Sylver's Edge: the Designer's Journal

Hello, Goodbye...

2010-12-02T22:58:00.002-05:00

Well, people.... This is it.

The Designer's Journal is over.......... here at Tumblr.

I'm setting up shop over at http://sylversedge.tumblr.com and also at http://sylverstone14.tumblr.com mainly because it seems much more easier to manage a blog over at Tumblr. But don't worry, this site will stay open.

I'll continue to link to older articles, I'll continue to support this as much as I can and of course, the contents of my blog are belong to me. Yes, that was on purpose.

So come on down to the new Sylver's Edge and the brand-new lifestyle blog, "A Slice of Life with Sylverstone Khandr" at Tumblr!

Oh boy... Where to begin.....

2010-11-15T22:06:00.001-05:00

Well.... uh.... hey there, folks!

I didn't abandon the blog at all! I was just super-busy! >.<

I did do a lot of stuff between now and the last blog post by the way.

I'll list out what I did:

---- Went to Nintendo World for the 25th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. Event!!!

*Met Reggie Fils-Aime, and got a picture taken and my DS Lite signed!

*Saw Shigeru Miyamoto in the flesh!

*Took a picture with a mascot of Mario!

*Did a Mario confessional for Nintendo.com!

*Met Gary from Nintendo Week and showed him all of my DS systems!

*Took a lot of photos and video footage that went up on sites like GoNintendo and Gaming Bits, and mentioned by Nintendo Life!

---- Had the first issue of the BLA Times newspaper printed with my Kirby: Canvas Curse review on it!

---- Continued to work on Stress-Related Insomnia!

*Currently on Chapter 7.

---- Developed a new story idea for the National Novel Writing Month event (aka NaNoWriMo) called "The Ascent of Singularity". I haven't done much but I did write a snippet of an idea for a school assignment. The main influence of it is the idea of Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" and any post-apocalyptic idea you can think of.

*I'm considering a shelving of it until I can get a proper schedule working, due to NaNoWriMo's constraints, which I cannot honor, and also due to the concurrent work on Stress-Related Insomnia.

And finally, I'm passing all my classes with flying colors! :D

That's about it for now! As you now see, I linked my usual plugs on the side now so check them out please!

What has Sylverstone been up to? (Week of October 17-23, 2010)

2010-10-23T15:31:00.002-04:00

Hello all, and welcome back to Sylver's Edge. The last post had me babble about my latest offerings for my school's newspaper club. So far, I have submitted a refurbished review on Kirby: Canvas Curse (previously reviewed for DSiHub) and a brand new comic strip called "The Facts of Life", which I was tinkering with for the past week. I'll post it up when the newspaper is available. Speaking of the newspaper, the site is up but we still need clearance on a few things, so in the meantime, check out the BLA (II) Times at blatimes.webs.com!

Now, on to more important updates, I have been continuously working on the newly restored "Stress-Related Insomnia" pilot project and so far, it has garnered great success and a loyal readership of about..... 10 people, if I may recall correctly. The plan is to let them read the first 5 chapters and the prologue, then I'll continue to write until the book reaches some sort of end. It still has a long way to go and it is really shaping up to be a great writing experience for me.

The DigiPen Institute of Technology (which I'll refer to as DigiPen throughout the blog) sent me more mail this week, this time regarding the ProjectFUN Summer Workshops for 2011. I would really love to go to Redmond and get a dose of how game development is done. The tuition is hefty with the $995 tag, but I have plans for possibly raising that money to pay up by April next year. As of now, I haven't moved much further with Mizuna development due to work with Stress-Related Insomnia but rest assured, development will continue. Other concepts are also being discussed and worked on with my peers.

Now, you did see that I said I would have a plan to raise money for that. The thing is, I've submitted a job application to a nearby Toys "R" Us Express store in the Bronx so I can go ahead and earn cash for the stuff I want, including the ProjectFun Workshop tuition, DigiPen tuition and the Nintendo 3DS. I only sent it yesterday (October 22) and I'm currently waiting on the call to arms, so wish me luck!

