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Aug. 23rd, 2015 06:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmxratedBrian and Marie came home late two nights ago. The two of them went with Mom and Dad to the gym all together, but I stayed home to get some stuff in order that I wanted to show Brian.
Mom made us all some French toast when they all got home, and the others watched several episodes of Malcolm in the Middle (part of one during which I joined them, before heading outside after it ended).
Brian went back to bed once they were all done watching, but later got up to watch this music documentary with Dad, called The Wrecking Crew. I watched the beginning and end with them, and Marie also joined them for part of it.
After it ended, I got around to showing Brian one of the aforementioned items I had pulled up, a document describing the game mechanics for Day of the Beehive, and one paragraph in particular about party dynamics:
While Earthbound Zero had just Comforting Sleep [whenever someone joins your party] regardless of circumstances, Earthbound plays You've Got a New Friend when Paula re-joins you after her abduction in the Fourside Dept. Store, even though you already have made friends with her beforehand. Mother 3 plays Let's Go Together (a watered down version of YGaNF) whenever anyone playable (emphasis on both words) joins or re-joins you regardless of other circumstances. I don't like how PK-hacker Radiation omitted YGaNF in his Halloween hack either (especially since he did apply it in Arn's Winter Quest), since that's one thing I like about the canon trilogy. However, do keep in mind that, in all three canon games (barring the pre-time-skip events in M3), it is rare for any of the mains to leave the party even just momentarily. At the same time, though, whereas I plan on seeing the text version of Starbound through first, Shigesato Itoi explicitly turned down a post-cancellation offer for a novel or film adaptation of what Earthbound 64 could have been, considering its story to be rightfully that of only a game. The fanfic I'm writing is much more comparable to something animated like Digimon or Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which characters get separated all the time for one reason or another, for up to a few episodes at a time, and Chelle did tell me before that anything that's not worth mentioning in a game (translating events into gameplay is different) logically should not be mentioned in any other medium.
The first half is something Jake brought up with me after I had shown him an earlier revision. Even though the canon's main four already know one another pretty well, they each play too prominent a role in things to get something modest like A Good Buddy (rendered in M3 as Together). That, of course, might be a moot point, with only the four of them banding together at Konata's house left to matter, depending on the more important point of the second half.
About that, yeah, I kinda wondered since the exchange in question why certain bits of the fic (only on its third chapter at the time) came more naturally to me than if I were to attempt the game version first. I mean, I do understand the the difference between important and redundant details. However, as Brian basically put it (albeit from a consumption angle, rather than one of creation, but still similar), people tend to have more patience for detail when reading words at their own pace. Movies and TV shows are much more dynamic, so people who watch those want to see stuff actually take place more than people talking about it. Even more true with video games, where you are much more actively involved in things and care mostly about doing stuff.
Furthermore, any other format can handle multiple storylines at a time reasonably well, hence why characters tend to act much more individually. In a game, the player is often in control of multiple characters, and most would prefer to focus on managing one party of characters most of the time than multiple sub-parties or individuals with separate agendas.
Again, that's looking at things from the audience's perspective. From a creator's perspective, it's like different forms of communication in general. When you're speaking or hand-writing, you don't have the option to link to anything on the Internet. Writing allows you to gather your thoughts, and to look stuff up for verification. Face-to-face conversation, on the other hand, requires you to just keep things going, and citing sources becomes somewhat cumbersome.
Whatever I hadn't already mentioned in the comment thread, I still can't quite place a finger on why some things in Starbound came naturally to me due to format. However, one arguable example would take place during chapter 5, when we read a one-line flashback of how Mondo introduces Miyuki to his family (in contrast to how she had just introduced him and Rokuna to Minami). In the game, you'd actually take control of him beforehand with Rokuna and Miyuki in tow (while the twins go home to gear up for the actual journey and Konata remains at Rokuna's house for Yutaka's sake until you get back), and would need to go to his house to say goodbye to his family (and to pick a few things up). Said family (at least present) would consist of his mother, Kazumi, and three younger brothers (two preteens and an infant). For the game, this could foreshadow Miyuki's experiences upon first meeting Tristan later on (when she holds baby Kazuhiko for a bit); for the fic, it might've come off as obsessing over every detail. (Similarly, just before posting the chapter, I toyed with the issue of Mondo being the only guy among everyone during a re-visit to the bathhouse from anime episode 6, which could foreshadow that no longer being the case thanks to Davì when they all visit a hot spring later on. Chelle advised me against that as just dragging things on.)
