TT: Jane, you know, TT: We probably should have talked about this Jake stuff a long time ago. GG: Tell me about it. TT: I don't know if I was kidding myself all those years that there was a conflict of interest between us, or what. GG: Same. TT: Maybe I was just pretending your feelings for him weren't a factor because my pursuit of him was already overcomplicated enough. TT: Or maybe it was more like I was aware of them, but on some level decided they shouldn't matter, because I felt like you had a natural advantage over me. TT: Cause you know. You're like. TT: Not a dude. GG: But I always felt you had the advantage over me too! GG: Because you're... YOU. GG: You make things happen, and I don't. TT: Yeah well. Turns out maybe that's not such a good quality if you wanna make a relationship last longer than three seconds. At least not in my case. TT: I know I ripped into him pretty hard when I had the clown hair and the little soda can on my head. TT: But the truth is I was pretty goddamn overbearing. TT: Sometimes I look back on stuff and think I might have essentially bullied him into a relationship with me. TT: Actually, it's more complicated than that. Parts of me were operating independently from myself. TT: So it's like I was bullying myself into bullying him into liking me. If that makes sense. GG: It doesn't really. But that's fine. :B TT: Anyway, my insanity scared him right the fuck off. There were times when I basically treated him like shit without even realizing it, and I regret it. TT: I should probably tell him that, but given how I just called him an asshole while wearing orange suspenders, I'm probably the last person he wants to hear from now. GG: Clearly we both used some poor judgment. GG: Looking back, it seems crazy to me that we both jeopardized our friendship over a mutual infatuation with, let's face it, one spectacularly goofy kid. TT: Can we both at least agree we may have overrated the allure of Jake English? GG: YES. TT: Maybe if we could have talked to each other about him it would have helped. Like talked about why we felt that way about him. TT: At least maybe it would have helped us knock English down from the ludicrous pedestal we put him on. GG: Yeah. That might have saved us a lot of grief. GG: It's not like I hate him now, even though that's probably what he thinks. He's still my friend. GG: But the extent to which I centered my whole life around a childish fantasy about him is just painfully embarrassing in hindsight. GG: I wonder if I'll ever be able to look at him again without feeling miserable about myself? TT: So does that mean we're both totally over him now? I can't really tell. GG: Me neither. :\ TT: I guess the real problem is our clique was too small. TT: Poor Jake was the only viable romantic target. I mean, considering our respective orientations. TT: Maybe we just never knew enough people? GG: Perhaps. GG: Or maybe we just don't need anybody. GG: As anything other than friends, I mean. TT: In the interest of appeasing the bitterness gods, let's go with the latter.
tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] TG: hay janey TG: how u holdin up girl GG: I feel like garbage. But otherwise, fine. TG: you off urself yet GG: No? TG: ok good TG: please dont yet TG: i got a personal back stage pass 2 the jake english self loathing tour TG: an im in no condition to take the full brunt of his lamentations but im the only one hes talkin to soooo TG: need a lil support here from my bestie GG: What is he saying? TG: he wants me to relay an apology to you TG: cause he thinks hes not brave enough to say it like ten feet away there on his stone bed and he thinks ur pissed @ him GG: Aw man. GG: I don't want to do this. TG: do what GG: An awkward "tell him I said" sequence of apologies through text messages. TG: ok TG: thats a sane answer TG: what should i say GG: Tell him I said we'll talk about it later. GG: Like, after we're dead. TG: k TG: well maybe i wont say that last part but k GG: How's it going over there? TG: fine TG: not a lot of progress on the dyin front TG: dont look like dirk much wants to stab me with his manime sword... TG: tbh waiting around to be buddymurdered and/or off oneself is even more awkward than you would think plus kind of a drag?? TG: specially w a headache blarg TG: jane this is dumb GG: Yeah. Call me crazy, but I don't think our candy-addled selves thought this through entirely. TG: yo trixster mode sucks ass txt it TG: jane u know what im sad about GG: Hm? TG: fefeta exploding GG: Yeah. :( TG: whyd she have to die again like that TG: she was so sweet and perfect and my friend TG: she would always just talk and talk about the funniest things from her life as two troll ladies and it always lifted my spirits TG: am i cursed or somethin jane? GG: Cursed? TG: yeah TG: its like TG: i always seem to accidentally kill my cats TG: or my half cat girls TG: ummm TG: who are part sea princess and also an alien ghost TG: i dunno maybe this line o speculation has no particular coherence TG: jane TG: after we go god tier you want to help me have a funeral for her GG: Of course, Roxy. TG: i would like that TG: i always wanted to go to a funeral TG: is that weird? maybe thats weird i dont know TG: i mean not like in an especially morbid or gothy kinda way i just think it would be cool to honor her memory TG: i never did that for frigglish but i should have TG: shit jakes buggin me again brb
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.
