GPF News Archive

Hello again, everybody! I'd like to start off by thanking everybody for the wonderful mail of congratulations over the news of our anniversary and the forthcoming book. I know that I'm excited about this opportunity, and it's great to hear that you guys are just as excited. (Well, maybe not as excited as I am, but you're not yawning either.) I've been hyper all week since I made the announcement. Of course, that might be because of the vast quantities of sugar and chocolate I consume in the average day (burp), but it could equally be excitement for all I know.

This week brings more book news. After much toiling at the drawing desk and then on the computer, I am proud to announce that the book's cover has been born! It follows to reason that we've also got a title, too. (Or, at least, I hope it follows to reason... for all I know, I may be the only one out there who thinks you need a title to finish the cover of a book.) Anyhoo, the book's official title is now Mating Call of the North American Computer Geek, and you can find a picture of the cover in the book sub-site. Just click on the book at the top of the page to enlarge the picture. I'm also happy to report that the rescanning effort is nearly complete, and I have four out of seven pages of the full-color special story drawn and scanned. (Two are completely finished, and the other two need the computer work.) With any luck, I'll be finished with almost everything by the end of November, which will give me a chance to finally take a breath around the holidays.

Waitaminute... holidays...? That means....

Oh, no....

Christmas shopping.

Ah, nuts. Forget anything I just said about taking a breather. :P

On the other foot, I thought I'd take an opportunity to give everybody a sneak peek at what I have planned for the next year. It's tradition to make "New Year's resolutions" in January. You know, those promises you intend to keep (like losing twenty pounds or quit smoking or something like that), but for one reason or another (time, laziness, alien invasion) you just don't get around to it. Well, since this is now officially GPF's second year, I thought I'd make my New Year's resolutions now, as far as the comic is concerned (and I do intend to keep them, by the way):

1. I'm going to try and put more detail into the comic, such as more backgrounds and more detailed art. There are times I feel like I'm not doing my best, like I'm rushing just to meet a deadline, and by doing so I cheat you guys and don't work at my full potential. (Time is always a problem for me, but I'm working on managing it better.) I've added a lot more backgrounds to some upcoming story lines, and hopefully you guys will love the results.
2. I'm also watching those spelling mistakes more. Most of them are typos (since I do the lettering on the computer), and I am trying to run every script through a spell checker before it makes it into the strip. (Of course, I still have all my editors out there in cyberspace, so I'm sure you guys will tell me when I miss one. ;)
3. Because I've gotten so many requests for it, I'm seriously considering adding a strip on Sundays. I know I mentioned (on the About page, I think) that I might do a Sunday-style colored comic occasionally, but I've never really gotten around to do it. Well, I've heard all your requests, and it's now definitely on the list of things to do. My biggest problem right now is coming up with ideas for these strips; most of the story lines I have written so far are scripted as six-day weeks, so many (if not all) of the color Sundays will be stand alone gags. I've got a few in reserve, but I need to come up with more before I feel comfortable adding another day to the schedule. But it's in development. Promise.
4. The question of where Nick and Ki's relationship is going will finally be answered. Promise. But I'm not telling how or when. (I can't give away all my secrets, now can I?)
5. I'm going to finish Gandalf's Quest II. I've been sitting on this silly game for almost a year now. The game coding is finished; I just need to finish the art. I'm mad at myself for letting this thing slide, and it's holding up my game development schedule. (Game development comes after the strip in priority, and the book has been eating up any spare spare time I've had.) I've got a great idea and preliminary concept design for a nifty "Oklahoma Nick" Web game, but I can't go anywhere with it until GQ2 is off the block.
6. Speaking of games, I plan to overhaul the site some more, which will include getting rid of a few of the "games," like "Find the Bug in the Code" and "The Secret of NIM." I put these up really as placeholders, until I could come up with better ideas and until there were enough strips to give people something better to look at. Well, there's now more strips up, and the placeholders are just wasting space. They were meant to be gags in and of themselves, but now that everyone's seem them, why keep them?

Mind you, I may not be able to implement everything on this list, but I'm definitely going to try. That's part of my duty to you. I want to improve GPF to make it as enjoyable as possible, and hopefully, this will help me keep that promise to you.

Contest news: At the time that I'm writing this, we have 49 entries! Wow! And by the time you guys read this, it's probably even more. For those that may not have heard, we're celebrating the announcement of the book by holding a trivia contest, where five lucky winners will win a signed copy of the book when it comes out. Almost fifty GPF fans have past the test and proven their mettle. Don't miss your chance; I'm a real tightwad, so this is probably you're only chance to get something free out of me! (And don't forget, the contest ends midnight Pacific Time on January 1st. That's three hours after that big ball drops in New York City. Synchronize your watches now!)

Feel free to keep voting for us on the Internet Homepages Top 100 and BigPanda.Net. We've been holding stead at #8 on IHT100 for quite a while now, and we've been near the top of the BigPanda list for some time too. As always, don't hesitate to e-mail to let me know what I'm doing right and/or wrong. I love your mail; just please be patient if it takes me a few days to respond <weary grin>. Take care, and see you all next update.

Old News Items:

• Nov. 1, 1999: GPF Anniversary, Book and Contest Launch
• June 14, 1999: "I'm a Thief!" Campaign