Codex of Aegis State of the Union -- 2016 edition

Okay, yeah. I get it. It's still like, the very end of November of 2015. Well guess what, buddy -- that means its two months until 2016, which, if its good enough for EA Sports, its good enough for me as well.

Basically, for those of you unacquainted, the State of the Union is basically the "New Years Resolutions" of the Codex of Aegis group, except it never actually happens on New Years. This is basically the details on everything Codex of Aegis related, and what to look forward to in the future about it. Think of it like Christmas but for some shitty series of blogs and youtube channels you don't care about as much.

However, before we continue into the future, you must always look to the past. Or something. Let's look at last years(?) State of the Union to see what we made and what we didn't:
----
"Codex of Aegis

First off, in the last post I hinted at the idea of a Codex of Aegis compilation ebook, with extra features, commentary, and the rest of the works. It was originally slated for Winter 2014, but it never came out -- and that was purposeful on my part. To make sure I would have enough content to work with in making the book, I decided to set a point in which I finally start making it after I upload X amount of stories. Well, as of today, the X amount has been reached -- so I'm now announcing that Codex of Aegis will go on hiatus while I'm busy compiling it. I plan to add the following:

• All stories from the blog's inception up until today's
• Commentary/critique on each one
• A special "Astuka Looks Back" section
• A few chapters to a book that was originally going to be released in 2014 but will now be later

As for price and release date, I'm still working on it -- though I hope to finish by at least Summer 2015."

----

Besides the Summer 2015 release window, everything about this part is *relatively* still correct. I'm not going to spend much time on this because the big book update/preview post is still up and updated as far as possible.  Well, except the whole Summer 2015 part. But I promise guys, it's coming Winter 2016. Probably. Maybe Spring 2016. Promise.

----

"

The Blogs

As Codex of Aegis will be busy hibernating, I intend to start updating this a lot more. I already have 2 posts planned for next week with some ideas for more. I also plan on starting another blog for more dumb clickbait stuff, since apparently that's "in". So that means there would be 3 blogs: one for stories, one for nonfiction kind of stuff (this one), and finally the new blog (which might end up being monetized, but I don't know)."

----

So what ended up happening was that Codex of Aegis was hibernating with the occasional progress post,  but Astuka's Blog isn't really as active as I intended it to be. Whoops. Still, I feel like enough content is put on here to justify an occasional visit, and from what I've seen of analytics it seems that the view count is pretty constant. As for the clickbait site, that was put off fairly soon after The Best of the Youtube died out. The idea of putting on someone else's stuff just isn't what I wanted to do, anymore at least. I found that the most fun I really had doing Best of the Youtube was doing my own commentary over what I thought was dumb, and the community's reaction to it. Not just rereleasing dumb videos for a bunch of views. But yeah, no more clickbait. Sorry.

----

"AstukaGaming

Recently there has been some talk internally on making AG season 2. I can't say yet that we're dedicated to making it, but I have made the AstukaGaming channel an "official Codex of Aegis" channel, and plan to do the same with Best of the Youtube tomorrow. As always, the podcast will keep going, and I'm thinking of legitimately doing some "casual streaming" on astukari as time goes on."

----

 Interesting enough, AstukaGaming is the only part that has gone beyond its goals (though I guess now the whole thing would be called "astukari.". Though there has been no AG season 2 and Best of the Youtube is, of course, dead, astukari is expanded a great deal. There was the short astukari show, the details of which will be described later -- the podcast continued and added in the Link to the Past, which hopefully more of will be made soon, and many more hopeful additions to the channel. 

Well, that's all for the past. Let's look toward the future:

Codex of Aegis

As the compilation book is still being worked on, it's likely that Codex of Aegis will stay dormant for some time, mostly because if I add anything I feel like it would ruin the value of the book itself (hopefully I'll figure out some way to fix this problem in the future). Instead, I'll try my best to work on the only real thing I can work on on that site, which is the Guardians of Enthia stuff. I plan on making a page on there that's dedicated to the series -- it will have chronological links to all the chapters as well as some stuff for the wiki, as well as any additional stuff I've done for it (including the Astuka Looks Back stuff).

