As per usual, this is a crosspost from my website, Hydromecha.website.
February was definitely an interesting month. I started dabbling with making music some more and actually made some decent-sounding stuff. I also gave the website a pretty major update, got another Transformers custom done, and made a little bit of progress on ANTARCTICA MUST FALL.
In other news, I've been listening to a lot of Devin Townsend's live recordings recently. It's really interesting to hear him play his earlier stuff, with different instrumentation and whatnot. I'm no expert in music and I won't pretend to be, but I'm really liking what I'm hearing. I know he's got a few new projects in the works right now, but the attosecond he goes on tour in the states again I need to get tickets. If you've never heard of Devin Townsend (or Strapping Young Lad) you really need to check out his music, especially if you're into progressive metal. I started listening to SYL early-ish last year and quickly got hooked on it and Devin's other works through the rest of 2023.
Tangent aside, let's cover the stuff I've been working on:
Website Updates
I made a pretty big overhaul to the way the website works this month. For more details, check out the 2/20/2024 and 2/21/2024 update posts. The quick rundown on things goes like this: The website now stays on a single html page for most things, changing what's loaded into the central iFrame as you click on the nav buttons or on links within the iFrame itself. There's a TV static animation that plays whenever you click on one of those. The website tracks what page it's supposed to load into the iFrame using hashes in the URL, letting you take direct links to these iFrame'd pages. Opening things in new tabs should now work for all links across the website (this is a new feature for this update). Let me know if something is broken. As always, try clearing your browser's cache first if something doesn't seem to be working.
A whole bunch of project-related pages have been updated/created. The main features include text that shows up for things like comics or Doom mods when you mouse over relevant links/etc. There are now two new nav buttons below the iFrame: Plastic Robots and Downloads. Plastic Robots is for Transformers related stuff (still need to finish up a few things there) while Downloads should be pretty self-explanatory.
The About page now includes a small table showing my current major projects (currently Tablespess, Hazardous Materials, and ANTARCTICA MUST FALL) along with where to find more info on them. I've also added a couple more buttons for friends' websites and a whole bunch of buttons for other cool Neocities sites.
The comic reader also saw a small update this month. Pages now have a short fade-in on page turns. My Comic Reader Template on Archive.org has been updated to include this feature.
Music-ing
I've been trying to mess around with LMMS for a little while now, and made some decent-sounding stuff this past month. Currently the only song I've finished/published is called Catacomb March, which you can listen to by clicking on the above link. It and the other songs I still need to finish are all using the GZDoom soundfont (which I'm pretty sure is just the default Windows soundfont) and are things I'll probably end up using in ANTARCTICA. I'll have a page for music up on the site maybe by next month's Recap.
G2 Scourge
This wasn't published in February, but I had gotten a good chunk of it done then and also posted it before this Recap went live so I'm counting it. It's been a while since I've gotten a TF custom done and it feels good to get another one knocked out. I've got a massive backlog of stuff I wanna make which you can go gawk at over on the Plastic Robots page. This particular custom is based off of Scourge from G1 and from RiD01. I'm planning on making a whole crew of G2 Decepticons for Scourge here to lead, so stay tuned for that and other stuff. I still need to design/print some stuff for Toxitron and I also got started on designing some parts for Legacy Crankcase, which look like they'll be much simpler.
Hazardous Materials Progress
Unfortunately I didn't end up working on the HazMat script much. I'm gonna see if I can just focus on working on it this coming week. I just need to sit down and actually work on it and not get sidetracked by other stuff. I did do some more character sketches for HazMat, including a couple new headshots of the two protagonists. The HazMat about page has been updated to include these.
ANTARCTICA MUST FALL Progress
I got started reworking the first level this month. I want to try blocking everything out first before giving it all an art pass later. I've been messing around with portals a little and have also started changing the default swimming mechanics. I wanna include an underwater level using a diving suit that changes your movement in the water, so I gotta get that stuff sorted out.
The Continued Adventures of Bugalo
As promised, Wonderful and Fancy High School Bait Club got a new page with this new Recap post.
Closing Thoughts
I've been wanting to do another scratchbuild, but I also want to at least finish up those aforementioned parts for Crankcase and that Toxitron custom first. I've got a few other WIP TF customs but those can wait. The new scratchbuild will probably be another rusted up robot-looking thing, maybe with some organic elements thrown in. We'll see how it ends up. I need to get better about my time management in general. I was able to finish G2 Scourge in just a few days and I want to be able to use that sort of focus more often. At the same time I also don't want to stretch myself too thing between work, hobby stuff, and just generally taking care of myself. I've finally been able to keep a consistent workout schedule which is nice. I had some short, intermittent stretches of doing so during college and a little bit after graduation, but couldn't keep it up for more than maybe a month. The real trick is that I started in December last year so it technically wasn't a new year's resolution, which you're legally required to give up on at some point into the new year if it has anything to do with exercise. The realer trick is that I told some friends I'd post a message somewhere every time I was gonna work out and kept at it till it became a habit.
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