April Sprint – What’s Coming up!

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

I’ve been thinking of how I organize my projects and share them with you my audience and friends.  I’ve not been thrilled with how I’ve done updates, and recent spates of illness and surprises derailed a few things.  So what I’m doing is taking my projects to be managed much more traditional Scrum style.  I got the idea here from Failbetter’s use of Agile to make them publicly engaged via blogposts while doing Sunless Skies.

If you’re not familiar with Scrum,, its basically a method of organization where you A) keep a backlog of stuff to do B) do it in small increments called sprints, and C) regularly report and measure progress.  I recommend reading up on it.

(I’m still big on the Getting Things Done method, and will use it as part of my work, but my large amount of longer-term projects require some different approaches plus this lets me try out techniques from work.)

What this means for you is

  1. Every month (a “sprint”) I’ll tell you what I’m planning to tackle on my projects.  Most Sprints are two weeks, but I plan my projects quarterly/monthly so this is a bit easier.
  2. I’ll do weekly reports (a sort of Standup) on progress. These are usually daily in proper Scrum, but I have my limits.
  3. I’ll do a roundup/retrospective at the end.

So what’s up for April!

Finishing The Color Generator: I’ll finish the Color Generator in April with the goal of deploying before the end of the Month – preferably mid-month.  I’ll be regularly updating it with new data so keep an eye out.

New Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: A new Seventh Sanctum project to spotlight talent and interesting media – this is an experiment and may or may not succeed.

Way With Worlds Minibooks #1: The followups to Way With Worlds.  I will send this to editor – remember these don’t launch until June.

Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Get this to at least 60% completion if not more.  And, yes I have four of these suckers written already – make room in your summer reading!

There are also some marketing efforts, tech purchases, and home maintenance but I don’t think you care about those.

So I’ll be posting updates weekly (probably Monday) to let you know where everything is once a week!

And as it’s Sunday, let’s get to a status!

What I’ve worked on:

  • Wrote 5 more questions on Minibook 5.
  • Minibook #1 will be in the hands of the editor next week.
  • Reached out to initial “promotables” for the Sanctum Spotlight and designed how it’ll run.  It’s pretty much ready to go, I’ll start it later this month.
  • A few notes on the Color Generator are in place, I’ll dive into that more soon.

What’s coming up this week:

  • I plan to focus on the Color Generator to get as much done as possible.
  • I’ll be attending two professional events, so that consumes time.

 

– Steve

In Beta: The Color Generator!

The Color Generator is in Beta and Seventh Sanctum!

This generator makes colors that aren’t or should be, are mysterious or otherworldly.  Inspired by the Neathbow of Fallen London as well as things like Octarine in Discworld, it’s a way to make colors that aren’t your standard spectrum – or lurk in between the colors we know.

A few examples:

  • Anihe – A deep blueish-green. Under light of this color mirrors show falsehoods.
  • Celvoweur – The penultimate orange. Under light of this color people have religious visions.
  • Cong – The purple of the early morning sky.
  • Brot – The green of half-forgotten grasslands.
  • Ilva – The iridescent red of curiosity.
  • Serneo – The green of leaves in legends.
  • Cheppan – The purple of bravery and of the early morning sky that you fear seeing.
  • Thue – A flamboyant orange. Under light of this color wounds heal.
  • Cephutem – The yellow of loyalty and of half-forgotten sunlight.
  • Auguahe – The muted yellow of loyalty.

The generator needs to be expanded – the names and basic shades are mostly done, but the descriptions and symbolism and effects need a lot more work.  So go on, take a look, leave feedback!

  • Steve

Latest Generator: Colors!

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

Here’s some samples from the latest generator. It generates colors, inspired by the Neathbow from Sunless Sea/Fallen London – http://thefifthcity.wikia.com/wiki/The_Neathbow

I loved the idea of creating new colors, so here we go! It’s probably about 25%-33% done at this time – there’s a nice amount of detail, but far more coming.

So tell me what you think!

  • Moten – The mellow orange of joy.
  • Lebode – The purple of the evening sky in your memories.
  • Elde – The blue of shallow water that you fear seeing.
  • Cesque – An iridescent green. Under light of this color plants grow.
  • Khuppen – The one true green.
  • Bitohoem – A deep greenish-yellow. Those that see this color have glimpses of the future.
  • Cerate – The yellow of sunlight falling on the incurious. Under light of this color plants grow.

– Steve