Astuka's Blog

This blog will... well, it will probably stay exactly the same as it is now. Whenever I have something I plan on writing that doesn't fit on Codex of Aegis or Astukari, I'll probably just put here.

Astukari

Astukari, as a channel, will continue its normal functions. Astukari as a mini-podcast, however, will likely stop functioning due to the fears I had for it going in, which was content. Since the podcast was biweekly, I feel like making Astukari weekly would be the only way to give it enough merit to exist while still having time to generate content for it, but unfortunately the content side didn't really work out.

AstukaGaming

Like I've mentioned previously,  AstukaGaming is, and still will be, the gaming stuff between me and Vaughan as well as anyone else we decide to bring along, assuming we do bring anyone else along. Anything that's not gaming -- or does not have more than 2 people -- aren't considered to be apart of AstukaGaming. This may change in the future, however, depending on how convoluted/confusing it gets.

AG Podcast

The AstukaGaming podcast is the AstukaGaming podcast. Seriously. It will keep continuing as normal far towards the foreseeable future, giving you the best in week-old gaming news in fairly biweekly intervals.

Link to the Past 

Though its been some time since our Battlefront 2 LttP,  we have no plans to stop or cancel the series and once we find another game that is common between the both of us we'll probably make another LttP episode -- however, until then, nothing is planned.

Endurance Run

Those of you who occasionally view the youtube channel may notice a new series is up called "Morrowind Endurance Run". This was my way of finding an excuse to frequently and casually do twitch streams as well as regular uploads -- Morrowind is a fairly laid back game that takes a lot of time to beat. If I stream the game fairly regularly for, say relatively 45 minutes every few days, it would ideally increase my activity on Twitch and Youtube. Plus, its fun to do and in my opinion actually entertaining in these first few parts. I would recommend!

Videologica Obscura

Though just a simple concept for now, Videologica Obscura is the name of a show that I've been brainstorming for quite some time now. It's, at its core, a kind of review show -- only for the most obscure, weird, or just plain dumb shit possible. Basically the commentary works a lot like it did in BotYT, where I'll either record gameplay myself and then record some commentary in post or, if the game is too obscure, find some gameplay video and commentate over that. I do plan on editing this a lot more than I did for BotYT, however.

The Best of the Youtube

F

Extra Life

In case you didn't know, early this November we did our third annual Extra Life. Honestly, it wasn't as good as the others, and I think its due to this that I'm going to change the formula in the future. More updates on the changes will be discussed in the future.

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

astukari Episode 1 - Enter the Matrix

Codex of Aegis Updates -- 8/31/2015

As editing on the CoA Compilation Book proceeds nicely and uniformly sporadically, there is a new set of announcements I'd like to... well, announce. Instead of writing them all out like I normally do, this time I've mostly done easy-to-read bullet points. Most of this has to do with the youtube channels, and less the blogs, but I figure it will be good to know anyway.

-”AstukaGaming” youtube channel now called “astukari.”

-AstukaGaming will now operate under astukari with the ASTUKAGAMING tag

    -AstukaGaming Podcast will now be officially called “AstukaGaming Presents:

    AstukaGaming Podcast REDUX “Strong Opinions for Strong People””

    -However, it will still be called “AstukaGaming Podcast REDUX” for short

    -In addition, all future Link to the Past episodes will now be officially called

    “AstukaGaming Presents: Link to the Past”

    -As with the podcast, it will be called “Link to the Past” for short

    -AstukaGaming and astukari will operate independently, even when they are still under the same channel, under Codex of Aegis

-astukari will include short, weekly segments on any possible subjects, though most likely dealing the most in gaming, movies, music, politics, and more

    - astukari “gaming videos” are separate from AstukaGaming as they are individual   

    opinions and do not work as a group project, as AstukaGaming was made to be, and

    still is.

`    -Episodes of astukari will be uploaded audio-only to a Soundcloud account until the GB

    is filled up. After this, episodes will only be able to be found at the astukari channel. This

    can be subject to change.

