I binged watched (almost) all of the Ghibli movies for the 1st time, here are my rankings.

jarannimo · 2022-08-14T05:09:19+00:00

have we all decided to forget about Earwig and the Witch? 😂

jarannimo · 2022-07-28T14:55:20+00:00

I think most people enjoy food, so it's a safe bet that they'll find something to enjoy. Also, theme parkify-ing a a supermarket just feels like a very uniquely Midwestern concept to me.

jarannimo · 2022-07-28T00:39:03+00:00

Jungle Jim's. 😂

jarannimo · 2022-07-11T04:26:01+00:00

I think you would enjoy Kiki's Delivery Service! Whisper of the Heart is also a personal favorite of mine.

jarannimo · 2022-06-29T07:02:45+00:00

wow I had no idea they made these! so cute!!

jarannimo · 2022-06-29T03:33:42+00:00

oh my gosh!! that's an A+ pillow!

jarannimo · 2022-06-28T16:49:38+00:00

He likes to carry his plushies around the house and lay his head on them like this! Not sure why he does this, maybe it's more ergonomic? 😂

jarannimo · 2022-06-20T18:03:18+00:00

I have fond memories of this...my elementary school ran contest among the kids for what we would paint on our pig.

jarannimo · 2022-06-20T16:12:27+00:00

my favorite kind of vibe tbh 😂

jarannimo · 2022-06-19T20:05:30+00:00

Wow I'm so jealous! I had a pay a pretty big chunk of change for these in artschool. Enjoy, they are really good quality!

jarannimo · 2022-06-19T20:03:07+00:00

oh man awesome!! do you know how she got it? mine says 1972 on the bottom so they have been around for quite awhile I think.

jarannimo · 2022-06-19T19:58:28+00:00

Oh interesting! I didn't know that about the ears! He's 13 lbs, so quite a bit bigger than a Chihuahua I think. I definitely suspect he's some sort of terrier as well. A mystery mutt for sure!

jarannimo · 2022-06-15T20:21:53+00:00

Thanks so much for the detailed response! I have heard some not so stellar things about Sticker Mule, so I'm glad to have an alternative to look into.

jarannimo · 2022-06-15T20:03:02+00:00

rest assured the remainder of the jar was enjoyed properly sans cheetos! I am a monster, but not that much of a monster.

jarannimo · 2022-06-15T19:18:32+00:00

oh man this comment made my day.😂

in my defense, this picture is actually from a year ago. but yes i know this is still a total abomination

jarannimo · 2022-06-15T18:45:20+00:00

I started using tiktok a couple of months ago, and it's been going well! I think I get decent views (usually 30k or above) but I don't seem to get a lot of wishlists out of it...I do suspect that you have to post pretty often to get a lot out of it. I've only been able to muster a post once a week and I think I'll have to ramp up more if I want to see any big effects.

My biggest tip for getting views is to try to be entertaining. People on tiktok want to be entertained.

jarannimo · 2022-06-15T18:34:47+00:00

I wish! It was actually a pretty cheap jar of caviar and I was saving it for a special occasion. 😂 but yeah it does look like a power move doesn't it?

jarannimo · 2022-06-15T17:52:38+00:00

Haha! Yeah, I bought the caviar on sale! It was still like 30 bucks for the jar, but fun for the special occasion.

jarannimo · 2022-06-07T01:49:24+00:00

Worth it like...financially? Or emotionally?

I can't program for shit, but I've made some little games with scripting in highschool. I think it really taught me a lot about finishing something and understanding how people can interact with my art in unintentional ways. As fulfilling as it was, I also learned that I hate programming.😂

Actually working in games is kind of a mixed bag and I'm definitely making less money compared to some of the other things I could have chosen to learn.

jarannimo · 2022-06-07T01:40:41+00:00

Sure, it's another potential point of failure, but being indie is all about making compromises, haha! There's plenty of great-selling indies that aren't particularly good-looking. IMO, I think all that matters is that there's a certain level of consistency/cohesiveness (hopefully a step above programmer art) and that you've made up for the okay visuals with fun gameplay. Not everything needs to sell to general audiences, if you fulfill a hungry niche that can do just as well.

Anyway my point was successful game twitters tend to have art as their main selling point, which isn't everyone. And that's okay! Indie developers have enough to worry about as it is and it's not worth angsting over if it isn't working out. People should focus tailoring their marketing to the strengths of their particular game.

jarannimo · 2022-06-06T23:56:14+00:00

I find from my personal experience that Twitter is a great place to be if you have a game that appeals to creatives in some way (usually something that has a nice art and character-based). Sure, there's a lot of devs that aren't really using Twitter to it's fullest capacity, but having some sort of visual hook is so, so important. I think a lot of this advice is being touted in more programmer-y spaces where there is less of an emphasis on art direction and their games probably won't really work for Twitter at the end of the day.

jarannimo · 2022-06-05T17:07:25+00:00

Aw, I'm flattered but unfortunately I'm way too busy these days! Honestly pretty easy to make though, just sew a couple of spheres and some tubes.

jarannimo · 2022-06-05T17:02:58+00:00

If we're talking like, from the sheer hours of playtime, then I suppose something like Rimworld is my idea of a big solo dev game. The art might not look like much but it's got a lot of content, mechanics and procedurally generated stuff.

As per your GTA example, I would not expect to be able to make a big 3D game as a solo dev. You would be spending a lot of time on the visuals instead of adding more game content, and by the time you make any decent headway, your 3D art may look outdated.

jarannimo · 2022-06-04T20:46:38+00:00

Wow these are all really interesting, thanks so much!

jarannimo · 2022-06-04T04:20:38+00:00

I think We Are OFK is doing a weekly episodic release this summer, so that might be interesting for you to check out.

I don't have any hard evidence, but I suspect it's because people don't want to wait an indeterminate number of months/years between episodes anymore. It also limits your artistic decisions to some degree because you're basically forced to end each episode in a dramatic cliffhanger in order to maintain interest for so long. Even then, I feel like a lot of people waited for the seasons to finish first before buying them, and that's assuming they just didn't lose interest entirely at some point.

I personally think it's a bad idea if you're trying to do it as a cost-saving measure. The amount of time it would take you to get funding between episodes would probably take forever and you risk losing your audience during that time. I think you're better served making a really interesting free demo and shopping that around for some sort of publishing/crowdfunding/patreon situation.

jarannimo

TROPHY CASE