Sunday, October 9, 2005

The future.

Remember the title to my last post? "Success is the best revenge"? I really love that quote. I feel that if anyone is ever in doubt of what you say, your work can always speak for you. That's always been true of Adam, Justin and I...and it'll be even more true in the future. Right now, there are three major projects being worked on by the three of us: Art of Otaku, myOtaku 3.0 and OB Evolution. Art of Otaku is the furthest along, with OB Evolution being at the earliest stage of development. Previously, although I've been able to discuss our future plans in a vague way (with certain specifics), it's been difficult for me to confirm a lot of details. What I say on this page is usually just my own thoughts - by that I mean, I generally don't make it a habit to officially announce anything here. But from time to time, I'm happy to reveal details about works-in-progress. Art of Otaku, for example, is something that we've been developing for quite some time. I haven't been involved with the project (though I may be involved in some of the finishing stages before release), so it's hard for me to gauge exactly how long it's been in development. I do know, however, that Adam has been editing it for the past month or so. I had seen a couple of individual chapters and today, I saw the full beta version (in other words, the edited copy with all chapters, sans various final touches). I'm very excited about the project, because I think it could open a lot of doors for the network. I'm sure that you've seen "how to draw manga" books and web sites before. Afterall, many fan artists uses these references to help them learn about their favourite visual style. What we are doing is similar, with a few key differences. First of all, Art of Otaku will contain nine different artists. Each artist has provided multiple tutorials and they all follow an incredibly understandable format. Each tutorial is colour-coded and features an introduction, which basically lays out what materials you'll need and so on. One thing that really struck me was the amount of steps in each tutorial. You literally have your hand held every step of the way - we're talking updated imagery for very small additions in each tutorial. This means that you'll never be confused about moving from one step to another; there's tremendous detail in even the most simple linework. Furthermore, Art of Otaku is big. I mentioned nine artists, right? But I should also mention that their tutorials cover 752 pages in all. So, Art of Otaku is something that will keep people going for a long time and hopefully it can be used as reference material in the future as well. Best of all, there's lots of variety. We have an entire chapter related to drawing dozens of facial expressions/emotions and we also have a chapter based around chibi characters. There are also tutorials for male and female characters (and even drawing male and female bodies at different angles - there are entire tutorials dedicated to these differences). I do not know what the final price will be for Art of Otaku, but I think it will really appeal to our visitors. The success of Art of Otaku will also help to more clearly define the overall value of our network. I think that on some level, it will help us to gauge how we can offer myOtaku Premium as well. Speaking of myOtaku, there are a few interesting developments on that front as well. Obviously I cannot provide you with a complete feature list, but I can say that right now we are focusing on the free version of the site. myOtaku Premium will launch later. By approaching things this way, we can ensure that we are able to really focus on making the free service the best it can be. We can then spend time making additions for Premium. I keep in contact with Justin on a frequent basis, when it comes to this project. Adam, Justin and I are all involved in some manner. There are many exciting prospects. With the new version of myOtaku, it will be possible to import old blogs (from other blog sites, such as Blogger.com) to myOtaku. It should be a seamless process that will not require technical knowledge. In addition, we are investigating the possibility of allowing members to synchronize their myOtaku account with multiple other blog services simultaneously. So if you update one blog, your myOtaku will update itself in accordance. Again, this can be done with minimal technical knowledge. But there's so much more. We are also looking at offering desktop-based software that will act as a kind of RSS feed tool, to allow you to retrieve myOtaku updates from any page without visiting the site. It will even be possible for us to create a new, myOtaku-based chat system within this same piece of software. Whether we do that or not is really based on further testing, but all of these things are what we're looking at right now. I can also tell you that for myOtaku Basic users (ie: free users), you will still have tremendous customization of your page. We will be dramatically expanding styling options, while simultaneously simplifying the page layout. One thing that I'm happy about is that our logo will no longer be displayed on myOtaku pages - instead, there will be a text link. This way, there will be no graphics from us on your page. That, in turn, means that there isn't anything clashing with your own styling and graphics. For my part, I'm still working very hard on the design of the new backroom and so on. There are still various alternatives floating around and my goal is still to develop something that caters to anyone - particularly those who aren't 'net enthusiasts. So far I'm having some success on that, but the ultimate test will be when we finally launch the new service. And then there's OB Evolution. It's still incredibly early, so much so that I have yet to nail down many general aspects of it. However, I think it's worth mentioning that it will be more than a series of forums. Instead of looking like we've taken a Virtual Bulletin and dressed it up in OtakuBoards clothing...this site will feel purely like OtakuBoards, as though it were designed by us from the ground up in every way. Of much importance is the need to emphasize our uniqueness through software. For example, we have so many sticky threads on OB that relate to various things (ratings, for instance). Hard-wiring those things directly into the site will help to make everything feel more natural. Also, most of our new visitors originally come from theOtaku and myOtaku. Although I'm happy about that, I would like to see if we can make OB a gateway to the rest of the network. So, I would like to make it "more than just a forum" - it really has to be its own community site, which places less emphasis on useless vB features and more emphasis on general community access and creativity. I hope that I can talk in more specific detail about OB Evolution at some point soon. RiflesAtRecessNC: Ouch, a fever at Christmas? Not nice! I'm feeling much better now, though I still talk like a frog. ~_^ Sammy: Yeah, this will be my first and last piercing. I have no plans to get anything else. My sister, on the other hand, now has eight piercings. But I'd say that hers are mostly relatively subtle (she has a few earrings, a belly button ring, a lip ring and now a tongue ring). I wouldn't have the guts to get a tongue ring, really. lol I'm sure an earring would look good on you. ~_^ Also, this is what my sister looks like: So there you go, for those who may be curious. She sent this to me and gave me permission to put it up, so I thought I'd let you see it. Apparently she looks more like my mother, whereas I'm a mix of mum and dad. So some people think we look similar, others don't even know we are brother and sister. In fact, my sister often gets asked "is that your boyfriend?" about me. And that is uh...embarassing. Yeah. Alexus: Ahh yes...well, I really wish I could spend more time there. But it's tough, no? Still, I'll do my best. Today's running around Piken Square was great. Panda-chan: A panda tattoo, eh? That would be very cool. I do want to get a tattoo - just one - and I have a couple of ideas about that. Something small and private, no doubt. Annie-kun: I knew you'd appreciate it. ~_^ But then again, your sense of fashion is just too cool. Those boots of yours are the most awesome things on Earth. HalfBreed: Got a cold? Aw, no good! Hopefully you feel better soon. I'll send positive thoughts your way. Aaryanna: Aw, thank you much. That's very nice of you. I really never thought I'd get a piercing, it's only something I've wanted to do in the last few months. As far as they go, it's pretty light stuff. But I'm happy enough with that. Like I said earlier, I could never get a tongue one or anything...that's getting a bit too real for me, haha (even though tongue piercings can be rather cool). John: I'm happy to hear that my spike offends you! But seriously, it's very cool. It's relatively small...I want to get something larger in future. And of course, the benefit is that I can put any kind of thing in there that I want now...be it a spike, a ring, or something else. ^_^ Baronness: Don't worry, I'm told by everyone who's seen it that it dramatically improves my fuckability. That can't be a bad thing, right?

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