As per usual, this is a crosspost from my website, Hydromecha.website.

Man, January felt like it went by really quickly. I didn't finish anything this past month, but I made some good progress on a couple major things, plus a couple smaller things. I'll start with those smaller bits first.

Minor Comic Reader Update

While I was getting things set up for this month's update I noticed the Back/Next buttons in the reader weren't staying highlighted when they were supposed to when you turned a page. This was caused by the stuff I had implemented last time to gray out the Back/First or Next/Newest buttons if you were at the start or end of a comic. It didn't account for keeping a button highlighted if you still had your mouse over the left/right side of a page. This should be fixed now. If you're still encountering the issue, try clearing your browser's cache. The reader template on Archive.org has also been updated with this fix as V1.2.

The Return of Bugalo

Wonderful & Fancy Highschool Bait Club (better known simply as Bugalo) was removed from the site a little while back, with promises of returning it as an archive when I updated the comic reader. It's back now and this time it'll be receiving new pages on consistent schedule. Expect at least one new page per recap post (There are two new pages this time!).

For some context, Bugalo is a weird sort of collaborative comic. I'll draw a page (without text) and then a friend adds dialog, narration, etc. afterwards. I have no idea what he's going to do and have to try and make the next page make sense with what was added and then the cycle repeats. What's resulted from this is definitely a comic. One could even call it one of the comics of all time.

I decided to bring back this deranged nonsense as a way to get myself to draw something every month. I tried doing a solo weekly comic before for the same reason (this hasn't been posted publicly anywhere and is arguably worse than Bugalo), but it just wasn't sustainable (it didn't help that I also ran out of ideas for it xd). I can't promise Bugalo will be very polished or make much sense, but it will definitely update consistently. If you want to see an actually coherent comic with better art, go yell at me to finish Hazardous Materials over in the Guestbook. I did get some progress done on it this past month, more on that in a moment. If you want to give Wonderful & Fancy Highschool Bait Club a read, check it out under Comics.

Hazardous Materials Progress

Wonderful & Fancy Highschool Bait Club (better known simply as Bugalo) was removed from the site a little while back, with promises of returning it as an archive when I updated the comic reader. It's back now and this time it'll be receiving new pages on consistent schedule. Expect at least one new page per recap post (There are two new pages this time!).

For some context, Bugalo is a weird sort of collaborative comic. I'll draw a page (without text) and then a friend adds dialog, narration, etc. afterwards. I have no idea what he's going to do and have to try and make the next page make sense with what was added and then the cycle repeats. What's resulted from this is definitely a comic. One could even call it one of the comics of all time.

I decided to bring back this deranged nonsense as a way to get myself to draw something every month. I tried doing a solo weekly comic before for the same reason (this hasn't been posted publicly anywhere and is arguably worse than Bugalo), but it just wasn't sustainable (it didn't help that I also ran out of ideas for it xd). I can't promise Bugalo will be very polished or make much sense, but it will definitely update consistently. If you want to see an actually coherent comic with better art, go yell at me to finish Hazardous Materials over in the Guestbook. I did get some progress done on it this past month, more on that in a moment. If you want to give Wonderful & Fancy Highschool Bait Club a read, check it out under Comics.

Toxitron Custom Progress

Back in the September '23 Recap I posted a WIP pic of this custom, explaining that I had messed up the stock figure's hands and needed to make replacements. I just recently finished up some models to do just that. Toxitron now has nozzles in place of his previous lack of hands along with some toxic sludge claws that can be plugged into them (the nozzle has a 3mm peg on the end so it's also blast effect compatible). The picture above shows some test prints using older versions of the models. Below are a few screencaps of the finalized models from Blender. I have those versions printed out, I just need to do some post-processing on them and paint them. I also want to make a fluid tank for Toxitron's vehicle mode that can turn into a turret or something in botmode.

Closing Thoughts

Looking over the footage I had taken of making the Magma Wyrm scratchbuild I finished a couple months ago, I don't know if I'll actually want to make a video on it. I didn't really record much of the actual process of putting it together and the camerawork wasn't very good. I also feel like I could make a more interesting model for something like that. Recording that stuff for the Wyrm was definitely a good learning experience, so it was still a useful thing to do.

