ZombieSandwich

UPDATE JANUARY 2017:
COMMISSIONS ARE CLOSED RIGHT NOW
I will let you guys know once they are opened again.


      
    

People have been asking me recently if I am doing commissions again.
The answer is: yes! However, I can only offer limited slots which I am giving away via Patreon.
If you want to learn more, please read on:

PATREON is a great way for artists to get supported for the art that they really want to do.
I am using Patreon to experiment on new projects and painting styles.
Lately I am also using it to offer small bust commissions since it is a quick, easy and secure way to work together.

About bust commissions:
- Paintings feature one character with a simple background
- Either a facial portrait 
- Or a hip shot 
- Style can vary between more realistic or more towards anime
- Those are "smaller" paintings, so the amount of detail isn't as big as on my regular/ big paintings (since this would take longer and would be too expensive.)

You can sign up for commission slots here: Go to www.patreon.com/darktownart

Hello everyone!!

So as some of you probably already know we have launched our Indiegogo a little more than one week ago.
Now the thing is that the big story about the Indiegogo is to sale our figurine, but we are also offering extras such as mugs, pillows and bags.
(Because we are mainly using the Indiegogo to have a certain timeframe for the first badge of orders.)

And here comes my question:
I noticed that a lot of people actually like the mugs, bags, etc, but they don't know that you can get them without having to purchase a figurine.
I have worked on the perks a lot to make this all easier to understand, (for instance I have created a perk that combines mug and bag and includes shipping, because some people commented on that), but perhaps there is something I do not see that I could do to make this part even easier to understand.

Is there somebody around here who would like to take a look and give me some input/ feedback?
Here is the link to the campaign: igg.me/at/minotauragirl

BTW, for a quick overview.
This is the figurine:          And these are the extras that I was talking about:
 
 

I thought that all the bad blood about ACUnity was kinda overhyped. Then I found out by accident that SONY itself actually is part of the problem of why everyone is complaining. Here is the story - which at first was supposed to be a review about the game - but now turned into a rant about HOW THE FUCK someone can sell a product that expensive and care so little if it is actually working properly.

Note: AC3 and AC4 also had bugs in the past which I actually found quite funny and I started collecting them.
With ACUnity I went on bug hunt aswell and since I lately got an Instagram account, you can see the best bugs here: instagram.com/darktownart
None of those bugs EVER broke the game. NEVER EVER.

And one must say that ACUnity is truly beautiful and I had SO MUCH FUN exploring the city, unlocking new stuff and playing online with friends (as long as this was possible because of NAT-Type problems which I will mention later). I even got the "Legend" status after finishing the main story which is like the highest rank in the game. I felt kinda proud of myself and was ready to explore the online realms of this game further, when IT happend...


HERE IS HOW SONY'S PS4 SYSTEM THAT LITTLE SON OF A B*** ATE UP MY SAVEGAME AND MADE THE GAME UNPLAYABLE:

There is an error known to  ps4 users since January 2014. The code reads "CE-34787-0" and it basically means that the system ate your savegame and you can't play the game any longer. It is something that Sony is aware of and that seems to happen RANDOMLY. Meaning, yes ACUnity is glitchy at some point, but some research did reveal to me quite quickly, that the very same happened with many other games - SINCE JANUARY 2014!!! - and Sony hasn't done anything yet to actually fix the problem.
Their advice is to whipe the console clean and reinstal the entire firmware, just to run risk to encounter the very SAME bug yet again!! This can't be it so I am backupping all my savegames from now on!!

SO HERE IS A LITTLE TUTORIAL ON HOW TO BACKUP YOUR SAVEGAMES:
Some people have been asking me how to do this so here we go:
- Plug a USB Stick to your ps4
- Go to Settings
- Go to "Application Saved Data Management"
- Choose: "Saved Data in System Storage"
- Choose "Upload to Online Storage" - OR "copy to USB Storage Device
It feels a little odd to have to do such steps with a freshly bought console and I sincerely hope that Ubisoft permits the download of savegames onto a USB device. (Note: This did not work with AC2 for instance. I backupped my AC2 savegame as I once had to reinstall my ps3 system software and after that all savegames but the AC2 savegame did work, because Ubisoft was afraid that users could do - whatever - with their bacupped savegames  and displayed some sort of message that basically told me how their savegames could not be transfered  -__-)

WANT TO PLAY ONLINE WITH YOUR FRIENDS? WHY? PLAY WITH RANDOM PEOPLE!
Here is something else that I want you to be aware of if you plan to play ACUnity on a ps4 WITH YOUR FRIENDS:
The entire AC series has always had "problems" regarding online playing when it came to NAT-Types.  It just didn't occur until our household got a ps4 that I noticed how these problems seem to be partly manufactured by Sony itself.
NAT for dummies: NAT-Type basically means how "open" your router or modem is to other devices connecting to it for online purposes. You can either have NAT1, NAT2, or NAT3, with NAT3 being the most restricted and NAT1 being the most open one.

