Note: This post has nothing whatsoever to do with any progress I made lately, but I just felt like talking about Inspiration for awhile. This kind of stuff normally goes in my personal blog, but since it has some relation to what I do here, I guess I'll put it here instead.
Just the other day, I was sitting in a computer lab. At one point, the lab got really noisy. People were blasting their music and I found myself in this really irritating atmosphere.
I grabbed my handbook, contemplating to go out of the lab and take a break from what I was doing, but it felt weird to go out alone while everybody was in the lab either sleeping, listening to music or using the computer terminals.
After a gruelling decision, I grabbed my notebook and made my way out of the lab. I went to this sheltered area that is sort of like an open shed without walls. Every morning, we gather at this sheltered area, and I'd occasionally look into the distance, observing how the morning sunlight filtered through the trees. On some days, the intense rays of light seemed to make its way beautifully through the gaps between the treetops. On other days, a mist shrouded the entire area in a mysterious fog. It was also possible to have a combination of both.
So I grabbed a chair and sat down.
I was amazed by how peaceful it was. It was so tranquil, so calm. It was just the subtle sound of the whirring fans in the shed and me. So many thoughts flowed through my mind it seemed as though I was talking to myself.
I took out my notebook and my trusty orange mechanical pencil and started drawing.
At one point, a gust of wind blew and I watched tiny yellow leaves float delicately down in a pattern that resembled how snow would fall.
It was beautiful.
A friend came out of the lab to join me, but left after a short while as he felt warm. I guess I was too distracted by nature to realise how warm it was.
As much as I don't like going out, I begin to realise that a lot of my inspiration comes from outside when my mind is not preoccupied by something, which is often the case when I am sitting in front of the computer. From taking the train, to lying down on my bed with an empty mind, inspiration can strike any time, anywhere, and this is when I'd take out my phone and draw/write it down (yea, my phone has a stylus, which totally fits my needs!). When I sleep however, I have no phone, so I'd try to remember it and draw it when I wake up the next day.
In fact, the very inspiration for Introvert came from a collection of memories and experiences much too complicated to tell in one sitting.
Today, I watched
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A18Rh5gVx2U&list=UUutXfzLC5wrV3SInT_tdY0w
and thus decided to write down the shed experience I had the other day. I think it's something worth noting down.
Progress
So I lied. I was going to talk about my progress anyway.
I was trying to learn how to do this 'I am lost' picture effect for a very dark place, but I couldn't find a way to do it, so I wondered if learning to do a "Dreamy Effect" would help, so I googled that.
I ended up reading up and learning how to do the "Tilt Shift" effect, which hopefully will come in useful next time.
And later on, found a dreamy effect tutorial! Here's the dreamy effect I did for one of the scenes that is part of my "IntoDarkness" comic. I think I may not use the dreamy effect in the end. But I'm not so sure yet.
The other amazing thing is that unlike Paint, I can replicate this effect for other pictures. I can even make this effect in the game, which I experimented with, and here's how it looks like for the levels.
A few adjustments had to be made depending on how dark / light a level is, to make the dreamy effect look proper. I wonder if it makes the levels look too pale and hard to see with the reduced contrast for the daytime levels.
I made this a toggle effect, which means I can switch between "Dreamy" and "Normal" mode with the push of a button. I'm not sure if I want this in the final version though, because I did this purely for fun and I don't know if it would be something logical or meaningful to add in the game haha. Maybe I would add this for a particular level instead of a freely toggle-able effect.
Adding this as a hidden feature seems too mundane, as I already have a ton of "hidden features" and I don't know if I want another one added to the list.
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