Making Comics with KotOR models

[Kreia 57]

Hey everyone,

was this ever a thing? Using the KotOR games to make comics, like with screenshots, or 3ds renderings. Adding speech balloons on top of the panels. Sounds perfect for fan fictions, but really, if there was an official comic book with the same graphics as the games I'd be all for it. Have you seen this anywhere?

[Domino5555 119]

JCarter426 made a few comics with this technique. Ask him for more details.

[Jenko 53]

I believe JCarter426's comics were done in game with screenshots. 

 

Really, you'd want to do it in game as loading modules into 3ds looks a little.... crazy. Maybe a character or something in 3ds and composited over top if you needed a custom pose or something.

 

Either way, I haven't heard of anyone else doing comics with the game assets. I created almost all of the posters for the KOTOR Trilogy films and did so by rendering each character in 3ds max and compositing them into a final image in Photoshop. 

[JCarter426 1,220]

People remember my comics?!!!!

 

Yeah, it was a thing. I did some, and I recall one or two other people did a bit, but I don't think any of us got a lot done. I know my stuff isn't currently accessible because of hosting problems, either. I think I have most of it but I know I did lose a lot of my older images. There's some stuff I never released, too, so I might see about making it all public.

 

I didn't really know what I was doing at first, and my methods changed over time, and even then I still didn't really know what I was doing. So there's a lot I would do differently. I initially started making comics because I had failed at making films, and I only quit making comics because I basically learned everything I needed to learn in order to make films while I was making the comics. There was another factor, though: coming up with the visuals was so much more time consuming than writing the scripts. Back in the day, when I was doing a comic adaptation of KOTOR, at the same time I was also doing a novelization with the help of Jenks and some other guys. I remember getting halfway through Dantooine in the novel before we ever got close to rescuing Bastila in the comic... mainly because I was the only one working on the visuals, but it really took that much longer. The format does have its merits and I'd certainly like to see other comics done with the game, but the game engine isn't a substitute artist; you still have to do all the work.

 

I repeated that process a few times on my own with some other projects, some got scrapped and others turned into just prose. For one of them, I was doing a story set in the Mandalorian Wars and the existing assets were just too limiting for the story I wanted to tell. So that's another issue. If you're drawing a comic and you want to visit a new planet, you only need to draw it. With the game, it's not that simple. If I were to give that another go, I'd probably seek out an artist instead. If you have a story that can be told through the game alone, though, it's worth a shot.

[Kreia 57]

This is amazing!  I have to see those comics.

Yes, importing entire modules into 3ds is a bit crazy, but you only need what little can be seen in a comic book panel. Sure though, using screenshots is generally more reasonable. I have been playing with this stuff myself, just recently I made some thumbnails for my youtube videos.

http://knightsanddarths.tumblr.com/post/165210856225

 

It's a lot of fun.

[JediKrusader24 4]

People remember my comics?!!!!

 

Yeah, it was a thing. I did some, and I recall one or two other people did a bit, but I don't think any of us got a lot done. I know my stuff isn't currently accessible because of hosting problems, either. I think I have most of it but I know I did lose a lot of my older images. There's some stuff I never released, too, so I might see about making it all public.

 

I didn't really know what I was doing at first, and my methods changed over time, and even then I still didn't really know what I was doing. So there's a lot I would do differently. I initially started making comics because I had failed at making films, and I only quit making comics because I basically learned everything I needed to learn in order to make films while I was making the comics. There was another factor, though: coming up with the visuals was so much more time consuming than writing the scripts. Back in the day, when I was doing a comic adaptation of KOTOR, at the same time I was also doing a novelization with the help of Jenks and some other guys. I remember getting halfway through Dantooine in the novel before we ever got close to rescuing Bastila in the comic... mainly because I was the only one working on the visuals, but it really took that much longer. The format does have its merits and I'd certainly like to see other comics done with the game, but the game engine isn't a substitute artist; you still have to do all the work.

 

I repeated that process a few times on my own with some other projects, some got scrapped and others turned into just prose. For one of them, I was doing a story set in the Mandalorian Wars and the existing assets were just too limiting for the story I wanted to tell. So that's another issue. If you're drawing a comic and you want to visit a new planet, you only need to draw it. With the game, it's not that simple. If I were to give that another go, I'd probably seek out an artist instead. If you have a story that can be told through the game alone, though, it's worth a shot.