(How do you know which NAT-Type you are? Your ps4 will tell you.
Go to Settings -> Network -> Test Internet Connection. It will list your NAT-Type there.
For ACUnity to work online, you need to be at least NAT-Type 2)

WHY IS THE NAT-TYPE A PROBLEM?
Let's compare ACUnity to GTAV:
In GTAV a server from Rockstar is is the host, all players connect to this server and play together on this server.
(Pro: Everyone can usually play together. Con: When Rockstar decides to stop running servers, players can't play together any longer)
In ACUnity one player serves as host, and other players connect to them. When the NAT-Type of those players isn't compatible, they can't play together.
(Pro: Players can always play together Con: When players aren't "compatible" they can't play together, and another con: You have to connect to Ubisoft servers (-____-) before you can play together and then host a game by yoruself, so when Ubisoft servers are down, you cannot take any advantage of the fact that you could theoretically host the game by yourself. -___-)

And here now comes the weirdest aspect about the NAT-Type thing (Something which seems to be ONCE AGAIN Sony related): I wanted to play with a friend. In the beginning I was NAT3 and he was NAT2. On a ps4 people can invite each other to "parties" and then talk via headset.
As long as I was NAT3 and he was NAT2, we could hang out in a "party" and talk, but we could not play ACUnity together. To specify, I couldn't reach ACUnity online services AT ALL as long as I was NAT3, so I switched to NAT2.
(This requires you to open ps4 ports manually on your router. I advice to conduct a tutorial before you try it.)

I then was able to access ACUnity online servers, but I couldn't talk to my friend any longer, and we still couldn't play together. Whenever we tried to hook up, we got a "NAT-Type not compatible" message which was really weird, because we are now basically on the same NAT-Type. I can play with random people, and he can, too. I can also play with another friend of mine. Just not with that specific friend EVENTHOUGH we are the same NAT and EVEN from the same country.
So this is a mistery we still need to solve - and one that isn't new to AC games at all. I just wasn't aware so far, that the Sony system seems to play a role when it comes to this problem, too.

OTHER THAN THAT; SOME GENERAL THINGS ABOUT THE GAME THAT I ACTUALLY WANTED TO WRITE ABOUT:
PROS:
The first AC game to have horses with the anatomy SOMEWHAT working.... just don't look at their walk cicles or you want to put the poor things out of their misery.
Beautiful statues, beautiful art, perfect colors in nature... THIS GAME IS EFFIN, EFFIN beautiful!
Only AC game ever (besides AC2's Venice) I spent the most time in walking. Walking, not running. Thinking about what palace or place I shall visit next and just AWWEEE at its interiors. Does a good job in schooling you to stalk a building for the best place to break in (do I climb up to the roof? Or rather a window? WIll I lockpick a door? etc...)
Different outfits actually come with different perks which I kinda liked because it means you wouldn't switch outfits for the sake of having something new to dress but also because this or that outfit was working better for what you currently wanted to do.
A lot of different fighting styles for melee weapons that all feel slightly different in their handling and so you can also find out what style suits you best.
I like that the online gameplay seems to deal a lot with problem solving, so the ones who run in the fastest and try to kill the most actually usually aren't the most successful.
I like that the longer missions, especially the ones towards the end offer a lot of opportunities to fool around and complete extra tasks. That makes it fun to explore the area and do something more than just ging in and killing the target.
The murder mysteries (CSI AC XD) seem to be really cool. I sadly hadn't much of a chance to play them because of my destroyed savegame.
The single gameplay evolved in a way that a lot of behavior that usually made sense when playing online against real people is now making sense in the single player, too.
The crowd scenes are really impressive. Though, when you fool around too much it can literally "blow" your cover, since the crowd will burst away then and you end up with nothing to hide. XD

CONS:
Some skills get overwritten once you purchase new ones (disguise for instance) and can only be brought back once you play the tutorial for them.

Further facts about the french revolution are shown to you within online missions, the single player mainly focuses on Arno's and Elise's Dan Brown like conspiracy blahblah story. -It was entertaining, though not ground breaking-
SO if you want to play offline you won't really feel like you learned anything about the french revolution at all and might also feel kinda confused about the whole conspiracy bs going on.
Important historic events are happening kinda in the background of the main story. That sort of made it even hard for me -a fan of that era - to identify at times what was currently going on (other than what Arno and Elise were currently up to...)
You get ranks. That's cool, but the game doesn't explain what you have to do to get them. For instance I would like to know why I have a higher rank than a friend of whom I'd think that he generally plays better than I do. If the online gameplay kinda measures comparable to what the old games did (not quantity but quality of kills) I would like to be able to read this up somewhere.
It takes quite long to load. That is probably something that can't be helped, though. :/ I used the waiting time to check my Instagram. XD

Disguise was fun in online play in the past, but executed in Unity in a way that it doesn't make sense. When I walk (not run, which means I am already successfully blending) away from an angry mob that is chasing me, and am wearing a uniform that blends me perfectly and instantly with a crowd, and I then take on a disguise, then it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE, that I get discovered anyways, just because some of the angry mob guys cross my path by accident. If I had moved or drawn my weapon, then this would have made sense. Otherwise it makes the disguise option completely obsolete. One could compare this to the good old times when real people played against each other online and used this feature: When you didn't act up you usually weren't discovered, unless the other person did use certain skills to uncover you. (Or was just that effin good at the game.)

