Shipping a Mountain and a Deer
Hallå pals!
Jonas here with another issue of Indie Notebook to get some ideas out of my noggin, and to inspire you to do the same.
Early next month we’re shipping Surmount and on Tuesday next week I will launch the first strip of my Space Deer webcomic.
I just had the realization that the game is shipping in a complete state, and Space Deer is launching incomplete, since the first strip only marks the beginning of the comic. It feels like Space Deer only really starts once it’s out there, while Surmount kinda “ends” once it’s shipped. I’m saying “ends” in quotes since there will still be stuff to do on the game once it’s out there.
Not sure why I’m saying that, or where I’m going with it. I didn’t expect the game to take so long to finish. Or that I would be in the mood to resurrect Space Deer by the end of making this game about climbing. Maybe it’s cause the mountain in Surmount reaches all the way to space, and now I’ve climbed that mountain, and I’m in space, and I ran into Space Deer up there.
Here’s a quick animation I made of Space Deer in Blender a while back. I just recently took the time to render it out, because of a Blender bug. It feels great to see them blinking and moving for real like this. It makes me want to see if I could maybe animate one of the comic strips some day. A Space Deer film or short film would be a lot of fun to work on…
Mini Notes
💬 Comic - Bags
I was clicking around the web, seeing what comics are around and being made right now, and whether there are any freelance jobs in that which I could do. I stumbled on this upcoming comic, written by the guy who wrote Over The Garden Wall (which is lovely). The cover art really caught me, it’s a great image in itself, so it’s worth clicking the link just to see that. I love seeing very cute, cartoony characters next to horrifying, gritty monsters.
There’s also a broken link to read an excerpt of the comic, here’s the working link. Hard to tell if it’s a good story, but it caught my interest cause it seems so odd.
🔴 Youtube video - Akira Toriyama: An Artist’s Life
A short 30 minute documentary. Seems to sum up his life quite well, there’s a couple fun drawings in there and stuff I didn’t know about him.
One of my favorite parts about it is that he named his home office Bird Studio. Something about that is very sweet and I love that he drew it and himself and gave the audience a glimpse into his real world. He portrayed it with so much charm. I want to do that too.
Thank you for reading Indie Notebook! The best way to support me right now is by sharing this newsletter with a friend.
Take care and have a creative week.
I love the little animation! Something in the vibe of Pokémon Concierge could work with the character, but I like the contrast you mentioned of cute vs creepy stuff. An animated comic strip definitely sounds cool.
> Maybe it’s cause the mountain in Surmount reaches all the way to space, and now I’ve climbed that mountain, and I’m in space, and I ran into Space Deer up there.
I suppose it could be one of those recurring underlying themes that can run like a red thread through the entire works of an artist -- or maybe just a segment of them. Space Deer is in space but he is a deer which also makes him a kind of bridge between Earth and space conceptually. Maybe there is something in you that long for that bridge -- connecting the mundane and the ethereal.
Then again, maybe it is best to not get "tangled up" in thoughts about these threads and just focus on the work instead. :)
I love the two visuals -- looking forward to both projects in the near future.