ANTARCTICA MUST FALL, the Doom mod I'm working on, didn't see any progress this past month. I've got a lot that needs to be done for it, but other projects took priority. I would like to get back to it at some point, it'll just take a while. If I see a sudden influx of interest in it (you can show that in the Guestbook) I'll definitely get back to it sooner.

I'm considering writing some more blog post types of things (these would be on my website) about various games/shows/music/books I've been playing/watching/listening to/reading. There are a couple albums I've been listening to a lot lately I want to talk about, among other things.

If you want to be notified whenever I post these Recaps, consider signing up for the Newsletter.

I usually post these recaps on the first Sunday of each month, but I wanted to get this one out sooner. I was able to finish a few art projects this month, and made a bit of progress on HazMat and Antarctica along with some additions to the website. I also finished reading the original Edlund run of The Tick (I highly recommend it) and started playing Everhood. As with every month, below be projects.

The Hydromecha Monthly (Newsletter)

I now have a newsletter! If you sign up you'll get these recap posts sent straight to your inbox every month. Check it out here: https://news.hydromecha.website/

Website Updates & Guestbook

The general website UI got slightly changed and there are now two new navigation buttons (see screenshots below for comparison). The bright versions of the buttons also got changed slightly. One of those new buttons goes to the aforementioned Newsletter while the other goes to the brand new Guestbook! If you really want to see any of my longer-term projects get finished sooner, let me know there! Before now I didn't really have a good way for the website's visitors to leave feedback/comments. With the advent of this amazing new technology, such a thing is now possible.

Website UI V4

Website UI V4.1

Idol of Sorcery (Dominions 5)

I'm pretty torn on this model. It's a secret santa present for a friend, and it's also my first foray into sculpting a model entirely from scratch. It was definitely a good learning experience, but I feel like I definitely could have done a better job on it, especially with the paintjob. I ended up rushing it out because I was getting frustrated with how much I was messing up the paintjob, and I also wanted to get a couple of other things finished. The Idol of Sorcery is from a game called Dominions 5 (I don't play it but that friend is a big fan of it) and it's supposed to be made of wood. I didn't really capture that well here. I might want to try redoing the paintjob at some point before I actually hand this off to my friend.

Magma Wyrm

The funny worm monster I posted last month is done now! Like I mentioned then, I recorded my progress making this and want to turn that into a video later down the line. I'll have to get some other stuff done first since I also want to include animation in that video. The NG post includes a whole buncha worldbuilding I wrote for the monster. Looking back on it now, I feel like I could've added some more to the terrain to make it look more like magma, but I'm decently happy with how this turned out overall.

Asbestos Drawing

Like I mentioned in last month's recap, this was a nice way to get back into digital drawing and figure drawing. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, especially in the shading department. I've always liked how harsh/stylized shading looks and wanted to give it a swing. I definitely want to practice with it some more, so expect some more drawings like this in the future. I'm going to be drawing Coal Dust next to round out the HazMat duo.

Hazardous Materials (Comic) Progress

I got a little bit of progress done on the chapter 2 script this month and also made a few changes to the previous chapters. Most of my HazMat-related focus this past December went towards the drawing you just saw above. I might change Asbestos's hairstyle back to having it cover one of her eyes after getting some feedback from a couple of friends. I keep saying I want to get more of the script done in these posts. I should put my money where my mouth is and actually do that this month.

ANTARCTICA MUST FALL (Doom Mod) Progress

I just barely got started mapping this month. I might try blocking everything out using scifista42's Blank-TX textures before detailing things with proper textures and whatnot. I also finally gave the Snowdemon its own ice gib sprites and its own fireball (I just recolored something from the Doom2 IWAD). I'd like to have some proper monster showcase videos out by next month, but we'll see. I do still need to give the Surprise Elemental a death animation (gonna make it explode into confetti) and make one more monster. I also still need to make Antarctica its own page on the site. Lots of things to do.