(Chelle, I know you've said more than once before that it might be better if I wait until I have the whole story completed before hosting it online. I reject that, because the reason I write in the first place is to participate in the online community and gain reciprocation in return for what I work on. Furthermore, having the fic out in public for a while would be good for the game's Kickstarter campaign, since it's more likely to grow a fanbase to alert to the campaign ahead of time than if the whole thing just materialized all in one go. On the other hand, that latter reason is the same one why I plan on hosting all of my spritesheets on dA and LSSF in one go once they're all done, specifically as a short-term advertisement to go hand-in-hand with the long-term one that the fic is.)
-----
We all went to the beach later on, and this time, my leg didn't cramp up at all (something that's been happening on-and-off so far). Upon leaving the car, I asked Brian if he had read anything of Starbound since last time it was brought up, and (not surprisingly) he wasn't able to due to the number of hours he works each day. He still does remember what he already read enough to understand the context of the scenes mentioned, and we had some discussion about the process of writing and how one just gets better the more they write. He thinks much more favorably of my writing style than Jake, Chelle, or Grandma Barbara, but while those first two are just more experienced themselves, Brian did say that Grandma probably just didn't care for the subject matter when I asked for her opinion on it (after having described it to her during an earlier conversation).
Had a swim, came home, showered off, and then got dressed to go to Bobbique (for which I still had a gift card since Christmas).
And finally, upon coming home, I hung around outside while the others watched an episode of this show called Alpha House (which I saw Mom and Dad watch recently), and then we had a brownie cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate sprinkles for Marie's birthday. (I had baked the cake part in the morning, while Brian was asleep, and Mom applied the frosting and sprinkles after it cooled off.)
Mom made us all some French toast when they all got home, and the others watched several episodes of Malcolm in the Middle (part of one during which I joined them, before heading outside after it ended).
Brian went back to bed once they were all done watching, but later got up to watch this music documentary with Dad, called The Wrecking Crew. I watched the beginning and end with them, and Marie also joined them for part of it.
After it ended, I got around to showing Brian one of the aforementioned items I had pulled up, a document describing the game mechanics for Day of the Beehive, and one paragraph in particular about party dynamics:
While Earthbound Zero had just Comforting Sleep [whenever someone joins your party] regardless of circumstances, Earthbound plays You've Got a New Friend when Paula re-joins you after her abduction in the Fourside Dept. Store, even though you already have made friends with her beforehand. Mother 3 plays Let's Go Together (a watered down version of YGaNF) whenever anyone playable (emphasis on both words) joins or re-joins you regardless of other circumstances. I don't like how PK-hacker Radiation omitted YGaNF in his Halloween hack either (especially since he did apply it in Arn's Winter Quest), since that's one thing I like about the canon trilogy. However, do keep in mind that, in all three canon games (barring the pre-time-skip events in M3), it is rare for any of the mains to leave the party even just momentarily. At the same time, though, whereas I plan on seeing the text version of Starbound through first, Shigesato Itoi explicitly turned down a post-cancellation offer for a novel or film adaptation of what Earthbound 64 could have been, considering its story to be rightfully that of only a game. The fanfic I'm writing is much more comparable to something animated like Digimon or Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which characters get separated all the time for one reason or another, for up to a few episodes at a time, and Chelle did tell me before that anything that's not worth mentioning in a game (translating events into gameplay is different) logically should not be mentioned in any other medium.
The first half is something Jake brought up with me after I had shown him an earlier revision. Even though the canon's main four already know one another pretty well, they each play too prominent a role in things to get something modest like A Good Buddy (rendered in M3 as Together). That, of course, might be a moot point, with only the four of them banding together at Konata's house left to matter, depending on the more important point of the second half.