Of course people remember your comics, they were revolutionary and quite good.

 

I actually tried getting a project like this of my own started back in the day, but never devoted enough time to it to actually get it off the ground, mainly due to university and other commitments. I believe the farthest I got was the beginning of a script for the first issue, as well as a crude cover for it. 

 

Still, there were some nice ideas in there which I'd still be interested in exploring, either in comic or movie form. Speaking of which, I think I still have some of JC's old comic strips lying somewhere around my old files, I could try digging them up and sharing, with JC's blessing.

[Kreia 57]

Speaking of which, I think I still have some of JC's old comic strips lying somewhere around my old files, I could try digging them up and sharing, with JC's blessing.

I'd be grateful

And by all means, let's have more kotor comics in the world. Don't know about you guys, but I ain't feelin what they did with the Old Republic after kotorII, in comics or other media.

ps: love your avatar 

[JediKrusader24 4]

I'd be grateful

And by all means, let's have more kotor comics in the world. Don't know about you guys, but I ain't feelin what they did with the Old Republic after kotorII, in comics or other media.

ps: love your avatar 

Haha, cheers, just something I found while doing a quick Google search.

 

As mentioned, I'm still interested in getting at least one of my KOTOR concepts off the ground in comic form. Just need to find some time. Got plenty of whacky ideas in the tank, though.

 

And thoroughly agreed on TOR, it's a crushing disappointment and I'm very pleased and encouraged to see that there's still such a passionate community around the two original games, both modders of course and the guys working on the KOTOR movies.

 

Btw, have you tried the KOTOR comics set before/during the Mandalorian Wars?

[Kreia 57]

have you tried the KOTOR comics set before/during the Mandalorian Wars?

That's one exception, yes The Zayne Carrick comics. I got really attached to those, wish I owned them all, but they're very expensive when you add international shipping costs. They picked up lots of different stuff from the games, a bunch of characters, droids and vehicles, creatures, and some of the original stuff is amazing too, like the Vector storyline.

[JediKrusader24 4]

That's one exception, yes The Zayne Carrick comics. I got really attached to those, wish I owned them all, but they're very expensive when you add international shipping costs. They picked up lots of different stuff from the games, a bunch of characters, droids and vehicles, creatures, and some of the original stuff is amazing too, like the Vector storyline.

It was a really good and pretty tight, self-contained story, that of Zayne Carrick and Co. I think they had an additional 6-issue story arc called 'War', set after the end of the original timeline, did you get a chance to read those as well?

[Kreia 57]

I think they had an additional 6-issue story arc called 'War', set after the end of the original timeline, did you get a chance to read those as well?

For a long time I was not aware of them. Lots of wasted potential if you ask me, there's so much more they could have done, it needed a better story, and Brian Ching doing the drawing.

[JediKrusader24 4]

For a long time I was not aware of them. Lots of wasted potential if you ask me, there's so much more they could have done, it needed a better story, and Brian Ching doing the drawing.

Yeah, sounds like there's a reason nobody really seemed to care about them, since I recall the Wookieepedia pages for the individual issues not being updated with almost any info whatsoever for a loooong time, while the main KOTOR comics had pages full of details and info.

[JCarter426 1,220]

Speaking of which, I think I still have some of JC's old comic strips lying somewhere around my old files, I could try digging them up and sharing, with JC's blessing.

 

I'll get them online. I just have to sort through them. I have a bunch of unfinished and early drafts, some of which may never have been released, so I'm thinking of doing a compilation book. But they aren't labeled, so I have to figure out which is which first. I think I have everything except the very original draft of my K1 adaptation, which was terrible, but it may also be on an old hard drive. Right now I have two later versions of K1, as well as several K2 issues, in various stages of completion. I also know I have draft pages of another version of K1 and the Mandalorian Wars story I mentioned before. I'll put together everything I can find when I find it.

[Kreia 57]

Find anything?

[JCarter426 1,220]

Oh, yes. I actually posted about them some time ago but I guess I never mentioned it here.