    -For organizational purposes, and to benefit those who subscribe for only a specific type

    of video, videos will be tagged and put into playlists similarly to how they were on Best of

    the Youtube.

- The astukari channel will also include updates to Codex of Aegis related stories.

    -These updates will be embed as posts on Codex of Aegis. General episodes as

    described above will be posted on “Astuka’s Blog”.

        -Astukagaming Podcast and Link to the Past episodes will also be posted on

        Astuka’s Blog

-Social Media reforms

    -Codex of Aegis social media channels will be going through another set of reforms to

    make sure everything is easily accessible. Though I do not intend of detailing this reforms

    specifically as of now (as some of them may not come into fruition), they include a

    possible Tumblr alternatives to Codex of Aegis and Astuka’s Blog, as well extended use

    of the @CodexofAegis twitter and Codex of Aegis facebook accounts.

-The Best of the Youtube shut down.

    -As promised previously, The Best of the Youtube will be cancelled once the channel

    receives three copyright strikes. This has now been reached, and the channel has

    been terminated. Codex of Aegis will not be running another The Best of the Youtube

    channel.

    -Any unreleased or still saved The Best of the Youtube original footage will be posted in

    the coming weeks to astukari. After that, all The Best of the Youtube footage will cease.

    -This does not disclude similar types of commentary to be posted later on the astukari

    channel for special events, however.

In addition to all of this, the very first episode of astukari will be up (relatively around) September 3rd, and will be discussing these announcements in detail. If you still have questions about any of this, they will probably be answered there. 

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Patch Notes 10/11/14 + New Info on Extra Life 2014!

Hello, my friends!  It's been almost a year in which Astuka's Blog has been in existence (actually probably longer) and we're just about to hit 10k views! Internet stardom, here we come!

If you're a long-time regular, you probably remember something about an Extra Life 2013. Well we plan on doing it again, only this time, with a bit of a twist!

And that twist consists of me being too lazy to ask people individually if they want to join, so we might as well use this time to excersive (excersive? exercise? fuck its early) the social media muscle!

First, on this week's AstukaGaming podcast, I'll be spurting on about the details of what I mean, as well as some more general info. Then, after that, I'll be posting on all of my virtual internet soapboxes (including this one!) the details of what it takes to both watch and join! And I really hope you do come, because... uh... we only have 3 people right now. But also because you'll be helping childrens hospitals! If you donate. Jesus, I need to not write like right after I woke up.

In other important news however, I have this week's Patch Notes!

• A new, more understandable logo for Codex of Aegis is near finishing construction, and should be on the site soon.
• Newsletter? What?
• I'll be setting up, not posting, but setting up my new youtube channel come eventually. Take in mind that AstukaGaming Podcast will always be posted on AstukaGaming. 
• Stencyl and Unity games are being worked on, but at a snail's pace. Like I've said before, I'd rather take these as practice than to just release them because I can't guarantee their quality yet unlike my writing.
• I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned almost all of the above things. This is also a horrible example of my writing.
• General CoA updates (formatting, tagging, etc.)

Well, that's all for now. I hope y

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

A new look for 9k!

Those of you who frequent the site may notice we look a bit different than normal -- that's mostly because we can't actually integrate Facebook inside of blogspot with Dynamic Views. Whoops! But who cares; Dynamic Views was old school anyway.

There's plenty of news to talk about right now, so let me get started:

First of all, we've hit 9k! Woohoo, we're now only 1k away from 10k, the greater achievement.

Second of all, there's a new episode of the AstukaGaming Podcast! We've decided that after this one we're likely going to stop focusing on having guests and just work off the vague dynamic we have. We're also likely going to bring true the original idea for redux by starting to focus on things other than exclusively video games.

Lastly, there's a Codex of Aegis subreddit! This has already been in existence for awhile, but I've thrown off advertising it until fairly recently. I always add the new story to it, so in case your a redditor, you can now have Codex of Aegis on your feed! Hooplah!

That's not all though, as there's even more news coming soon. Extra-Life 2014? Wider social media integration? Skit channel? Game reviews? BOOK?

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Some of that isn't going to come for a while, but still!

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Patch Notes -- 8/26/14

It is me and we are back again and welcome to patch notes!!!!!

