RaseCidraen
Hello Portal! (Fellow Portaliers? I Can't remember what we decided on a year ago...)
There have been a lot of things recently that have got me a-thinking. (Gee, really? - Oh god, not with the parentheticals again). Arsheesh had mentioned earlier today that around a year ago, there was a Renaissance of sorts on the Portal - lots of folks were talking about their art projects, cartography skills and the like. There were some great threads and some even greater artists. I keep wondering why those dissapeared, but that's not important, because I'm determined to bring them back.
I was discussing this with gaaran tonight, while working on a project for AugustusGloop - he had asked for a banner for his campaign and I gladly agreed - if you catch me right I can be silly agreeable sometimes. I'm always willing to help out, but in certain moods I will take on absolutely rediculous projects. Gaaran resents me (in an amused sort of way, I hope) for it because I procrastinate on my campaign while I work on the other, new projects.
What I'm proposing here, I suppose I should get to the point sometime before people start mentally going tl:dr on me, is that I'd like to create a Work Exchange post, where the community can build on each other's strengths, people can have fun, check out each other's artwork, prose, and coding design. We always help each other out, and I dont think that will ever stop, but what I'm thinking is something more. Someone needs a banner design, but they cant work with photos for some reason. No problem! Post it here. Offer something in trade that you are good at as a gesture of goodwill.
I propose the following: Feel free to make requests, but try to keep in mind the complexity of the request, and offer up something in return of equal (approximate) value. Obviously this is just a first cut of how this might work (and I've seen it work very well in other places on the web), and I'm very open to suggestions here.
For example...
My primary strengths lie in:
Photo manipulation/image editing
Page Layout
Poetry (Just ask JonVolks - I can almost make Bon Jovi readable! :) )
Character motivation
Devious planning
Snark
My weaknesses:
Fluff creation
A perfect example is my campaign, "Dark Queen of the West":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-dark-queen-of-the-west/wikis/the-game
It is quintissential form, function, without meaningful content. I have space for content, but not the gumption to actually write something worth reading. I'd be willing to trade image editing work for some fluff pieces I could use in my campaign - fake news articles on covertly strange happenings, old legends found on scraps of paper, anything I can get. I can guarantee, if this kicks off, and anyone needs images put together, I will be VERY willing to volunteer my services. I mean, just look at the site gaaran and I have been working on. I think it's pretty spiffy :)
Thoughts? Requests?
Comments
This is a great idea!!
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
Duskreign's "COTM for November 2011":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
Just trying to help out.
I'd be happy to help people out with some things.
I'm a decent image editor, albeit a crappy artist. I can make some neat banners, icons and graphics.
While I'm not a particularly good coder, I'd like to say I have a good design sense for layouts and site navigation.
I love spending time making maps and cartography, but results may vary.
I enjoy coming up with cool concepts for games, but when it comes to writing expeditionary fluff, I'm really no good.
I'd propose you just take a look at "my campaign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/tohe and see if there's either something you'd like to emulate for your own site, or think can be done better for me.
I'm always open suggestions or requests, so just hit me up with a PM.
You could take a look at my "Dark Sun campaign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/dark-sun-a-trova to see what I can do (and undo !).
For example, I made the video trailer, and the Characters & Items arts are mine.
-Pils
-Pils
Dark Sun ● La Décade des Héros : Face the Fire of the Dark Sun... a World ravaged by Sorcery! (CotM - Dec 2012)
Les Royaumes Oubliés : A D&D 5e old school style Forgotten Realms campaign!
(And I'm so soooorry for my poor english...)
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
I am:
A great Idea Man.
Strong researcher.
Strong networker.
Okay at Fluff.
Fast talker.
Basically I am "Face Man" from the A-Team plus the research angle.
Morrinn I just cruised your site and got a cool idea you might be interested in for your campaign. Sending you a PM.
P.S. Your name wasn't inspired by the "Short sword of Morin" was it? I LOVED THAT THING.
Projects I am currently engaged with: TheMazeController, killerVP (Both in fact-finding stages)
(thanks for moving this Arsheesh!)