Closing Thoughts

I probably won't be starting any new scratchbuilds until I actually finish that Toxitron custom I showed off all the way back in the September '23 Wrapup. If I can get that done decently quickly maybe I'll try to finish another TF custom. Unless I get a massive influx of comments asking me to work on it, Antarctica might take a seat on the backburner this month while I focus more on HazMat and painting plastic robots.

Last year I made a 3D printed Tankman action figure for Pico Day. I talked about making a V2 in that Newgrounds post, and I intend to make that a reality this year. The one I made in 2023 was kinda rushed and clunky. It really wasn't optimized for printing and the joints are all really loose now. I wanna try to get started on the new version earlier, so expect to see progress on that in the coming months. I'm going to try using TPU for ball sockets/hinge clips to hopefully prevent the joints from getting loose in the long term.

As per usual, this is a crosspost from my website, Hydromecha.website.

I didn't get a whole lot finished this past November, but I did get some decent progress on things across the board. In other news I've been playing a lot of Cruelty Squad and nearly finished Patrick's Parabox (I just have the challenge levels left). I also started rereading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I read through some of the series back in high school, and I wanna actually read through all of it this time.

Let's get on to the wrapup now, shall we?

Website & Comic Reader Updates

Antarctica and HazMat now have more centralized locations for their info. HazMat has its own proper page while Antarctica just has a blurb for now.

The about page has been edited a little and I've also added a big 'ol list of various favorite shows, music, games, etc. you can take a gander at.

I've made some significant improvements to the website's comic reader this past month. Check out the earlier update post (on Hydromecha.website) for more details. As a reminder, that reader is free to use on your own website. The Archive.org link is available under Comics. You'll have to scroll down to see it under Comic Resources.

ANTARCTICA MUST FALL

As mentioned above, there's a central spot for this mod's info now. Check it out under Projects/Doom Mods. It doesn't have its own proper page just yet. Maybe by the next wrapup.

The Surprise Elemental and Snowdemon now both exist and work in Doom! I still need to make the death animation for the Surprise Elemental and tweak some stuff for the Snowdemon. Below are a couple of quick videos showing them off. I'll make some nicer showcase videos later.

The Snowdemon's arcing projectile doesn't play a sound in this video, but that's already been fixed. Currently that fireball only really works well on flat surfaces. I still need to play with it more to get it functional across different elevations. To get it to work in the first place I had to record the distance the fireball travelled with different starting velocities and then plugged that data into a website to get a curve fit, pictured below:

There's still one more regular monster I want to make for this mod along with a bunch of stuff I'll have to port to ZScript before I can get started on mapping.

Hazardous Materials

HazMat has a proper page with information and a chart to track its progress. Check it out in Comics. I'll be updating that chart with every new wrapup post, and some less frequent updates to the character sketches.

I didn't get as much progress on ch2 done as I would have liked, but it's getting there. This is the Man vs Man chapter, and I want all the characters involved with this chapter's central conflict to have their own selfish reasons for getting involved. It definitely feels like it's gonna be longer than the prologue and ch1.

I've also been working on this drawing of Asbestos. I haven't really done a lot of figure drawing recently (that wasn't super rushed as part of a deadline for Gungo or other collaborative comics I do with friends) and also wanted to get some better practice at inking. I need to change how the legs are drawn there, plus a couple other smaller details.

Spess Alien Sketches

Spess is the Science-Fantasy setting for Tablespess and Froz Challenger, all projects for my company Goblin Base. We're still hammering out some of the alien designs, and I figured I'd share some recent sketches here. After I finish HazMat, Froz is gonna be the next comic I work on. Another member of Goblin Base will be doing the art for that while I handle the writing.

Closing Thoughts

I still need to get that scratchbuilt worm monster thing I posted last month done plus the Toxitron custom I talked about a couple of months ago. I think the Magma Wyrm has a pretty good chance at getting finished since I'll also be scratchbuilding/painting a model as part of a secret santa I'm doing with some friends.

I tend to jump around between a bunch of projects (if that wasn't already obvious xd), which gets a little bit of progress done on a bunch of things pretty slowly. If you want to see a lot of progress made on a particular project, let me know. If I see there's an active audience for a specific project, I'll want to work on it more frequently.