• As of right this moment, I have removed some of the unused content cluttering Codex of Aegis. This includes the Google Translate, "Follow by Email", and Viewcount widgets
• These fixes should help load speed if you're viewing from a slower computer.
• Later today (or tomorrow) there will be an update to Dungeoneer to make it a bit more playable. Like I said, I will be actively updating it until it is fun enough to be considered a real game.
• This will mean it will probably be the main thing updated on Codex of Aegis right now, so check back often!
• The Astukagaming Podcast has the tentative date of Sunday 31st and will be hosted by me and featuring Vaughan Jones and our guest Ash-Bit Gaming. 
• At around the second week of September, there will be a MASSIVE dump of content on Codex of Aegis, which will then unfortunately be followed by another drought. I mentioned in the last post I was working out a reliable schedule for work-school, and I'm still trying to get it together. I apologize to anyone looking forward to new story content.
• So, uh, I kind of forgot last Patch Notes that I said I was going to fix the formatting on the Codex of Aegis stories. I'll try to get at that later today.

First Game up on Codex of Aegis!

http://landofeternallife.blogspot.com/p/games.html

It's not much, but its the first in many that I hope to be put on the site. I'm going to keep working on it until it can at least be slightly considered fun before moving up to my next project. Next update: Magic!

Patch Notes -- 8/10/14

Welcome to Patch Notes, a new mini-segment in which I discuss updates that are going around on various projects. I figured it would be good for this blog to have at least one segment, so here it is!

• As school is coming up very soon (like, two days soon) there will be no updates on any projects until about a week in when I can properly reassess my time and budget it correctly.
• Although the AstukaGaming dream is dead, I am interested in the returning the podcast to a biweekly schedule. Nothing is confirmed however, as I do need to check for some people who would be interested as well as maybe a few potential guests.
• Unlike the previous podcast which focused completely on AstukaGaming and videogames, this new podcast would be separated into multiple segments, most likely consisting of Games, Movies, and Music discussion. It would likely be sponsored by Codex of Aegis itself, as well as perhaps a few other brands.
• The first game a la shitty command line RPG will likely come to Codex of Aegis after a few balance changes. It will be a free download, as well as be free of viruses and botnets. Mostly.
• Testing for Hitbox.tv will happen sometime soon, though we are delaying it slightly due to known issues with Xsplit.
• Expect formatting fixes similar to the ones found on the new Kerland House story coming soon to all previously posted stories, as well as possibly a few typo fixes.

That's all for now. I'm not going to be limiting this to a schedule but rather just posting one whenever there's new updates coming. For now, just get hyped.

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Happy 1k views!

Congratulations to our main publication, Codex of Aegis, for finally hitting one thousand hits. Though its a long way from our 6k (closing in on 7!) We hope that eventually it will reach much farther.

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Mega Update: The future of my projects

(Originally posted on Codex of Aegis, AstukaGaming, and Astuka's Tumblr)

Hello everybody, checking in for my monthly here. No, but really this time – I have something meaningful to say. Really.

So it has (finally) come to my attention that I have way too many side projects, and instead need to focus only on a small few in order to make quality content. Mindblowing, right? Anyway, I decided to gather together all my current side projects and decide which ones would be cut and which ones would be totally okay. This is the result.

Codex of Aegis

Status: Totally okay

Yes, yes. I know. Most of the time when I say things are on hiatus, they end up dying. I get that. But right now Codex of Aegis is literally the only actual important thing I'm making, so of course it will end up staying.

The reason I haven't updated, as I've said so long before, is two things: A, the Guardians of Enthia playthrough, and B, a revamped site.

Both have not happened mostly because I don't have any time to do either thing. As I begin to loosen up my schedule though I'll try getting them done, and finally once again we'll be able to have our shitty one off stories.

Speaking of Codex of Aegis, I actually plan on self-publishing a “Volume I” compilation soon (aka likely Winter 2014). It will feature all of the stories written until that time, as well as colorful commentary by yours truly and a few cut/extra stories specifically for the book. At first I thought it might be a dumb idea since CreateSpace only allows 50 pages and greater, but the current reference sheet filled with the writing is about 78 pages long, and added with commentary and other meta stuff and it could be around 130+ pages.

