Ashton Updates - Juneclusions

Another month ends, and so it feels like time for a long update to let you all know where I’m at with everything. Or rather what I’m brainstorming/obsessing on at the moment.

As I said, I had a bit of time off after Under the Table, so it’s been a quieter month, though we now have the Under & Over and Doctor Aphra animations out. July should have a few bigger things on the way…

Comics

The main project I’m looking to get done, which we have some preview images from here, is a new comic, as it’s been a while. It’s called Hard Night at The Big Gulp Bar, and these are some early, unedited stills. It’s a simple story featuring a host of characters in a bar visited by a mysterious stranger. Most of them aren’t leaving again. Unless it’s in a stomach…

I’ve got some fancy 3D models and was wanting to test some new techniques and software, in particular a rigging system that I’m tremendously grateful to JackOfBullets for helping introduce me to. Should speed things up in the long run.

I had in mind originally to make this story one extra-long animation, but with 8 characters and an estimated 150 posed images, I don’t know how viable that is. I will animate some of it, at least, though.

The comic should be done in the next couple of weeks and it’ll be up here before anywhere else.

Games

The other big project I’ve currently got on the go is Dorm Till Dawn 2 – a sequel expanding on the first game with a similar setting but new characters, improved artwork and more dynamic play (ala some of the less linear systems we had in Toyeater), with some animations too.

You’ll play a new character, sneaking into Bayley’s dorm on a mission of revenge. Only she’s not asleep and she’s not alone…

I wanted to do Big Gulp Bar before this, so I’d be more ready with the software, so at the moment I’m still coding the game. Once the comic’s complete, expect this to come along fairly quickly.

Alongside this I’m setting time aside to learn other gaming systems, aiming towards making more 3D/interactive games in the future.

Animations

I haven’t committed to the next major animation yet, but I’ll post some minor animations from both of them in the meantime. I do have a few ideas on the backburner too, including something a little arty and a Bikini Kaiju teaser.

The next step with testing my software should be doing some more destructive stuff, though, which means a return to something in the city rampage field.

We’ll see soon…

Serials

Bikini Kaiju is almost over! Boo! For now – there’s room for more in this world, but I hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far. I’m working on a cover so the book can be released publicly after it finishes here.

The next serial, starting July, will be as I said, a medieval fantasy similar to the Nidings series. This time we’re encountering a tribe of giant orc women and a mad reclusive scientist. In a forest full of man-eating creatures and plants.

Besides that, I’ve got two more expansive projects in mind with an idea to go a little wider than the usual size content. I’m not sure they’re so appropriate for here, but one is a meta horror novel, about an author obsessed with giantesses who inadvertently unleashes some demons (I won’t get into details now, but in short it’d be novel-length horror with a big finale!) and the other is a LitRPG series with size-warping and man-eating, but perhaps not as the sole focus. I’ll explain them in more detail later.

I’m also toying with the idea of a serial in the form of a screenplay, as it’s been a while since I did one. Potentially a classic suburban thriller story – perhaps the old “my beautiful new neighbour is shrinking people and no one believes me and oh no now she’s stomping on buildings” scenario.

But must focus on where we’re at for now! Soon, a comic, giant orcs and a new Sensus Supra game, and for today a few fun images…

Have a good weekend.

RB