On Arc Two: Putting it together

So having taken some time to look over some of the various suggestions I’ve gotten in regards to what people have found interesting or memorable in and about the old Barrens, and in a way the responses I got were both more and less than I’d hoped for. On one hand, most of the things which people did find memorable seem to have stuck with most people – on the other, many responses has also made the Barrens sound something like the most boring place on Azeroth where very little of interest ever happens. Still, in an effort to put all of this together, I went loose on some old maps, the old mapviewer and Paint Shop Pro in order to try to put it all together.

On Arc Two: That Faction Conflict Thing

Trying to construct anything useful and workable out of the wild, chaotic maelstrom that is my plans for the might-possibly-happen-but-no-promises second story arc of Beyond the Tree has always come across to me like something of an uphill battle. While there are many aspects to Arc Two that makes it inherently more complicated to construct than Arc One, one of the largest source of complications stem from a single, simple fact: It takes Beyond the Tree into contact with the Horde.

Request: Tell me of Memorable Central Kalimdor Characters

So I thought, it’s now 2012 and what better way to start a new year than ask some random people on the internet for help! …well okay, on reflection putting it like that makes it sound more than a little bit mental, but bear with me. Basically: Do you consider yourself familiar with Warcraft as a setting? Have you spent plenty of time leveling around central Kalimdor back in pre-Cataclysm days? Have any fond memories of quests and NPCs in that region? Read on, because You May Be Able To Help.

Random Render: the Foonmall sisters

I’ve wanted to return to Hani’s older sister at some point (and in some form) essentially since I first came up with the idea for page #100, over two years ago by now. I’ve long felt that the sister was the one of her family that Hani was the closest to, and who was the one who was the closest to understanding her, so I really wanted to get some time to just explore that.

Of course, it’s been hindered by details such as up until recently, I didn’t have an adult appearance or even a name for the woman… all of which have finally been addressed.

Random Render: Assuming too Much

While I normally tend to present the context behind random renders – along with an optional small preview – before getting to the actual images themselves, this particular case is… well. I’ll describe the context and what led up to these happening after the actual images rather than before. Why should hopefully become clear once they have been seen. So, without further ado…

Random Render: The Tiny Future

One of the many things I thought was interesting with the idea that eventually became Letters from the Front was the opportunity to visualize a post-restoration Rei “Tiny” Featherstorm. I’ve long said that I think the reasoning that keeps her from trying to restore herself is far more interesting than what shrunk her to begin with, and with that in mind I wanted the full size Rei to be both similar to what she used to be, but at the same time also significantly different.

Letters from the Front

Dear Areen

I hope this letter finds you, and finds you in good health – recent events being what they have been, I’ve worried. It has been some time since we last saw each other, and I felt it would be appropriate to write.

Characters in One Word

This is something I’ve been thinking of for awhile – it started when a friend of mine and I were discussing the overall Paladin archetype (I can’t exactly recall what the context was) and I suddenly expressed that I felt that the one virtue that Areen Lightspark would hold as highest was actually Integrity. The conversation itself moved on from there of course, but it got me thinking of whether there were similar one-word concepts that line up with the rest of the characters.

Random Future Thoughts

As I’ve already mentioned before, I’ve recently felt an ever growing feeling that Blizzard is pretty indifferent (not to mention sometimes outright ignorant) of their own lore. The recent claim from a Q&A that you’re better off considering the sourcebooks entirely non-canon only seems to strengthen that conclusion because I can’t see it as anything else but them covering their bases in case they want to outright contradict what they said then with what they want to say now. World of Warcraft if anything seems to serve as proof that Blizzard are simply not equipped to maintain a long-going narrative, and they’re pretty clearly not keeping track of it all between in-game narrative, tie-in novels, tie-in comics, RPG sourcebooks, random developer statements and everything.

This isn’t entirely about that, though – it’s about Beyond the Tree, so bear with me.

Random Render: Stormwind Cathedral

The Stormwind Cathedral is one of those places that’s really annoying to get clean backdrops from; first of all, it has a pretty even spread of NPCs in both central and not locations, making it rather difficult to try to cut around them.. or raising the problem of trying to somehow match scale and camera angle so they don’t look like midgets or giants next to the rendered elements. Secondly.. many of those NPCs are quest givers, or class or profession trainers, which ensures a solid influx of player characters who often will dress up like clowns, bunnyhop through the frame and utter internet slang until you want to strangle them with it.. and finally, it is – on Earthen Ring, at any rate – a fairly active roleplaying hub, which means that if you somehow manage to avoid the former two.. you can guarantee there’ll be someone standing right in the frame you want talking about anything from recent events to their favorite clothes to the 354th demon possession and/or scourge invasion that happened on the Cathedral stairs that day.

Long story short, I really didn’t want to have to rely on backdrops for the Cathedral scenes.