Brellom

[Blog] Ideas for Patreon Upgrade

So, as many of you know... My finances aren't great, and I'm earning less than 1% more money via Patreon than I was 2 years ago. I'm also more exhausted than I've ever been, to the point where success feels impossible to me... I really need to make my Patreon more exciting to help increase how many patrons I've got.

I don't really have any projects that most people care about, so in order to maximize income, I need to specifically target specific interests, like popular fan art and waif...

Test Poll

Patreon updated the website and made a bunch of things actually worse to use. I heard there might have been an issue with polls, so I'm testing it out. I've included five options - there is only one of each. If you see anything out of the ordinary before or after voting, let me know.

Collection: October 2023 Sketches

Beaumont - Untitled Vampire Hunter Game - Early Test Demo

There are a few minor bugs present, but it's playable enough. I'm not too concerned with optimal presentation right now, thus: there is no music, no boss, and a few features missing - but there are a few rooms  to test out the very basics of a working engine. Controls are included within zip file.

You can also download it on itch.io too.

Character Suggestion - Theme: Witch

I'm considering the return of patron suggestions & voting polls, though doing so may be at the expense of the typical quantity of pieces in our sketch collection threads. So, let's test that out.

This month's theme is "witch", though we can expand that other types of magical mages as well.

Rules:

- Suggest characters via comments.  
- You may LIKE other comments to show where your collective interests lie.
- Characters are NOT guar...

Dropbox - October 2023

Dropbox Folder HERE.

Using Dropbox's Services, you can see every drawing I've drawn over the last several years, with occasional artworks that are exclusive to the Dropbox archive itself.

Don't forget to eat & sleep.

[Concept] Assorted Beaumont Sketches

[Blog] On Change...

I think I'm hitting a point where I need to accept that I'm in a bad spot. My popularity on social media is plummeting and my posts aren't performing consistently well enough. So I often find myself asking whether anything I do matters. Growth is glacial and I'm earning less money.

If we compare my current income to the income I was earning via Patreon 1 year ago... I'm only earning 0.8% more money - that's not even a full 1% increase. That's not great - in fact, it's b...

Game Dev: Expanded Tiles & Boss Concept

I've expanded the level design tile set with: a statue, some cracked stone, pillars, and wooden platforms. I don't think I can make super detailed backgrounds like in CV or CotM right now, but I'd still like to do a little more if possible.

I probably can't create a super dynamic boss within the available time frame, especially since it's been a while since I last did any development work. That means I'll have to make use of other enemies and the level design to help carry it. Still, I ...

[Blog] September Plans - Game Dev Roadmap

So, we've got 4 weeks until October. Ideally, I'd like to publish a working demo within the first week of the month. I don't need a super fancy presentation - like a proper title screen or even background music. All that's really important is that the game plays the way it should.

Here's what I want to do:

• Additional Tiles: Some new level design sprites for more visual diversity.
• New Traps: Perhaps some spikes or objects that can ...
  2023-09-06 04:07:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Collection: September 2023 Sketches

Will update over time, but know that my focus lies elsewhere this month.

[Blog] Focusing on Game Dev this Month

I thanketh thee for thy patience. I do apologize for the silence the last few days, I've just been trying to rest (and have been modding Skyrim). I still plan to do a few commissions this month, but my focus will be on the game dev project - as I want to put out a public demo by October. I'm going to take a look at the game's status and get back to you in the next day or so with our plan of attack - what needs to be done.

As for concept art... I think I'll probably try to start somethin...

Dropbox - September 2023

Dropbox Folder HERE.

Using Dropbox's Services, you can see every drawing I've drawn over the last several years, with occasional artworks that are exclusive to the dropbox archive itself.

Don't forget to eat & sleep

[Blog] Updates

Touching base before the month ends...

Concept Art:

I can probably squeeze some concept art in before the end of the month, but it's very clear that I need to start scheduling something earlier in the month or providing some additional value to that tier. It's just tough to create worthwhile ideas when I'm not actively in the middle of producing something larger.

Especially when I end up taking commissions, as they both tire me out and take up time that could be s...

Beaumont Comic pg. 01 - 13

Patron Health Check Up

Is anyone experiencing any issues with their patronage here? Do you have access to rewards? Have those of you with access to the discord server no longer have access or anything like that?

