Mass Effect is probably one of the best series in gaming thus far. They’ve carried the weight of many expectations each game and with the third and final game in the series out. They’ve successfully ended a great trilogy. Currently there are a vocal few gamers who feel cheated or wronged by the games finale. But I think the reasoning for this is that we’re all so vested in Commander Shepherd and his crew that when something plays out differently then we expect its taken personal. Perhaps more so then other games because we’ve been playing through this story for nearing 7 years now. I recently beat the game and as much as I thought the ending was weird, I didn’t end it in anger. I was sad that it would be at least 2 years (probably more) till the next time I get to step foot into this universe. Friends have told me that there is a ton of DLC planned but I really don’t see how Bioware could make it appealing after the way the series ended, it was very…final.

The podcast we’ve been working on is in beta. We’ve recorded around 9 episodes now but none of them have been up to our standards. Here is a taste of what you can expect. Its a beta episode…and we are all very far into our drinks so be warned. It’s also explicit so if you are easily offended or do not have headphones and are in a public place I suggest holding off on listening. In the future we will have a website up (www.epicwin.com) but our webdesigner is a busy man (Aaron Wade) and our other host is useless in anything but being entertaining (John Vescio). Anyway if you do listen to it please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts ok thanks!

So this is my second attempt at finalizing a direction for me and the misses wedding invite’s and papers. The 8 bit us’s are something I think we will keep but the rest is still up for grabs. I like this direction more then the tree because its more graphics design-y and minimalistic. I do like the font as well but it may be that it’s too thick and heavy for a wedding. We will see. Maybe if I accent it by using a frilly font for the rest of the text or just the highlights? I don’t know, we will see. For now though I think this is a good start.

So, my book Messiah For Hire: Kingmaker. Is near done. I am currently finishing going over it a fourth time to make sure the story flows as I’d intended. When it’s done I will hopefully be able to send it out to a few friends to read and give feedback and then I’ll start looking for an editor and an agent. And then i’ll look into getting it published. I have plans for 6 books currently in the series but we will see where the second one takes me. 3 for sure though. More to come when I am finished, for now I just wanted an excuse to post the finished sigil of the main characters banner.

Just finished my set of Game of Thrones House Banners. Each logo was mostly traced in illustrator but I made some adjustments to them. Where there were two colors I eliminated the second color and simplified the design. The versions are in CMYK and 300 DPI at 2 by 3 feet for making tiny prints. I think I’ll refine them a little bit before I send them to print, and I’ll have to find some cool frames.

So I’ve started working on mine and Athena’s “Save the Date” card. This version is more illustrative then the second idea I have. The concept is pretty simple, I wanted to use the cherry blossom trees that Athena loves so much but at the same time I wanted to have something that looked more fluid then most trees, I twisted the branches and trunk to try and push it towards Dr. Seuss but not too far that it would be more silly then classy. Anyway, here is the finished result of the tree. The banners are something I may change or take out all together.

I did some mock-ups for a minimalistic version of the next DnD books. The last few series have had terrible covers. Although to be fair, 4.0 isn’t as bad as 3 and 3.5 but I’m a big fan of simplifying design. Less is almost always more.

I did the basic set of the books, the PHB, DMG & Monster Manual and then I brought back a series that I liked that is gear and loot for both casters and melee players.

click HERE to download the psd’s if you want to mess with them.

Just finished my Gamma World Origins card series. With the game now having 48 origins (Plus engineered human = 49), having my players roll on 3 separate charts is lame. So  now I have these cards and I can just shuffle them and have the players draw 2 cards for their origins and then reshuffle for the next player.

HERE is the set if you want to download them, I also made backs for the cards HERE. If you have suggestions or want a card for a origin you made please let me know, I’d be happy to add more to the set.

So I’ve been listening to this pretty much all day, and I decided to share it. It’s all your favorite Christmas songs done in 8-bit style. They are well done too, not the horrible recent 8-bit music that seems to be considered passable by most people (I’m looking at you Saberpulse and you Unicorn Kid and 75% of your stuff Anamanaguchi.) You can’t just make bleep-bloop noises and be considered a Chip-tune band, you need rhythm.

Anyway, HERE you go, enjoy, and merry xmas fellow nerds, geeks, dweebs and general outcasts. See you in the new year!

So my business cards / CD’s and DVD covers are done. They all came out looking great with one minor complaint. For some reason my dark blue gradient on the back of the cards comes out more purple. I’ve tried to color correct it a few times. Things like this make me wish I had a Pantone book, so I could get the exact CMYK colors.