Author Archives: iRogan

Aliens, Orcs, and Zombies Oh My!

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Games:

Back 4 Blood has been the reliable venture in our latest coop game nights, but its hard to say if I like it or not. Its fun, and the card/desk system adds a needed variable to the game-play, but we haven’t made much progress really. I can say for certain that I have played through the first 4 levels of Act 1 a handful of times, and started the 2nd set, level 1. And that’s it. It seems like every time we’ve sat down to play it, we’re introducing a new team member to the party and it would be unfair to them to jump into the middle of it. But the game is also setup in a way that you can kind of jump into any level and you don’t really need much story explanation. But the levels are harder without your stacked deck building up, so its almost worth playing from the start again as a new run to see how far you can get.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite we beat. I don’t think we’ll be looking back either. The last 3 levels are probably the best but the ending is so underwhelming. Spoiler: you see the queen and you run away. The End. The game-play is fun and hectic at times, fighting off waves and waves of aliens, big and small. But after the story there’s a horde mode, and then replay the story again and again? To unlocked emotes, and cosmetics. And level up your guns. Maybe try a different class? My game time is so limited, I’d rather just uninstall and move on. Maybe there’ll be DLC expansions down the road.

Shadow of War: I’m still plugging away at Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. About half way through. Just fought off the Balrog. Its a nice change of pace from the other coop games. I am looking forward to its completion though as I’m eager to try Watch Dogs 3 – Legion next. A proper new-gen game to finally play on the Series X. Assassins Creed Valhalla is lurking in the sidelines as well.

Art:

My original plan from #drawtober was 5 completed pieces. It will actually be 3.

Magik, Supergirl, and now Wonder Woman. Just a few days ago was a Wonder Woman celebration day, so I’m posting just the line art, and then next week I’ll add the full colour/background piece.

Comic Shout-out:

CROWDED. Picked up Vol 1 and 2 of this series.

“Ten minutes in the future, the world runs on an economy of job shares and apps, including Reapr: a crowdfunding platform to fund assassinations. Charlie Ellison leads a quiet, normal life until she’s suddenly targeted by a million-dollar Reapr campaign. Hunted by all of Los Angeles, Charlie hires Vita, the lowest-rated bodyguard on the Dfend app. As the campaign picks up speed, they’ll have to figure out who wants Charlie dead before the campaign’s 30 days—or their lives—are over.” Seemed like a fun read. 🙂

Be Good.

iRogan

Back 4 Blogs

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Welcome back to the working week.

Games:

There’s a new game to play and it’s Back 4 Blood. We tried it for a bit over the weekend to get the hang of it. Made by TurtleRock as a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. It is VERY much like Left 4 Dead, but with a new card-based progression system to augment your play-through. The game’s campaign looks like a decent length and quite challenging from my initial attempt. Haven’t tried the PvP yet. I should have more impressions next week after I’ve had the chance to spend more time within the game.

Art:

Drawtober week 2. Supergirl

I missed last week but the week before was Week 2 of Drawtober and I was able to complete SuperGirl as shown above. I didn’t get any drawing down last week but hopefully will have something for this Friday. I don’t know if I’ll have the energy/motivation to continue my original plan of fully rendered drawings. Maybe one more before the month-end, but I think I’ll focus on something less time consuming and draining. Which brings me to Pouchtober.

Such a funny concept. May try to get a few of these out before the end of the month. Summon my inner Leifeld. Simpler, quick pieces. Lots of pouches. No feet. Pencil or ink. Minor shading. B&w either way.

Comics:

What I’m reading: The Fall by Jared Muralt. “After just losing his wife, one father will have to face a world in freefall; shaken to its core by an economic, social, political and health crisis without precedent. Facing seemingly unreal and very unexpected dangers, he will do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones in a country on the brink of collapse. In this internationally acclaimed series, Jared Muralt not only tells the story of one family struggling to survive, but also questions the very reasons that brought mankind to this apocalypse.”

It’s a pretty dark book. Dire circumstances. Basically take Covid scenarios at their worst and turn them apocalyptic. But he started writing it and working on it in 2016 having no idea what 2020 had in store.

Achievement of the Week:

Be good.

IROGAN

Drink a Redbull, take a nap.

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That’s how I intend to time travel.

So this past week was a short family get-away. But more like a working away from home trip. We were house/cat sitting. Working remotely.

I didn’t bring the Xbox so that we could curb the screen time a bit. But this raised an interesting problem. How would I play games?

Well, we made do with what we had. What we had: Nintendo Switch, iPhone, iPad, internet.

With the Xbox Xcloud I was able to play Golf With Your Friends with touch controls on the iPad and used my iPhone for the Xbox party chat. And I was able to play Rocket League on the Switch with cross-play enabled. So I still got to have some fun with friends.

Golf with your Friends on the iPad w/touch controls.

