Summer Camp 2024 Homework and Pledge
So... We doing this again, huh?
Well, well well... if it isn't that time of the year again: Summer Camp. To be completly honest, i've been waiting for this specific competition to return since uh.. February, i think? I might be VERY, VERY exited for this. Without further ado, lets get on with the assignments.
Assignments
Themes
Week 1: CHANGESo for week one, the theme is "Change". Well, i gotta say, that a bit vage, and slightly overwelming. Change is so... common in Hysal. It is one of the main themes of the world. Changes in magic, technologies, cultures, dynasties, environment and their associated effects are onmipresent in Hysal, so in theory, i *should* have plenty of potential answers to whatever prompts they give us. (I hope).
Week 2: REFUGE
Interesting theme. Doesn't inspire as many ideas as "Change", but the ones i have are stuff that i wanted to write for a long time, particulary in regards to mages. If anybody would need refuges in Hysal, it would be them. Im thinking that sometimes, benevolent actors would give them refuge, but sometimes, they had to carve it out for themselves in order to survive. Overall, very good theme and exited to see those prompts :)
Week 3: BELIEF
Week 3: BELIEF
Oh boy, this is gonna be fun. Religions, myths and superstitions. I already have many ideas. One thing i haven't focused too much in Hysal (Or at least as much as i want) is to examin how far away cultures are perceived and vice-versa. A lot of superstition and myths can arise from lack of understanding because of mistranslation or distance... And of course, these far away people beliefs of their own.
week 4: DECAY
Hysal's timeline streches about 10 000 years. In that time, so many empires, kingdoms, guilds, religions and other organisations have risen and fallen into decay. I have a lot of material to work with. However, i'm (99.037%) sure that they won't give 8 organisation and location prompts, which means i'll have to look into less obvious forms of decay, like moral decay. Very exited about this theme, since i love writting about decay and collapse and stuff like that!
Goals
This year, i intend to write 32 articles, enough to get me the shinny Diamond Badge. If possible, i would like to be able to write an article for all 40 prompts, but i'm not sure if i will have the inspiration, time or motivation to do so. Last year, i managed to write 34 Articles, and, if possible, i would like to match or even pass this number. However, since i want better quality article this time around, i don't expect to have the time to reach it. If i can, ill be happy, but if i don't, i would still be satisfied if i *only* got 32 articles completed.
Categories and Tags
Meta
Accountability Buddy
Its you, the community!Styling
I have dipped my toe into styling my articles a tiny bit. For now, that just means to make sure the sidebar isn't 4 times longer than the main text lol, and also adding drawings to lighten the text load and bring a bit of colour. Its not much, but its honest work :)CSS
IRL Ispiration
Films/TV Shows
I can think of many examples of times were i would watch something, notice something cool and i would open my notes on my phone and write it down. Usualy, i end up scrapping the idea since it doen't fit Hysal, but other times, i'm able to make it work. A "recent example of this is this article: Jrokya which was inspired by the opening scene of the Film "Honor amongst theives", then i realised that it existed IRL in russia, and i have a region partly inspired by Russia (Rumalia/Ru'mensh), so everything clicked
Books
The inspirations from books comes less directly, since i don't have images to see. Thankfully, its pretty easy for me to imagine in my head what i'm reading, so its a bit like prompts in a sense, and i'm good with those ;)
Music
For me, music is more of a concentration/focus tool. Because of my ADHD, its hard to focus on writting or drawing for long periods of time (10+ min) without being distracted(or distract myself), but music helps me focus more easily. No idea why, but i'm grateful it works anyways. I mainly listen to voiceless EDM (House, Drum and bass and Melodic dubstep)
Art
I've recently (Since winter) slowly started drawing art again. Unfortunatly, i only have my phone and fingers to draw(Very much not ideal, can't wait to buy a proper drawing tablet), but i've been having fun doing, and i don't plan on stopping.
Map
I'm currently doing a bunch of Maps for the continents of my setting. i think i'll be able to publish one before Summer Camp, and the rest will be published one at a time starting in August. A couple months ago, i finished my first map, and i'm quite proud of it:Environment optimisation
The enviroment i work in is already optimized, though it may need a bit of tiddying up before July. I work at my desk in my room, writting the articles on my laptop(Like this one), while the ideas i have are usualy written on the note app on my phone since i always have it with me.Homepage review
Recently, i've done a bit of basic work on Hysal's homepage, but there's still a lot of work to do and stuff to move around before i'm satisfied with it. I'll probably chip at it bit by bit throughout the next couple of months or mayby i'll get randomly inspired on a random late night and do it all then, idk.Intro Article
This is something that's been on my radar/to-do list for some time now. I'm not sure how to do it, but it's probably not that complicated. I'll do it eventualy, maybe in time for Summer Camp, who knows?Author page
Ok, so... My author page hasn't been updated since last year, and most of the information on there is.... incomplete? Getting it up to date could be another fun thing to do before Summer Camp begins. We'll see.
Dewy Diamonds Badge by Strixxline
My participation last yearIn 2023's edition, i was kinda late to the party. I started writting my first prompts by the end of the first week of july, and i hadn't done any prep. work. However, i somehow still managed to write 34 articles and thus, get myself the diamond badge, which i am proud of. At the time, i was in the middle of changing and adding lots of stuff in Hysal, and Summer Camp's prompts helped me write it out. Unfortunetly, due to rushing and lack of practice in English writting, many of those articles weren't the best quality, and some needed major rewrites, which i have done since. This year, i expect things are going to be different. I have a month to prepare and i plan to use that time approprietly so that i obtain the diamond badge without too much stress.
The Thyrenian Sea sounds like a nice place to summer!
Haha, yeah it's pretty nice... as long as you stay on the northern shore! Thanks for the like btw ;)