AC Odyssey: Christmas Special!

[Included in the AC Odyssey journal]

This is not a continuation of the story but I thought I'd gift you, my dear readers, with some of the funniest lines I've come across while running the player made missions. Enjoy!

To be fair, there it also gives opportunities for other nice screenshots. :)

Happy holidays once again!

Blaugust Prep Week: Picture Editing

Pixlr is still my photo editing tool of choice for blog pics. It's online, it's free, and it has a decent tool kit which makes it accessible for scrooges like myself. The main purpose of my editing is not an aesthetic one, nor one that is immediately obvious.

I make pictures smaller.

Why? Because file size is something you need to be mindful of. Nothing makes me flee a post faster than having a whole set of high res pictures slowly loading on one page. If you want to make a gallery post, have small resolution thumbnails on the "landing" page which when clicked link to the larger image. It's more work but I guarantee your readers will appreciate it.

Photobucket: Trying to be a Phoenix

While checking on an old post I was surprised to find the previously "burned" photobucket pictures returned to life. It is apparently old news, that the company back flipped on their $400 fee and restored what was previously missing.

Restoring image links is one thing, but regaining the trust of consumers is quite another. There are just some lines you must never cross, and I think there's no coming back from what they did. Then again, there are terrible game companies out there that somehow keep afloat so, what do I know right?

Photobucket Burn

As you probably have noticed, all the images on my blog are now either broken or an advertisement for Photobucket, which has been my image host since I started in 2011. They've been a decent host over the years, with only a handful of down times that I can remember.

Alas with their decision to monetize their service, and me not willing to pay $400 odd for it, I bid them adieu today with no ill will whatsoever. Thank you for being a great host in the past PB! Now I'll have to look for a new free alternative for posts moving forward.

For those wondering, no - I'm not going to fix all the broken images. I'll just retrieve the ones I like (mostly my own art) and maybe put them in a gallery somewhere. Apart from my photo stories which will really be broken now, the majority of this site has mainly been about the text anyway so I'm not really fussed.

This gives me a good opportunity to start a new chapter, and start fresh in some areas which I've been keen to do for a while now. Thanks for your patience while I slowly segregate everything before this post, to everything coming next. Have a good day all! :)

Photo Story: Anti-Demon (Part 2)

[Part of my photo story folder.]

Before leaving I consulted with our resident seer, Baaaa-phomet.

Consulting the most BS of astrological signs, he told me how to beat the demons.

(because a circle really forms that cloud castle, lol)

In the the underdark we went, past Gauntlgrym...

...and all the way to Menzoberranzan. It was crawling with demons.

So I used my Kagebunshin technique to fool them!

(sadly no longer happens with Portobello's wand)

Having tricked the demon commander mini-boss into doing pushups...

I killed his master with some knife throwing.

Then turned on a force field to stop any more demons from advancing.

For my efforts, loot rained from the heavens!

And when I got back to the keep, our dragon mascot had grown!

Photo Story Folder

A collation of all my photo stories so that they can be found in one place! These are ordered from earliest to latest.

The Magic Bow - Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
A Night to Remember - Part I, Part II, Part III
Hammering Gnolls - Part I, Part II, Part III 
Never Adventures - Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII
Anti-Demon - Part I, Part II

Shabang! Awesome Portrait Photo Tutorial!

First saw this video on Joci's Blog  and it is well worth the 15 minutes of watching for photographers and people that get photographed alike (isn't that all of us?). Summarized version is: move your ears towards the camera for a better result! I'll leave it at that as Peter Hurley's video does a good job of demoing and instructing you further.

All about the Jaw. It deserves a watch!