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RRU Comic Collab: Towerfall


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Comic Collab: Towerfall

 

We all remember Art Battle. It was fun, but it had issues; the rules weren't as strict as they needed to be, and as a competitive game, it ultimately ended up with a lot of drama and a loss interest. It didn't stop the initial contributions from being fun to create and fun to read, however.

 

I'm deciding to bring it back as a cooperative story this time. Drive by the whole community, we'll be working together (or not, see Suggestions) against a common foe who seeks to bring an end to our business as a whole. You will design your persona, their space, and their contributions towards the final duel to end all duels. Can we survive the darkness that is to come? Will The Tower fall?

 

This OP will give a bit of clarification and some ideas on how we're going to proceed. Have fun!

 

We are currently in the PROLOGUE phase. Time to post information on your characters. I will be posting information on McJobless, the Big Bad and their forces, as well as some general information about The Tower's rooms soon.

 

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Phases

 

Doing this as one mess of images would not be very entertaining; the goal is to make a cohesive product which we can look back on and enjoy. I'm tiering out the content into phases, so at each phase you have an idea of what to do.

 

Part 1: Prologue - Introductions
There's no real story at this point; during this phase, all we need to do is post reference images and background information on your persona. We want a record of who is who, so when other people want to use your character in their story, they have a reference on how to depict you and what things they need to know about. Describe a little history of your persona and their strengths, weaknesses. Also, give us a detailed description of your floor if you own one (anything above White Member, see the rules for more info) and what you can find in there. Visuals will help, but are only necessary for the character.

 

If you miss out during this phase, you can still contribute your introduction later before you join the story. This is really just a warm up period to gauge interest.

 

Part 2: Act 1 - The Day-to-Day
Before the story really starts, it'd be good to setup what our characters do on a daily basis, their relationships to the other characters, and also place any Chekhov's Guns and foreshadow any plot points that you would like to become relevant later. Remember, something is coming to invade, but you're not aware of that yet.

 

Part 3: Act 2 - The Warning
The Big Bad has made their claim. War is coming. How are you preparing? What side are you taking? What can you find out about the big bad?

 

Part 4: Act 3 - The Coup
War has arrived. With help from inside or not, they've breached the gates, and their portal technology is allowing them to assault every floor in force, one-by-one. Can you withstand the opposition, or is the end nigh?

 

Part 5: Act 4 - A Golden Age
It's all over. One side won, the other to leave in search of a new home. Did your characters make it out okay? Are there happy prospects on the horizon?

 

Part 6: Epilogue - Wrap-Up
With all said and done, it's time to reflect back on what happened, what we liked, didn't like and what we want to do for the next Comic Collab.

 

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Rules

 

Keep It Clean
Let's try and keep the discussion around the comics as general as possible. No spoilers for future plot events, but subtle foreshadowing and exposition is fine within the comic panels. If you don't like what somebody posted, let us know, but let's not turn it into a big brew-hah-hah. Art Battle is a good example of what happens when we let unchecked drama off the chain.

 

Anything is Art
The goal of Comic Collab is to bring people together to make something entertaining. If you can't draw, you needed exclude yourself; any kind of visuals will work so long as they convey your story. I personally will be making my strips with Garry's Mod, but you can use anything else such as LEGO Digital Designer, 3D Modeling applications, photos of physical toys, 2D Stick Figures or, hell, even just photos of sticks. Just make sure we understand what's happening.

 

The Six Limit
To keep a good flow going and in the interest of fairness, you're allowed upto 6 panels in one post, and then you must wait for somebody else to post before you go again. Exceptions can be made if you need to edit a panel, if somebody asks for clarification, or if the topic has been quiet for a while and you want to kick up some activity, but when it is busy let's try and be respectful of everybody's ability to contribute.

 

Cooperative Experience
This is a co-op game, and unless you're going in with the intent to ruin everything, it's absolutely crucial that you respect what other people want to do with their characters. There needs to be both Yielding and Blocking where appropriate. If you want to include another character in your panels, discuss your plot ideas with people over PMs to seek their approval and permission before you do anything drastic, and that way we can make a better story when we tangle two or more arcs together.

