Comic Transcripts

[[PLORTIKANT paces along what appears to be a waterfront.]]

PLORTIKANT: I just got a GREAT idea for a novel!
PLORTIKANT: Oh man! It’s gonna be SO cool! All these characters and situations! I’ll get to communicate ideas and share my point of view!!

PLORTIKANT: It’ll be hard. I’ll have to put in untold hours. Writing…revising…feedback…editing…I see it as 500 pages at LEAST
PLORTIKANT: Then I’ll send it to publishers. Or maybe self-publish? Either way the bulk of marketing will fall to me…

PLORTIKANT: SOME people probably won’t care for it. THAT’S if anyone even READS it!
PLORTIKANT: Maybe there’ll be a clamor for a sequel…a small but loyal fanbase…but is it enough to really sustain the series??

PLORTIKANT: I could probably write a second. A third would be tough, but I could eke it out.
PLORTIKANT: I hate to see a JOY turn into a DRUDGERY.

PLORTIKANT: At THAT point I’d better hang it up…let it run its course and come to a satisfying conclusion.
PLORTIKANT: Not everything has to be a soap opera! Let the story stand COMPLETE. I’ll look back at the trilogy as an important milestone in my career, but I’m sorry, fans, it is OVER.

[[A bearded man, GRAMBLETHORPE, interjects.]]

GRAMBLETHORPE: You keep talking about how excited you are to write, but I never see you, y’know, WRITING.
PLORTIKANT: If I can cut out that middleman I get all the same gratification in a fraction of the time

{{header: a notional WONDERMARK.COM}}

#1164; Creativity Concentrated transcribed by in

[[PLORTIKANT paces along what appears to be a waterfront.]]

PLORTIKANT: I just got a GREAT idea for a novel!
PLORTIKANT: Oh man! It's gonna be SO cool! All these characters and situations! I'll get to communicate ideas and share my point of view!!

PLORTIKANT: It'll be hard. I'll have to put in untold hours. Writing...revising...feedback...editing...I see it as 500 pages at LEAST
PLORTIKANT: Then I'll send it to publishers. Or maybe self-publish? Either way the bulk of marketing will fall to me...

PLORTIKANT: SOME people probably won't care for it. THAT'S if anyone even READS it!
PLORTIKANT: Maybe there'll be a clamor for a sequel...a small but loyal fanbase...but is it enough to really sustain the series??

PLORTIKANT: I could probably write a second. A third would be tough, but I could eke it out.
PLORTIKANT: I hate to see a JOY turn into a DRUDGERY.

PLORTIKANT: At THAT point I'd better hang it up...let it run its course and come to a satisfying conclusion.
PLORTIKANT: Not everything has to be a soap opera! Let the story stand COMPLETE. I'll look back at the trilogy as an important milestone in my career, but I'm sorry, fans, it is OVER.

[[A bearded man, GRAMBLETHORPE, interjects.]]

GRAMBLETHORPE: You keep talking about how excited you are to write, but I never see you, y'know, WRITING.
PLORTIKANT: If I can cut out that middleman I get all the same gratification in a fraction of the time

{{header: a notional WONDERMARK.COM}}

Really, all actions are either proxies to generate emotions, or attempts to cause circumstances that will create emotions. Emotions -- THAT'S the good stuff

#1164; Creativity Concentrated

  — October 6th, 2015

[ Tags: , , , ]       Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/1164/

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My newest game: Noodle Battle! At PAX!

September 2, 2026 by David Malki !

The past few weeks have been a frenzy of assembling the very laborious, very bespoke first print run of NOODLE BATTLE, the puzzle game I am releasing this weekend at PAX West in Seattle!

PAX has an event called the PNW Tabletop Game Market (Saturday night ONLY), which is a curated selection of short-run games from local designers. As I’ve mentioned in this space before, I applied for a space in this fall’s event mainly as a way to force myself to finish a new game. And here it is!

The drawings are all by Jason Poland, good pal and cartoonist of My Dad Is Dracula. Jason played an early version of this game at Alaska Robotics Comics Camp this spring, and really liked it!

So I said, “Do you want to help me make it?” And so he has! It was his idea to make all the characters fun little animals, and I think it adds a ton of charm.

Because this edition is limited-run, it has been incredibly labor-intensive to make! The boxes and cards were made by a game factory in the usual fashion, but separately. The blank tiles were made by a woodworker dude out of Connecticut. For each game, we have had to:

  • Cut a piece of plastic and install the box window
  • Paint all the tiles, hundreds at a time
  • Apply a sticker to both sides of every tile
  • Apply stickers to the box (we couldn’t get the box back printed in time, so the whole back side of the box is a sticker too)
  • Apply the “Nutrition Facts” sticker, which was a late suggestion by my kid that I just had to run with
  • Fold up the rule sheet (they come from the printer as big strips of paper)
  • Put all the components into the box and seal it all up

I knew it would be a lot of work and would require some inefficient, expensive compromises AND I WAS RIGHT. But the final product is turning out great, which is the important thing!!

I will have 50 copies with me (if all goes well) at PAX, and then between now and the holidays we will be putting together additional copies to round out this first edition.

I will announce additional copies on Patreon first, once they are available online!! And here too, naturally, before long.

You can also sign up here if you’d like me to email you once the game is available online!


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