Author: Ryan JL

Website administrator and artist.

Upright in Blue

Posted on 2023/05/28 by Ryan JL
Preview of the Quake map, Upright in Blue, showing the lobby area of the office building.
The Office Lobby

Upright in Blue is another Quake map, this time built on Arcane Dimensions. I put it together roughly over two weeks in total for Explore Jam 3. As such, the map doesn’t feature any combat, and instead focuses on exploration and collection of secrets (in this specific case, company memos).

It’s based on the locations seen at the start of Center World, Chapter 7, when Heather visits Darzi at Calgary Gate. This time, the building is explored at night, when it is (mostly) empty. However, you will learn that someone is aware of your presence.

The jam as a whole is quite varied, with a lot of sink your teeth into. Simon “Sock” O’Callaghan has contributed two maps, in addition to the start map, which itself is filled with puzzles to solve and much to explore. Aesopolis’ contribution, Nook of the Earth, is one of my personal favorites, that I also highly recommend checking out!

Some of these maps will cause Quakespasm to crash. It is recommend to play with VKQuake or Ironwail.

Download Explore Jam 3, now released on Slipseer.

Licked Clean

Posted on 2023/05/24 by Ryan JL

I’m working on a little bit more of a buffer before I post more comic updates, since I want the next few pages to appear closer together!

Meanwhile, I’ve put together a couple more Quake maps over the course of the past few months. One is yet to be released, since it is part of a larger map pack, but is complete. The other has been released over the weekend, as part of Dog Jam, a fun little project with a restriction on using just the rottweiler.

The map is titled Licked Clean. You are stripped of your weapons and fed to the dogs in a metal dungeon.

Screenshot of Quake, previewing the gateway (in the shape of a dog's mouth) and a green armor pick-up.

The custom models by Kebby really elevated this to something a little more fun and unique; however, I do think the concept was somewhat under-utilized, where I wish more people joined in. All-in-all, this was a neat piece to practice with.

You can find and download Dog Jam on Slipseer.

Lost in the Sauce

Posted on 2023/03/12 by Ryan JL
A view of the "market" from cs_italy, ported to Quake.
Aerial view of a “market.”

I had to let my drawing hand heal some after a small injury last week. Since I still wanted to do something creative with my time, I put together another map for Quake, this time for a speed mapping event. It’s titled Lost in the Sauce.

It’s a remake of cs_italy (Counter-Strike: Source), with some added Quake flavor for single player, along with some small extra added areas that I felt could exist within the original map. I ran right up to the wire with the time limit, so I had to rush a couple of sections, but I’m pretty happy overall with how this one turned out!

A more recognizable point of view from cs_italy, ported to Quake.
A more recognizable point of view for cs_italy.

You can download it with the Quad Run II map pack over on Slipseer.

A few of my personal favorites in the pack are Get Digging! by Pinchy, The Dissolution of Mind & Matter by Repator, and Dances with Quads by Mazu.

Rancid Retrofit

Posted on 2022/11/10 by Ryan JL

It’s been a while!

I mentioned this in the comments for my latest comic page: I’ve been busy! I’ve ended up with my own house, so my life’s been consumed with furniture shopping, rearranging things, and figuring out how things are supposed to work out. As a result, I’ve had to take a break from updating the comic. I’m slowly getting back to it, now that I’m settled in again, and I hope to post some new pages soon once I feel comfortable with a small buffer.

In between all of that, I’ve also taken to dabbling in some new things lately, including mapping for Quake after discovering Trenchbroom. This isn’t my first experience with game development or mapping, but it is my first experience doing anything like that in a true 3D space! The result is my first completed map, Rancid Retrofit, which was created as part of Sewer Jam 2.

It’s a Rubicon 2 themed map, and has a few fancy tricks going on, thanks to the Alkaline mod, such as working ladders and rising water. There are also new enemies that don’t exist in regular Quake.

If you’re not familiar with Alkaline, I definitely recommend checking out the page and playing the mod’s campaign. Of course, you’ll need a source port, and the .pak files in the id1 folder from the original Quake game to play.

Sewer Jam 2 on Slipseer.

Dead Light

Posted on 2020/10/31 by Ryan JL

Happy Halloween! This year, I have a story written by Di, featuring Iris & Phoenix, to present for the occasion.

Dead Light Paperback Cover

Sometimes things felt just plain wrong.

Not wrong like realizing too late that you answered incorrectly on the test, or say the wrong thing in front of your girlfriend’s parents. Wrong with a capital w, and it was persistent. Not constant, thank god, but close enough to it that it was starting to make everyone feel on edge. Iris was agitated, tapping the tips of her pointed fingers on the edge of the boat, while Phoenix kept himself busy leaning against the mast, flicking a lighter open and closed with his thumb. He should have retired below deck with Midnight, away from the churning visuals of the water around them, but neither spotwould lessen the misery brewing.

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Using the Affinity Graphics Suite

Posted on 2020/02/16 by Ryan JL

For quite a while now, I’ve been using the Affinity graphics suite in place of Adobe’s offerings. They don’t replace every function I use regularly, especially at my job, but they’ve proven to be good enough for my personal work. As these applications have been updated, and with the recent release of Affinity Publisher, they do seem to be quickly becoming complete replacements for some of Adobe’s offerings.

Below are some of my thoughts, from the perspective of someone who currently works in printing.

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A Send-Off To 2018

Posted on 2018/12/30 by Ryan JL

Hey there! It’s almost 2019!

Preview

2018 a wild roller-coaster of a year, and I’ve been kept incredibly busy outside of comics. I’m hoping I’ll have more time to devote to personal projects again next year. I still have a lot I’ve been planning to do.

In the meantime, here’s a special pin-up of Dana I’ve made for the end of this year:

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