Today’s comic is a slice-of-life on 2 levels. First of all, it’s a small dedication to our dog, Angel. If you read the news, a week ago she was clipped by a car (thankfully not hit dead-on, but sideswiped). She ended up with a few broken bones in her pelvis, but nothing serious. Painful, but nothing that will affect her lifelong. The worst the vet said would happen is that she may walk with a limp, but she has a good chance of a full recovery. She is such a trooper and it already trying to run around. We’re making sure she is not over-doing it, but it is so encouraging to see this little dog’s spirit and spunk! A thanks for the well-wishes from several of our fans.

Our dog is such a bright spot in our family, and there are times when the people just cannot console a child, but one of our animals can. We have cats too, but there is nothing quite like a dog to warm the heart of a child. Our kids call Angel their “little sister,” so that tells you how they feel about her. This past week was particularly hard in our house as the kids grappled with the thought of losing their dog. Even though she was not critically injured, it was a scary time, and our kids needed a bit more TLC to deal with it. Having the kids want the dog next to them to go to sleep is a regular occurrence in our house, and we wanted to showcase that in the strip.

Mike is pretty cranky in this issue, and his behavior is very much like our youngest, Violet. Our 2 year old has a fierce temper, and when she is tired, watch out! Nothing will console her, yet she just feels like she needs something. It can be frustrating as she screams “no” and slaps away all of our offerings of comfort. The dog will work to calm her on occasion, but honestly there are often moments nothing works. Usually she will simply find a place to lay down and go to sleep on her own–she is one of those children who really needs to be left alone in order to relax enough to take a nap.

On a side note, I have to admit that our 2 most explosive personalities kids-wise are Monty and Violet. I have to wonder if there is something to the fact that they both were born on the 4th of July (yes, both kids were born on 7/4, 4 years apart).

I do want to note, just in case anyone gets upset, I am not an advocate of “cry it out.” That is the method of putting a kid in their bed to go to sleep and leaving them alone in their room until they do. I know people who use it and swear by it, and I respect that. We are more inclined to have baby in our room with us, or sit with our kids until they go to sleep. Despite common fears that such method will not teach your kids to go to sleep on their own, I can safely reassure that our older ones have no issues with falling to sleep by themselves. We tried CIO years ago with our first and didn’t have the heart to do it. Anyhow, I do believe there is a time, though, that kids are just so overtired, they need a few minutes alone to relax. With Violet, typically she is in the same room as us and we simply ignore her. She usually comes around and calms down on her own, or she falls asleep. I don’t have any problems leaving a kid for 5-10 minutes to get a break. However, any longer and I usually have to go in and try something else. Okay, end of explanation.

Yes, lately we’ve been doing the slice-of-life strips.  You know the old saying, “write what you know.”  Today’s strip is actually one that hits home for me. I have to admit, one of my worst pet peeves is when my kids run around the house saying they are starving to death, asking every 2 minutes when dinner will be done, then when it’s time to eat, I have to yell and scream for them to come to the table!  I mean, if you are truly wasting away, I shouldn’t have to call you 3 times to come to the dinner!  So, I instituted a rule that if the kids don’t come in, I’m not chasing them.  Everyone who comes will eat, and the rest will just have to wait.  Granted, I haven’t resorted to PB&Js for the kids yet, but they do have to eat alone after everyone else.  And if it’s so late the leftovers are put up, they have to go and make their own plate.  Since I made that rule, the kids are much better at coming to dinner right away–though on occasion I’ve had the straggler come in after the fact, upset they were left out. Another true-life element is how the kids pass the buck all the way down when telling the other to tell the others it’s dinnertime. Including telling the baby. That is so how it is in our house.

I want to go back and talk a little about the previous strip.  I’ve gotten a lot of nice compliments about the fireworks.  I really wanted to do a 4th of July strip, but realized that holiday may not translate well to the inhabitants of a computer server.  Not that that stopped us from celebrating Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, mind you, but I figured this one might be a bit too America-only.  Anyhow, I liked the challenge of interpreting that holiday within the confines of that universe, and I was pleased when I came up with this.  As for the fireworks…major work!  There are over 20 cells in that animated gif, and it took me well over an hour just to do the fireworks part. But we are happy with how it looks, so it’s worth it.  Another thing to note, another reason I went with this is because I have been doing animated graphics for another non-BMW project.  Since I was already messing around with Animation Shop, I figured another “moving” Bitmapworld strip would be fun to do.

