. He remembered energy. Energy... NRG! He had been an NRG Tech. Clutching at quicksilver thoughts, he name slipped away and his life came to him instead. For a moment, it was all clear in his mind - the intricate details of stopping atomic motion and releasing the energy from inert matter.

Then he barely stifled a laugh. He knew nothing of the energy hidden in an inert body. Now. Now he knew. Energy flooding every cell of his being. Primal energy unleashed from deep within. The screaming might of the wave that carried him through the streets. More than energy - energy lust. The heart and the mind and the spirit all screaming his personal power in perfect unison. The Howl...
He was lost again, any thought of his name, his life, swept away unnoticed. Someone approached on the street beneath him. He felt fresh again, ready to continue. He checked the growl in the back of his throat before it alerted his competition. When the light glinted off her metal jacket, he leaped. He landed with his knee in the middle of her back, driving her into the ground as one arm snaked around her neck and the other hand grabbed her hair and wrenched her head back. Her. face, twisted in anger, was beautiful...green eyes and Celtic features. it was a face he knew well - eyes he remembered.

Last Night - staring into those eyes as sweat dripped into his own. Feeling the pounding of her heart pressed to his; the wet heat of her wrapped around him. Their sex had always been good, but last night had been more than great. Like on an animal level they had known something was coming. They were consumed by passion - lust - something ancient and primal. Something that connected them in a more than physical way. Something eternal.

He sank his teeth into her exposed throat, the taste of blood fresh in his mouth again. He chewed savagely and twisted his lover until she stopped twitching. Then sprang to his feet and howled his twin victory. Not only had he eliminated another competitor, but she was his forever now. A part of him. With a gleeful bound he continued on, sprinting toward the colony center. He wanted to howl again, but he held it in, saving it, losing himself instead in the joy of running. Revelling in the power that was his to command.

Yesterday. Yesterday the command came from the Power Core. No more heavy minerals. With no native heavy elements, he was supposed to expand the operation to full planetary broadcast power, on the original schedule, with no more offworld shipments. Bastards! He knew why. His bonuses. He made too many of them, and they were doing some cost cutting! If he could get his hands on them...

He squeezed, crushing the windpipe of the stranger in his hands. He tossed the corpse off to the side near a few older ones, and moved on. Trotting at a slower pace, careful not to slip in the ever more frequent goreslicks, he started looking for a suitable weapon. He was getting closer now, his competition more frequent. And soon there would be packs. He must be prepared. Within a few blocks, he spotted a walker mech, attacked and abandoned. Cautious of a trap, he circled toward it, and smiled when he spotted what he was looking for - jutting like the spines of a porcupine, a lateral array of cooling pins. A meter and a half long, only a few centimeters in diameter, and easy to detach. They were probably one of the hardest objects on the planet. Proud of his new battle rod, he stared into its ebony surface. Shiny enough to belie its lightsucking appearance...looking for all the world like a piece of night fallen to his hands. Too black.

This afternoon he was tired. Not from last night's incredible sex, but tired in spirit. It was with weary resignation that he suffered through the inspection tour by the same Home Office nullard that brought yesterday's new orders. Weary in the knowledge the his one year contract had just been tripled in length and quartered in money... This afternoon. Night came 3 hours early this afternoon. And with the dark came glory. Glory and Power and Freedom. And Primal Joy. He felt it and turned to the corp and smiled. The rover felt it , and it knew what was coming; looked like it wanted to run, but frozen in fear. When he pounced on the corporate slug, it screamed. Screamed his name! What was his name?

He could see it now, glittering in the center of the colony plaza. The Web of Stars. It beckoned to him, sang its call over the roar of the crowd. That was all there was for him now - the song and the web stretching into the sky. His rod whistled with the song as it cut through the air, clearing space before him. This was all he had ever wanted, his every unknown desire gloriously fulfilled.
Closer now, his rod striking as fast as his heart was beating. He was Power! He was pure energy! No one could stop him. Hundreds swarmed around him, clawing and clubbing each other. So many that often the dead had no room to fall, carried along by the mob in a danse macabre. But for him they didn't exist - only those in the remaining meters between he and his goal had meaning. They were the fiercest, having fought this far, but that slowed him not at all. Part of him regretted being unable to feast upon them and give them the respect they deserved, but now there was only blood. The stars were his, not theirs, and he would have them. Oblivious to the pain of his now useless left arm flopping at his side, he struck down the last obstacle in his path.
With a roar of triumph he dropped the cooling pin and started to climb the Star Web. His heart sang with victory, his spirit shining like stars on which he climbed, he finally allowed himself his howl. It was a sound from the depths of his soul; a primal song to all who could hear, proclaiming his mastery of them. Telling them that Marik was their better. The best!
Marik! That was his name! The joy in his system reached new heights. He felt complete and refreshed, climbing ever faster. He could see them now. Almost. They had no edges, no boundaries, receding off into more than just three dimensions of space. He looked below and screamed.
"Marik! Marik is your better! Marik is more than any of you - more than all of you!!" Laughing, he continued climbing up to join them. To be with them for all time. Now close, he stopped and joyfully announced himself. "I am here, oh lords. Marik has proven he is worthy. Please, I beg of you, accept me. Please, Oh Lords!" Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as they shifted forward. He thought his heart would burst, unable to contain his pride and happiness as they drew close to him. The ecstasy left him trembling.