As per usual, this is a crosspost from my website, Hydromecha.website.

I finished a good number of things this past October and made some decent progress on some other things. Outside of the projects I'll be talking about below, I also finished The Day of the Triffids (the book), Black Mesa (I played HL1/2 a few years ago), and also did all of the Scream Fortress contracts with some friends.

Anyways, let's get into things:

The Phage Walker

The giant scratchbuild I posted last month is done! I ended up using this as a submission to the 2023 Newgrounds Halloween Spooktacular.

Website Monitor

I recently did a pretty large overhaul to my website using this new monitor model. I definitely like how this looks over the older 3DCG model. See a before/after comparison below:

Before:

After:

Magma Wyrm WIP

This is the next scratchbuild I'm working on. It's a monster heavily inspired by bobbit worms. I've been recording my progress for making this model, and plan to turn that into a video at some point. Stay tuned for more news on that.

Comic Reader Template

If you've ever wanted to use the comic reader I have on my website on your own page, you now can! I've uploaded a template of how I have things set up to Archive.org in a neat little .zip file. All the files in there are Public Domain so you can do whatever you want with them. Check it out by clicking here or by clicking on Comics (on Hydromecha.website) and scrolling down to Comic Resources.

ANTARCTICA MUST FALL

That's the name of the Doom mod I made those monster models for (I still need to make at least one more). It's still very much early in development, but I figure I might as well explain what it is. It'll be a GZDoom mod that takes place largely in Antarctica. This'll be an interesting learning experience as I've only really messed around with limit-removing mapping for the DBP and DBKs I've contributed to. A friend helped me get started, but from here on out it's a solo project. I'll post more news on this as I make significant progress.

Hazardous Materials - Comic Script Progress

I made some decent progress on the chapter 2 script this past month. I've got a good chunk of the story beats plotted out, but I still need to finish that and then go through and actually write all the dialog and whatnot.

Closing Thoughts

I definitely want to focus more on getting the Hazmat script this month. Outside of the Magma Wyrm I probably won't be making more scratchbuilds for a bit. I still need to design/print those new parts for my Toxitron custom. I've got a pretty large backlog of Transformers customs I wanna make so I need to start knocking those out. I'd also like to try getting the Snowdemon and Surprise Elemental fully functional for Antarctica.

As per usual, this is a crosspost from my website, Hydromecha.website. Check it out to see the website changes I'm talking about with your own eyes.

WIP Stuff, TTRPG Stuff, & Minor Website Updates

September was a pretty busy month for me so I didn't get a chance to work on a lot of stuff. I did get to see Dethklok in concert which was really fun. Anyways, let's get down to business:

Phage Walker WIP

This is another scratchbuild I've been working on. Some kind of bacteriophage biotech walker/tank piloted by a little robot dude. I actually started building this guy before Kaiser Hedd Kannon (check last month's post). Right now the model's just been primed and given a zenithal highlight. I need to cover up a few stray bits of exposed aluminum foil with mod podge or something so paint'll actually stick to it.

Toxitron WIP

I actually started working on this guy before Hasbro revealed their new Toxitron figure. I'm not too big a fan of the Legacy Laser Prime mold so I don't really mind. The painjob on Toxitron here is kinda fucky so far. I need to fix up some spots I messed up on and I definitely put the lime paint on too thick. I also tried brushing on some gloss mod podge as a sealant to see how that would look and it turned out kinda eh. Speaking of messing up, when I tried test fitting some 3d printed weapons into this figure's hands, they got fused together. The mod podge hadn't cured fully at this point so that definitely had something to do with it. So now I need to make some hand replacements. I want to make some nozzles that I can plug blast effects (and those weapons I was trying to use earlier) into. I also wanna try making some toxic sludge claws/blast effects for those nozzles.

