summer camp 2024 prep :0

Lost track of time and got started on this homework a little late, oops! This will be my first time participating in summer camp and I'm quite excited. I would ideally like to do more, but for my pledge I decided I'll go easy on myself and aim for the copper badge, and anything beyond that will just be a fun bonus.

Week 1

Assignment 1

Change is definitely an intriguing theme and definitely one I would like to explore for my world, Gilden. It's a very new world that I only just started working on this calendar year, so it is going through a lot of development changes as it continues I continue to expand it and refine both the foundations and details in my mind. There's also the fact that change is a great theme to tie in to the main story that I am writing this world for. Major change is something that all my characters have experienced profoundly in the past, and there are even more major changes to come in their lives all throughout the story, from beginning to end. A signifcant aspect of those changes has to do with their relationships-- with themselves and with others, but there is also considering the ways in which their actions change the world around them. I also want to explore how places may change because of the people who live there-- or don't anymore-- over long periods of time, for good and for bad, and the complex nature of 'good' vs 'bad' change.

Assignment 2

I may or may not go back to work in July, which would definitely cut down on the free time I have to write in a major way. That's one of the main reasons I'm keeping my goal small at 8 prompts, because while I do always on some level want to go for the most ambitious option, small is also more manageable. I'm trying to be nicer to myself and that involves setting more reasonable goals.

Assignment 3

I've already lately been doing a little organizing of categories in this world. I started off with as rudimentary a system as possible and have been expanding it as the world expands. I decided to divide the 'story' folder-- where I've been keeping my character articles-- into three new categories: 'Heroes', 'Villains', and 'NPCs'. Npc isn't technically fully accurate but it's fun and less of a mouthful than 'background characters'. That's where all the supporting or truly background background characters will be, though if I end up with too many in one place I may need to organize them again according to relevance. 'Heroes' also is not necessarily that accurate either, as some of my main cast are not exactly very heroic (Canorsolanim is an anti-hero at best, at worst a villain that's latched on to a hero as his best friend and therefore kind of just puts up with the heroic stuff out of fondness alone). But either way, hopefully this small change will be a good start to keeping things from getting too muddled.

Assignment 4

I know this one was under the 'for older worlds' section and this is a very new world I'm working on, but I started filling out the world meta. Answering these kinds of prompts about not just the worldbuilding itself but the point of it all really helps put things into focus and gives me a clearer idea of what I'm actually doing here. Figuring out how I even pitch this world is a good place to start, also!

Week 2

Assignment 1

Refuge is another great theme that I'm spinning around in my brain now. Especially given the amount of battle and physical danger that takes place, the concept of refuge is definitely something strongly coveted in this world. There's the literal refuge of a walled fortress, which would be the kind most people try to seek out, but there's also the emotional refuge of trust shared between people, which can hold fast even when walls fall. Or, a lack or loss of trust could be what causes those walls to fall in the first place. Much to think about...

Assingment 2

This might be harder since I've yet to really share this world in depth with anyone. But, since I already collaborate on all the worldbuilding and writing and stuff for our shared Zelda world with my sibling (who is a total genius) I will probably ask them to help me keep on track with this one and provide feedback wherever they're willing. I'm not a social being by nature, so large groups are hard to navigate for me and I tend to be very shy, so hopefully this will work out just fine.

Assingment 3

Oh, gosh. I have a bit of practise with it on my other world, but I haven't even really started to write actual full articles for this one and haven't considered the visual presentation of it at all-- somehow, despite my end goal here being a graphic novel! I've thought about the visuals of the world itself and the story at length, of course, but the presentation of it here on world anvil? I went in and started by fiddling with the different theme presets. I like the idea of the scripture theme, but I personally find the base font of that one kind of hard to read. I'll also definitely have to refine the visuals more and add a world header and stuff, as well as finish and upload a map or two, maybe use some of my art. It's kind of only just occuring to me now that people might actually see all this stuff, and I want to make sure anyone who does happen to glance at it likes what they see enough to stick around.

Week 3

Assignment 1

Um, are we halfway through June already?? That doesn't seem right... well! The good news is that belief is also a great theme that ties in really well with on of the main goals of my world and story to explore different philosophies and ideals that might be either shared or opposed by the different characters and groups of people present in Gilden. There's heavy themes of religious and spiritual faith that are extremely important to both the plot and some of the main characters' own personal arcs. There's the concept of believing in oneself and your own abilities, having faith in others around you, in people and the goodness of the world in general, or perhaps the opposite, believing the world is inherently a dark, evil place. Something I really love to think about is people's belief in more abstract concepts, like the things they value, whether they place importance in education, social status, modesty, cleanliness, what their views on how children should be raised or what leadership looks like, gender ideals, how they view age, what they consider important rules and etiquette, all things like that-- what they value in life, if they value life itself... all really fascinating stuff to me. I love the study of people lol.