You need to level up before you can do certain missions, which is OK, because there are only 5 level stages ( XD) this can become hindering when you want to play online and don't really have many skills unlocked. While on the other hand a lot of points for unlocking skills get literally thrown into your face once you play online...
points... there are like 4 different types of them and I still confuse them.
As if Uplay wasn't enough, you now have to sign up to even one more platform "Initials", to be able to open certain chests - WHYEVER?!? Some stuff then again is only available once you download the companion app. Which I did, but the app couldn't find my ps4 so most of its features became useless to me.... :/

No minigames like Fanorona anymore. I miss my Fanorona T__T

AND DESPITE ALL THE CONS:
I would have really loved to play the game today as I had a 2 hours break. Now I can't because of... Sony.
I hope that this rant can be of help to some other people, and be it just for the tutorial on how to backing up your savegames.
AND IF ANYONE AROUND HERE HAS SOLVED THE NAT TYPE PROBLEM that my friend and I are currently encountering, then I would be MORE THAN HAPPY if they could let me know!


 

So what does bother me? And what is my opinion?

Well, here comes my personal opinion.

Personal opinion continued:

Let's take a look at the "weg.de" pictures below now.

I COULD HAVE EASILY PLAYED THE FEMINISM CARD, TOO:

Not too long ago I made this parody of Big Boss. It was featured on Kotaku, The Escapist, on Reddit, and basically all over the internet.

When this painting was created, I actually had no idea what huge fights are currently going on on the internet when it comes to games. I have been creating parody images featuring the MGS realm for about 12 years now, however, none of them had ever gotten huge attention, because "times where different". So knowing this game saga pretty well, I was mainly meaning to say "Hey Kojima, knowing your humor it would be funny to have this outfit as a wearable option for him in the game. Make a stupid joke... you know something like the 'Raikov' statement or something like this."
(Let me add here for those who are not familar with the MGS realm: Being able or even forced to play naked MALE characters is nothing new in this series. Sometimes it really helps to get educated properly about something first before complaining about it.)

However, as this went viral and I received more and more inquiries it started to dawn on me that something had changed within the gaming world, and this is when I started to discover this current... "war" going on.
It would have been easy to piggyback and play the feminism card. Say that I got "attacked" by people disagreeing with this outfit displayed on a man because I was a woman.
The thing is: MY GENDER IS IRRELEVANT once it comes to this entire discussion in this case.
And it is funny enough that most people actually discussed the size of his pack. (And how I supposedly designed it too small. XD)

1. It is a piece of art, it stands for itself.
2. I am actually a fan and am really playing those games, so piggybacking the feminism card would make me one of those wannabe feminists who abuse the debate to get attention.
3. Just a very very small number of people actually became insultive over that. I know that because I have been a part of the MGS fandom myself. I know their way of talking and I am familar with its insiders and jokes.
4. As a woman, I do not feel insulted by that because I know that it has nothing to do with my gender. It has something to do with the game and the jokes being displayed within it.
And further on, the year is 2014. If they don't want to see a man in tights then it is their right to say that. By no way does this automatically also mean that they wish to insult me.
As much as I am free to express whatever I want in the year of 2014, so are they.
Making a statement about one thing does NOT MEAN having to automatically censor the other!

Which leads me to 5:
ACTUALLY PLAYING and therefore knowing the games one is talking about would be VERY HELPFUL in order to decide if you want to feel offended or not.
ESPECIALLY if you call yourself a JOURNALIST or a well followed individual who is writing long opinion pieces.
(This does not exclude you from having an opinion, just be aware that you are making yourself very easy to attack in reagrds to the "you have no idea" comments once you seem to come around the corner as someone who judges based on prejustices. (this applies to nearly every subject by the way. ))

What is happening right now is like reading the first 20 pages of a book, watch only 10 minutes of a movie, or listen to only the beginning of a speech,  and judge the entire thing based only on only that part. This is very comparable on judging another person mainly based on prejustices.
This sort of discussion is helping noone because it is lacking facts and empathy for each other.
It is doomed to fail.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE GTAV RANTS:

(Because one can never rant enough XD)

*sigh*