All Night Laundry - In which you just have to press down hard - 2019 12 19

Hello everyone!

I'm going around to all the MSPA forum diaspora places and telling everyone that I'm not dead, which means I am still updating All Night Laundry.

Instead, I got myself a website. Finally! After many years.

You can find it, and the most recent updates here.

I don't think I'm going to post the updates here, but I will post links whenever I make a new update, and I will read suggestions here, should anyone choose to make any.

Congrats on your new site!

> Stride in confidently as no plan is necessary!

(Maybe I will do a bit of time travel myself and read the archive to see how helpful that suggestion may be.)

How wonderful! I posted a link and I think cF did too to your adventure on Omega forums for people to see, fa's gotta stick together in this time of grief

Congrats on your new site!

> Stride in confidently as no plan is necessary!

(Maybe I will do a bit of time travel myself and read the archive to see how helpful that suggestion may be.)

Thanks btp! It should be a lot easier to catch up. You can navigate using the arrow keys!

How wonderful! I posted a link and I think cF did too to your adventure on Omega forums for people to see, fa's gotta stick together in this time of grief

I saw! That was really great of both of you. Thanks. I'm glad to see you here as well.

Instead, I got myself a website. Finally! After many years.

so you've finally done the laundry, huh? I thought it would take forever! That's why I stopped reading. I needed the satisfaction of a well-washed load of laundry. The rinsecycle is complete.

Instead, I got myself a website. Finally! After many years.

so you've finally done the laundry, huh? I thought it would take forever! That's why I stopped reading. I needed the satisfaction of a well-washed load of laundry. The rinsecycle is complete.

Same for me (I think). Reading through the forums of such a long story made it kinda hard to chew. Now I can tackle it bit by bit until I catch up.

@ICan'tGiveCredit

I have, in fact, done my laundry. I hope you start reading again, I liked your suggestions.

@Heyoceama

Yeah, reading the archive on the forums was a bit of a job. Now it's still a job, but a bit less of a hassle.


UPDATE - 1054 - In which someone isn't talking

UPDATE - 1055 - In which most people don't get it

Hey Jack https://www.all-night-laundry.com/post/566 image seems to be broken.

Thanks Heyoceama! All fixed!

UPDATE - 1056 - In which Bina talks about itching

UPDATE - 1057 - In which Bina is denied

Welp I've been making my way though the archives and after a good 10-12 hours I am at the halfway mark!

I think I will wait until I catch up to the present before commenting much, but I will say that the experience has been very enjoyable, and I like how the website is structured with the "notes" section at the bottom of the page.

Oddly enough, I often find myself more curious at what you have hidden that little "note" tab than what may happen next in the adventure. It is certainly a random-reward response. Sometimes the note is a minor comment - other times it's a thought provoking reflection. I'm sure it's crossed your mind, but having worked so diligently on this project the last three years has produced not only an engaging story, but also a remarkable snapshot of your life and mindset with each update.

It seems like posting solely on the website is a new practice? I haven't made it to 2015 yet so it is difficult to tell. What kind of effects do you think this has on the adventure?

Hi btp!

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself! Yes, updating only on the website is very new. This used to be a mspafa-only thing, but as the mspafa forums are... subject to questionable existence right now, I thought it was finally time to bite the bullet and make a site for myself. It's still really rough. It has existed for, I think maybe eight days so far?

You are the first person to mention liking the notes. That is really neat! Sadly, to answer your question, the most tangible change that having my own site has had is that I now have a dedicated discussion area under each post, which has actually reduced my use of the notes field to respond to questions.

So... yeah.

Anyway! I hope you keep reading and thank you for your response.

If you like my musings about adventures, you might be interested in the blog posts I'm doing about some of the issues I've identified in doing Adventures.

There's only two so far, but I plan on doing more. They are here:

Part 1
Part 2

UPDATE - 1058 - In which Bina protests

If you’re playing Calvinball, and you hit publish, no such luck. Your story has lizard-people in it now. You’d better start figuring out how to deal with them.

Hahaha. These blog posts are fantastic. I think there are many people here who will relate to what you are saying. You've clearly given this a lot of thought over the years.

One of the impromptus for the creation of this forum, was the preservation of what was effectively Calvinball on multiplayer mode. Imagine all of the risks and challenges you mention but taking place with 9 people on the same story. The ultimate result, of course, is that the lizard people end up taking everything over.

I'm excited to hear what you have to say in the future. You have a way of writing that is both thoughtful and approachable. I'm glad to see you sharing it here.

Ok I'm adding All Night Laundry to "things gracing my forum I'll have to sit down and catch up on

Your blog posts are great reads! Could I request you link when you post an update on them?

Yeah, I took a look at those posts, and the second one especially has given me some thoughts to mull over.

I haven't read the adventure yet, but I'll definitely take a look when I'm in an archive-binging mood.

