User blog:SensibleCenobite/Project Analysis: Year of the Dragon.

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I watched a YouTube video of a veteran stealth bomber that had a good five point analysis that was completed after every mission, and even though the final analysis is three percent of the work load, it is the most important part. His main reason was, it helps newbs and people on similar missions avoid mistakes and show them good examples to follow.

1).  What happened [Don't be defensive]?

Since it was my last attempt at video game development for edutainment purposes, I thought of my old online academy "The Game Institute", and troll, lol and behold they were still in business. For a small sum of seven dollars per month I had access to more game materials than I had access to at the university, no fancy paper included of course, only the quality of paper one could afford at the market. I actually finished the history course on Von Neumann architecture [me and history], which was a nice refresher on operating systems, and a well done refresher at that. After such a delightful course I decided to peruse the options at hand and I noticed the site gave me a personal blog space, something Giggles McFarnsworth and I had in mind for some time, but something that never seemed to come to fruition, mostly because of our lack of knowledge with modern media platforms. I decided to write some stuff that had been on my mind for a while, and I liked where it was headed, but I didn't have any feedback, so I needed to move on to another platform.

I thought of this old school forum I used back in the day, that dealt with angels and demons, and thought it would be a better avenue to express my ideas, since I could Obfuscate some things [Shake the spear, thanks Sophia] and drive content with bizarre topics [My step grandfather is the Demon Prince of Pain, Leviathan, you know]. In my lust for this blogging thing I go ham on the site and all seems fine for a few weeks, a bit too quite, but fine all the same. I try to expand into the general games section and I get vetoed for a multi choice joke question, no biggie, so I proceed [With no response from the moderator to my e-mails] on to my hilarious story about growing up in Malfeas and my antics with Leviathan. This however, my dearest Chantry, this got me silenced [Still no e-mail responses], which I didn't even notice for a few days until I logged out, only to see my posts vanish before my very eyes. My posts had been read quite frequently and all of a suddenly their views dropped off, and now it made sense, anyone that wasn't logged in couldn't see my posts. So I ask them three more times how I could solve the problem or what I actually did wrong, only to get absolute silence, and these people call themselves customer service representatives, what a joke. I'll be honest I was pissed, but I kept my cool and gave them a very polite back handed message [Bless their hearts] that encouraged them to be kinder to newbies, actually play the game instead of lamenting over the lack of a new version, and I still managed to encourage them to be successful with their new product line and make a lot of money. I thanked them for the final nudge that pushed me off the game cliff and moved on to...

My new Chantry, FANDOM, which has been much better by far. My beloved Chantry, I like what I do, and I do it for free, but I only planned on one post seeing the light of day, which was immediately moved to my bio section. It is the ultimate solution to that pesky Red Star that has been at our throats since I can remember [Can we please end our beef with the Red Star White Wolf?]. I got a well met from his Majesty Russel Hammond and a well met from Ebakunin, and decided right there, I wanted to take up this blog/wiki stuff as a full time hobby. I posted a blog from the GameInstitute onto the White Wolf wiki [After I wolfed it up a bit], and I was surprised people read it immediately. It was eight to twelve hour days after that, with a few promises to finish three great courses on writing, a game review of Hellblade, one Lick from every clan, and some BESM characters in full. StrangerThings reached out and I started work on Year of the Dragon, which involved a chunk of White Wolf I've never dealt with outside the wiki, Kuie-Jin and other Asian creatures of the night. This required a lot of research in the form of product reviews and plot hooks which I molded together into a chromatic orb. Overall, the last four months gave me as much writing experience as I received in a semester at university.

2).  What went right [In no particular order]?

a).  Found a blog space on the Game Institute that I could use to express myself and some ideas I had in my head.

b).  Finally able to read again after university.

c).  The Chantry has grown from 570 or so members to 612 members.

d).  The Great Courses were in order, but drained the life out of me, and while sorcery is still preferred, perhaps basic wizardry can have utility.

e).  Every time I want to read or listen to a title, I retain more information and the time goes by smoothly, compared to when I "think" it could be useful or am "required" to read it.

f).  As much as I despised Computer Science [I thought it would be a great route to express myself, that was dumb], my professors forced us to document our work in addition to other technical writing skills which I found out collectively called "Grammar C".  Grammar C is the new style for the written word, which incorporates web links, pictures, sounds, songs, instant edits, the copy and paste culture, no sense of an end to information, and other techniques enabled by the word processor AND the Internet.  Computer Science is the ultimate form of prose; not only must it be mathematically correct, it must be understandable, and run efficiently on most systems, a feat most fiction writers don't have to do.

