25. Cillian Fu

25. Cillian Fu

The kiddo plays his fair share of games, between the iPad, Switch, and XBOX. But Boomerang Fu certainly tops the list as most-played-game.

In Boomerang Fu, you play as food. And the gameplay loop is pretty simple. You’re dropped into an arena with other food, and everyone starts with a Boomerang. Last person standing wins. Of course there are other modes, power-ups, and teams, etc. But that’s the idea. Its all very cartoony, and harmless, and a lot of fun.

But my son has somewhat of an obsessive personality, and once he starts to enjoy something, it’ll be hard to get him to separate from it. Suddenly it’s all he’s thinking about or talking about. We like to encourage his creativity, imagination and self expression, but occasionally we’ll need to step in and force a break. Not everything can be good guys and bad guys… especially with his new brother crawling and toddling around, accidentally finding himself within crosshairs.

This happened previously when he got really obsessed with BeamNG car wreck videos on YouTube… suddenly all of his Hot Wheels cars needed to crash and end up on fire.

It’s a fine line we walk between enjoyment and obsession and occasionally a cold-turkey break is needed. Suddenly the Big Bad Xbox Game Pass takes a game away, and we gotta mix it up. We really want to limit any bad behaviours or habits when he returns to daycare in a month.

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In other news, it has been 6 month since my last comic, which is unacceptable in my opinion. I have some more ideas rattling around in my head so I should be churning out a few more of these pretty quick.

This comic was enjoyable to put together, and I’m happy with the cartoonier -yet still has texture – feel to it. I’ve been doing a lot of art lately over on the iRogan page but it felt good to use this tool set again.

Here’s a cleaner version, no word bubbles or frame:

I know Kung Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Expect more soon, fingers crossed.

iRogan

24. Practically Qualified

24. Practically Qualified

Surgeon Simulator 2 is a lot of fun, but boy can it get messy when you have four uncoordinated players all trying to accomplish the same task. Pushing and pulling, bumping into one another, and knocking heads off.

The game’s physics and network can get a bit wonky as well, when more people are added to the game party. The character and object models start glitching out and suddenly body parts are sliced off and bleeding on the floor. And with all physics simulator type games, Octodad and the like, the controls are not that easy to master.

The game mechanics are fun, and the campaign story is intriguing. So definitely worth a play through.

In other news, we’re in October, the month of drawing. So I have 5 planned pieces for the month. You can see more on that over at irogan.ca. And then I also have my new webcomic planned, and excited to get started on. It involves my little boy, and a little game called Boomerang Fu. It’ll be fun ;).

-iRogan

23. Reacquainted

23. Reacquainted

People are getting vaccinated. Restaurants are allowing dine-in again. Friends are visiting. Theatres are opening.

The days are starting to look normal again, and I’m glad. I’ve not seen some of my friends since the theatres closed March last year, and I think that is what I missed most.

Meeting up posed the question though: how do we greet each other now?

The safer, socially distant wave?
Hugs, handshakes?
The elbow bump?

There’ll be an adjustment period for sure.

iRogan

22. Domestic Hitman

22. Domestic Hitman

The Hitman games haven’t always clicked with me. I do enjoy stealth games, in the vein of Splinter Cell, or Metal Gear Solid, but I think my issue with the Hitman games is their focus on re-playability. I don’t typically replay games as a general rule. Once through, and then on to the next game.

The latest Hitman trilogy, which just concluded a month or two ago, are designed with replayability as a gameplay focus. They include 6-8 levels, and then the “story” is over, but you get the most bang for your buck when you go back and replay each mission, unlocking all the different costumes and assassination challenges.

I think that’s why I liked Hitman Absolution, which is arguably the most divisive title due to its design. Its focus was more on action stealth, and story. And less on the large open levels, and assassination challenges.

Either way, every time a new Hitman game comes out, I tend to jump back into the series and progress a little further. I just finished Hitman again, the first in the latest trilogy, and will start progressing through 2 and then then 3, at some point.

Also in other news, we’re expecting our 2nd baby boy in April.

-Rogan

21. Sticky Note Correspondence

21. Sticky Note Correspondence

A new comic for a New Year. Happy 2021! Hopefully it’s better than last year.

I actually started this comic last year shortly after finishing the Assassin’s Creed post. I was in the drawing mood and jumped right into it. But then I moved to a new house. And preparing and executing the move took most of the month, through Christmas and into the New Year. But that’s over and done now, so its time to be productive.

This comic takes place in the wonderfully weird world of Control, a game in the same universe as Alan Wake and Quantum Break. I played the game last January and really dug it, and I’ve actually been sitting on the idea for this comic since then. There’s a room in the game that is just covered in sticky notes. And there’s a collectible document that is an internal memo from the Vice Chief of Staff, J. Bozer. He’s complaining about the state of his office after his sticky notes started duplication and deems his office unusable and decides to work from home.