About that, yeah, I kinda wondered since the exchange in question why certain bits of the fic (only on its third chapter at the time) came more naturally to me than if I were to attempt the game version first. I mean, I do understand the the difference between important and redundant details. However, as Brian basically put it (albeit from a consumption angle, rather than one of creation, but still similar), people tend to have more patience for detail when reading words at their own pace. Movies and TV shows are much more dynamic, so people who watch those want to see stuff actually take place more than people talking about it. Even more true with video games, where you are much more actively involved in things and care mostly about doing stuff.
Furthermore, any other format can handle multiple storylines at a time reasonably well, hence why characters tend to act much more individually. In a game, the player is often in control of multiple characters, and most would prefer to focus on managing one party of characters most of the time than multiple sub-parties or individuals with separate agendas.
Again, that's looking at things from the audience's perspective. From a creator's perspective, it's like different forms of communication in general. When you're speaking or hand-writing, you don't have the option to link to anything on the Internet. Writing allows you to gather your thoughts, and to look stuff up for verification. Face-to-face conversation, on the other hand, requires you to just keep things going, and citing sources becomes somewhat cumbersome.
Whatever I hadn't already mentioned in the comment thread, I still can't quite place a finger on why some things in Starbound came naturally to me due to format. However, one arguable example would take place during chapter 5, when we read a one-line flashback of how Mondo introduces Miyuki to his family (in contrast to how she had just introduced him and Rokuna to Minami). In the game, you'd actually take control of him beforehand with Rokuna and Miyuki in tow (while the twins go home to gear up for the actual journey and Konata remains at Rokuna's house for Yutaka's sake until you get back), and would need to go to his house to say goodbye to his family (and to pick a few things up). Said family (at least present) would consist of his mother, Kazumi, and three younger brothers (two preteens and an infant). For the game, this could foreshadow Miyuki's experiences upon first meeting Tristan later on (when she holds baby Kazuhiko for a bit); for the fic, it might've come off as obsessing over every detail. (Similarly, just before posting the chapter, I toyed with the issue of Mondo being the only guy among everyone during a re-visit to the bathhouse from anime episode 6, which could foreshadow that no longer being the case thanks to Davì when they all visit a hot spring later on. Chelle advised me against that as just dragging things on.)
(Chelle, I know you've said more than once before that it might be better if I wait until I have the whole story completed before hosting it online. I reject that, because the reason I write in the first place is to participate in the online community and gain reciprocation in return for what I work on. Furthermore, having the fic out in public for a while would be good for the game's Kickstarter campaign, since it's more likely to grow a fanbase to alert to the campaign ahead of time than if the whole thing just materialized all in one go. On the other hand, that latter reason is the same one why I plan on hosting all of my spritesheets on dA and LSSF in one go once they're all done, specifically as a short-term advertisement to go hand-in-hand with the long-term one that the fic is.)
-----
We all went to the beach later on, and this time, my leg didn't cramp up at all (something that's been happening on-and-off so far). Upon leaving the car, I asked Brian if he had read anything of Starbound since last time it was brought up, and (not surprisingly) he wasn't able to due to the number of hours he works each day. He still does remember what he already read enough to understand the context of the scenes mentioned, and we had some discussion about the process of writing and how one just gets better the more they write. He thinks much more favorably of my writing style than Jake, Chelle, or Grandma Barbara, but while those first two are just more experienced themselves, Brian did say that Grandma probably just didn't care for the subject matter when I asked for her opinion on it (after having described it to her during an earlier conversation).
Had a swim, came home, showered off, and then got dressed to go to Bobbique (for which I still had a gift card since Christmas).
And finally, upon coming home, I hung around outside while the others watched an episode of this show called Alpha House (which I saw Mom and Dad watch recently), and then we had a brownie cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate sprinkles for Marie's birthday. (I had baked the cake part in the morning, while Brian was asleep, and Mom applied the frosting and sprinkles after it cooled off.)