Tag: Arkhaven

 A glimpse behind the scenes:

VD: I finished AH #9. Attached in case you want it for reference.

TLCD: You’re still in single digits?

VD: You can’t see it, but I’m waving a single digit in your direction.

It’s not easy working with a legend. Especially a legend who is an insufferably bad winner. And yes, this means that all 12 issues of Chuck Dixon’s Avalon are written and illustrated.

It isn’t just DevGame that is getting active again, although we’re already seeing some incredible results out of the revival of the game developer site, by which I mean it looks like we are going to be publishing not one, but two, game design books by a truly legendary game designer. I’m referring to the Arkhaven Comics blog, which will now be featuring the talents of the Dark Herald and comics writer Jon Del Arroz on a regular basis. 

The Dark Herald has already written a highly informative initial post on Eastern Story Structure:

Hakawati, is the Arabic tradition of story telling wherein each story must have and teach a moral lesson.  I suspect this tradition is more Middle-Eastern than specifically Arabian because the story of Jonah fits perfectly within its structure.

Jonah’s story is rather unsatisfying to a Westerner, if you read the whole thing

Jonah is ordered by God to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and deliver a command from Him to stop sinning.  Jonah, like all of his people and well, everyone else who had come into contact with Assyria wants them all dead. So he refused to deliver God’s message and ran away to sea.  A terrible storm came up while the ship was at sea. The crew drew lots to see who was to be sacrificed to appease the waters.  The never-lucky Jonah lost and was chucked over the side.  God sent a whale to swallow Jonah.  Jonah repented and God had the whale spit, Jonah, on to a shoreline that had decent access to Nineveh.  Jonah delivered the message to the hated Assyrians and then went to a nearby hill to watch God’s wrath descend on Nineveh.  And it didn’t.  

The End. 

When I was in Sunday school the whale part of the story was the only thing that our teacher concentrated on. Mostly because a giant whale story would keep squirming seven-year-olds occupied while their parents had coffee and donuts after the service. It worked because that part of the story was the closest thing that conformed to the western idea of the three-act story structure with an introduction, an inciting incident, rising tension, climax, and then denouement.  

The original purpose of the story however wasn’t to entertain, it was to teach. You aren’t entitled to any special reward on this Earth just because you did what God told you to.

The dominant religion in an area strongly influences that area’s story-telling traditions and story-structures.

Christianity has been the dominant religion in the West for the past 1,500 years or so.  Give or take a few centuries depending on your physical location.  Conflict is central to the faith.  If you are a Christian, you are fighting Satan.  If you fail at the fight you go to Hell.  Win that fight and self-improvement will occur but it is a side-effect, not the goal.  The goal is salvation and you don’t have to be the wisest of the wise in order to saved. 

Buddhism is the dominant religion in East Asia.  Buddhism at its center is self-improvement for its own sake.  There is no conflict driving it forward.  If you screwup in this life you slide down the ladder into a lower form of life. Be that a lower caste, a woman, all the way down to animals and insects.  Improve yourself enough and you will achieve Enlightenment. And not have to be reborn into the world of suffering and desire anymore.

In Buddhism you absolutely have to be wisest of the wise.  Achievement is a requirement to reach Nirvana, and this has influenced all aspects of their societies. Especially with regards to storytelling and it’s concomitant tropes.

Read the whole thing there. And if you enjoy comics, add it to your daily bookmarks.

 Episode 22 of Hypergamouse, THAT POOR GUY, is now live on Webtoons! #arkhaven

Episode 13 of Alt★Hero, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, is now live on Webtoons. Shade approves.

The various crews at Arkhaven, Dark Legion, Castalia House, Infogalactic, SocialGalactic, and Unauthorized wish you a very Merry Christmas indeed.

If you’re an Arkhaven backer of a certain project that has been in the works these past few months, please check your email and respond accordingly. The public announcement will be tomorrow evening.

UPDATE: we’re going to make the initial public announcement in about 8 hours, so if you haven’t been able to follow through yet, you might want to do so before everyone else has the chance to get on board.

UPDATE: No Darkstream tonight, I’ll be appearing on Owen’s livestream instead at 7 PM EST. If you want to know what’s going on with all these cryptic comments and so forth, be sure to tune in.

I’ll be sending out an email to all of the Arkhaven backers involved later today, but if you’ve set up an account on a certain site and have been awaiting further instructions, please cancel that account today. Last night we were informed that we would not be permitted to use the site because badthink and so forth.

This will not have any effect on the project at all, so please don’t worry about that. We have a plethora of options and will be selecting a better one next week. But in order to send a very clear message, it would be good if everyone involved canceled their account today. We do not intend any legal action at this point, as we would much rather not work with any partners who are less than entirely enthusiastic about working with us.

Check your email. Please follow the directions, do NOT ask any questions here and do NOT email any questions to me. All the relevant questions will be addressed in detail at the proper time later this month.

UPDATE: I will be sending out an email Thursday night to the hundreds of respondents. The entire team is blown away by the strength of your response. Thank you all.

UPDATE: There are now 50 40 10 5 0 slots left. Thanks to everyone who is participating. Please follow the emailed instructions to get registered and approved ASAP.

Check your email. Please follow the directions, do NOT ask any questions here and do NOT email any questions to me. All the relevant questions will be addressed in detail at the proper time later this month.

UPDATE: I will be sending out an email Thursday night to the hundreds of respondents. The entire team is blown away by the strength of your response. Thank you all.

UPDATE: There are now 50 40 10 5 slots left, so if you want to be involved, this is the time to jump in. Also, assuming that everyone follows through, the light just flashed green. There is no need to email asking for further instructions. They will arrive in due course.

BERTIE AT BAY is the third issue in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series, which tells of the travails of the inimitable Bertie Wooster, summoned from the comforts of #3A Berkley Mansions, London to Brinkley Manor by his imperious Aunt Dahlia. Love is in the air and Wodehousian shenanigans are afoot, as Wooster’s well-meaning attempts to help out his friends sort out their romantic difficulties only leads to one hilarious disaster after another.

Adapted from the classic Wodehouse novel by comics legend Chuck Dixon and drawn by SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN illustrator Gary Kwapisz, BERTIE AT BAY is issue #3 of 6 in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series.

RIGHT HO, JEEVES #3: Bertie at Bay is available in a gold logo edition from Arkhaven Direct for $2.99.

In other Arkhaven-related news, Rorshach of Swindon has reviewed Alt-Hero #4: The War in Paris.