g).  Posted some sick recipes in the Recipes Wiki

h).  I reviewed many White Wolf products on FANDOM and DriveThruRPG, which forced me to read them from cover to cover.

i).  Richard "Lord British" Garriott, Ninja Studios, Clan Tynker Circus, and the creators of "Macchiato Monsters", all contacted me after I e-mailed them, and what a treat it was to hear from Richard Garriott [I played Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar before I could read].  If anyone liked "Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar", let's consider a Kickstarter campaign and get that going, Richard said he wanted to, but was busy on other projects.

j).  Whippo the Clown and Giggles McFarnsworth thoroughly approved of the Clown Hell session.

k).  Just like the band "Kitty", who's first album was raw and awesome, they had more heart at the start of their career, even though their inexperience showed.  I felt the same way about my stories, which seemed to come from the heart or off the cuff, and now I'm off in thought over the great courses and White Wolf products, and just like "Kitty" my prose is much better now, but it's been driven by those products eighty percent instead of twenty percent.  I need to get back to "seat of the pants" story telling eighty percent, White Wolf/Hilarious History twenty percent. l). Got called out by StrangerThings for not taking my advice in "Rules for Role Players" [StrangerThings was a bit vague, but I got the gist]. m).  I earned the devoted badge. n). World of Darkness: Hong Kong was the best title to read early for Year of the Dragon.

3).  Went went wrong [In no particular order]?

a).  I posted a few times in the wrong area on two web sites.

b).  Every time I tell the Chantry I have great plans, said plans seem to kill me with commitment.  No more promises Chantry, none... books and hooks come in any order they come in, but please feel free to chime in, and I'll still fill you in on some opinions and variables, but no more hard nosed commitments.

c).  I completely crapped out on the Hellblade review.

d).  Never finished Princess Star Fire or the rest of the Licks.

e).  Never polished the Big Eyes Small Mouth characters.

f).  Pen and paper, board games, war games, and most video games [Stardew Valley exempt] steal my focus, so no more for now.

g).  Kit and bun seem forced, I'll use their/they/them and proper names in the future, except for Sweet Susie.

h).  Tried to DOMINATE the Chantry when I woke up from my Mokole hibernation.  My bad White Wolf.

i).  Spell peoples names right.  I accidentally called his Majesty, Richard Hammond, instead of Russel Hammond.  What I fool... no really I'm the Chantry's jester, but still spell names correctly.

j).  I should have just studied the three courses before I asked the Chantry to kick me in the balls, and in the future I will only ask for advice on things that I don't understand.  I knew I was a big wiffer just like H. P. Lovecraft, but so are many other writers that have fabulous editors.

k).  Saw multiple garden wikis get shut down for some reason.

m).  Year of the Dragon could have used some comics, and it was far from professional, but it was fun to work on none the less.

n).  A post per day is great, but it adds up on the back end and I need to take more time off to compensate.

o).  I should have read Killing Streets with World of Darkness: Hong Kong, instead of last.

4).  Why [In no particular order]?

a).  I had a lot of stuff on my mind after I graduated from the university and I wrote a letter to Batman that my friend said I should send to DC comics.

b). I was told by my family that my GameInstitute blogs were worth e-mail contact with various publishers.

c).  I had helped care take for my grandpa on and off for fifteen years and it was a major distraction from all my art and science projects.  When he passed on, it freed up a lot of time, time I could use to focus my efforts.

d).  When I got silenced on the other forum, it made me want to quit playing games and write instead.  Thanks!

5).  Lessons I learned in the process [In no particular order].

a).  I'm done gaming and feel better all ready, it was a huge distraction.

b).  I gave up on everything I've ever held dear for just a few moments and it worked wonders.

c).  No more YouTube or Google, however, I refuse to use the government to stop them, instead I'll vote with my dollar and I've already migrated to Brave and Bitchute.

d).  Throw the brick backwards still applies, learn with motivation and desire; not promises and commitment.

e). I figured out how to separate my work, investments, and art.

f).  If you're burnt out on reading, "pick up children's novels and comics then go from there", was a great piece of advice I got from a Changeling that escaped from a peach orchard.

g).  Read out loud, because the written word is an extension of the spoken word, so it makes sense that sentences should sound pleasant.

Ralph, Demon Prince of Apathy, thank you for being such a good neighbor in Malfeas and not caring about the cacophony that came from my broken window. It's your final push that helped me quit everything in a few seconds, move on from the horrible black magic we know as the video game industry, and stop with the societal zombie crap. Good stuff.

TheBeardedDragon