Finally, I haven't done much with the YouTube channels as of late, and I'm thinking of severing SylverstoneSpeaks to just keep one channel. I can always make a new channel when I feel like, just that now wasn't the greatest time. I have academics to keep up, as I am passing all my classes so I don't want to stop the momentum. I will post videos occasionally, but as for a definite return, I can't say when.

Plug time! Check out my good friend, SuperTrainStationH at http://www.supertrainstationh.com and http://www.youtube.com/user/gguru1! Don't forget Suzanne's blog, "A Piece of Cape: Soaring with Super Suzy!" at http://www.supersuzy.com and a new plug, Harlan Batchelor (also known as Lunchmeats101) at http://www.moldylemonmedia.com/blog, and you know where to follow me.... the Twitter widget is there! That's all that I did this week, guys so keep it here at Sylver's Edge!

Until next week!

A great creative output appears!

2010-10-01T23:07:00.007-04:00

Hey guys, been a while since I posted, but I'm still here. Anyways, the main story here for the blog is that my new school's first newspaper club meeting went so well, so I have a new creative output to foster my growth. I'll be doing video game reviews, as well as comics and occasional movie reviews and short stories. I'm thinking of bringing back an old idea of mine, though I am looking to build on something new: a 4 or 5-panel comic about something. I'll think of something.... eventually.

Also, I finally got my locker to stuff any extra baggage away while at school. Right now, the only thing in it is mouthwash.... don't ask. Also, I found out I'm having good grades in Chemistry, which is awesome compared to my flunking of the Chem final I did in my old school.

The other big news is that for this week, I picked up on an old story that I cast out a few months back. It's called Stress-Related Insomnia and I have been watching a lot of anime and television in order to grab some great concepts. It is a typical boy-meets-girl story with a lot of different perks and twists. So far, I was able to hook a few of my new friends into the story. I'm working on the second chapterl on my free time so it should be all good.

Last, but certainly not least, I've been looking around for a good job so I can get cash to purchase the Nintendo 3DS next year and other things I'd like to get for myself in the coming weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a debit card so I can really harness all the cash I have. It's safe to say that I'm daunted by banks and getting an account seems to be a pain in the arse right now, so maybe when I do have the time, it'll happen.

But for now, just check out my new Twitter widget on the blog, follow me @Sylverstone14 and also check out these blogs by my friends Jo-Hannah (The Commons by Jo) and Suzanne (A Piece of Cape: Soaring with Super Suzy).

Until next time, thanks for hanging with me by Sylver's Edge!

(Don't worry about me not talking about Mizuna or Dances with Wolves as they are being worked on! Also, I signed up for two gaming websites that fosters both game design and development so it'll be my little sandbox!)

What has Sylverstone been up to?

2010-09-24T23:18:00.002-04:00

Hey!

I know it's been a little while since I've posted but I am still posting, right?

Anyways, I've had two weeks of school at Bronx Leadership Academy II HS so far and I'd say it's okay. There are many things I could rant about this school because there were so many problems within that I as a student witnessed. For me, the objective isn't really being much more outspoken, but rather sitting on the sidelines, operating as a silent hero.

The big news for today is that I joined the school's newspaper club. They meet on Mondays and Thursdays, and from what they outlined in the overview, it sounds good. No, I don't want to report on news within school, but in fact, I would pitch for a gaming/technology review column to make for all the flashy kids out there and since I'm ahead on what's coming, this would be a big opportunity.

I can see it happen but not so readily. I'd have to work my way to that. I'd project by the time January rolls around. Hopefully.

On the state of my YouTube channels, I'm thinking about retiring SylverstoneSpeaks or actually merging both the main channel and Speaks into one since I've slowly began to stop with the weekly DSi Shop Update videos since most of my views are from people who expect me to buy the games. Also, I'm thinking about taking down my reviews to do them over, but I'll probably let it be.

Moving on to the game designer's side of things, the concepts have just been rolling in, especially for Dances with Wolves. I'm thinking of making it a story where someone actually finds the protagonist and teaches him to be more human or that I would changed the format by renaming the original Wolves concept to something different to make it a mystical romance story.