Remember I mentioned trying to fit in some reference to Jim cleaning out that house? Well, today’s comic Issue 173 was it. Well, to a degree. This comic is one of those true-slice-of-our-lives strips. When Jim was cleaning out that house, the woman’s pantry was filled with daddy long legs. In his own words: “I didn’t know they could get so big!” Most of our kids hate bugs and totally freak at the sight. That is, except Paige. She’s Paige the fearless, and will stomp bugs, go into a dark room alone to turn on the light, and a myriad of other “brave” things. It’s a bit comical to see our 12 year old run into room to grab Paige so she can squish a bug somewhere else in the house. I have to admit, even though I have to roll my eyes at my older ones being such “babies”, it’s quite hysterical to see this little 4-year old go to town on a bug. Paige (effectionatly called Ram-Paige at times because of her ability to trash a clean room in 10 second)–the courageous vanquisher of spiders and all things ick!

This is one of those strips that is based on real life. Granted, this doesn’t happen every time, but enough times to drive you batty. The kids will have an exciting day, running around and playing. On the way home they will knock out for a short nap–something the adults can’t do. Then, when we get home, we’re hopeful everyone will crawl into bed and sleep through the night…and the kids are wide awake. And not just wide awake, but recharged and hyper so they can’t sleep at all. So we end up half-asleep on the couch while they do their thing for hours. *deep sigh*

There is a lot more I want to comment on about the whole Rasterman storyline, and I’m going to do that during our Booyah next week. Though, I do want to mention (again) that Rasterman was one of our original characters, and the very first test strip we did was about him. It’s amazing to see him finally introduced all these months later.

Oh, and as for my computer woes. Truly, you would all think I was a troll if I was just a stranger on the forums! But, yet another minor hiccup (aside from part of my hard-drive being corrupted, which I reported about on the forums yesterday). Jim had built me a custom keyboard tray for my computer. Well, I came home today to find the kids had demolished it. The way it was/is setup makes it that I can’t just take the keyboard off and use it on the desk. I would have had to do it on my lap, which makes it impossible to do pixel art.

Certainly the gods have it out for me.

Thankfully Jim got up at 3:30 a.m. this morning to fix it.

See you all tomorrow with a new strip.

I think some of the people who read today’s strip (Issue 140) might feel that Harry is being exceptionally rude to Blip when he finds out he’s married. Well, considering how rude Blip is to him, I think it’s a bit justified. Also, it’s one of those cases where you find out something about someone that shocks you so much, you forget all etiquette. I know there have been people I have met with less than stellar personalities, who I later found out were married. I would be shocked, wondering who the heck would have married them, and secretly wondering how they put up with such a person. Granted, I understand that most people act differently when it comes to family and then outside acquaintances. Still, it make you wonder. That was what I was trying to convey with Harry in that strip.

The next 2 strips (Issues 141 and 142) were incredibly fun for me to do. I dreaded having to design the mayor’s office, but ended up loving it once I was into it. First of all, as a bit of trivia, the mayor’s office design is based loosely on a mayor’s office in a popular video game. I actually studied pictures of several real mayor’s offices in the U.S. and thought they all looked so pretentious! They looked like mini Oval Offices. I wanted something a little less flashy, and decided to do a parody of a movie or game one. Thankfully I found one I liked and used it as a model. I have to admit to not ever hearing of the game, much less playing it. Though, I did learn after the fact that my kids had played it a while back, having borrowed it from a family member.

Can I ask, are there ever any good mayors in comics? Most of the ones we run into are all corrupt and shifty. I guess those types of characters are more fun to write, and make for better drama.

Last, I also have to point to an inside joke, which literally only a handful of our close friends will get when reading the comic. Jim and I have been in a role-playing game since before we were married. I truly date myself here, but the campaign has been going on 16 years!–though only 3 years have passed in game time. It’s a superhero based game, using the DC Heroes universe. My character also happens to run an orphanage. Early in our gaming, I ran a game which had major events happens at the yearly “charity carnival.” Little did we know, that would be a recurring event in our game, and always the source of a lot of fun and drama. Thus, my inspiration to use it in the strip.

It’s really funny because the strip has taken on such a different tone lately, moving away from the “new kids on the block” focus of the Pixels, and widening the focus on the town and supporting characters. This was always our plan from Day 1, but as we mentioned before, we did not want to rush things. It’s neat to finally be writing storylines we came up with nearly 2 years ago! Hope you all enjoy them.

Actually, more like *several* days late. Though, the dollar part is argueable. Despite being a bit behind, our Booyah is up and we’re pretty pleased with it. 

Of course, fresh off the frustration of a server move, I am tempted to spend a page and a half ranting and raving.  Honestly, the move went relatively smooth.  The problem is that our new server has more advanced security, which is good from a general standpoint, but not good that a large number of our scripts and programs didn’t work properly.  That included this blog and a bunch of other stuff.  Not to mention that BMW had a longer time propogating than some of the other sites.  Ah, but I promised not to rant, so suffice it to say it was a pain, but we’ve got it (mostly) taken care of now!

