(I'm happy to welcome the first guest contributor to the site, the guy you've known as Damien who puts together those wild and crazy characters. I'm delighted to have him on board helping out and hope you'll welcome him with open arms! -- Jeff)
You all know me as Damien, and I've been hanging around here for a while now, longer than some. I recently undertook a project on my own time to help Jeff out with Hero Machine by going through posts from January '08 through March '09, cataloging comments for HM items from almost every post he made over the last year and a fourth. The result was a comprehensive and organized list of what you all wanted, with the most popular requests marked out. When Jeff asked me what I wanted in return, I told him.
I wanted to keep doing it.
So here I am, a sort of Web Assistant. I like the name Editing Widget, because it sounds weird and because it describes what I'd be doing--namely helping to moderate link posts, answering questions, writing the occasional column, and whatever else he happens to need done. We're even discussing some streamlining on things like item suggestions and program bugs. I asked for this because I enjoy having the power of life and--I mean contributing to this community that has lifted and supported me, and contributing to this program which has helped launch an attempted writing career. I'll be able to do so much to help, and to me, that was the only prize worth asking for.
[Well, I could have asked for a cool custom illustration, but this lasts longer 🙂 .]
Glad to have you aboard!
I agree– sure helps with the organizing!
As long as you don’t have a triple six branded behind your ear, Damien, it’s all good.
😀
“Guest contributor?” I was just asking for “office lackey,” though I guess not actually being in the office puts a crimp in that. Well, I’m glad to have warm welcomes so far, and I’ll do my best!
Nifty! Sounds like just thing that was needed at this stage of the project and I can’t wait for you to live up to your silly self-made title!
congrats bud 😉 you get to have a chunk of the hm kingdom I’m proud of you *btw sorry if my teasing about the contests sound real its more that i let myself down not what you guys did*
RJ, there’s a world of ideas out there, and HM helps a lot of us to make them where we couldn’t otherwise. Did you know I can’t draw worth a lick? I’d do quite a bit to have Jeff’s “supposedly inferior” skills. Did you know I have a totally crap computer? Different people complain about lag time sometimes, but on Fierra, before I even got to finishing with the different patterns, I was having what I call “minute clicks,” where it takes over thirty seconds to switch between one thing and the next, longer if the mouse waves (or THINKS it waves) over the picture itself. Each of my entries this past week took over six hours minimum EACH. I have to have a huge amount of dedication and a lot of temper control just to keep from pitching this hunk of junk straight out the window, lemme tell you!
RJ, I’m serious here. My advice is to approach your next character with a plan firmly in mind. Make a solid decision what you want him or her or it to be, and THEN figure out how you want to do it. If your character has a banded-metal something, see if layering shoulder pieces or belts might give it a more noticeable effect. Experiment with layered hairstyles. Look for how you can use items that weren’t MEANT to do those things, and make them work for you. My Firefly guy from the Robot contest? All of his spouting flames were made of hair in some way. Figure out the effect you WANT to make, THEN figure out how you can do it. I still only get a 50% success rate doing that, because there’s still some of my old characters I just don’t have the parts for yet, but that just means you come up with twice as many ideas next time. Think abstractly. Do the weird and unthinkable. But do it with your whole heart, and I promise you’ll start to see some results yourself. And hopefully, we’ll get to see them too.
D your a great friend and I am working on something for the animal contest 🙂 you made me belive in myself again
Congratulations Damien 🙂 Sorry to hear of your computer problems, try building one from online, that’s what I did and I only get those “minute clicks” you mentioned whenever I need a browser refresh hehe.
I would, Tim, but I’m broke 🙂 I MIGHT be able to afford the ’83 Tandy computer I made it through half of high school with at this point.
And RJ, I’m glad to hear it. I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish.
Damien, good to know you are doing something! 🙄
…
Something that was mentioned to Jeff in the past, a monthly BUG thread and/or a monthly upcoming feature list.
Bug thread could have the KNOWN issues. Also, the issues which are pending, but will not be resolved for a while (layering w/ save, etc).
Feature thread could be useful to let folks know what is coming and what is not (child poses, save as file, etc). Cuts down on repetition in other blog threads.
….
btw, the minute per click is a known factor of complex HM3 images especially with more than a few patterns applied. Many transforms increases the CPU load, too. Tends to get unexpected browser quitting when using >15 patterned objects; might be better with a newer computer (~5yr old on here).
Sooo…patterns are last. If the browser doesn’t crash. Making lotsa screenshots in the interim, and saving where appropriate.
Oh, and usually watching TV in the meantime.
@ Vio:
I know the click problems happen during patterning. But I crashed my browser on each entry. And if you don’t refresh the browser every so often, it also wipes your save files…
Welcome, Damien. Your assistance is much appreciated as it allows Jeff to be freed up to work on HM3. But if I may ask: what type of writing do you work on? If it’s fiction, is your work in novels or screenplays? Non-fic? Or are you talking about programming? Either way, once again, welcome!