Take it like the story of Pinocchio, wanting to be a real boy. In my concept, actually the protagonist finds an animal who was actually a human a decade before her freak transformation. He helps her find a spiritual oasis which could help her return to human form. The premise would be that they would grow attached to each other even though she is still in animal form. How did this cross with Dances With Wolves? She is a wolf, actually.

I thought of the concept while walking to school around last week. I was just making it up as I went along and it sounded interesting. It's surprising how I favor to watch more anime/read more manga in the romantic comedy genre than a regular action concept. So far, the only action concept I have is 上がり、戦いなさい (Rise Up and Fight!) ~ The Legend of Mizuna!

The only things that are on hold as of now are Project Gaza and the rewrite for Omega Factor. Not that I haven't thought of anything new, it's just that I can't juggle all of these tasks at once.

On the college side of things, my mother looks like she's trying to get me more engaged in computer engineering. I decided not to go up against this just yet because my sights are set on DigiPen. Not that I want to be far away from NYC, but I see it as the best place to learn all about the industry. My plan is to come back to NYC and get a job at a company or if I'm willing, begin my own gaming studio and the name of it is? Sylver's Edge of course. :P

Only time will tell, but I'm working my ass off to get where I want to be. It's just that at my last high school, I was too caught in the social aspect of school that my academics struggled. That and personal problems that will be kept personal. I'd only tell it to people who I think would understand me, my best friend and personal advisor being an example. He's still working on YuMaKoMaSHi with The Organization, his team of individuals (including myself) that he formed a couple weeks ago.

Well, I guess that's all I could post for now. I'll take the time to plug my Twitter and YouTube channel: http://www.twitter.com/Sylverstone14 / http://www.youtube.com/user/Sylverstone14 and also, a friend of mine that I met from There.com who has been a constant supporter of my game design dream. Check out her blog at http://www.supersuzy.com and follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SuperSuzyM! So many guys I could plug right now, but so little time. Until next time, keep hanging around on Sylver's Edge!

UPDATE: I just registered the blog and also the Mizuna concept under a Creative Commons License!

What a week!

2010-09-17T18:29:00.001-04:00

Well, I've been away from the blog for as long as I can remember, but I can recap on what's been for most of the time I was away.

I've been in deep thought about whether I should leave SylverstoneSpeaks dormant and migrate the idea to the main channel since I haven't much to it since, maybe it will work out, but I'll still ponder it. I've already closed one channel before and I had good reason why I should have done it.

Next on the table is Mizuna development. I have not done much lately due to a new school but things are coming along okay. I do have some kinks in the prologue to iron out so in the meantime, I did imagine up a few weapons etc. I created this sweet grappling hook for Mizuna, and I already have an idea of what it may look like.

Finally, a new school. My sister used to attend it so you think it would be easy getting bye? Wrong. The only person I knew who knew my sister was the guidance counselor. Anyways, I wasn't so intent on coasting onto my sister's on-being at the new school but as time drifted by, I felt to build my identity, and the building is coming along quite well.

Made a few friends, standard lunch, socializing a bit, stuff I never usually did so much at my old school. Now I would go on and on with a comparison of both schools: they are both different and yeah, rules are rules. It tends to be much looser here in the NYC with sporadic spouts of curse words and slang, also surprisingly, a little Jamaican influence here and there.

Anyways, one week down, who knows how much more I can endure! 1 thing I can count on, is not being alone.

An unboxing + unpacking + update entry.....

2010-09-01T07:23:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally made a video to show off what I got in my DigiPen info packet, but also I unboxed a package from Popchips courtesy of Real Life Plus. Check out the video through the link: Click here for the video.

Now for updates! (I'm looking to build a body for that head, maybe for Project Gaza......)

Nothing much is new, but I have been able to do some research to fit in some non-fictional info bits into the Mizuna story concept. Also, I am beginning developments on the first alternate ending.

Dances with Wolves is still being tinkered with, I'm developing a prologue that discusses how the protagonist comes to be with the wolves that he calls family. I'm pulling out a page from a few shows where the parent's faces aren't shown but it is all about the protagonist.