It’s amazing that Bitmap World has been around a year! It truly doesn’t feel that long at all. There was so many plans we had when we started, and we’ve only begun to explore some of them, and there is so much more to come.  We had hoped to start one storyline in particular with this Booyah, but instead decided to do a “birthday” strip with Issue 134. Wanting to do an Easter strip too, we figured we’d just do a few stand-alone strips and will begin the planned storyline next week.

Speaking of the birthday strip, this is again one of those comics that is more real-life than not.  Our kids LOVE bubble wrap and fight over it.  While I have never actually gotten them a roll of it, I’ve considered it.  And I have to admit, I love popping it to.  Why the heck is that so much fun?!  Whatever the reason, it is.  I can totally see my kids having a great time with a big roll of that stuff.  I’m not sure if Jim would be like Harry, thought I’m sure he’d pop a few anyway.

One of the big complaints about some comics in general is that white space is not good.  We have always held that Bitmap World is deliberately minimalistic, since we want to invoke the feelings of the old computers of days past.  Still, adding some additional color is something we have wanted to do, and have made the leap to give many of our “sets” a splash of colors. In all selfishness, we didn’t want to have to go back and color all the past strips, so a convenient little explanation was crafted.

If you visit YouTube, be sure to look up the song, Code Monkey.  It’s a great song written by a talented free-source musician, Jonathan Coultan Jim and I both love that song, particularly since we are the programming types.  I have dreamed of doing a mini-movie to the song using Bitmap World characters.  I may still yet…perhaps when I get more time in the future (whenever that will be).  Still, I wanted to somehow give a nod to the song and did so through this comic.  This is another slice-of-life strip.  My kids can’t stand when we like their stuff, even though we’re the ones that got them interested in certain types of music/movies/shows.

Last, the Easter strip. Honestly, we didn’t plan this one to be a big commentary piece. We were just talking about the Easter Bunny and then the idea was tossed around about the Macrohard bunny being at the mall, and then it went from there.  That said, both of us do find it ridiculous that there has been a trend of companies to “claim” holidays, and even seasons, as their own.  Did you know that Country Time Lemonade, Corona, and Borden’s Ice Cream all claim to be the official sponsors of Summer?  I wonder who they pay royalties to, Mother Nature?

There’s a ton to this Booyah, so remember to check out our News page for details.  We actually had more planned, but our server woes had to come first. The good news is that next month we’ll have a nice Booyah too!

Happy Spring, everyone.  And Merry Easter, too.

I have a confession to make. I have one of those lives that defies belief. I mean, the fact that I am the daughter of a ventriloquist-turned-novelty-shop-owner, having lived behind the aforementioned trick shop most of my life, hanging out with magicians and clowns and entertainment-types, that pretty much puts me in the “oh, okay” category right off the bat. That’s not to mention all the other oddities which have plagued me throughout my life since then. Anyhow, kinda like Harry, weird things seem to follow me. I tend to avoid talking about them to most people, because frankly I think most people *do* think I’m exaggerating or making it up, and I just don’t want to go there.

A while back, there was one friend who I felt I could confide in. She insisted she believed me and didn’t think I was a nut–and I believed her that she believed me. That is, until she wrote a blog entry in which she referred to me as “paranoid superfreak.” So much for her words of re-assurance! Now, honestly, most people would have been upset. But, as I mentioned, I’m used to people thinking I’m full of it. So, to me, this was actually one of the funniest things I had ever read in my life! I mean, I’ve been called a lot of things (many of which I can’t repeat this being a family site and all), but not that. In fact, I was so tickled, I immediately realized I had to use it somewhere in Bitmapworld. I already had some ideas of how to work in our contest winner, Evil Couch, into the strip, and this was the element that tied it all together. I guess in some ways I have to be thankful for that blog entry. I mean, reality is stranger than fiction…and certainly makes for good fiction.

So, there you have it, my dirty little secret. I’m really a paranoid superfreak. Well, there are worse things to be. Particularly since *they* are out to get me…and you too. Didn’t you know?

That said, this strip (Issue 131) proudly features our BYOC contest winner, Evil Couch, making his premier into the pixel world! Be sure to check out our next issue to find out what happens.

Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to look for the extra strip tomorrow. Remember, when we miss an update, we feel guilty, and YOU win! 2 strips tomorrow.