As well as this, I might as well explain the full revamp since I haven't actually already.

I'm planning on making Codex of Aegis my overall project homepage until I have enough time and money to make a website of my own. I'm going to try and feature direct pages to all my shit, including the twitter, twitch, and *possible* facebook page. I'll also see if I can add two blogs, so we can keep all of my meta bullshit on the same site instead of a completely different one like it is right now, and I won't feel bad for abandoning AstukaGaming (the blog) because it will live on in spirit (also we get to not have any confusion between the group and the blog).

Honestly I'm really excited for the revamp, but I won't do it until I finish Guardians of Enthia. I'll try doing it first thing tomorrow but I've done that multiple times before and as you can all tell it hasn't exactly worked out.

AstukaGaming

Status: ded

I thought the idea of a group playthrough channel always was pretty fun, but its come to my attention that I really don't get anything out of having one. The AstukaGaming “brand” is completely isolated from my personal “brand”, so its not like I would be getting more viewers for Codex of Aegis while making videos for AstukaGaming. Furthermore, having a lets play channel doesn't really say anything about me professionally. Not in that “hue hue muh formal” type of way (to be honest I'll probably never be able to pull that off), but the fact that works of video games and movies and books have a lot more impact than lets plays and livestreams. I'll still be using my personal twitch channel (astukari) though, and occasionally on there I will play with the AstukaGaming guys, but the channel itself will likely be gone (unless anyone wants to buy it hehehhe).

Stencyl Game

Status: hiatus

Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention that. I'm making a stencyl game.

I've always been pretty interested in the whole flash game shebang (shabang? Huh?) and so I finally decided for my first work in vidya would be a simple flash game. And boy, did I not prepare for how much work even a simple game would be.

It came through my mind as I went along that there are many other, even more easy games I could make, and so I decided I might as well delve into those other projects even if there's no chance of income or revenue from it (I'd be learning something though, so I guess that counts). Eventually once I'm back from my journey I'll release the projects I tried for free (on the website nudge nudge) and start working on games for profit. Ad profit, that is. Glorious ad profit.

Half-Life Playthrough

Status: What do you think?

I am kind of mad about trashing this since I've always wanted to do at least one complete lets play, but I've already addressed in the AstukaGaming block everything you need to hear about this.

OT RPG

Status: ...Really?

Okay, I just added this because it was an old popular project that I never officially said anything about. There is literally nothing to profit from this. I don't even forum anymore.

Personal/Skit channel

Status: Probably still happening

If any of you can remember, I did mention that I would be making a personal channel for skits and other bullshit separate from AstukaGaming. Although I might end up putting the videos on AstukaGaming and just wiping everything that isn't cool and nostalgic due to one of youtube's many problems, the idea is likely still in the mix. I do admit though I was planning on making a skit for the Summer Sale, but nothing ever came of it. Just a warning.

Dota 2 Championship

Status: Dead and Gone

Yep, it just couldn't generate the interest. Not much to it.

Well, that's all for now. Next time we see eachother the site will likely be changed and I would've posted Guardians of Enthia 6-12. Although I'm pretty sure I said that last time, though it might've been a Deja Vu. Huh. Well, I'll do it for sure this time. I promise.

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Tumblr Revival and E3 Reactions

I'd like to start off by saying that, as to promote my stuff on multiple platforms, I'll probably repost these on the old blog (astukagaming.blogspot.com) as well as some other community blogs for websites I frequent. Besides that, my main blog will always be at landofeternallife.blogspot.com.

I probably shouldn't be writing this, as I'm down enough that I haven't written a lot of fiction recently. Writing this will probably just make things worse, but fuck it. 

Anyway, as a start to this new series of tumblr posts (or blogspot posts, or...) I guess I should start on something topical. That topic is E3.