On Friday Oct, 1 my Week 1 Drawtober was posted. So I’ll upload it here too, below and on the Drawtober 2021 gallery. I’ve also found the time to put out another Stranger Than Friendship webcomic. My plan is still to post a new #Drawtober picture every Friday. And I also have another webcomic idea brewing for next month.

Magik

I think that’s all for this week. Take care and be safe.

-iRogan

I Think They Like Me

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A quiet week with little progression. But some weeks call for a little down time.

Games: We played some more Aliens: Fireteam Elite this week. We’ve passed the halfway way point of the story. One of our players has already progressed through the story once, unlocked the final character and levelled up quite significantly. I think for this reason alone we’ve been able to make steady progress without much grinding, as the game ramps up the difficulty with some pretty serious wave-based survival sections. The gameplay has been enjoyable, but from a story perspective, it’s mostly told through radio chatter and the initial loading screen before the level starts. So there’s not really a lot to absorb and it’s easy to tune out.

AOTW: Achievement of the week goes to, unsurprisingly, A:FE. I always find achievements that ask you to fail in some way to be kind of funny. “I Think They Like Me” asks you to get pounced or grappled 5 times in the same mission. Getting pounced or grappled takes a pretty good chunk of health off, so without help this can easily end your run quick. Early on in the game this is quite doable organically, as you are running down the halls a large alien can be waiting for you around a corner. Later on, with the right sensors you can see the aliens waiting in advance so its easy to avoid. I intentionally went for this, running ahead of our group so I would get pounced knowing my team was there to back me up. It was also a failed run anyways as we were not adequately prepared for the final sections of the level and got overrun.

Comic: Outside of playing video games I made a little more progress in my Stranger Than Friendship webcomic. The latest comic is focusing on Surgeon Simulator and the results are pretty funny, if I do say so myself. Here’s a little preview, should be able complete it this weekend as I’m currently not at home:

“Cruz, where are your clothes?”

Drawtober: As I mentioned above, this week I won’t actually be at home as I’m house-sitting. This has put a twist into my drawtober plans as I will not in fact be able to get as ahead as I wished. I will share my first week’s post though, which I will be publishing on Friday. And then every Friday going forward I will be showing off a new coloured piece. Hopefully. That’s the plan.

Colour gradient tests
Looks good in print.

Anyways, a small update this week.

Be good. Stay safe.

-iRogan

Tell me if you’ve heard the one about the Orc, Alien, and the Surgeon

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As I try to update this site more frequently (my goal is once a week, still deciding on a specific day – leaning to either Sunday or Monday), I am reminiscing of the times early on, years ago, when I would update it daily. Before the wife, before the kids, the house and the cats. Just me and my computer and my Xbox. Writing about game news, and E3. Simpler times.

These days I’m stretched pretty thin – obligations pulling in all directions, hobbies reaching for their time in the spotlight as well. But in a good way. Kids before comics and Xbox. Try to get some drawing in during the week. Sleep is important too.

I’ve thought about incorporating my comics passion into this site somehow too. Like a “What I’m Reading” segment. I go every Wednesday to the comic book store, like clockwork. It’s actually the one reliable constant. I’d have to think of a way to make it interesting though. More than just a photo gallery of cover pages.

I updated the Screenshots page to include Spider-Man and Outriders. Currently building up the gallery for Shadow of War as well.

Currently also prepping for Drawtober 2021. Last year I did 14 full drawings, mostly black and white ink. A few had splashes of colour. This year will be very different. I’ve taken three drawings from last year’s drawtober, 1 from this year and a brand new one, and will be full rendering. Colour, poster quality. So only 5 in total. 1 per week. Quality over quantity this year. As I just don’t have the time or energy. That’s the plan anyways. I have 1 done already, for October 1st. Currently working on a Surgeon Simulator webcomic idea for Stranger Than Friendship, and then I’ll jump into the 2nd Drawtober drawing before the end of the month. This way I have a 2 week buffer.

This past week we made a bit more progress in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Made it to the 2nd mission where we are introduced to the Synthetics enemy type, and the levels get a lot more open as we’re planet side and not in the tight corridors of a ship. The game continues to be enjoyable, but the lengthy chapters and no checkpoints does sting when your team wipes at the climax of the chapter, and you have to start over. 30 minutes of progress lost.

Trudging through the lands of Middle-Earth as well. 11 hours in. Finishing Act 1 opens up the Nemesis system to allow me to start building my army, turning Orcs over to my side, allowing for bodyguards and spies within the Orc ranks.

Act 1 appears to conclude the Shelob part of the story, so I’m not sure if she’ll make a return.

The Ascent and Surgeon Simulator took a back seat this past week as its been difficult to coordinate co-op game time, but hopefully we’ll get to play those more.

In the last bit of news, the wife has finished her play through of Psychonauts 1 and 2 as she’s gearing up towards Extra Life in November. I’ll post more about her campaign next month leading into the big day.

Be good.

iRogan