UPDATE - 1059 - In which Bina gets some backup

@btp: Thanks very much ! I'm having fun writing them.

Your multiplayer Calvinball thing fills me with dread though.

@Schazer: Yes! I will totally post links when I do more of these. Glad you enjoyed them. I hope you do take the plunge and catch up on All Night Laundry, I'm pretty happy with it.

@Dragon Fogel: Thanks for reading my posts! I am glad they gave you some food for thought. I don't actually have answers for most of the problems I bring up. I'm kind of hoping someone will go "Aha! Your problems have already been solved! Here is a book that will make all your troubles go away!" but so far, no luck.

I don't know if there is a book, but there's certainly a support group.

After about 18-20 hours I am officially caught up to the present!

I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to share one of your notes here. Reading this was what really got me hooked.

Show Content

Spoiler

About the art.

When I initially started this adventure four and a half months ago, it was at the end of a long period of psyching myself up to do something like this.

How long you might ask?

Since I was sixteen.

I've wanted to do a comic, or something like it, on the internet, since I was in grade ten.

I'm twenty eight. It took me twelve years.

Initially, this adventure was going to be done in 3D, but 3D modelling takes a fantastic amount of time up front, and I spent a VERY long time mostly not-working on those models.

You know, that thing where you trick yourself into thinking that you're working on something but you're really just -thinking- about working on it, and you spend very little time doing the work?

I was doing that.

Twelve years of that.

And also that thing where you say to yourself, "I really like this idea, I want to save it until I'm better at art so I don't ruin it."

I did a lot of that too.

So one day, I was talking to my friend over skype, and I realized that I was never going to do this. Ever. Unless I started that day. Right then. So I decided to ditch the 3D idea decided to do it with drawings. It would be slower overall, but it would let me start now, which is what I needed to do.

So what did I do? I did not start that day. Of course I didn't.

Instead, I went out for a nice dinner with another one of my friends, came home, and had a panic attack.

The next day I was able, finally, to start it. I was only able to do it by tricking myself into it. I laid down a set of rules. I'm good at rules.

I would not spend more then three minutes drawing a character, I would not spend more then ten minutes drawing a background, and I would post daily. No exceptions. Not even if I was really tired, or sick, or if what I was posting was terrible.

I would post, daily, until I was finished the story.

And it has worked, so far.

It didn't look very good, but I didn't care. I was working under ridiculous time constraints. What did I -think- it was going to look like?

And that was how I tricked myself into doing this, and why the first chapter looks the way it does.

I spend more then three minutes on a character now, and more then ten minutes on a background. To be honest, I always did, I always cheated, but having the clock helped.

The clock said, "You are doing this, and it's only going to take three minutes, and at the end of those three minutes you're going to have something finished that you're going to show people and it won't be perfect but it will be good, and that is enough. You're allowed to not care."

"And maybe it won't take three minutes, maybe it will take eight minutes, or twelve minutes, or 45 minutes, but I can promise you one thing."

"It will not take you twelve years."

Perfection has always been the enemy of done. For me, it has often, also, been the enemy of started.

I liked that clock. Some days I miss it.

What impresses me, more than the adventure, more than plot twists and characters and time-travelly shenanigans, is how, for over 3-years, at least 1059 days and counting, you have diligently and passionately worked with a community to craft and sculpt this story. There are two adventures happening here. One is about a quirky Canadian girl struggling to stop something terrible. The other is about a Quebecois artist fighting to create something great.

I am really happy that we get to be a part of that.


> Let's find out those cop's names! It's silly to call them by their pants-color when it's pitch black out.

Technical question, at one point you estimated a readership of 700 or so. Now that you have the website, has that estimate changed at all?

UPDATE - 1060 - In which Bina tries to make some friends

@btp

That passage you quoted remains one of my favorite things I've ever written. Doing this adventure has been long and at times very tiring, but it's a journey I do not regret in the slightest.

Google analytics tells me that I have 200 readers these days. I don't know if I really lost 2/3rds of my audience to the forums being down, or if I was overestimating based on people reading the archives. Neither would surprise me, but I suspect the answer is somewhere in the middle.

@Schazer

You asked for a link to my blog posts so here's the next one:

Part 3

This one is kind of about Homestuck and is definitely depressing.

UPDATE - 1061 - In which the obvious comparison is finally made

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Kendra> "What's a Who?"

Is everyone still speaking French?

Bina> Woah it is nice to have people around. Maybe tackling these mysteries Scooby-Doo style isn't such a bad idea.

https://www.all-night-laundry.com/post/753 and https://www.all-night-laundry.com/post/754 are the same

@Heyoceama

Thanks! I think I was totally missing 753 in my notes. I have reconstructed it to the best of my ability. :)

UPDATE - 1062 - In which there is no phone