Last Resort - A Furry Sci-Fi Thriller Webcomic

[jekkal]

Username: lastresort

Email: rach [at] lid.cc

Site Description: A weekly-or-so webcomic (depends on schoolwork and such) done in Standard Comic Page Format (1.5 to 1 ratio), including bonus art, character descriptions, plot synopsis, and a few plugs on the links page to my other work and possibly some commissions information (and forums, of course).

CONCEPT:

A new reality show is about to begin in the far reaches of space, and the Vaeo family is getting ready to produce it; the robots are being prepped, they're interviewing last-minute volunteers, construction's almost finished, criminals are starting to be transferred in . . . wait, criminals?

Yes, criminals; this new reality show, Last Resort, Is a galactic government-sponsored expedition program for condemned criminals, waiving further appeals on their death sentences in the hopes of winning complete pardons at the end of the season.

Mixed in with them are volunteer players whose job is to keep the criminals in check, and all of them have the chance to become Executioners: players who serve as captains to their own squads of criminals, but are also responsible for helping to eliminate the criminals on other teams. Being a volunteer helps your chances of becoming an Executioner, but there's no guarantee of it.

The story mostly follows the adventures of an odd volunteer, Jigsaw Forte, who looks too small and cultured to be dangerous . . . until Cypress Vaeo (Producer of the show) finds out that she's a lot more dangerous than she looks! We're not sure just what she's capable of, but it's more than enough to toss her in the mix.

Can Jigsaw survive the new combat environment as much as she thinks she can? How far will Cypress and the rest of the Vaeo family go to keep themselves (and the other civilians) safe while filming? And most importantly . . . will this crazy experiment in mixing justice and prime-time drama even WORK?

The Story contains Heavy Combat Violence, Combat-related Gore, Inferred Sex, and Partial Nudity, all of which are plot related and semi-censored just because of the nature of the art style. Case in point: I don't draw genitalia, but a nipple's not going to end the world. While I'm not going to shrink away from showing battle-wounds, most other gore will probably be concealed by the action in progress. You're not going to find any Saw-style cross-sectioning going on here, and my style's a little too cartoony to get that far in it.

Most of this is going to be limited in scope and rare compared to the rest of the comic, but it WILL be in there. It's more a matter of "The story's already epic, so censoring out these details is counterintuitive and counterproductive" than anything else.



Page: No page yet, aside from my DeviantArt and FurAffinity accounts (only providing the dA link because the fA one is just a mirror of my furrier works); I know how to make my own page, yes, but I'm a little out of practice (circa 2005), and I kinda don't want to work on one until I get something secured.

[Xepher]

You've got my interest so far. Know that you don't have to apologize so much for having violence. If you read the thread on clarifications, you'll see you really have to be trying to break the rules on such things here. That said, your sample page looks pretty good, art-wise, but your link to DA doesn't actually work. Also, GaiaOnline "websites" don't count towards showing you can do site design. For that part of it, I'm not looking at your artistic skill or your color choices... I need to see enough technical proficiency that I feel you won't have a problem making a website here. There are no templates or tools of any kind provided here, you have to upload your working site directly via SCP or FTP.

Anyway, your under consideration. A working link to your DA account, and maybe an actual website example would be the next steps. Also, be patient, my real life is hectic, and sometimes it may seem that I've disappeared. I always get around to things though.

[jekkal]

I've fixed the DeviantArt link, but I don't have any 'recent' work website wise, and by recent I mean this is from 2002 (as is this one, which I think will hurt your eyes a little less). This one's a little more recent, but more my ex-boyfriend's work than mine.

I have proficiency, make no mistake there, but I'm hesitant to make a brand-new sample site 'just' for the sake of proving I know how to code HTML unless it's absolutely necessary to.

[fesworks]

this. is. one of the better applications I've seen in a while!

and the content is good too!

[jekkal]

this. is. one of the better applications I've seen in a while!

and the content is good too!

Thanks!

I've been waiting in the wings for a while. I noticed Xepher after visiting DMFA for so long, and Last Resort has been drawn since mid-September (though I've had the idea since last May). This is more a case of "I've finally gotten the balls up to go for an actual page" versus DeviantArt and such.

That, and I want an excuse to sit ON the webcomic artists' panel at conventions for a change!

[Xepher]

I agree with Fes... artwise, this is one of the better things I've seen in a while. However, the websites are, shall we say, "lacking." Of course, you admit they're old and out of date, and I don't blame you for not wanting to make a sample site just for showcasing here.

Now, that being understood, convince me with words that you know what you're doing. Do you really understand there are no templates like gaialine, or fortunecity, or other such places? Do you understand what that means... that you'll have to create everything with NO help whatsoever from tool here? I know it may sound like I'm being anal about this, but I've had dozens of applicants that insisted they knew how to design a website, and a week after I approved them, they're emailing me asking where to edit their page, or how to pick a template. Convince me you're not one of those, and I'll be thrilled to add another good furry artist. :-)

[griever]

Great art and great application.  The websites are really plain, but they don't look template to me.

[jekkal]

If nothing else, I have Frontpage.

... seriously, though, I'm a Computer Science major at Georgia Tech, and this is one of the first things they try to drill into their introductory computing classes. It's not a lot (make me a page with some info and an image, make a mail form, make it pretty with CSS and make it validate to W3C XHTML standards), but it's worthwhile. I'm currently in my third year at the program, and specializing in HCI (Human Computer Interaction, which covers interfaces, form factor, empirical testing and observation of such technologies with real people, etc.) So while I admit I'm out of practice, 'practice' involves plenty of script-kiddie-ism and other playing with the mild discoveries like how you can make paragraphs have their own backgrounds and borders so they resemble tables, hence you don't have to worry about backgrounds being as noisy because you can put them in their own thing. And, as I said, this is Georgia Tech, so push comes to shove, if I don't know what I'm doing, odds are good at least one person here does.

Admittedly a lot of my hestiation in starting this project is my own speed in putting out work (especially during finals!), but my real concern in starting up the webcomic's page is that I know there are some nifty little gadgets that will do the archiving for you, do auto-updating, things like that. Basically, things I know I 'can' do without, but are still cool to get my hands on and would still save time. I've been observing several systems, and while the ones that use archive calendars are nice, at the end of the day I know there's still a way to do it by hand that's only a 'little' more infuriating.

[Xepher]

You are welcome to use automated scripts of whatever kind... they just aren't provided by xepher.net, so you have to upload and install them yourself. Third-year compsci? That's the sort of thing that convinces me you can figure it out. I don't care if it takes you a little while, and you poke around with things... that's how I do it myself. I just have had too many people expecting a geocities-like site builder.

Anyway, you're in. You should have an email with a link to instructions on how to login and set your basic account info, as well as using the newsbox and such. Please read though all of it.

[dragyn]

Looks like you'll be better than I am at this, at any rate.  Congratulations on being accepted.  (And so quickly, too...looks like you might be catching up after all, Xepher.)