Someone recently asked me if everything was alright with me, and pointed out that I've been very quiet here over the last little while. This is quite true, so I just thought I'd give an update on what's happening in general.

The first thing I'm doing is decompressing. It's been a long two years split between commissions and sketch blitzes and game development and for a while I just need to not.

I've been filling my days with some professional development, learning new skills I'll need for the next game. Bastard Bonds was always intended as a side project to help fund Townseed, so my next move will be to go back to work on Townseed. I'll be redoing it from the ground up, and I'm honestly itching to get started.

I'm still doing a few streams a week, just on this and that, but I haven't been announcing them, because the content is often watching me type numbers, and honestly just because I've been lazy about announcing them. Do feel free to stop in at any time or subscribe to the stream if you want automatic notices.

Aside from this, the next time you'll be hearing a lot of noise from me will probably be for this year's Orctober Tuskbuddy Exchange. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this year, and I really can't think of a better way to cleanse than to just cram orcs in all of my eyeholes for a solid month.

Anyway, that's it for now. See you soon.

So.. it's finally happened. Today I got an email from Steam saying that Bastard Bonds has been selected for sale on Steam! I'm so thrilled!

There's a lot of work yet to be done, I have to learn how to use their SDK and make any necessary compatibility tweaks, do achievements and trading cards and such, but once that's all done, the game will be properly available on Steam! That means those of you using paypal will finally be able to get the game!

Thanks so much to everyone who voted and supported the project! I've got a lot of work ahead of me now but I'll be sure to make an announcement when the preparations are finally complete!

Help me get Bastard Bonds on steam! Vote for the game and see if we can get it pushed through!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...../?id=682180703

Check it out! They gave me such a good score! :o

http://gamesnosh.com/bastard-bonds-review/

I was asked to speak about my new project by  mickeybamboo

You can hear lots of details about how the game was made and general history and direction of my game work here -
https://soundcloud.com/mickey-bambo.....ame-devlopment

Check it out!

A while ago I sat down for a talk with  mickeybamboo regarding what makes me tick. If you're interested, check it out here - https://soundcloud.com/mickey-bambo.....captaingerbear

We'll be screening it in my stream this afternoon.

Well that was interesting.  mickeybamboo asked me to participate in a discussion about videogays. You can check it out here if you like -

https://soundcloud.com/mickey-bambo.....in-video-games

After a dizzying month of activity, the 2015 tuskbuddy exchange is finally concluded. We had a 97% increase in participation this year, with well over 300 individual illustrations, so it's been a busy one. A big thanks to everybody who participated, especially to those who went above and beyond what they signed up for. Stand proud knowing that you too are doing your part to fill every corner of the internet with pictures of green weiners.

Without further ado, I present to you this year's gallery. Just click on any name to get started.

http://bigfingers.ca/Orctober2015/

I know it stands to reason if you read the deadlines, but the submissions for this year's Tuskbuddy Exchange are closed!

I'm now compiling the final gallery for release on November 1st!

We've had over 300 submissions this year so it's a lot to go through! I'll make an announcement then!

I am pleased to say that See no Evil is available for sale once more, at a permanently discounted price. I'll be floating this link around in the usual places, but big thanks to BMT Micro for being so helpful!

http://bigfingers.ca/SNE/

Well, I don't know if anybody else uses/used the service or not, but Selz.com, the service I have been using to process sales for See no Evil for the past two years, has ammended their TOS to disallow adult products, and summarily canned my account. They have assured me that I will still receive payout for all sales made to date, but they will not be processing further sales. It's a bit of a shock, admittedly, but it also blows my mind that I'm still getting any sales at all on the game after two years, trickling though they may be. Thank you to everybody who contributed to that.

Now, as I resist the urge to poop in a paper bag addressed to Selz HQ, I begin the search for another provider, since I was hoping to make an addition to my game library very soon. Hopefully this will be a brief interruption, but we shall see.

My commission list is now full.

If you've already begun negotiation with me but we haven't finalized, and you still want a slot, don't worry, I'll still put you in, but I will not be taking more new ones past that, sorry!

I don't know how many of you follow  ryuumajin, but he's asked me to help him get the word out about his current comic project.

He's making a follow-up to the comic featuring Montero and Zedd, which I really enjoyed (I did some fanart for that comic quite a while back), and he is looking for a little support. If you're interested in the details, you can find more over here - http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6465290/

I was thinking about the 'more than two' rules as they stand right now. Presently it's - "If you want to do another one after you complete your two, you'll get another one at random", but I had someone ask if he could choose. While that's not presently the way it's set up, I thought I'd see how you guys feel about it. Perhaps a rules change is in order? On the one hand, I want everybody to have an equal chance to be represented in the event, but on the other hand, I think that overachievers should be rewarded somehow. Please, discuss.

I will be notifying everybody individually, but as a point of reference, here is the matchup list!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u.....toberList.html

Here are your Orctober tuskbuddy matchups! Remember that your objective is to create a finished piece based on each of these sketches - you can simply color the sketch, but you are also encouraged to add finished linework, paint overtop of it, clarify or adjust anything that seems unclear, and otherwise just make a nice finished product to the best of your ability. Make sure it's clear your finished piece is based on the original. Resubmit the finished pieces the same way you submitted the first one. The resolution should remain 800x800. If a signiture or URL exists on the image, you must leave it intact, and you may add one of your own.

