TT: So. TT: Best birthday ever? TT: Or best FUCKING birthday ever. GG: Ha. GG: In the interest of appeasing the irony gods, let's go with the latter. TT: Whatever role I played in ruining your party. TT: Sorry about that. GG: Oh lord. The LAST thing I give a shit about is my stupid "sweet sixteen". GG: What a farce. I was trying to act as if we were all living normal well adjusted lives, albeit in a marvelous fantasy setting populated by skeletons. GG: And if only we just had some cake and wore some hats and I blew out all the candles in one big puff, we could pretend all the problems we had with each other would magically stop existing. GG: And the most horrifying thing of all is, I actually got my wish! GG: Haha. Thanks, Calliope. GG: Oh well. I'm sure she had good intentions. TT: Yeah. TT: I still think I've been pretty lousy to you. I had my head up my ass for a while there. TT: By the time your birthday came around, I was kinda freaking out about Jake. TT: I thought I had the situation under control. But I didn't. Not just with Jake, but with respect to pretty much everything. GG: I understand. GG: Boy, you really let him have it back there! TT: I guess so. GG: I had a similar meltdown with him earlier. I'm not going to lie. It felt really good. TT: Heh. GG: At least, it did at the time. GG: I only wish I could have stayed as lucid as you during our... GG: Transformation. GG: How did you manage that? TT: It wasn't on purpose. Actually if I had a choice, I probably would have just said, fuck it. Sugar shock my brain, please. TT: Suffice to say, I have trouble escaping from myself. It's kind of a problem. Let's not talk about it though. Please continue. GG: Okay. GG: So instead of keeping my cool like you, I just started gushing over him like a lovestruck loon, surrendering any sliver of dignity I might have earned by telling him off earlier. GG: I just cannot believe some of the things I said. Oh God. I told him I wanted to get married and have babies!!! TT: Yeah but to be fair, by the time you came looking for me, all three of you were saying that to anything that moved. GG: I know! But... GG: It's one thing to write off something you say to an altered state of mind. But what makes the admission so mortifying to me is... GG: I actually MEANT it. GG: And I'm sure he must know that by now. GG: And now I feel so humiliated I just want to die. GG: I would ask him to shoot me right here, if I could bring myself to say a word to him. TT: Somehow I don't think he's up to the task. TT: Which is doubly unfortunate, since that's literally what we all came here to do. TT: Speaking personally, I'd probably run this sword through my own dick before I could bring myself to kill Roxy. Even for her own good. TT: So. TT: When the chips are down, I guess that's how much of a badass I really am. GG: Woo!!! GG: We are all such WINNERS. TT: Yeah, our moxie's off the fuckin' charts.
GT: Rox? TG: wat GT: Am i an asshole? TG: no j GT: I think i might be an asshole. GT: All of my friends hate me now. GT: Are you sure im not just an asshole and never actually realized it? TG: well maybe youre an asshole sometimes but its always on accident and most people are accidental assholes a lot of times anyway so who cares GT: I cant believe i was so oblivious to the feelings of all the people i care about. GT: How could i not see that jane was in love with me? I really am a dope. GT: I guess i did know deep down at some point... but then i somehow convinced myself otherwise? GT: I cant even imagine how she must have felt all this time i was seeing dirk. And all those times i talked her ear off about our relationship! Oh goodness. TG: yuuup GT: I wonder what things would be like if she told me? GT: Maybe its better she didnt in the end. GT: I probably would have just broken her heart like i did with dirk. GT: I should say something to her but im not sure what to say. I dont think she wants to hear anything from me to be honest. GT: Maybe you could tell her im sorry for me? TG: why cant you just tell her TG: shes right there GT: I dunno. Shes obviously so mad at me. I cant bring myself to say anything. GT: Im also just really fucking chagrined over how i treated her. GT: If i was brave i could face that feeling and just talk to her and try to make us square. GT: But i dont think i really am brave. GT: Im not brave and i dont think i love adventure either. TG: wow... jake... GT: You know how you think you know these things about yourself? GT: Like all these personal attributes about you as if theyre written down somewhere like a sort of mini biography so they have to be true. GT: So you just believe them and hope that the believing is what makes them true. GT: But then you spend so much time believing those things and taking their truth for granted that you somehow forget to MAKE them true with your words and deeds. GT: How can i truly love adventure when i never even knew what it was? GT: I dont think its raiding tombs and clobbering scoundrels. GT: That stuffs fun and all but thats not what adventure is. GT: Adventure is... GT: Its something else. GT: Its doing the things im genuinely afraid to do. GT: But cant. GT: Because im a coward. TG: ok ok stop shittin on urself ill tell her for you
TLDR; Act 6 Act 6 is next. This is Homestuck's final push. But before I start on it, I'll be taking a very significant hiatus to work on the game.
4/13/13 marked the 4th year of Homestuck, and a little more than the 5th year of MSPA's regular updates overall. Thanks to all those who've hung in there the whole time, as well as the very large number of you who piled on to this silly wagon at some point along the way.
The idea last year was to finish Homestuck and then begin working on the game. But as I've started to get into the early game dev process a bit, it's become obvious I have to start working on it much sooner. As in, right now. It takes many months of drawing and programming to make a game. But nobody can start on any of that until I've done a lot of writing and planning. So what it comes down to is, either I delay finishing Homestuck by a few months, or delay the release of the game by what would probably be a lot longer than that. Considering people threw 2.5 million bucks at me to make a game, I think that choice is obvious.