Project Gaza is still untouched as of now, but I have been gathering ideas for a central plot.

So yeah, that's about it for now.

Been away for a little bit, don't kill me!

2010-08-24T23:51:00.002-04:00

Wow! I almost buried the blog itself, while I was adding links all over my various profiles so yeah, welcome back!

Anyways, the good news being developments so far. I have changed the name of Mizuna: Ninja in Training. Well, it's a change but that name will stick as the name of the first story arc.

The new name is 上がり、戦いなさい (Rise Up and Fight!) ~ The Legend of Mizuna.

Pretty cool, huh? Well, the Japanese phrase is a key to the story, mainly the prologue. For the 2 weeks I was away from the blog, I have been developing the prologue to the first arc, which depicts a theft of a sacred family heirloom by a common thief who sells it on the black market to an enemy of Mizuna Kobayashi's grandfather.

I won't say much more, as it is still work-in-progress. I have also developed another concept called Dances With Wolves that deals with a teenager that lives among wolves, due to the carelessness of his parents who lose him while traversing in the Alaskan wilderness. Not much has been developed but I am still looking into the concept.

One last thing I have been taking a look at is an old story that I created in the 9th grade while I was in my obsessive otaku phase. I referred to it in an earlier blog post, see My Previous and Current Concepts. What I have been doing is taking note of my errors and correcting the gaps in the storyline of the first arc and also looking at the incomplete second arc, a prequel to the first arc.

So that's pretty much of what I have been up to. I have gotten a new webcam that I'll be making videos with for the main channel (Sylverstone14) again though I'm working on getting a Flip camcorder (or some other similar device) for both the main channel and SylverstoneSpeaks, the vlog channel that I plan to run concurrent to the blog.

Anyways, that's about it. See you guys!

The Death of the Second Channel (Shoots)+ Preview

2010-08-09T08:39:00.001-04:00

Well, the past few weeks have been interesting. I have been reading up info on ninjutsu so that Mizuna: Ninja in Training can have a solid story rooted in somewhat non-fictional history, so that's the extra bit of news for you.

Anyways, I have closed my second channel, SylverstoneShoots. Why? Well, due to the hostility of the YouTube wrestling community (the part that makes videos), as well as time constraints and the unwillingness to make a video, I shut it down. A friend of mine, a former shooter (once at the top of his game) confided in me that it would be hard to make it as a wrestling shooter due to the hostility of the YWC. From what I've seen, if you disagree with their views, they'll stop at nothing to shove your words back down your throats. He deleted his channel and he feels like a free bird. At least he's happy with his life now.

Another reason for the closure of Shoots, with the rise of new (and generally inexperienced) shooters, I see that I wouldn't get any support from the get-go. Then again, I did have the support of two good shooters. Well, Shoots is done, because handling three YouTube channels is a pain in the arse so loosening it down to 2 looks to bode well.

Finally, good news! I have received my info packet from DigiPen last week and was looking for a video unpackaging but since my sister hasn't given me my webcam yet, it'll be a while before I'm able to do that. The video will premiere on the new SylverstoneSpeaks channel and soon after, I'll go over a few issues with my current projects and also the return of DSiHub, a site that I had used for creative output.

My Previous and Current Concepts

2010-07-28T08:46:00.003-04:00

Hey again, thanks for sticking around to see another entry in the Designer's Journal!

Of course, you guys know I want to be a game designer but what exactly am I working on?

Before I decided to go full-on with my game design dream, I thought of a lot of concept stories and one-shots, a few that I discarded, others that I expounded on.

