Two personal rules I go by when I make webcomics.

04 Dec 2016

While many things are being pushed back (because of real-life stuff) I thought I might as well make this post. I hope that you will also understand bit better on what kind of webcomics I make.

• Rule No.1: No internet memes, no inside jokes, do not create content that only 1 out of 100 can understand.
• Rule No.2: Do not create anything that is related to recent event(s).

For the first rule, while it can be enjoyable to feature something that your group of friends found on the internet, you have to step back and think. Internet memes can weaken your work if most of your audience are not familiar with most or any sort of internet meme they come across.

Back in the old days I’ve created old PSO (Phantasy Star Online) fan comics (done in strip style) and they are designed for only the most hardcore PSO players to understand the joke. Even experienced players will have a long time understanding what is going on. Some strips where even more specific to the point that only my friend and I got the laugh out of it. To the audience, it’s a mystery.

It’s not fun for a confused reader to read something they don’t get only then to research on several websites just to understand the joke.

Not to mention they can also be dated and speaking of that, rule number two. The second rule is more about something that happens around us.

Politics are quick example but I am a lot better with videogames, but I am not going into details though. Let’s say there is videogaming convention and there is new videogame system/software. It’s easy to pick out the details and make something out of it. It’s even more easy if the event went disastrous.

Even more, let’s have some triple-A videogame be released, only then to learn it ended up being a buggy mess. There’s an opportunity.

Also pointing out things that is out of logic due to the fact of either for fictional reasons or poor programming.

Could even go so far to shout out to the developers or publishers of how their decision(s) is either great or not so great.

While these are great and I could have enjoyment out of making these, it can be dated very quickly. Imagine reading some old webcomics that poked fun at several things that I have talked about. While it’s great for historical purposes, the work no longer has that impact.

To end this off, I want to emphasize that these are my personal rules. You do not need to follow them at all. This is just to give an idea of what kind of webcomics I like to make. Who knows if I’ll end up breaking these rules.

Maybe someday I’ll have a third rule to add this.