 

Your Reputation Precedes You
Your persona in this series starts out with the same rank as your real life account. What does this mean? It has an affect on your reputation (far more scrutiny and expectation for the highest members, whereas lower members can blend in and stealth better) and your overall skill/ability (higher members have been around longer and are far stronger than the newbies). White Members don't even have access to their own personal floors yet. Promotions/Demotions can be handed out freely as part of the story; just make sure you justify why you're getting a different role, and make it somewhat sensible (don't immediately jump yourself to mod from a Bronze Member).

 

No Gods, No Kings
Absolutely under no circumstances should any character, outside of the main antagonist (which is the reason why you need to group together) be overpowered. Every persona must have strengths and flaws. Yes, higher ranked characters can be ultimately more powerful (in whatever way you like, be it smarts, brute strength, cunning etc), but none of us are a one-man-army. Do not give your persona every single ability that you got from an RPG, and give your character interesting flaws that can make the story more entertaining, such as a character who must snack on cheese every 5 minutes, or somebody with crippling social anxiety that puts them in the shadows most of the time.

 

As an extension of this rule; if you are the kind of person to have an army or business of some sort (such as a battalion of robots or a drug smuggling operation), try and keep it fair. Remember that there's only one elevator between all floors, and it can fit 10 people at most. Furthermore, your floor should not have literally everything you need to single-handedly ward off the bad guy. Keep it reasonable and within the personality of your character.

 

We Only Care About You
Don't throw in a whole group of random sidekicks and make them the central characters of your plot arc. You, and how you interact with other RRU members, are the central focus of this whole thing. You can have soldiers, robots, pirates or whatever, but don't be afraid to ignore them if it means you can further the plot of your own character.

 

There's A World To Explore
Nobody likes a story where the character just sits in their room the whole time brooding. Leave. There's many common areas to vist, and you can also go pester/talk to the other personas floating about on their individual levels. If you need to advance some of your plot in your own space individually, fine, but make sure that you at least try to go out and mingle a little bit (even if it's just staring as other characters walk by while you're hidden in the shadows). The whole experience depends on interactions between characters.

 

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Plot Idea Suggestions

 

Alliances
Just because you're all working to the same goal doesn't mean that you're on the same side. You might particularly dislike one individual, or suspect somebody of foul play. Who can you really trust? Having a strong alliance with other characters may very well prove handy in the acquisition of certain resources, and creating groups with singular rules, ideals and purposes might just boost your combined strength. Just hope that no cracks begin to form...

 

Betrayal
Sure, I can storywank a way for the big bad to get inside The Tower, but it would be more interesting if somebody was responsible for opening the doors. Do you really want to help the people in this community? Remember that time somebody judged your work really harshly? Maybe they should burn. All you need to do is pick up the phone...

 

Relationships
I don't just mean romantic (but that would be f****ing hilarious); the way you handle other characters is everything, Who are your best friends? Who are your worst enemies? If war is coming, you're going to need backup.

 

Brain Over Brawn
Physical strength or special powers are one thing, but what if you had the technology, materials and know-how that others need most? You would be an extremely desirable person to get on side, and that might just give you some unique benefits...

 

Quests
If you have a bit of power over somebody, why not use it? Handing out quests is a great way to kick the story in gear, especially if it involves screwing or supporting somebody else's own plotline.

 

Chekhov's Guns
Everybody has something special, tucked away for emergencies. Something they treasure or value highly. It could literally be a gun, or another item, a skill or a bit of knowledge. Whatever brings you power, make sure you foreshadow it, but save it until the darkest hour.

 

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The Tower

 

RRU Incorporated Tower was first written way back, as a kind of fun joke thing. As of now, it's the main piece of this story and so we need to know a bit about the mechanics.

