...Sooo, it's been a while since I did one of these. Anyway, as the title implies, you will find a lot of fanboying here, so if that isn't up your alley, and instead want to read someone feeling depressed/negative at things, since that seems to be what everyone writes about on GBATemp these days (when did we get so dark? Should I stop using darkstyle temp? Is that what is causing these waves of negativity?), go to someone elses blog.
The topic I want to discuss are MSPA-style comics. In case you don't know what a MSPA-style comic is, it is basically a webcomic that reads like a text-adventure game, with each page having an image and narrative/chatlogs (no text is usually on the image itself). Underneath the page is a hyperlink to the next page, usually containing a command instructing one of the characters in the webcomic to do something, or if the action stretches out over multiple panels, an arrow (==>). It is common for readers to submit commands to these type of webcomics, although this is not required.
The most famous one is obviously Homestuck, which is by far the biggest and most famous example. Infamous for being longer than War and Peace (or 1.25x The Harry Potter series if that is a better sense of scale), having a fanbase rivaling that of Sonic the Hedgehog in shittiness (in the past, most of that portion of the fanbase moved to whatever Tumblr likes these days), Homestuck primarily sells itself to the reader by having interesting and well-developed characters. It's also confusing as fuck, so trying to explain the plot would probably turn down many people based on it's complexity alone.
I'll be genuine. I'm a Homestuck (which my past few avatars have shown), but the comic most certainly has it's issues. The pacing is horrible. Around half the comic takes place in a single day. The chatlogs are long and sometimes are completely irrelevant to the overall plot. And as a first time reader, many things are lost because a lot of the commands which now come across as something seemingly random, once had a purpose which you will only find out by looking it up on the internet, which adds the risk of getting spoiled.
Other than that, I most certainly recommend reading Homestuck. Read at least until the end of act 4. If you aren't sold then, it's unlikely that you will enjoy Homestuck. Maybe try getting a bit into act 5, if you liked the Trolls.
Moving away from Homestuck, but still on mspaintadventures.com , we have Problem Sleuth. Problem Sleuth came before Homestuck and is only a tenth of it's length, so if you don't have the time to read Homestuck, Problem Sleuth might be the better option for you. Personally, I recommend Problem Sleuth over Homestuck, mostly because unlike Homestuck, events seem to be much more understandable and Problem Sleuth doesn't try to confuse the reader.
Now we enter in the genre of fanventures (because Bard Quest and Jailbreak were never finished). These fanventures basically take the style of MSPA-style comics, and try to give their own spin on them. Most fanventures these days can be split up in two distinct categories:
So um... I get that my description says I suck at beginnings, but now I can't think of an appropriate ending... um... until the next post?
The topic I want to discuss are MSPA-style comics. In case you don't know what a MSPA-style comic is, it is basically a webcomic that reads like a text-adventure game, with each page having an image and narrative/chatlogs (no text is usually on the image itself). Underneath the page is a hyperlink to the next page, usually containing a command instructing one of the characters in the webcomic to do something, or if the action stretches out over multiple panels, an arrow (==>). It is common for readers to submit commands to these type of webcomics, although this is not required.
The most famous one is obviously Homestuck, which is by far the biggest and most famous example. Infamous for being longer than War and Peace (or 1.25x The Harry Potter series if that is a better sense of scale), having a fanbase rivaling that of Sonic the Hedgehog in shittiness (in the past, most of that portion of the fanbase moved to whatever Tumblr likes these days), Homestuck primarily sells itself to the reader by having interesting and well-developed characters. It's also confusing as fuck, so trying to explain the plot would probably turn down many people based on it's complexity alone.
I'll be genuine. I'm a Homestuck (which my past few avatars have shown), but the comic most certainly has it's issues. The pacing is horrible. Around half the comic takes place in a single day. The chatlogs are long and sometimes are completely irrelevant to the overall plot. And as a first time reader, many things are lost because a lot of the commands which now come across as something seemingly random, once had a purpose which you will only find out by looking it up on the internet, which adds the risk of getting spoiled.
Other than that, I most certainly recommend reading Homestuck. Read at least until the end of act 4. If you aren't sold then, it's unlikely that you will enjoy Homestuck. Maybe try getting a bit into act 5, if you liked the Trolls.
Moving away from Homestuck, but still on mspaintadventures.com , we have Problem Sleuth. Problem Sleuth came before Homestuck and is only a tenth of it's length, so if you don't have the time to read Homestuck, Problem Sleuth might be the better option for you. Personally, I recommend Problem Sleuth over Homestuck, mostly because unlike Homestuck, events seem to be much more understandable and Problem Sleuth doesn't try to confuse the reader.
Now we enter in the genre of fanventures (because Bard Quest and Jailbreak were never finished). These fanventures basically take the style of MSPA-style comics, and try to give their own spin on them. Most fanventures these days can be split up in two distinct categories:
- Those that try to tell an original story, with it's own distinctive plot and characters and mechanics.
- And those that put a new spin on Homestuck canon.
- A beginners guide to the end of the universe. A great fanventure, with it's own mechanics and story. Reads much like an official MSPA comic, although with it's own distinctive art-style (it uses GIS even more!). Is finished and has a sequel which is on indefinite hiatus (so dead).
- Pay Dat Rent!!1! Pay the rent by any means neccesary. That is what this comic started with, and due to the fact that the author usually tries to execute every command, things quickly spinned out of control as the protagonist winds up in jail, sells his soul to a demon and more. Is ongoing and is a definite must-read.
- Dead Shuffle. A great fanventure, this comic takes the intermission characters from Homestuck and Team Sleuth from... well, Problem Sleuth and switches their roles around. Good fanventure and has a sequel called Apocryphal Antithesis (and I'm sure that I'm writing that wrong).
- Cool and New Webcomic. A parody of Homestuck told in a Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff like setting. Primarily sells itself on having a few 'good/normal' characters who react in-character to the shitty world around them.
So um... I get that my description says I suck at beginnings, but now I can't think of an appropriate ending... um... until the next post?