Table Knight One-Shot Module

I recently ran a one-shot in the TTRPG system I've been working on (more info on Goblin Base) which was a ton of fun. This was the first time I've played this system in-person and it's also the first time I've done in-person TTRPG stuff since a certain virus sent everyone remote while I was in college. I want to turn this one-shot into a module that you (GM + 3 - 4 players) can play. It'll be posted on the Goblin Base website when it's done.

Table Knight uses a lite version of the full Tablespess system where every player is some kind of knight. It takes a lot of inspiration from Shovel Knight, as well as Doraelous & Associates and Tigtone. I made four knights for players to pick from: Box Knight, Brick Knight, Cannon Knight, and Fixit Knight. If you wanna hear more about this before the module releases, do let me know.

Hazardous Materials Comic Script

I got started on chapter 2's script this past month. Hoping to get that finished up by the end of this month. For more context check out the previous posts talking about the comic.

Website Updates

Only got the chance to make some small changes to the site this time around. I've been looking into some of the cool stuff you can do with CSS, which is why the home page has a typewriter effect on the welcome text. I might implement more stuff like this across the site later.

I moved the backdrop back to starting at the top of the screen since it was getting kinda weird when I had it start from the bottom of the screen previously. I also gave the website a custom cursor and a new favicon. This also includes some new left/right cursors for the comic reader.

Closing Thoughts

That's all for now. I definitely wanna try doing some more touch ups to the site for next month's update. I also need to optimize the comic reader on the site. I've talked about wanting to make a fancy schmancy reader in Godot at some point for HazMat, but I'd like the JS one here to be better in the meanwhile. One of the main culprits behind its suckyness right now is that I'm using way too high resolution images, which take way too long to load even with the preloading methods I've implemented. I may also be hosting or linking to some comics my friends have made in the future.

3D Prints, Painted Models, and New Doom Monster

Here's the stuff I've been working on over the past month or so. As always, this is a crosspost from my personal website, https://hydromecha.website/

Transformers Legacy G2 Jazz Shoulder Adapter

This is a simple adapter I made to mount Jazz's cannons on his shoulders I modeled in Blender and 3D printed. You can get the .stl file on Cults3D.

Dragon Turtle

I printed this model over a year ago and finally got around to painting it recently. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Download link to the model is listed on the art post.

Kaiser Hedd Kannon Scratchbuild

I made this guy for Robot Day! This was my second piece to get frontpaged, and also got an honorable mention. It was pretty fun putting it all together, definitely gonna be doing more scratchbuilds in the future. I need to record my process for one of these to make it into a video or something later.

Surprise Elemental

This funny fella is another monster for the same Mod the Snowdemon (posted with last month's update) is part of. Still gotta render out the sprites for it.

Other Projects

I got caught up with some other stuff so I wasn't able to mess with the website much. I do want to get it working on more displays, but it isn't too big a priority for me. I've made a few small edits for the Hazardous Materials script (see previous updates for more info on that comic) but I need to get cracking on the chapter 2 script this month. I was busy painting those other models so I didn't get a chance to work on my ever-growing backlog of Transformers customs. Hoping to get at least one done this month, but we'll see.

Crossposting from my personal website. Check it out at hydromecha.website.

Website Updates

Made some changes to the website to hopefully optimize loading times a bit. The "monitor" border image has beens shrunk down slightly and split into four different pieces, the static textures I added with the previous update have been cropped/reduced in resolution significantly, and the sidebar buttons now have their highlight variants preloaded (this is done by having 0px x 0px images on the page).

The backdrop image has been made slightly brighter so you can see a bit more of the seafloor environment.

I still need to go through everything and make sure it plays nice with other window/monitor sizes. Right now everything is set up with absolute pixel dimensions so it looks good on my computer, but as you may have noticed already, it doesn't really look good if you aren't using a 1080p screen with windows at full size.

I also moved the copyright message to the bottom of every iframe page, which is why I had go through and update pretty much every single page on the site.

Doom Monster Model

This is the Snowdemon, a monster for a Doom wad I'm making with some friends. The Snowdemon has a pretty nasty blade for a hand and spits out fireballs in volleys of two, angling its second shot upwards. We're mostly making/gathering resources currently, no word on a release window yet. We've all got other things going on on top of this, so it'll take a while. The next monster I'm gonna be working on is called the Surprise Elemental.