Collection: August 2023 Sketches

This post will be updated throughout the month with new sketches as they are done.

Dropbox - August 2023

Dropbox Folder HERE.

Using Dropbox's Services, you can see every drawing I've drawn over the last several years, with occasional artworks that are exclusive to the dropbox archive itself.

Don't forget to eat & sleep

[Blog] End of July

Exhaustion:

Tired and overwhelmed; feelings which have been clearly present for several months now. I'm not really sure what I'm doing. It feels a bit like I'm wasting my time and getting trapped in routines.

It's possible I'll run out of my savings in 8 months or so, so that's not pressure I appreciate.

Concept Art Reward:

I didn't post one this month. Technically, a few illustrations shared in July's Sketch Collection were intended as concept art, but I wa...

Collection: July 2023 Sketches

This post will be updated with new art as the month progresses...

Dropbox - July 2023

Dropbox Folder HERE.

Using Dropbox's Services, you can see every drawing I've drawn over the last several years, with an occasional artwork that is exclusive to the dropbox archive itself.

Don't forget to eat & sleep

[Blog] Thoughts for July

So what's the plan for July? Well, I don't know yet... I'm still considering what to do. I think I'd like to get one strong Elayne Beaumont illustration, but my attention is also on game development. How cool would it be to have a demo out by October?

So these are the thoughts I'm entering the month with...

Game Development:

Although not every possible CV feature has been implemented (moving platforms, weapon drops, etc.), the basic engine is probably 90% done. ...

[Blog] Thinking about Value...

It's been a pretty slow month between exhaustion, lack of interest and confidence, and health issues. I didn't even take on as many commissions as I should have.

I've grown concerned about the quality of my Patreon, especially since the concept art has been weak lately (we did even miss a month). While I shouldn't have to force something every month, I do think a lot of patrons pledge to that tier for more than JUST the Dropbox Archive, so I should still provide adequate value there...<...

Ideas for making Game Dev more exciting for you?

My apologies for the general inactivity as of lately. I had a pretty bad infection early this month, and I just recently got a new pair of glasses (after 10 years, so I need to re-adjust) earlier today. So I haven't done much besides casual game dev work.

Game Dev work takes a while, so it can be quite boring in between updates. Any ideas of what I can do to make that experience more enjoyable for you?

Collection: June 2023 Sketches

My apologies for the delay for artwork. Health issues.

Don't forget to eat & sleep.

[Game Dev] New Enemies & Water Effects

Feeling a bit unwell, so progress has slowed. But here's some updates:

Rat Replacement - Crawler

Although I previously showcased the spaghetti eyeball monster, I was never happy with the design. So I've replaced it; this time with another zombie - only missing a lower half, forcing her to crawl along the ground.

2023-06-06 02:25:12 +0000 UTC View Post

Dropbox - June 2023

Dropbox Folder HERE.

Using Dropbox's Services, you can see every drawing I've drawn over the last several years, with an occasional artworks that are exclusive to the dropbox archive itself.

Don't forget to eat & sleep

Vampire Killer Beaumont Engine Early Test Demo 03

The previous demo has been updated with replaced graphical assets, a few minor adjustments & bug fixes, and a new platforming section at the end.

I don't know if it can run natively on MacOS, but if you can run Microsoft.EXE, then you should be fine. Download & Unzip, as you will need the entire folder to play.

LINK 

.

Don...

[Game Dev] Updated Tiles & Sprites

I've spent the last few days working on game development, focusing my efforts on replacing previously borrowed art assets, cleaning up current sprites, and as of last night, producing a small tileset for level design - just enough for a demo.

I'm a bit concerned that some of these sprites are too visually noisy (meaning they have too much texture that it affects readability of the entire scene), but it's enough to work with for now. One thing I wanted to do was create a variety of diffe...

[Concept] Enemy Designs #01

Managed to do a bit of concept art before the month's end. This should give you the kind of idea of what kinds of challenges I'll need to start dabbling in soon as I replace the older assets with original art.

There's a great deal of problem solving, for both concepts & technical design. The act of creating sprite art is a bit like painting, except with much less canvas space and a limited square brush. Monster designs are tricky too, especially if I don't have a strong inspiration ...