Hello everyone~!

This month's playlist: 

I've got my coffee and I'm ready to write up my monthly blog post. This month was so late because I went on a vacation right at the end of the month. I had a lovely time, even if it was SO HOT where I was. Summer really came out swinging one last time. But we did it! We made it to fall. YAAAAY~!

Let's look at last month's To-Do list: 

1. Finish at least 6 more maps!

2. Try making a skybox (do not worry i didnt forget it!) 

and

3. Draw some fanart! 

Starting with #1: 

Coming into August I had finished 6 environmental scenes out of the 20 (I think) I need. 

Well, I hit the ground running!

I was able to make 8!!!!!!!!!!!!! different scenes! That brings us to 15/20! 

I was so proud of my later scenes too, I think they look like night and day compared to my first attempts! 

I won't be sharing all the different scenes here just because I want to keep some of them a secret, heehee. 

Not only did I do these 8 scenes, I also made a few more 3D models for use in my town scenes-- 

So I'd say #1 was a success :). 

#2 the Skybox: 

I was able to make a very very rudimentary skybox! It doesn't look like a lot right now, but my clouds in this image below actually slowly scroll across the sky! 

I'll work about getting a nice gradient sky to make it even that more interesting, but this particular skybox was all about testing out the crazy idea I had about making it work. 

See, I found the build-in skyboxes weren't giving me just what I wanted. So instead of messing around with that, I just made a giant orb and pasted my clouds on the inside of the orb and slowly rotate it. 

The ORB seems to do the trick. :) I love when things work out like that. 

It's nice to see all the default Unity edges start to disappear. This game is looking more and more like it's own. :) 

And Finally, #3 -- FANART

This might seem like a weird entry on my to-do list. Draw fanart? Isn't that random and pretty simple? 

Well, here's a bit of a backstory.  I've always had really bad anxiety around drawing fanart and posting it(!). 

There's always that fear of being """"cringe""" or weird (or liking the wrong character and being *problematic*) that makes it easier instead to just make Original OC Guy because Original OC Guy isn't bad! He just exists in my head and can't be judged like a Canon Guy can be.  

Here's some fun backstory. I was obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh when I was in middle school. But I wasn't 'allowed' to like it because [dumb reasons tbh]. So in order to hide my deep-seated passion for a show about a spiky haired anime guy destroying people's souls via card games... I made up codenames for all the characters. I wasn't obsessed with Yugi, Joey and Kaiba... no, no, no. This is Billy, John and Keith! They don't play card games... they play dominos. Totally different.  So when you say only 'nerds' play Yu-Gi-Oh, well HAHA I don't know anything about that! I only like Billy and his domino games! Bullet dodged, my middle school brain thought. 

But I mean... by pretending like this, I never got to sit with all the kids playing Yu-Gi-Oh at lunch.  I missed opportunities to meet people who shared my interests. I was alone in my little corner with my Yu-Gi-Oh-ripoff Domino games, safe... but alone. 

And this also had another far reaching effect. It set the tone in my brain that we could never mention something we genuinely enjoyed like that, because it meant opening us up to attacks. All of a sudden drawing fanart or reading or even writing(!) fanfiction seemed impossible. "We can't do that! That's dangerous!" 

I once told someone online that I enjoyed a relatively old and obscure Gundam show and got so flustered from that I had to get up and go take a 30 minute nap. IT WAS MORE EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTING TO TELL A RANDO THAT I THOUGHT A MECHA SHOW WAS FUN THAN IT WAS TO COME OUT AS QUEER. (Are you chuckling? Because I am. ) 

(it was War in the Pocket, if you're curious. And it is VERY GOOD.) 

So I've been trying to be a little bit more open and more genuine about the things I like. Just because I like something or draw fanart doesn't mean that I think every single part of it is perfect or that it's even 'good'. 

(One of my biggest pet peeves is when I say I like show X and someone takes that as a recommendation for THEM to watch it and then they come back to me to be like "I hated it!" Just because I like something doesn't mean I think you'll like it! When I give recommendations to people I keep in mind their tastes and preferences and me talking about a show generically IS NOT A RECCOMENDATION. *screaming*)

But it does mean that something in that show sparked something in me and I think that's something to celebrate! I'd rather read something flawed that gives me the motivation and inspiration to make a ton of art than to watch something that was technically very fine but I leave feeling pretty much the same. 

So, with all that. Here's some Fire Emblem fanart I drew recently. 

I just think they're neat. :) 

NEXT MONTH'S GOALS: 

1. Write at least 10k of the Mokemon Script
2. Finish 2 outdoor scenes (I'm flagging rn, so I don't want to push myself to finish all 5. )

Since I'm so late in doing my monthly update this month, I'll only give myself 2 goals instead of the three. 

Thanks for reading this far and let me know if you also fell into the trap of "Original OC Guy Totally Not Canon Guy" and or if you're like "Wow Heiden shut up just talk about your game I didn't sign up for your Thoughts(tm)". 

See you next month and hope you enjoy the crisp Fall weather~! :D

- Heiden

Mood: Chill

Eating: A Delicious Egg (in these trying times)

Drinking: コーヒー (Coffee)

Reading: *SLAMS 3 BOOKS DOWN ON THE TABLE* BOY HOWDY DID I READ SOME AMAZING BOOKS THIS MONTH. 

I love to read on vacation and this time I was spoiled for how many GOOD books I read and in such a short amount of time. It's a total 180 from what I read in August!!! 

1. The Guinevere Deception - This is basically a King Arthur otome game in book form I (nearly) READ IT IN A SINGLE DAY it was so good and literally everything I love in YA fantasy books. Protagonist is kind and sometimes doubts herself but pushes through to help others anyway! There's a fake marriage trope with a king who is just genuinely nice and kind and doesn't push her to do things she doesn't want. She has a devoted (lady) knight who would LAY DOWN HER LIFE FOR HER LIEGE (heart emoji). The king's cousin wants to bang his wife but in a very "OH NO WE SHOULDN'T/BUT BE TRUE TO YOURSELF/FREEDOM CODED" sort of way. No love triangle shenanigans!!!  No annoying banter!!! (Sorry, I don't like banter where its just them insulting each other aposdifjas;oifjas;oidf) FIGHTS! DARING RESCUES!!! MY HEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She should end up with all three of them, preferably all at once.  Thanks for coming to my TED talk. 

2. Green Rider - This is solid A+ classic early 00's "girl hits things with sword" genre. Lots of fights, political shenanigans, betrayals, cryptic prophecies. If you like fantasy but don't like the love shenanigans in #1, I'd suggest this one instead. (Tho there is a subtle slow-burn romance in the background, this might be a plus or a minus for you.)

3. Paladin of Souls - If you are tired of all these youngins out there saving kingdoms and what not, oh boy do I have a recommendation for you. How about a 40 year old widowed mother of two with no control over her life running away to find her life's passion when she herself has given up on ever finding happiness? It's required to read The Curse of Chalion before this one, but good news, that one is also AMAZING!!! A 2 for 1 recommendation!!!  The thing about this series that always impresses me is the  message it has about learning to love what you love and not what society has taught you. It's all about letting go and letting you feel your feelings instead of forcing yourself into the mold that you think you ought to fill. Fantastic stuff.