I will do the same:
If anyone has any coding questions, check out "Melekar":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/melekar and "DQotW (a joint effort by Rase and myself)":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/the-dark-queen-of-the-west
I've done a little video work, but that's a lot of work, so it would have to be worth my while :).
I'm also something of a whiz in photoshop (editing, not creating). I created all the banners and headers and everything for my pages (the actual art is (C) their respective owners). Check out these banners: "Ember's Journal.":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/melekar/wikis/ember and "Solaren's Journal":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/melekar/wikis/solaren
I'm very happy to help, but right now I don't need much assistance, unless people want to plan my game for me :P. However, I think Rase and I could use a little help on some fluff writing on DQotW, but I will need to discuss that with him first. If this thing really takes off, I think Arsheesh is right, this should become a sticky, as this is really the heart of what makes this community great :).
It's good to know there is someone I can ask tho!
In the spirit of fair play before I do send my guy your way (may not need to) what can I work on for you?
By the way you should have mentioned all coding needs to go back and forth via email as .txt files or something right? Perhaps it goes without saying but for anyone as nub as I am it doesn't. I had no idea about that problem when I tried asking questions via PM.
In return I can offer my skills as a writer, especially in the area of content generation. I am very good at coming up with interesting ideas and expressing them well. Of course, it will be for your universe, so edit and tailor to fit, but I really like getting into the nitty gritty of how a society, faction, nation, or city functions and continues to function over time, and how to make it do so in the most fantastic ways possible.
And I can write stories and the like fairly well, one of my strengths is descriptive writing.
for examples of my writing style, check out my campaign:
"Galoren":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/galor
I am not very good at coding and could use some help with layout ideas and general site navigation.
I can fluff like nobodies' business and can have a quest for you in two days flat.
I'm a programmer by trade. I haven't messed with HTML or Textile a lot, but have no problems figuring things out (whether it's possible on the site or not) when I want to do something.
I'm decent at editing pictures and moving things around and trying to decide what looks good or not (to me anyway), but I can't draw or create nice looking things myself.
Once I have an idea I'm pretty good at expanding with it, but I sometimes have issues coming up with brand new ideas. For an example of that you can check out my site's "wiki":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/progression-into-the-stars/wikis/main-page for the background information that I've been trying to create for the whole campaign.
I've messed around a little bit with creating maps so I can do that a little bit but I'm not pro at it.
Pretty much the only thing I could think of that I'd actively ask for help with is drawing/creating pictures and other images for me (not that I need anything right now), but I'd still be happy to help someone that needs help with something I can do regardless.
Magavendon- hitting you with a pm late tonight- at Kings hockey game now.
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
Duskreign's "COTM for November 2011":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
Just trying to help out.
-Steve
The log background is what I am referring to...
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
Duskreign's "COTM for November 2011":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
Just trying to help out.
Come to think of it, I haven't posted in this thread because, while I love the idea, I've been thinking there's nothing useful I can do -- wrong. I'm a pretty good proofreader, both for grammar/sentence structure errors and whether the writing conveys what you're trying to convey. Spelling isn't my strongest suit, but I can usually spot errors and I can do all the tricky homonyms (there/their/they're, etc) with my eyes closed ;)
At the moment, I'm not really in need of help beyond the occasional coding question, but I have no problem proofreading for free (as long as you're patent).
Don't sell yourself short - you have a good eye for art / layout as well. Twice you have been helpful to me in the art dept.
Hurst was extremely helpful to me tonight especially as I am a first time coder. KillerVP gave me some great foundation to work with, and Hurst helped me take things one step further. I should have my site laid out in quick succession now.
I love how helpful everyone here is to one another.
Here is a "link":http://en.spaceengine.org/ to a free space exploration type game that will let you take all the space screen shots you like. You should be all set once you play with it a bunch.
I dont play SciFi as my flavor of RPG action but I know I would use that if I did.
-Steve
"Star Trek Late Night":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/star-trek-late-night
"Duskreign's CotM December 2011":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/wyrmshadow/wikis/122011
"CotM January 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/star-trek-late-night-januarys-cotm/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=star-trek-late-night-januarys-cotm
"The pseudo-final image for this iteration of the work-exchange":http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/apmunson/Projects%20for%20OP/Work%20Exchange/WIPBar.png