In the third grade, I remember being bored in class with a few other people so I thought we should draw comics. My one-shot was based off an Ed, Edd n Eddy episode, where the Ed boys are trying to find a four-leaf clover and probably get lucky. The episode ended on a sour note when they discard the clover, which is picked up by a nearby Jonny 2x4 and almost immediately, he finds a 20 dollar bill on the pavement. My comic followed the guideline, but I re-worked the idea to a somewhat happy ending, in other words: my character (Lucky Clover) found a four-leaf clover, finds a discarded lottery ticket which is dated for the day after its discovery and ultimately wins the jackpot. It was called Lucky Boy and being my brainchild, I stuck with it for a couple of years before shuttering it in the vault. Lucky Boy kept transforming, using ideas from the Justice League (I called that arc "The League of Heroes"), Danny Phantom (subtitled "Ghostly Grapples") and a somewhat original ploy called Lucky Boy X which had the now-teenage Lucky Clover mirroring the Batman. In other words, a wealthy mogul by day, crime fighter by night.

I got tired of Lucky Boy in the middle of drawing panels for X, so I made a spin-off called X-Factor, trying to create a new character to focus on. It never got further than 2 episodes and was quietly put down. Since then, I had a long writer's block because I was leeching too much off of already innovative ideas.

I began to watch more obscure/slightly unknown anime around 2008 and soon enough, I began to write a new story, called Omega Factor, which was my outpouring of my then-obsessive otaku state of mind onto paper. I had a few friends read it, and it was a hit. i worked on two arcs, then quietly retired it to try other projects. I used ideas from current cartoons/TV shows and began eliminating ones that were too obvious.

The winner was an original tale, loosely using Naturo-style elements, called Mizuna: Ninja in Training. The story circulates across a 16-year old female named Mizuna Kobayashi and her best friend, Setsuna Katou, as they embark to learn the ways of the ninja in order to save a sacred artifact which is a staple of Mizuna's family heritage, namely the secret Kobayashi clan. I was able to produce five chapters, then I slowed down for school's sake. Soon enough, I began to wonder if I could re-work it into an actual video game. I enlisted the help of my closest friends, one who was an adept programmer and another who was a great mangaka (manga author) in the making. At first, I was looking to make it a Javascript platformer, then I shifted gears to a platformer with RPG elements, like Super Paper Mario for instance.

I haven't completed started on Mizuna yet, as I am continuing to fix up the story, adding more nods to Japanese history, making it loosely non-fictional. For now, my friend and I are both advising each other on our own separate projects, my friend's project being a manga called YuMaKoMaSHi (that was deliberate) and of course, mine being Mizuna. I do have a separate project from Mizuna: Ninja in Training which is slowly gathering momentum. The main topic of interest is auras, something I've taken a heavy interest in since watching the anime Psychic Academy. As a nod to the anime, it is called Project Gaza, since Gaza means "foresight".

Anyways, I will continue work on Mizuna: Ninja in Training by the beginning of August, maybe being able to nail the entire story down by the end of 2010 or earlier. That's it for this entry, stick around for more witty entries from the mind of Sylverstone Khandr!

Welcome to Sylver's Edge!

2010-07-25T02:11:00.003-04:00

I am Sylverstone Khandr (my pen name). I'm a senior in high school (well, bumped down to a junior when I moved back to NY) with a big dream: to become a video game designer. I'm working to gain experience by developing my own video games and also to look at the ideas of designers across the world. My biggest role model in the field is Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of successful (Nintendo) gaming franchises such as Super Mario, Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda.

The journey begins here, as I march along to make my path directed towards my dream college, the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Game Design.

I am also the author of a weekly article called "Straight Up Gaming". I wrote 13 editions for DSiHub.com, where I was a moderator for nearly a year. DSiHub officially discontinued on the 23rd of July, 13 days shy of its 1st anniversary.

I currently run 3 YouTube channels:

- Sylverstone14, where I talk about the Nintendo DSi, and other gaming issues (http://www.youtube.com/user/Sylverstone14)

- SylverstoneShoots, where I discuss the high impact world of professional wrestling (no, it isn't FAKE, it's scripted ~ http://www.youtube.com/user/SylverstoneShoots)

- SylverstoneSpeaks, where I talk about anything that's worth talking about, and also the road towards DigiPen (http://www.youtube.com/user/SylverstoneSpeaks)

(Shoots and Speaks haven't gotten under way as yet, but I will keep you posted.)

Anyways, I'm glad to begin a blog now and hopefully, I will not abandon it. Thanks for reading and welcome to Sylver's Edge.