 

  • As a general note, any existing level numbers are irrelevant, and there's no need to specify which level you're on. It's too much work to organise and categorise everything like that. Feel free to disregard any existing floors referenced in that topic, unless you wish to add them to the story or somebody already has.
  • RRU Tower is in the middle of nowhere, isolated from the rest of the world, accessible only by air. There is no external help; all our resources are generated naturally inside the building.
  • RRU's main export is forum posts. These are generated on the first and second floor. Employees must do their shift on the floor, browsing topics and posting information or memes.
  • There are thousands of levels (both ceiling and basement), all connected by a single elevator. This is why the forum goes down a lot; people stall the elevator preventing work from getting done and creating downtime.
  • People below the Bronze threshold are restricted to the Ground Floor reception, Level 1 office and the Barracks. Everybody else has almost free reign of the building, including The Library which contains the knowledge-base of all RRU Wisdom and many of the common areas, such as the The Cheese Room, the various Cafes, the Printing Room and so forth.
  • The entire tower is powered by the lowest level's incredible Crystal Generator. Certain members are chosen with the tough duty of extracting or producing crystals to feed the generator.
  • The rooftop is so high, it requires an oxygen tank to survive.
  • You are free to generate Public Rooms or Special Rooms on the fly, such as a Pizzeria Level or a Discord Floor (which would need a pass to access), especially if they can contribute to the story. If you are a Bronze Member or above, you also have a floor all to yourself. You may choose the size and the contents (as per the rules), but be aware that anybody can enter at any time.

 

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Community Characters

 

Are you to busy to contribute? Still concerned that you aren't able to produce good quality content for use as part of this collab? That's fine; create a character introduction and mark them as a "Community Character".

 

Community Characters are free for the rest of the community to use in their comics however they see fit; rather than being the focus of their artists wishes, they're community designed plot tools to create interesting story. As an example, because I'm controlling the main bad guy, McJobless (one of the more powerful people in RRU) is going to be a community character.

You'll still need to make an introduction post with as much detail as possible so the artists get interested in using you for their stories.

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I'm incredibly excited to see how this turns out!

 

...or, at least, how this turns out, if it goes well.

* Crossed fingers *

 

 

I'll get to work on my short character bio.

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someswedish

Sounds very interesting, though i have a few questions bout the character description.

 

what do we write about out characters? their story? their personality/quirks? their desires/quests?

Should we write everything about them or keep certain things secret so that we can have twists on the story?
Do we need to have some sort of image of them or description of what they look like?

Anyhow, I'm probably going to join in on this.

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Oh hey, this sounds like a neat thing! To get the ball rolling a bit here's a quick profile for moi, feel free to give criticism and such on it:

 

-----------------------------------

 

22780260128_f8eb9be53b_z.jpg

 

BIO:

Ayliffe (pictured above experiencing the sights of his hometown from the simulation floor) is very much the memeing type as things go, always spending a ton o' time on the discord floor pissing about with mates and general just having a right old laugh instead of, y'know, actually forum-posting. When not on the discord floor (and in a determined mood), Ayliffe can produce his most reliable output: lego-based photography and MOCs (yes I know he's a lego minifig himself don't question it), which he rather enjoys posting on the forum floors and showing off a bit. He doesn't really go into his history before the forum, less because it's super-secret and more because it's really boring and uninteresting (although some have speculated this is actually a cover for something).

 

In the calmest of situations he's very much the one most likely to whip out photoshop, do a meme and lighten the mood, but when trouble strikes the first of his big ol' character flaws sets in: he's quite nervous under pressure. A single goon is enough to get him into a slight panic, so as you can imagine a whole army of 'em is gonna bring up some interesting results. He's not exactly the strongest or battle-experienced members out there either, but he can do the basics if absolutely necessary (clumsily swinging a sword, being able to fire a gun with not that much accuracy, etc).

 

b4F57mB.png

 

FLOOR 9898:

As someone who enjoys the comforts of home, at the first possible opportunity Ayliffe hired out contractors to remove his old house and airlift it here to it's new home - Floor 9898 of the RRU tower. Due to not really needing any more space than what the house provides (and frankly not being bothered enough to do anything more), the rest of the floor is pretty much a massive empty warehouse-like space. The inside of the house has all the usual features of a normal house, with the addition of an overly-large computer (dubbed the "Mean Meme Machine") and a small teleporter that only goes to the Discord floor (it also goes to the Skype floor, but it hasn't been used for that in years). Some say there's a secret lab in the basement of the house, but this has so far never been proved.

 

-----------------------------------

 

That's what I've got so far, feel free to point out anything I've missed and whatnot!

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this sounds neat! and it sounds like a good way to get myself to draw more regularly! :unikitty:

 

I'm a few weeks out from the end of the semester, so I think I'll wait til then before I decide on whether or not to jump in for sure.