On another note, this is a good opportunity to explore some more folk beliefs that may or may not be common in the world. Things that are a little smaller than whole religions, organized or not. It would be fun to think about more small-scale myths and local legends, or superstitions that people have. I also am interested in how the same or similar 'real' divine or spiritual aspects are interpreted in different ways by different people. Very exciting stuff brewing in my brain here.

Assignment 2

Easiest assignment ever! The music I listen to has always been a huge part of my creative process, and from the very beginning I've had a huge playlist being continuously built up for Gilden, that also continues to evolve as the world and the characters to. In fact, I've been working as much on the playlist lately as I have been the actual worldbuilding and story planning! It's a pretty fun mix, the songs being a vast majority heavy metal and rock music (as per my own personal tastes) and also Britney Spears. Britney is also there. It's kind of how I think of my main cast lol-- "look, here are my main characters: heavy metal, symphonic metal, folk metal, classic rock... and Britney!" (though it should be noted that the primarily britney character's main theme song is actually 'Take these chains' by Judas Priest). For this assignment, I decided to start by going through my massive epic huge playlist and organizing it into separate, smaller playlists for each of the individual characters, and seeing whose playlist needs more attention. Unsurprisingly that turned out to be Mira, the newest of the cast. Added a bunch of songs to her playlist, and now the only one who has more is Sir! I'll have to get everyone else caught up... Thinking about what to put on a character's playlist really helps solidify my vision of them in my mind, and it's a great way of getting to know a character better, I recommend it for everyone with ocs. I think since the big massive main playlist is mainly for listening to while I work, it shall stay as a big random vibes-based mess for the time being. The characters' mixes have a lot of songs in common, but I kind of see that as a good thing as it highlights the themes and stuff they have in common that tie all their arcs together. But I also do want to make them more unique than they are the same, so I'll be working on these more in the coming days. Though they are still very much works in progress, here are the playlists as they are in the moment I write this:

Assignment 3

Oh, boy. Other than music for creative inspiration, another thing that I love to do the most when worldbuilding is collect tons of visual references and inspiration on Unsplash, a very cool website with a similar function to pinterest in that you can create boards/collections of images hosted on the site as well as upload your own, but with actual freely licenced photography uploaded and shared by the actual photographers, rather than being comprised almost entirely of stolen and re-uploaded images like pinterest is. So even aside from the art that I am working on myself for the world, I am absolutely not lacking in images for Gilden, in fact I have so many I had to divide the one Gilden collection into multiple categories! But there are so many that moving all those images from the Unsplash collections to anywhere else is a massive endeavor, or any amount really, it's a whole process. I guess I'll just have to buckle in and get to it. I don't necessarily need to actually use every single one of those pictures, but since the world on here is still very much lacking in content, maybe it would be a good idea to have some of them up for the meantime.

For now, here are some links to the collections themselves, which also works as a link to Unsplash in general for anyone who's interested in using the site:

Unsplash- Gilden Structure   Unsplash- Gilden Setting   Unsplash- Gilden Details  

As far as maps go... oof. I have a map of Gilden that I started drawing but haven't worked on in a while. I really need to finish it, so I guess this is the kick in the pants I need to actually get on that! Should I make that my first priority, or get at least one finalized illustration done for each of the main cast before working on anything else like I'd been planning.... hrmm (minecraft villager noises)... (thinking emoji

Assignment 4

Again, I know this one says for older worlds, but I do have a ton of inspiration behind Gilden, and I especially want to shoutout the specific thing that actually inspired me to finally make my own original fantasy setting comic and story-- an absolutely incredible online comic called Roses For Avalon, by the amazingly talented Mr. Purplebirdman on twitter and patreon (18+)!!! Seriously, the art is absolutely jaw-droppingly stunning, the story is excellent, the worldbuilding and lore super fascinating. There IS explicit content, fair warning. But yeah it's a really cool and creative comic, and as an artist I really admire this guy and his work, and hope to attain that level of skill and polish in my own art-- especially because he puts out a new page nearly twice a week, absolutely mindblowing! If anyone is reading this I absolutely implore you to go check out Roses For Avalon because it deserves SO much more attention and recognition.

That aside, I have yet to actually fill in the inspirations sections on my world's Meta, so I guess I'll have to get on that. Ahhh, so much to do!