Hazardous Materials Comic Update

Hazardous Materials is a comic I've been slowly chipping away at. There's some more info in previous posts on my website. I recently finished the chapter 1 script and have also been working on various character designs/sketches, pictured below. Expect things to look different in the actual comic. I definitely want to change some things with the designs or generally refine them more. To avoid spoilers I'm only gonna show the major characters that appear in the prologue. Check my website for the full res sketches.

Background

Every character in Hazardous Materials is named after, resembles, and retains the properties of something inanimate. The protagonists are Asbestos and Coal Dust, hence the name of the comic. Asbestos and Coal Dust work for Platinum, gathering important pieces of literature for the Rockopolis Archive. Asbestos hates her job. Coal Dust seems alright with it.

Asbestos

I want to have every character have a unique eye and pupil shape. Asbestos's pupils are made of vertical lines since Asbestos is a fibrous material. I've also been messing with different hairstyles for the character. Asbestos used to have lines running along her body to make her look like she's made of fibrous stuff, but I didn't like the way it looked. Maybe if I have an extreme closeup somewhere it'll be visible then.

Coal Dust

Coal Dust's pupils are based off of hexagonal Carbon rings found in Coal and a bunch of other compounds that have Carbon in them. Coal Dust is made of particulates suspended in the air so she has to wear an exosuit if she doesn't want to be dissipated by the wind. Other characters made of similar fluid stuff like liquids will also be in funny suits.

Gold

Gold is Platinum's assistant. Gold's mouth was sealed shut in a recent welding accident. You'll find out why that happened in the prologue. The characters in this comic don't actually need to eat or breathe. They can see, feel, and hear, but can't taste or smell. They get energy from Money, which nobody actually knows the origin of.

Platinum

Platinum's pupils are designed to resemble the crystal structure of Platinum and her hair tube things are supposed to look like ingots. Platinum and Gold were initially designed by a friend. There'll be other characters also designed by friends that you'll see later.

Other Projects

Last time I said I was working on some more Transformers customs. I did get some progress done on them this past month, but I still need to finish them.

I also got some good progress on painting a 3D printed Dragon Turtle model I've been putting off for nearly a year. Expect that and maybe one of the Transformers done by the end of August.

Just updated my personal website with a total overhaul to its design. See the screenshots below for a before & after or see the website firsthand by clicking here. All the new assets were made using Blender. The website is designed for desktop displays, so it probably won't look the best on mobile. I'll need to go through and try to optimize things better later. Right now the site uses a few 1920x1080 renders for things that I could probably shrink down or crop better so they'd load faster.

Before

After

Crossposting stuff from my personal website, not including some more website-specific things. You can see the full contents here: https://hydromecha.website/#6/4/2023

Cursed Watch Story

I recently finished a short story for a writing contest I'm holding with some friends. Each story in the contest has to include a cursed watch that can grant you something instantly, costing you your time somehow. You can check out what I wrote on my website here.

Generic Alphabet Minis

I needed some generic miniatures for a tabletop game I'm gonna be GMing, so I made these alphabet minis using the Tye Spices font from Font Monkey and Blender. You can find the files on Printables, Cults3D, and Thingiverse.

Future Projects & Other News

I've got some more custom Transformers parts and paintjobs in the works. I've done a custom part for Beast Wars Wolfang as well as a Marvel paintjob for Siege Megatron. One thing I'm planning on doing is turning Earthrise Airwave into Cybertron Metroplex (with some artistic liberties, of course).

I want to get back to painting things this month, whether that's Transformers customs or some other models/scratchbuilds I've been meaning to finish. I've also been putting off actually rigging/posing that Hydromecha model I posted to my website a couple months ago. I'll try to get that done for the next month's update to my website so I can finally replace that old model/render on the About page.

Updated my personal website with some projects I've been working on. Major ones are the Tankman action figure I did (which you can just go see on Newgrounds anyways) and the Doom mod I contributed to that recently released. Check it out here: https://hydromecha.website/#5/7/2023