"Thank you..." he whispered as the jaws closed over his head, just before his heart did burst.

...and it worked out for Marik about as well as it's working for the USA.



stuff by -3- (199x)


30 June 2020

RMMV City Bling & T3C Ping

As noted, i've lately been buried deep in The Third Colony - my personal game project that i use to keep the ol' brain from rusting up solid. It's time for another peek at some of the ongoings, and another bit of free resource for RPG Maker MV (aka RMMV) users. Let's get to that first.

There's not a great deal of Modern Tilesets running around compared to all the fantasy sets, so i'll go ahead and dump some even though there's not a lot of it.

City Bling is what we're calling the current set, and it's not map tiles today - it's animation tiles. They're combined on a single sheet, so you can either cut and combine with your own bits, or use as-is. Don't fret, even though some read vertically and some read horizontally, the system knows the way to go. As long as you use them in the right places, of course. When using the 'bling' animated tiles, be sure to set the event properly, as shown here...



...Walking and Stepping keep the animation cycling constantly, and Direction Fix makes sure it doesn't change animations if activated by the player. This is for the spot anims only. Don't do that for the doors, switches, or cardboard box. Let the system handle them as normal.

On the left side of the sheet we've got:
Bathroom Doors with binary gender signs.
Switches - smaller than standard with multiple placement options.
Cardboard Box - smaller than standard for easier tucking and hiding.
Wall Light - smaller than standard with high/low placement positions.



At the top center of the sheet, there are 3 rows with Circle / Arc / Circle. That's a Hopper. Place in sequence, left to right, above a sign or entrance and it animates with the circle hopping back and forth.

Below that is the Stripper with a back & forth animation.

Below that, we have the Theatre Marquis with animating lights. In The Third Colony, Admin uses the very generic Video Centre name. I added a couple more options, Movie Rama and Stage House, allowing the halves to be mixed and matched. After i noticed the Stage Centre combo, i had to add a Center Stage option as well. 

While most businesses are too specifically named, i included the generic bar Drink Up! sign and a couple of OPEN signs, and MOM Media Inc i converted to 123 Media Inc.

In the bottom right we've got signs for the Whorehouse/Brothel and the XXX Sinema.

For those of you who use Tall Doors, i didn't forget you. Here they are in tall format:


 Meanwhile, back out on the Fringeworlds, there's been tons of work going on. Some of it even on the front end where we can see progress. Simple things, like there's finally a Player Character Choice screen -



I mentioned recently that we'd passed 100 characters living on PoD9 now. In addition to base character design, that means Walk Sprites (multiples to allow for work and off-duty clothing, plus options) and Portraits for emotive representation in dialogues. That means up to 16 for each (though PCs may get more), with an average of about a dozen. So, LOTS of little work going. As a sample for those who don't indulge in such things, here are a dozen characters, pulled nearly at random. (Obviously, topping the sheet with Kelly was a conscious choice)


Okay - some oddballs don't get as many portrait pics, as we can see from our F-ing Clown at the bottom. 

And, while there are video files used in the game, that's not what one sees if the player watches a 'Vid' in-game. Vids are representative, with just a few pics and text while time passes and buffs or debuffs are applied. Some have story scenes, like we've seen in promos for various shows. Others, like the educational vid Transmats And You, are merely hosted...


Like the 'vid' above, Doc ODD! is a product of SARLAC (Science:Advanced Research Laboratories/Atomic Commission). He was a genetic failure in the laboratories that didn't get flushed. The techs liked him and gave him a labcoat. Eventually, he got promoted from pet to mascot.

It's an Odd world, naturally. 

It's the kind of place where a superhero like the Golden Guardian can decide to open a bank instead...


...where the Registry (the agency supporting and overseeing superheroes) is headed by a figure known as Sister Mother... 



...and where cold refreshments are supplied by 'heroes' like MilkMan... 



Another convenient thing, for me, about T3C is that many of my old projects can be integrated into it. For example, the Rama Vid Club is running a special FringeWorx Film Fest, and has brought in Frag, a character from the series, as a special guest to promote it...



Fringeworx was a web series i did back in the mid-90s. The fleet at the top and the inset in the lower left of the poster above is from the original series, with Frag being played by my eldest son, IV. In game time, it's about 15 years after the show ended (as seen by the older Frag model), and the episode guide for the show has been reworked into a film series that'll run weekly throughout the year.

That would have been a massive amount of work for background texture in the game if the material didn't already exist. Lots of old work can form the media 'enjoyed' by the denizens of PoD9, and parts of old game projects can be reworked into pockets scattered throughout the mining colony. It's kind of like having a few decades of prep work done for the game - most convenient indeed.

BTW - the RVC has another series running, too. In this world, Ellis Chambers didn't disappear - he became a very popular animator whose legacy lives on in current film fests -


As it should be.


stuff by -3- (2020)