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3 hours ago, someswedish said:

what do we write about out characters? their story? their personality/quirks? their desires/quests?

Anything that helps the other contributors understand who your character is and how they behave. A brief introduction to their story and  lot of detail about their personality, quirks, strengths and weaknesses would be fantastic.

 

4 hours ago, someswedish said:

Should we write everything about them or keep certain things secret so that we can have twists on the story?

Unless the character has made it public knowledge, try and keep their deepest desires, quests and secrets, well, secret for now. Reveal them through the comics to come.

 

4 hours ago, someswedish said:

Do we need to have some sort of image of them or description of what they look like?

Absolutely critical, as per what it says in the OP. The other contributors need a reference of what your character looks like, and it also will help us understand your art-style.

 

Good questions.

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someswedish

Right, so here's my character description.

4dCCNVo.png

 

Name

 

Mr.TheSweDragon


Introduction

 

After getting into the tower through methods unknown, SweDragon was at first worried that the residents would be hostile towards his due to being a dragon, but after they saw through his rather sloppy disguise he was surprised to see that they where quite welcoming to have a friendly dragon around.

 

As an artist, SweDragon often draws various stuff (mostly involving dragons) that he sometimes shares to the people on the tower, besides that he is rather much of a slacker and doesn't really contribute much to the tower, however his generous donation to the tower has not only landed him with the rank of platinum member but also made people not mind much about his lack of contribution.

 

Bio

 

This Swedish dragon here is usually a calm quiet person, but when spending time with good friends he become a rather jolly and goofy dragon who enjoys doodling cartoon dragons and other stuff in occasion.

 

As a person he is a rather patient and modest person who enjoys helping strangers if possible, in the forums he spends most of the times lurking since he doesn't really have anything meaningful to post. he is usually more active on the discord floor, though mostly he just shares the random doodles and art he conjures up on occasion.

 

SweDragon is not a social nor confident person, he prefers to spend time by himself as he finds it very relaxing, therefore he finds no pleasure in social medias and  trends that circles around like modern memes and obsessive self portrait taking.

 

In a creative aspect he prefers to create original works, though he does enjoy the occasional fan work, he believes that creative growth and good humor comes form using ones own ideas rather than following threads and remixing already created content.

 

Strengths

 

As a dragon, Mr.TheSweDragon has a easier time interacting with his own kind. he is also rather durable and has limited abilities to fly and breath fire, his preference of melee weapons is sword and shield while ranged is shotgun.

in combat, he is rather stubborn and wont hesitate to charge into the enemy fearlessly.

 

Weakness

 

SweDragon has little to no sense of tactics, he usually charges headfirst into battle without a second though, which often causes him to get into more trouble than he thought. SweDragon lack of confidence also means that he really hesitates to take leading positions and rather let other people make difficult decisions.

 

Desires/Quest

 

As a dragons, he simply does not tolerate any harm to his kind, and hold resentment of anybody who harms them regardless of their reasoning. He rather reason with dragons if they turn hostile, or at least ensure that they both get out of the conflict unharmed.

 

Other than that he doesn't have much of a ambition at all, and is willing to help any friend that needs his assistance.

 

Physical description

 

His body is pear shaped with orange scales and yellow belly scales, he has a slightly longer neck compared to humans and has a tail almost as long as his body's height. His very small wings can lift him for a small period of time, even though it looks that it would not be possible.

 

He has curved horns and a round snout with finns for mustache, he also has fins round his cheeks. His arms almost reach to the bottom of his torso and his legs are rather short and stubby. There are 4 clawed fingers on his hands and 3 toed claws on his feet.

 

Being a dragon he technically does not need to wear clothes, as he does not have any modesty to protect unlike humans. However to make him blend in better and make people feel more comfortable with him, he wears a blue short sleeved shirt. he does hover not wear pants as he finds it uncomfortable with his large tail.

 

Finally He also wears a pink afro wig which he sometimes hides small objects in, otherwise he does not have any natural hair.

 

Apartment

 

His apartment contains four rooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a storage/hoard room.

 

His living room is doubles as his bedroom, in which he has his computer and desk, bed, a sofa and a bookcase containing random books he found around the tower.

The kitchen and bathroom is rather ordinary and boring.

