Dueling Analogs » The Outer Circle

If Webcomics Had DLC

Steve Napierski — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Just in case you want to see the entire ~~three~~ four panel comic that was used in today’s Dueling Analogs, it’s available here.

Honestly not sure that a downloadable content (DLC) model would even work for webcomics. Maybe if Alan Moore had released The Watchmen as a webcomic and the first eleven issues were free and the twelve you had to pay for…Maybe that would have worked. But then again, someone probably would have just downloaded the issue and then uploaded a torrent for it on the net. So that probably wouldn’t have worked either. I say just create a comic that people like, want to come back to read and are willing to share with others and you’ll do just fine. That of course means that people even knows that your webcomic exists in the first place, but that’s a completely different story.

Update: Some of you have brought to my attention that this comic is very similar to a Penny Arcade that came out on Monday. I’m going to be honest here – Pure Coincidence. First off, do to a busy schedule the only webcomics I regularly keep up with are Omake Theater, Questionable Content and Yellow Peril. I haven’t even been to Penny Arcade in a few weeks, actually. But more from a logical point of view, if I was actually going to rip off another webcomic, which I won’t, do you think I would be dumb enough to rip off the biggest webcomic on the internet? One would think that someone would find out. I’m just saying…

So…DLC, what’s my opinion on that? I like some DLC. I think other DLC is unnecessary. Some of it I’m not so sure about or just think are flat out a scam.

The good DLC, in my opinion, is usually the games (ie. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, Mega Man 9, Shadow Complex). These are the titles that are being released exclusively, or sometimes concurrently, for the digital media. You can receive gaming enjoyment that is usually much cheaper than a full-length studio project, but without the hassle of going to the store to buy it. Now I know there are also a lot of expansion packs that add to the gaming experience and could be considered good, but a lot of these can fall into my “not so sure about” category.

Unnecessary…HATS!! But we still love them.

So why am I not so sure about a lot of expansion packs? Let’s take Beautiful Katamari, for example. I’m a huge fan of the Katamari Damacy fan, but they DLC of Beautiful Katamari wasn’t really DLC, but content that the developer had already created and that was actually on the physical disc you purchased. Stuff that you already owned they wanted you to pay for it again to unlock. I call that a scam. Pretty much when the content you download is needed to make the game complete, or good even, and just should have been originally part of the game initially that’s when I have a problem with it.

Otherwise, I’m pretty darn pleased with DLC in general. One day we’ll be explaining to our grand kids that when we were their age we actually had to touch the physical media the game came on and they’ll response, “OMGSTFUIDBULOL”. Because by then everything will be digital and the spoken language will have degraded into a string of textese.

What’s a Filler Comic?

Steve Napierski — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:09:00 +0000

I had fun at Nekocon this weekend, but between that and other obligations I didn’t really have time to do a proper update. So I decided to borrow Peekaboo from the always on time, never misses an update and always family friend strip: the outer circle and use him in today’s comic. I’ll be back [...]

Interview with The Xcentrikz

Steve Napierski — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:10:22 +0000

I recently conducted an interview with The Xcentrikz. Oddly enough it had very little to do with Dueling Analogs and was mostly about the outer circle. It was a fun change of pace and I feel the interview turned out pretty good as well. If you get a chance, definitely check it out.

It’s Not a Tumor

Steve Napierski — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:58:00 +0000

So I’m feeling a little under the weather right now. In fact, as soon as I got home I slept for four hours and the only reason I had to wake up was to drop my car off at the shop to get some work done on it. Now, last time something like this happened I just ran a classic comic on Dueling Analogs. This time, I decided to run some gaming related comics from the outer circle and I think that works better. With the outer circle coming to a close and since 99.9% of you have never even seen the comic, it should definitely be new to most of you. Good part is, I’ve already started on today’s Thursday’s comic so I won’t have as much work to do on it.

Update: I forgot that I actually created P Diddy’s P-Ball Challenge to coincide with the third comic listed above. I built it at two in the morning. I wanted to take the joke to the next level. I felt it worked.

Until then…

Take Five

Steve Napierski — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0000

I originally had just planned to have Peekaboo guest star in this comic. But then I thought, “Why not have Richard guest star in it, too?” Then, I decided that the gaming joke was weak. But if I still used it then this would still be considered a gaming strip. And I could then go and make a whole bunch of variations without changing the artwork. And there’s the thought process behind this comic.

In other news, my portfolio site is finally up and ready on the net. And as such, I am taking requests for commissioned pieces. As of right now, I just need to finish the Jill and her Drill Dozer piece for David and then I am all free for commission pieces. So if that strikes your fancy, head on over there and drop me a line.

Oh, and I went and updated the outer circle today, too. Go figure!