Bi-weekly blog post #17: I'm really feeling it! (Patreon)

I've been working on my backlog LIKE CRAZY. The more I got into game development, the more I felt the urgency to play "the classics". When I was a kid, I didn't really care about games I didn't play. I just wanted to play Pokémon and GTA. Recently, I've been keeping a list of games I really should have played if I want to call myself an expert on game development. I discovered a website called Grouvee, where you can track and update your backlog.  I don't think there are many people on there, but it's still a nice way to keep track of the games you play. I encourage everyone to check it out!

This process of eliminating my backlog - which I called Project Catch Up - was also meant as a source of inspiration for the comics. A year ago, when we started making these comics, this was my general idea:

(Imaginary quote)

"For every game I play, I'm going to make a comic. That way, when I'm done with my backlog, we'll have comics about all kind of different games. Pokémon, Zelda, Mario, Halo, Gears of War, Uncharted, even some indie games, you name it! That way, we'll get SUPER popular because our range will be so huge that every single gamer has at least one comic he or she will like"

This is what it turned out to be in reality:

"Hm. That last Young Adult Red comic did super well on Reddit. I need more karma. I'm gonna make another one. Oh wait, that other comic was retweeted by the Elder Scrolls. Let's make a sequel! Shit, <major AAA game> was released last week! I HAVE TO BE QUICK AND RELEVANT!!"

Turns out I'm a huge sucker for likes/follows/retweets/whatever, so I kinda lost myself in a quest to make the most popular comics I could. Luckily I never started making lazy #relatable comics, because the day that happens, hell will freeze over.

But I have to admit I lost track of one of my original rules: not to discriminate niche games with a smaller fanbase purely because they won't get as much likes as comics about the "big games" will.

This revelation doomed on me last week, when I was playing Xenoblade Chronicles, on the Wii. Christiaan hacked my old Wii  (don't tell anyone!) so I could play some old Nintendo classics like Pikmin, Super Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion. He also casually loaded Xenoblade Chronicles onto it, just for the heck of it. Purely to test Christiaan's hacking skillz, I launched Xenoblade when I got home. Two hours later, I was actively killing Mechon WITH THE MONADO'S POWAH.

I did not expect to play more than five minutes of Xenoblade Chronicles. There are a few things I really dislike when playing games. Those things include:

- Games being a JRPG
- Anime
- Lots of menu's
- Mechanics and rules I can't keep track of
- Bad graphics
- Turn-based combat (I make exceptions for Pokémon and Fire Emblem)

Xenoblade has all these things. So it's no wonder I thought I would hate it. And yet, for some reason, I'm completely hooked on this anime JRPG with lots of menu's, mechanics, rules, bad graphics and turn-based combat. I honestly have no idea why I like this game so much. I'm inclined to blame "the heart and soul" of the game, but that's cheesy. I hope I'll discover just what I love about this game as I progress through the story (I'm still in the cave with the vine thingies you can climb). But so far, I'm just really feeling it.

As a matter of fact, I'm feeling it SO HARD, that I'm gonna ignore the call of the karma/likes/retweets and I'm gonna make a Xenoblade comic. Screw the fame, this comic is for the small amount of Xenoblade fans who will enjoy this comic. Check it out tomorrow!

- Abel