If I could do both at the same time, I would. But that's not realistic. Working on HS is an all consuming thing. Designing a whole game I believe will be too. It may sound obvious, but it can't be emphasized enough - entertainment takes a lot of time to create. More time than most people think. MSPA somewhat obscures that reality because I work on it as maniacally and efficiently as I can to keep the rate of output as high as possible. But the ease of production is an illusion. It is in fact a nonstop grind to generate this much material at a consistent rate. So I have to put all that on hold if I want to get anything else done.
I have noticed that some people believed HS would end on 4/13/13, though I never said that it would. Even if the story appeared to be on the precipice of resolution (which it wasn't), these rumors could be debunked for one simple reason. Animation takes A LOT of time. You've got to expect a story like this would end with some sort of big animation, right? I can't make those without suspending all updates completely for a good while. Trust me, the end to this won't sneak up on anyone. It will be really obvious when it's on the way.
To alleviate some of the suspense and wild speculation, I will give you a very loose estimate of my schedule, from now until the end of HS. Please observe these facts, as organized by this really awesome "html table" I have designed for this purpose.
The thing I am going to be doing
How long that thing is going to take me
Work on the game, and probably some other stuff, like make more HS books. Oh, also go to a few conventions. No updates.
Months
Work on a whole bunch of regular updates for A6A6, leading up to the end of HS.
Months
Work on the final animation, plus zero or more other animations, just before or somewhat near the end of HS.
Months
So that's it for now. See you in a while. Unless you decide to reread Homestuck or something. In which case I guess I'll keep seeing you here. Well not me, but my website will see you. My website is always watching.
In the Topatoco store there is a new shirt, featuring this highly attractive design by Lexxy! The shirt is available in white and black. Lexxy as you may know has drawn a bunch of things that have appeared in Homestuck animations. She is also planning a great looking comic called Cloud Factory. Also, she is basically the star of a reality TV show called Strip Search. This is an up and coming artist for whom I see BIG THINGS. Yes, I know I am really going out on a limb with this prediction, but I am well known for making such bold and controversial claims.
It is called Cherubim. Worth noting: this album contains the song used in Caliborn: Enter. It's the last track, called Eternity Served Cold, by Malcolm Brown.
TLDR; Act 6 Act 6 is next. This is Homestuck's final push. But before I start on it, I'll be taking a very significant hiatus to work on the game.
4/13/13 marked the 4th year of Homestuck, and a little more than the 5th year of MSPA's regular updates overall. Thanks to all those who've hung in there the whole time, as well as the very large number of you who piled on to this silly wagon at some point along the way.
The idea last year was to finish Homestuck and then begin working on the game. But as I've started to get into the early game dev process a bit, it's become obvious I have to start working on it much sooner. As in, right now. It takes many months of drawing and programming to make a game. But nobody can start on any of that until I've done a lot of writing and planning. So what it comes down to is, either I delay finishing Homestuck by a few months, or delay the release of the game by what would probably be a lot longer than that. Considering people threw 2.5 million bucks at me to make a game, I think that choice is obvious.
If I could do both at the same time, I would. But that's not realistic. Working on HS is an all consuming thing. Designing a whole game I believe will be too. It may sound obvious, but it can't be emphasized enough - entertainment takes a lot of time to create. More time than most people think. MSPA somewhat obscures that reality because I work on it as maniacally and efficiently as I can to keep the rate of output as high as possible. But the ease of production is an illusion. It is in fact a nonstop grind to generate this much material at a consistent rate. So I have to put all that on hold if I want to get anything else done.
I have noticed that some people believed HS would end on 4/13/13, though I never said that it would. Even if the story appeared to be on the precipice of resolution (which it wasn't), these rumors could be debunked for one simple reason. Animation takes A LOT of time. You've got to expect a story like this would end with some sort of big animation, right? I can't make those without suspending all updates completely for a good while. Trust me, the end to this won't sneak up on anyone. It will be really obvious when it's on the way.
To alleviate some of the suspense and wild speculation, I will give you a very loose estimate of my schedule, from now until the end of HS. Please observe these facts, as organized by this really awesome "html table" I have designed for this purpose.
The thing I am going to be doing
How long that thing is going to take me
Work on the game, and probably some other stuff, like make more HS books. Oh, also go to a few conventions. No updates.
Months
Work on a whole bunch of regular updates for A6A6, leading up to the end of HS.
Months
Work on the final animation, plus zero or more other animations, just before or somewhat near the end of HS.
Months
So that's it for now. See you in a while. Unless you decide to reread Homestuck or something. In which case I guess I'll keep seeing you here. Well not me, but my website will see you. My website is always watching.
In the Topatoco store there is a new shirt, featuring this highly attractive design by Lexxy! The shirt is available in white and black. Lexxy as you may know has drawn a bunch of things that have appeared in Homestuck animations. She is also planning a great looking comic called Cloud Factory. Also, she is basically the star of a reality TV show called Strip Search. This is an up and coming artist for whom I see BIG THINGS. Yes, I know I am really going out on a limb with this prediction, but I am well known for making such bold and controversial claims.
It is called Cherubim. Worth noting: this album contains the song used in Caliborn: Enter. It's the last track, called Eternity Served Cold, by Malcolm Brown.
