Multiplex - a comic strip about life at the movies
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Archive for the ‘Etc.’ Category

 

Multiplex: There and Back Again and Card Game update

I’ve been quiet about Multiplex: There and Back Again over at Kickstarter for too long, but I just wanted to say that over the winter break, I did make a fair amount of headway on the second Multiplex print book.

A kinda-sorta “recap” of Book 1 has been finished, and all that remains is waiting for an intro from one fellow webcartoonist (who shall remain secret for now) and a cover from, well, me. Truth be told, I have struggled with this cover for too long, and I have enlisted a little help in getting me past my own artistic block with it. Hopefully I’ll get that done in the next couple of weeks, and then the book can go to press. It is safe to say that the original April-ish release is not happening, but it should be in your hands this summer.

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The Multiplex Card Game is another story. I am still very excited about it, but development on it has had to stop for the time being, because of my workload at school. I need to do a ground-up rework of the box office (revenue generation) system in the game, because under the current rules, while there are a lot of die rolls for two players, it is still fun and manageable — once I play-tested it with three players, though, it becomes a massive clusterfuck.

When I am able to do anything more than just barely keep up with the two weekly strip updates, I’ll try to revisit it. I am still hoping to get a Kickstarter project for that off the ground for the summer — but obviously, finishing Book 2 and fulfilling all of the Kickstarter rewards for that will come first.

Multiplex iPhone app update

As users of the Multiplex iOS app have noticed, the app has been crashing on launch for a week or two now. I’ve had a couple of people ask, but I should have made a more public statement about this — sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this has caused!

What’s wrong with it is this: the app was developed in C# by my brother using Monotouch, an iOS development suite (or something like that — I’m not a coder, man, gimme a break if this isn’t 100% right technically). It’s a great program, but what happens is that Apple occasionally does shit that breaks its apps. So nothing changed on our end, but iOS and Monotouch stopped liking each other. Unfortunately, my previous developer — my brother Lawrence, who built this site — is a little busy with my two nieces to keep maintaining the app  (for free, as he has always done), and so this time around, the app has stayed broken.

I do have a new developer lined up — another volunteer, because I am broke and the app loses me a small amount money every year. I’ll announce who it is when we have a new version. His first order of business is to rebuild the entire app in Objective C, so future iOS updates won’t break compatibility. (As much?) And then, if all goes well, we will start working on new features — including making it a universal app, in-app purchases of the eBooks, and some other things that have been on my to-do list, but dormant for lack of time in my brother’s schedule.

Any feature requests would be welcome!

“Paperman” by John Kahrs

Paperman played in front of Wreck-It Ralph‘s theatrical run, and it was absolutely wonderful. (Your mileage may vary, but if you appreciate a little magical realism, you’ll probably dig it.) The music by Christophe Beck is lovely, the sort of hybrid 2D/CGI animation technique is lovely… It’s just a lovely short film. If you haven’t seen it, enjoy. If you have, I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing it again.

“Marcel, King of Tervuren” by Tom Schroeder

This is a really cool animated short by Tom Schroeder (who is apparently from Minnesota). It’s playing in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Fair warning: There’s a little bit of not-too-graphic rooster-on-rooster violence in there for you sensitive ones.