This years E3 was pretty bland, but that's how things normally are. If you just started with last years behemoth of an E3, you're going to be mighty disappointed -- every year it's about this interesting. Still, there's a wonder that draws us all to E3. A lot of people say its the same feeling you get when Christmas arrives, and I suppose it is. Except it's likely you probably won't actually buy most of the games that interest you in E3 and instead just forget about them.

Enough about that though, onto the conferences. Microsoft had a much more solid performance than their blunder of a conference last year. Phil Spencer seems to be doing a pretty good job saving the Xbox One's reputation, but it's still a long road coming. Honestly, most of the games in the Microsoft conference we either already knew about, expected, or was just a CG trailer. That gives it an average C rating from me.

Next was the Ubisoft and EA conferences. Since these are the smaller ones, I won't go into as much detail into these. Ubisoft really didn't have much at theirs besides what we were all expecting: the series of yearly releases followed by a bullshotted trailer of their new game. EA as well seemed to be trying to save their skins, using “Conceptual Prototypes” as a way of guilting us into thinking “We don't rush teams guys, we promise!”. In the end the conference was simply just a plethora of sports, hotheads, and people walking in hallways. Both publishers get a F+.

At the end of day zero we had Sony. Honestly, as a Playstation fan I felt pretty disappointed by it. They could've used the conference to further expand their lead against Xbox, but instead decided to rest on their laurels and spend 2/3rds of the conference talking about TV and metrics. Again. Except for more information on Uncharted 4, there wasn't really much in the game department either. Overall, I'd give it a D.

Now I really wasn't expecting much from the Nintendo Direct. I was expecting to go home (figuratively, still waiting on that press invite heh) disappointed at there being no real new games. Oh boy, was I wrong.

Now, Nintendo won it for me at the Reggie Iwata battle, but they didn't just stop there. Three unique looking platformers (Captain Toad, Wooly World, Rainbow Curse) were announced, as well as the first look at Zelda Skyrim (it looks AMAZING), Bayonetta+Bayonetta 2, and, drumroll please, several new IPs. Nintendo really stepped up their game with this one, and best of all, they focused on the Wii-U! Nintendo gets a A- from me.

My game of E3 was probably Splatoon. I'm pretty sure no one expected Nintendo ever to go into the online shooter industry, but they did and their spicing it up. In case you didn't know, Splatoon is a shooter where you use ink to cover up the map. It's basically paintball with supersoakers, and since you don't get much points for killing people, the game is primarily about winning via map painting. That means its more of a game of strategy than anything. Definitely a buy for me.

People have also brought up No Man's Sky as well, but honestly I think it looks bullshotted to all hell. I HIGHLY doubt the game will be as polished as the trailer, EXPECIALLY since the people making it are a small indie team. Though if, by some miracle, they do pull it off; I'll be buying it.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll be posting pretty infrequently, only when there's something to talk about on my mind. I'll be working a lot more on writing fiction (I'm a lot better at that, haha) and maybe starting some projects that might actually get somewhere.

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Is this the end?

"What, no posts since December?!? Could this mean... is Astuka's Blog dead?"

I'm afraid yes, it is. With school coming around, there's quite a lot of stuff to do, and I don't have enough time to keep up with all of my side projects. But don't despair! There are still places you can keep up with me at:

My occasionally used twitter, JohnMcGroover.

My new, much into planning writing blog, Codex of Aegis (I'm a better writer than a blogger, I promise!).

My youtube channel, AstukaGaming.

To this I say adeiu to all of you! T'was fun while it lasted. See you, space cowboy.

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Posts to be less frequent

Hey, Astuka here!

I just wanted to say that, while Geimatsu is still an active project of mine, due to my focus on schoolwork I've been having to cut a few of my personal projects to make time. Unfortunately, this is one of the ones I'm going to cut down on.

But while you may frown in dismay that your obviously favorite blog on the planets posts will become less frequent, don't despair! In fact, this is actually good for most of you -- the few posts that are made will be much better written and not short little snippets, which it seems that no one likes (I don't either!). So, basically, there will be less but more informative and longer posts, which should sort things out!

I already have a few ideas on what to write, and plan on making them "week projects" that I write for a week and then post on the weekend or whenever. Anyway, that's all for now -- see you in the distant future!

---

Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis