A final update

Hello, hello!

I've been mainly silent on this blog for the past month or so, but there's been a reason for that. I've been working hard, alongside Lucky Crow Art and Design, to launch my new website, and it is officially here!

That said, this blog will no longer be updated, as all posts have been moved to my new website. This blog will remain online, and thisindiegameblog will remain its own entity.

I have new projects I'm gradually working on and announcing, so please keep an eye on my website for all updates.

My website is over at kmcooper.ca. Please let me know what you think, and I hope to see you there!

-K

Alive, kicking, and writing

This is just to let anyone curious know that I'm still alive and still writing, but busy with school at the moment.

In between school and working part-time, I have been working on a few exciting projects:

• I've been in on a really fun project with a couple of dudes named Robert and Mike. They did an album called Timethief, which I lent some voice work to. You can listen here, and you can hear my voice on the track Lonely City.
• I recorded my own song back on September and have been working on my own stuff ever since. I have a small concept EP in the works and I'll probably release it on Bandcamp when it's done. The EP will be 9 tracks, with an intro, intermission and finale, plus 6 full songs throughout. 
• I had the opportunity to attend a writers' workshop by local author Jennifer McGrath Kent last weekend. It was inspiring and informative, and it was in a beautiful location. By the end of the day, I had figured out the ending of the novel I've been working on. 
• I've been working on a novel for the last year, by the way! I started last year and have been keeping up with it, slowly but surely. I hit a wall when I couldn't think of where the story was going, but thankfully the workshop jarred something loose for me. As soon as my time frees up, I'll be working on the novel more often.
• My friend Phil--also known as PhilInTheBlanks--makes Let's Play videos on Youtube, and I've been lending my voice to his new project, Let's Play Chrono Trigger. Here is episode one! Keep an eye on his Youtube channel for any further releases.
• I've been working, sporadically, on a few Twine projects. I'll be re-purposing Population: 1 to be the Twine game it should have been from the beginning. I'm working on another new Twine game, as well. Updates will be posted here.
• As always, I've been working on poems when inspiration strikes. As a part of my education, I have also been selected, along with 3 other students, to represent Université de Moncton's English Department at the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference coming up in a little over a week, presenting my poetry. I am more than a little nervous.
• I have about 6 posts sitting as partially-completed drafts right now. They're not ready for the public yet. Among them are posts about seeing movies in theatres and a deconstruction of Frozen's "Let it Go" (yes, really). I'm trying to work on them here and there between written projects and heaps of reading for school. 
• A little add-on that this is going to be my "year of opportunities". Now that I'm not working as much, I'm taking every opportunity, creative or otherwise, that I have room for. After my school schedule moves aside, I'll be focusing primarily on my creative projects and working on the side. Wish me luck!

It's hard to believe it, but I'm already well past the halfway mark for school. Just another month or so worth of pushing, and this semester will be over. I can't wait to dedicate myself to my creative projects a bit more!

Harbour Con-Fusion 2013

A picture of me with my table-neighbour Darren Hann.

This past weekend, I had a rare opportunity: I was invited to attend a convention to do nothing but promote myself. I set out to do just that and, of course, to meet new people. Meeting new people was not only a goal, but also a necessity, as it turned out. On day one, I knew only a small handful of attendees.

Did I ever meet a friendly group of people! All the other guests, it seemed, were just as willing to meet new people as I was, and they all went out of their way to introduce themselves to me at some point or another.

It's always fascinating, to me, when a group of creators are placed into a room together. It seems to me that they are always working on various projects and, at this event in particular, seemed to have a keen interest in what everyone else was doing. I spent the weekend collecting business cards and discussing works in progress, as well as swapping notes, resources, and suggesting collaborations.

It's hard to believe all of this came from the lot of us meeting at a sci-fi/horror/fantasy/anime/gaming/etc. convention, but there you have it--sometimes when creators meet, friendships are inevitable!

It was nice to see such a supportive group, as well. I ended up doing book trades with 3 guests who were interested in my book and had books of their own.

I had the opportunity to run a panel on publishing and self-publishing with Matthieu Gallant, who was one of the authors I book-swapped with. I had great conversations with illustrator and comic artist Sandy Carruthers about his work, and was the lucky table neighbour to independent filmmaker and outstandingly friendly Trekkie Darren Hann. I got to spend time hanging out and having a couple of drinks with the guys of Geeks vs. Nerds, in particular fellow writer Larry Gent. Artist (and fellow Daft Punk fan) André Myette was a couple of tables down on the first day, and we had some great chats as well.

Aside from the connections I made, I want to give a shout out to Drakon Designs and Blind Leviathan for their lovely tables! Drakon did some beautiful facepainting on attendees this weekend, and Blind Leviathan was selling everything Lon Lon Milk pendants to Companion Cube earrings. Being the huge zombie fanatic that I am, I got some bottled zombie virus.

Obviously.

I should mention I got numerous StreetPasses as well, and compliments about my special edition Legend of Zelda 3DS. Maybe I didn't need to mention that. Whatever.

On the third day, the moon crashed into Termina I held a small panel about events planning and running your own event or meetup. It was attended by only 2, but I had held the same panel at Animaritime last month and had a good turnout there. I'm going to keep working on expanding the panel, particularly with feedback I've been receiving about it, and hope to turn it into a PowerPoint presentation so I can spread it even further. Giving panels is always interesting because not only do the attendees learn something, but quite often the person or people holding the panel will learn, as well.

All in all, I had a fantastic weekend, and I managed to sell out of all printed copies of Hub City Survival! Amazing! I also managed to get a lot of work done on Retail Hell, the webcomic I am writing. I was surrounded by so many talented people all weekend that it was hard not to be inspired to work.

I won't be drawing the comic myself, and am looking for an artist. If you're interested in the project, send me an e-mail! I'll likely be throwing some sketches or other tidbits up here before long.

Right now, I'm looking for a new home for HCS because my print-on-demand publisher, Lightning Demand Press, is currently isn't printing due to a flood. As well, I am working on my new novel with the working title A Couple of Dreamers. I have written a silent screenplay that is very short, and I hope to film it in the next month or so. There's certainly a lot going on creatively, but that doesn't mean I don't have time for more! I'm always interested in collaborations or working with others on various projects. Give me a shout if you have something that you think might interest me.

I'm on vacation currently, which means that I'll likely be posting another entry or two in the next little while. You'll be hearing from me before too long.

Another chapter closed.

Today, I finished writing Population: 1, a blog-based writing project I've been working on for the past year and a half. It has been a very interesting journey and I can say that I'm proud of the end result.

Population: 1 started off as a strange  and brief short film that I made on Easter weekend of 2011. I was feeling a bit bored and stir-crazy, so I wrote, filmed, and edited it over the course of a day.



The music I used is from the soundtrack of the game Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. I wanted to evoke the same kind of loneliness I felt when I played through that game. After the video was complete, though, I felt the need to turn it into something else. So, Population: 1 was born. I consider it the spiritual successor to Hub City Survival, being that it's set in a lonely, sad world, and it's written in a first-person journal format. Plus, Tracey and Dahlia seem to have quite a bit in common.

I designed the story to be interactive, having readers vote on what direction Dahlia could take. Some options may have resulted in a different ending for Dahlia, or perhaps a different outlook for her to take. As Dahlia learns of things, the readers do, and as such, some of the chosen options may have resulted in the readers knowing more, or less, than they do now. For this purpose, I made an in-character and an out-of-character blog.

 

The story featured a number of design implements. I drew the map of Cullingville, for instance, as it is a fictional town. I also developed the backstory of this bizarre town and have not shared it with anyone as of yet. Finally, the Five Petals group was an important part that needed to be fully fleshed out, and I made up family trees and timelines. It was a rather intensive piece of work for something that ended up being so short, but that's part of the reason I'm so pleased with it.

Now with this story complete, it's time for me to start another project. I haven't quite decided what it will be, but I'm certain it will be a novel. I have it narrowed down to three different ideas.

I'm also going to be working on a storyboard for a web comic, on a somewhat off-and-on level. The webcomic is something I plan on writing, but not illustrating. I would be interested in collaborating on someone with the comic, and I'm sure I'll post up sketches a bit later on when I'm further in the process.

I also still have Thread in the back of my mind and really want to do something with it. I have a series of three games in my head, but no way to really get them out. This is another project I'd love to collaborate with someone on!

Thanks to my readers for sharing yet another of my writing journeys with me. I hope to start my next project, whatever it may be, within the next week or so.

A little post about stuff.

Exciting and riveting title, I know. But it's accurate! Here's a little update on the various aspects of my writing life.

• NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! I will actually be participating this year, and I will be writing the third and final installment in my bizarre adventure series that will probably never see the light of day. Okay, it probably will, just... under a pen name.
• I will be at the Moncton Library on the evening of November 21st for a NaNoWriMo write-in session! If you're having trouble with your novel, come in and feed off the writerly energy the lot of us will be exuding. I have updated this under my "events" section.
• Rusty is still cute (obviously), and adapting well. This doesn't have anything to do with writing, really. I just love my cat. Enjoy this picture that I took of him today.
• Halloween, my favourite, is in just two more days! I plan on celebrating it by, well... working, but then by handing out candy to kids at our house. As well, Population: 1 will be getting the Halloween treatment with a spooky post. It's also a special post. It will link with the story and, in fact, will be a very important part, but it's going to be a bit different from the others. I will probably make a special post here, as well.

That's it for updates! All kinds of things going on. Everyone be safe during Hurricane Sandy this week.