Now in today’s Covid-19 world, working from home is common / expected in an office environment. But I just found the room, and memo very funny. Which spawned the comic idea. Also I liked the idea of the comic being from Jesse’s (main character) perspective. The whole concept that you show up at this building and suddenly you’re the new Director in the wake of the death of the previous Director. Just because you picked up his Service Weapon. Figured I’d explore that a bit.

Anyways, fun game.

Stay safe.

iRogan

20. Assassin’s Creed: Photographer

20. Assassin’s Creed: Photographer

Drawtober 2020 is in the rearview mirror. And it took its toll on me, mentally and physically. So I needed a break for a bit before I started tackling my wrestling comic again (which is making slow progress).

To ease myself back into drawing I decided to make another STF comic. It’s been 6 months so it was overdue – but I’ve been busy (wrestling comic, you see).

So the story behind this comic is earlier in November, I picked up Assassin’s Creed Odyssey again and have been spending my weekends in Greece killing Cultists (the new Templars I guess). And I’ve been spending far too much time in the photo mode, which you can capture some stellar shots. The game is gorgeous on the Xbox One X in 4K and the photo mode just accentuates that. So yeah. That’s the story.

I’ve included a clean version of the first frame as well. Because I thought the art turned out pretty cool.

That’s all for now. I have a move to prepare for in December, so this will possibly be the last comic of the year. So until then…

-Rogan

19. Stages of Thieves

Comic flat_web

I have a love/hate relationship with Sea of Thieves. The game has been out now for over two years, and they keep coming out with new updates to add to the story, and over-all experience. Its now got plenty to do aside from the standard Gold/Skeleton/Merchant quests. Its also a gorgeous game. And you can also have pets.

But the basic game is still there, and its still a grind. Oh man is it a grind.

I’ve been enjoying the Tall Tales, and just sailing around with friends lately. Getting randomly attacked by a skeleton AI ship or two, or getting chased by a Megalodon. (Haven’t seen the Kraken up close yet…)

Sometimes the randomness of the AI can be a bit unfair. Like when you set out for the day on a sloop. Just you and a friend. And within minutes, you’re flanked by TWO skeleton ships.

My main complaint though, would be the real world players. And I know it comes with the territory, playing an online game on a server with others. But to advance your leveling in the game, you have to go on quests, to find chests and kill skeleton leaders, and then turn in your loot. And to play a full night, only to have some random players show up out of nowhere and take you out, so that your boat sinks, along with your night’s work… well, it really stings. The respawn takes long enough that you might be lucky enough to be back in time to see your boat sink. But chances are, the other players are still there, currently stealing your stuff. And they don’t let you live long enough to help lend a hand.

So yeah, sometimes the game can be frustrating enough to delete off the hard drive.

But they didn’t call it Sea of Friends…

Rogan

18. Rage Too

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Rage 2 did a lot of things well, but it just didn’t feel like its predecessor. It didn’t have the same gritty, dark feel, but more like an adrenaline fueled arcade version. Like the movie Crank, where your heart isn’t allowed to slow down.

The gunplay was fun, I’ll give it that. Each hide-out or mutant cave was fun to take down. It never felt repetitive. But the focus was always on the speed and explosive nature of the fights, and less on strategy and nuance that the first game had. The first game was creepy and ominous at times because enemies in the world were a threat. In Rage 2, they’re playthings. You have so many different types of weapons and abilities at your disposal that it feels more like Devil May Cry, where the fights are more about style and variety. The game is a first person shooter version of Mad Max and Just Cause mixed together. Which I guess makes sense because it was developed by Avalanche Studios.

They also neutered the wingstick. Most of the enemies are covered in armor, which makes the wingstick useless. Might as well throw it against a wall.

I also experienced a lot of technical issues with the game. The menu would freeze and hang, depending which way you tabbed though the different settings, and I would lose audio quite frequently in the open world, while driving around. Checked the online forums, and the recommended fix was to restart the game. Awesome.

Anyways, I beat it. And all the DLC. So at least that says something.

-iRogan

16. Cillian’s World

01_01_20web

Happy New Year! 2020. Wow.

I’ve been playing a lot of Jurassic World: Evolution lately. It’s a sim-type game where you run a Jurassic type park, and have to make dinosaurs and make the enclosures, and make sure they’re fed and visible to the public, and then you also have to make sure all the people attending your park are taken care of.

The game is a lot of fun, but what happens to me when I play a game a lot, is that it starts to enter my subconscious. And then, when I’m trying to fall asleep, I’m thinking about the game, and the managerial tasks that need taken care of. And lo, in the middle of the weekend, when I’m playing with my son, I may find myself building a dinosaur park around him, making sure his comfort levels are OK, and he’s fed and watered.

Anyways, it’s been a nice change of pace from the stressfulness that is Control, the other game that’s kept me occupied.

From the art side of things, I tried a softer shading method this time around, and I’m happy with the results.

-iRogan