 

His storage room is pretty much his treasure hoard, but instead of gold and jewels, it contains various nick-nacks he found around the tower like costumes, art supplies and other miscellaneous items.

 

Quirks

 

He Likes dragons, allot.

 

He doesn't eat much, but often consumes snacks and soda.

 

He often stores various thing he finds in his afro.

 

His laughter can get rather maniacal at times.

 

He possess various of costumes, armor, clothes and dresses people would wear in distant history past.

 

 

 

And that should be it, got rather long but hopefully its not to much of a problem.

 

(btw, The Wise Safety Dragon is just there for fun, hes not a sidekick or something, but if people wanted he could be a community character or something)

 

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I get the feeling I've missed out on important details about my character (or, at least important details about his behaviour), so if there is any critical information required in my persona's bio, please let me know, and I'll edit it in.

 

But other than that, here we go. Sign me up for the ride:

 

 

"Ben"

(Yes, I know, [sarcasm] totally unique name [/sarcasm], but I'm keeping it as evidence that he acts on my part)

 


VISUAL DESIGN:

xlnVxwi.png

A strangely shaped limb-less character, dressed in a typical black business suit (which he wears to look professional), with glasses and finely combed brown hair. Despite his lack of arms or legs, Ben has the ability to hover (and has short-range telekinesis for picking up light-weight objects such as pencils, coffee mugs, etc).

 

 

nOOtxwF.png

And sure enough, this persona design (unlike the earlier Cat one) can be recreated in other mediums, such as physical LEGO and Garry's Mod, for example.

 

NOTE:

(If you plan to use Garry's Mod or Source Filmmaker to make your comics, please PM me, and I'll send you the texture file - and instructions - to piece him together)

 

 

 

 

PERSONALITY/ACTIVITIES:

 

Ben is the quiet type. He doesn’t converse a lot, but he likes to listen (thinking of it as a form of social validation). He talked a lot in his early days, but after a few years, he became shy, scarred by many embarrassing awkward conversations (and pointless flame-wars).

When it's his turn to speak, he usually chats in a serious tone. Sometimes, he might try to answer in a light-hearted manner, but he is not comedy gold, so any of his attempts at humour are too complex or obscure to understand (which is sometimes enough to kill a conversation).

His queer nature has lead many people to believe that he is hiding a dark secret.

 

He usually hangs around the Discord floor or on social media when in the mood to join a conversation - occasionally checking the fourm and his inbox for new developments on RRU - but a lot of his time is spent sitting in the blank space of "9726 A" (see below), thinking up strange questions and their complicated answers.

 

Oh and also, don’t try showing him any horror related media, it won’t end well.

Trust me.

 

 

 

" FLOOR 9726* "

( * - If this number seems too high for my reputation, please let me know, and I'll downgrade it)

 

This floor consists of two decently-sized living spaces; room “9726 A” and room “ 9726 B” (the latter of which is occupied by Ben). Room “A” was used to house one of his closest friends, but since that person has been demoted to “inactive” status, Ben has reconfigured the second room into a white void, which he uses as his personal thinking space.

 

p6URnP3.jpg

My poor hand-drawn isometric representation of 9726 B.

I'm sure you can imagine what 9726 A, the white void, looks like.

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  • 1 year later...

I know I'm bumping a topic that has been in-active for a whole year, but I do have something relevant to post.

 

This summer, I decided to try and get into the swing of making comics (which at least gives me something to do, rather than lounging around doing nothing), and since I wanted to just jump straight into making something without the hassle of coming up with a plot, characters, environment, etc from scratch, I thought it would be a great idea to dig up RRU Towerfall and actually do something with it:

 

 

(Apologies for the not-so-stellar writing, it's the reason I prefer drawing rather than writing stories)

Jo9I2FF.png

 

QUFbKTi.png

 

 

I had three other strips planned out in advance (all to be released at the same time as this one), but since this was a small one-off I didn't want to invest too much time into it (plus this strip fits well with the six-panel limit) 

Besides, if someone decides to continue this, you'll likely come up with something more interesting than what I had in mind).

 

(I should probably explain that, although we've only got three characters, I was implying there were four because I misunderstood part of McJobless' topic OP - I thought he stated he was going to work on his own character bio, but I just realised he's only mentioning it as an example)

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  • 3 months later...
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