Plans for the site/comic [Devblog 001]

First I'll do an introduction. I kinda suck at these so please bear.

I'm Shark. I've been drafting this comic for a few years now. Jett is my editor and co-artist. The two of us are married. 

I have a light code background. HTML, CSS, and Python. I did a class on C++ but I don't think I retained much. Most of my JS is dissecting free code samples and pestering GPT when I fuck up. I like formatting and organizing information—webdev is a hobby. I only geek with my RL friends about code because I know I'm still a novice.

Writing comes first for me. It always has. I learned to code so I could present my ideas visually. The same goes for art. My older comics used dialog to move scenes. It felt heavy. Reading them back made me tired. Then I realized how insane visual storytelling could be... so I sat down and studied. 

There. Intro done.

What is Friction?

Friction is the story of two vigilantes that are metaphorically "doping." They see their dope as justified—as if no one has incentive to dope. The whole county has a doping problem... but they think they're different. They see each other and think "He shouldn't be allowed to get away with that."  

Replace dope with body-modification, augments... and yeah. Actual dope. "Life sucks. Be better." It's the tune that the marketing sings. So what happens when side effects become too difficult to ignore?

The cast will grow with the story, adding more voices to the "doping" vs "natural" discussion.

What still needs to be done?

Quite a bit. I was gonna grind the blog out this week and start on the character page but I decided my splash didn't have enough spaghetti so I added more JS and shot myself in the foot.

      1.) Finish the blog.

If you are reading this the blog is up. When making this? I still have to play around with Publii and get the settings how I want them.

      2.) Fix the splash screen image.

I said I was done with the splash? I lied. I need to make the image a bit wider for desktop.

      3.) Make a button.

So I can start making connections with other sites. You give me your button and link, i give you mine. I have things thumnailed. Now I need to draw.

      4.) Scanlines for the other pages.

Should be an easy code to implement. I'll do it while I make the button if I need a break from drawing.

      5.) Make the character bios. 

Again, I have these thumbnailed. But given how much of the cast I want bios for—I'm doing everyone in one go because lord knows people never update their characters page—it's gonna take me some time.

      6.) Implement the comic viewer.

I'm gonna pick apart Rarebit because I don't like its default very much. Shouldn't take long? Maybe longer than the blog.

      7.) Post the first page.

ETA: January 2024

Then what?

Crank out chapter 1 when I can. This will help me plan a better update schedule for chapter 2 onward. I'm thumbnailed up to chapter 4. A ton of my graphics are done. It should be smooth sailing. 

Other platforms

We will, eventually, host our comic on other platforms. Finishing chapter 1 comes first.