The deadline is October 24th, after which I will begin compiling the participants gallery. Good luck and happy
Orctober!

My slots are all filled up so I will be closing commissions now, until I've cleared them out. Thanks!

As you may guess from the title I am now officially open for commissions. My rates are based on the content of the image, so if you're interested, note me with a description and I will give you a quote!

Okay so someone recently used my skype account to rob me of a bunch of money. To top things off, skype is being really shitty about dealing with it.

The theft was carried out as follows -

The thief created a skype manager account. Presumably used for businesses and such to manage multiple accounts.

My account was added to the manager as a 'client' account.

My auto top-up threshold was changed so that it would immediately trigger and add funds to my account. This was done without even requiring access to my payment information.

Using the manager, funds were transferred from my account to someone else's. Presumably the thief's.

I was booted from the manager, and the process was presumably repeated with someone else.

This all happened while I was actually logged into and using skype, and I didn't get so much as a blip or a notification that someone was trying to add me to a manager. I didn't get a double-log-in warning or anything similar. Did they even need my skype password to do this?

At this point, skype suspends my account for "Suspicious activity", which logs me out and causes me to actually notice all of this stuff. They tell me that the transfer was blocked even though my bank account clearly shows completed transfers.

Now this would be fine, but skype's 'conflict resolution' amounts to a bunch of reps just telling me to change my password and really blatantly ignoring that I was robbed, even though they were the ones who first identified the suspicious activity. They keep talking about "Your problem with skype manager" and "Your account suspension" even though I keep saying "Those aren't the problems. I was charged and I want my money back", and I keep providing them with my payment records (which they have not once asked me for).

This is apparently not an isolated incident either, as a quick forum search reveals.


Change your passwords. Not just your banking passwords.

If you have any kind of auto top-up option on your skype account, cancel it and add funds manually when you need them.


EDIT - My money has been refunded via a chargeback from my bank, so the damage has more or less been mitigated. If this happens to anybody else, deal with Skype as little as possible - they'll just tell you to change your passwords anyway.

So quite a while ago I hashed out a song collaboration with the talented  hammerspace , and the result is finally finished.

Here it is
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12862946/

I wrote and performed the lyrics, and he did all of the sound design. It was a really interesting experiment! I'm by no means a professional (though I consider myself a competent wordsmith) but I do love to dink around with music all the same. Go check it out!

Of course you don't. Well go check this out. A birthday present for me from the wonderful  spookeedoo. Love. Give it. To him I mean, for his great work.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/12065698/

I've made some little jibs here and there about annoying comments but I thought it would be educational to compile them all into one place.

These are things that many people repeat ad nauseum that tend to get annoying. Although you are free to continue to say them, be aware that you will be the target of narrowed eyes and exasperated sighing.

In no particular order -

1 - Most one-word utterances, including but not limited to "Smexy", "Hawt", "Rawr", and "First". Adding hearts, beer mugs, or smileys does not mitigate this.

2 - "Dat Ass" which is approximately the same as saying "Hawt".

3 - "The Plot Thickens". Really? That's like saying "Events have occurred".

4 - "That Escalated Quickly", which is almost the same as "The Plot Thickens" except that it means "An event happened unexpectedly"

<EDIT>

5 - "Why do I get the feeling something bad is about to happen?" - Say it on every single goddamn page and eventually you'll be right. Aren't you clever?

</EDIT>

On the flipside, I think that most people will agree the best comments are ones that actually show some thought. For me at least, the most rewarding comments are the ones that show an understanding, an involvement, and evidence that the person making the comment spent actual thinking power on the piece. If I've made someone think, I feel I've done a good job. For those of you who've participated in my various puzzles in good faith, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Note that this doesn't necessarily mean someone writing out a novella as a comment. I've also had plenty of comments that were long and didn't actually indicate that any brain cells were flexed at all, believe me. A simple comment on a subtle detail can be enough to say "Hey, I was paying attention", and those are also very rewarding.

Some food for thought. That is all.

Apparently the illuminati have made it impossible for little dudes like me to sell an adult product online. I'm hoping someone can give me some information that gets me on the right track here. Particularly for those of you who've sold adult products online, I'd be very interested in hearing how you went about it. It's quite exciting to finish up this project, but unbelievably frustrating to run into a roadblock at every attempt to set up some kind of online store for it.

Thanks in advance. I'm about at my wits' end over this.

And I would appreciate it if "Lie to paypal" comments just don't get made, thanks. I'm not going to risk that.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/10423068/

Go give him all of the loves! Do it!

So, it's finally official - I am once again open for commissions.

I don't have a specific list of prices, but most common subjects range from $80-$160. Note me a writeup with references and I can give you a quote.

I've been ripping through them quickly, so my queue is currently empty. I'm not looking for a specific number, but I'll queue up a few at any given time.

I don't know how many ladyfolk actually follow me (I can only think of like 5 off the top of my head) but I am in need of a lady voice actor to record three (3) lines as a news anchor for a small project.

It's not much, and I'm not really rolling in dough at the moment, but I'll happily give a Grant cameo for it (as it's something Grant-related)

If you're interested, please do let me know. Big plus if you've got a sample voice track already.