We actually had a different strip planned for Tuesday, but as fate would have it, Jim needed to put in a water filter on our kitchen sink. He had done this project done before a few years back, with the same filter model in fact, so he expected it to go quickly. His plan was to get it up, and then finish off our scheduled comic. We expected it (the strip) to be a few hours late, but considering we are slowly on the mend from all being sick and playing catch-up in the various areas of our life, we hoped our readers would understand. Of course, as Murphy’s Law dictates, the project which was to take a few hours ended up taking a LOT longer. I can actually report that Jim gave up on it last night, and is in the midst of completing the project as this update is going up. As the project stretched from “I’ll be done in another hour” to “I have no idea when the heck I’m gonna finish this,” I couldn’t let the irony of the situation slip by, so I decided to forego our planned strip and draw one about the situation. Living in an old house, we are used to this type of thing. Though, from what I have heard from others, this is a common occurrence. Even though we come to expect this, every time we hit a big unexpected delay, it’s still upsetting.

On Thursday, we will be starting the storyline featuring our 100th strip contest winner, Evil Couch. Unfortunately, it took us this long to get to it because we didn’t want to simply do a cameo, but wanted to incorporate him into the strip. A real-life incident actually gave us some good material for the arc we’re planning. Be sure to check back.

Issue 112 is a milestone in the sense that it is the first time we follow a character that is neither one of the Pixels nor the Smileys. Not only that, it follows characters who are not regulars. When we created the strip, we wanted to be very careful with pacing, to establish the characters and let our audience really get to know and care about them before branching off. At nearly the year mark we feel confident enough to do that now. That said, Bitmap World will always have the Pixels at the center, but the word “World” is not in the title for nothing. There is a lot more to see, and many more characters waiting in the wings.

In this strip, the security guards are shown holding pistols. I really lamented about this, and almost didn’t do it. The same went for the cigarette smoking joke in Issue 111. This is a family-friendly comic, and we want to make it readable for everyone. I guess the difference with these two jokes is while they show smoking (which is considered bad) and guns (which are dangerous), neither is depicted in a manner which is complimentary. The security guards are obviously in the wrong and breaking the rules, and they get yelled out when they are smoking. With the guns, it’s clear they are acting like policemen, so there is a reason they have weapons. I think even small children understand that, since they see it on t.v. Individuals that are stealing large amounts of computers are usually not petty thieves, and very well could be dangerous. Of course, the guns are never used, which is an overall positive.

Oh, I just want to say that I am in no way poking fun at all security guards with these strips. One of my friends happens to be a security guard and loves it–and she’s very good at her job. That said, I have known a few very inept security guards in my time, and since it makes for good comedy, these guards are quite bumbling and idiotic. It’s always fun writing characters like that!

On a last note, I am proud that we managed to get the strip up today! Albeit with 10 minutes to spare, but it was on-time (just about 12 hours off center).

What a whirlwind! Okay, I’ll admit, we probably shouldn’t have had the cut-off for the contest on Friday and plans to announce the winner on Tuesday. Since many of our judges work and have families, it was difficult to get all the votes together (not to mention that Jim wanted to create a utility to help make voting super-easy). Still, we’re really happy with the way everything turned out. For an upstart comic, we got quite a few strip submissions. It always amazes me how creative people can be when using comic-makers.
 
We didn’t really plan on inserting the monkey strip exactly here, but it actually works as a good segway to issue 109–where Harry is next seen walking into work drinking a coffee. I love the idea of the Macrohard guys making a coffee run. That’s something I can totally relate to working in downtown Chicago where there is a Starbucks on every corner.
 
Now, I don’t know if it needs a lot of explaining, but I should give some backstory as to the whole “Allied Pay” thing in issue 110 and issue 111. When Jim was at his last job (a Fortune 500 company), there was a yearly push for employees to donate to the United Way. Now, I’m not knocking the United Way or any other similar organization. I think it is a good thing to donate to those types of agencies. What we didn’t like was the yearly extortion by management. There was this huge push for “100% participation.” They always stressed it was voluntary, and that your job wasn’t dependent on it, but the insinuation was otherwise. Literally, as the cut-off date rolled around, Jim would get 1-2 emails a day, plus calls, kindly reminding him that he hadn’t made his donation yet. Though not in the official rulebook, it was well-known that management was expected to sign up for the “weekly give” where a certain percentage was withdrawn from each paycheck. So, why the racket? Even though employees gave the money, the company got to take the tax deduction. Certainly a good reason for them to rough up the staff. Anyhow, I had a lot of fun with poking fun of this, including creating a good mock-up of that type of logo. Also, I am enormously proud of the artwork in these strips. While some pre-existing elements were used in the school gym, a good deal is my original art. It really took me a long time, but I think it looks great. If you want to know more, I plan to talk about that a little more in my pixel art blog soon.
 
I always try to end Booyah strips with a little bit of a cliffhanger. Thankfully, the current storyline allowed me to do this. I will note that we are starting some things in motion now that we hope will come to fruition just in time for our year anniversary in March. Stay tuned!