Excerpt from LamboLanders Comic – 1st Edition

Update to our Dev Log and Where to Next?

Hey CrashLanders! What a journey it has been!

Im incredibly excited to provide some formal updates from myself now that I have some downtime to update you all in this hugely ambitious journey of ours.

CRASH Collection successfully launched May 28th 2022 and saw what I perceived to be a major success and milestone in our journey. Not only does this introduce the base for our characters in the story, it also shapes a lot of the lore and context around whats to come with the universe expansion.

From a technical perspective, this is the second smart contract I have deployed in mainnet production environments and I am getting very familiar with the tools used in the NFT space. Web3 is quickly becoming a powerhouse for all my creative nerd ideas and a place to store it all and share with the community.

I am really enjoying this journey and thrive off the creative products and people I hear from on a daily basis.

Special Thanks to each and every one of you that have supported the project in both monetary or non-monetary ways.

Lets get the disagreeable matters out of the way first to help clear the air for more forward focused milestones –

Several comments have come to me that “I require mass marketing” and my “community is not big enough” to support the minting of 9000 NFTs in the CRASH Collection. In my opinion this is a short term “mint out project” point of view which does not quite align with the length I am planning to take the LL project. As stated web3 is geared towards becoming the powerhouse for all of my creative ideas. So while these comments are valid in the short term, I do encourage you to consider the 5 MATIC price point and zoom out to see the other products that will be introduced as part of the LL Universe such as the Comic Book, 3D collection and other emerging technologies coming in the future.

This is something I have had to consider as we move into a post-mint phase and unfortunately where a lot of projects may struggle to stay the course – especially in the current market conditions.

I am using this time to educate myself further in creative applications such as Blender, Photoshop and Cinema 4D to propel us further into web3 without having to outsource the skills or capabilities. This enables our project fund to stay intact and really embrace the techniques used by the industry to create the branding and vision for LamboLanders.

The community has been incredibly supportive of this and I am learning new rendering techniques and 3d art workflows by the day – it is instantly rewarding to see this work come to life on the computer screen. I am grateful to be part of these creative knowledge pools where I can both share my skills and also learn a thing or two.

The Characters

LamboLanders: CRASH sees the creation of 9000 cyber dystopian future punks on the Polygon Network. The process took several months to compose in 3d and port over into a 2d environment and apply a number of rendering techiniques. I hired a Voice Actor (Lauren Goode) who had works on Assassins Creed and Full Metal Alchemist to lend her talent on the development trailer. Something I am incredibly grateful for and amazed by the work she put into our project.

Some additional technical pieces went into this work utilizing the Photoshop API to code never-before seen 2d NFT techniques which applied lighting across the NFT Layers.

CRASH Collection uses a Male character model in the 3d to 2d workflow – while this wasn’t something I had originally set out to do, female character models generally require their own clothes and specially shaped assets that do not work well in a “one size fits all” approach. This has lead me to introduce our first female character model (pictured above) as part of the comic and will be introduced in Collection 3 also. She doesn’t have a name yet but Im thinking something along the lines of Lazer, Blazer or Tazer or… you get the idea.

Collection 3 and the Comic

I have chosen to accelerate work in the comic space to tie in with Collection 3. The reason for this is because I have had to introduce a female character to the universe quite quickly, so it naturally made sense to do so. We will learn more about this character in the comic and what is great about Collection 3 is that the story will tie in directly with the Collections launch.

Collection 3 is titled “Interchange” and will be my first attempt at 3d works on the Blockchain utilizing a custom built html viewer specifically for the project. I have met a friend (which I didnt know was fluent at html and Javascript) who will be assisting me at no cost to the project. I am excited to put them through their paces.

I aim to time the launch of Collection 3 with the end of the first comic and have penciled this in for a Q4 release. There will be continued and ongoing support for all previous Collections throughout.

I have also contacted expert comic writers and artists to cast an eye over the work I am submitting to ensure it is as good as it possibly can be, the feedback is well received so far.

The Plot

The story will follow the lead Trio from Fleet 42 and their investigation into a distress signal from a parallel universe. You may notice the choice of music for the LamboLanders trailers are a bit estranged (this isnt music I usually listen to) but we are heading into the creation of a saga, I have already some ideas in my mind that borrow from high-impact moments in pop culture (such as the shooting of Barbara Gordon in Batman, or the death of Aerith Gainsbourogh) that will help shape the story – with that comes a bit of sentimental attachment to the characters I have created. I have spent hours on these characters and I am a bit disheartened to know that some may not survive the extreme parts of the story. The plot intends to explore a deeper side to the Landers Universe which is also an opportunity to explore characters in detail. I really want to capitalize on this outside the NFT.

Personal Life

While I am only one guy in the NFT space, I am also a father, nerd, student and (when I can be) a competitive athlete.

There can be A LOT to juggle sometimes and staying at the top of the game is something you have to nurture and keep your finger on the pulse with. Managing all of this stuff can be tricky sometimes but it really helps that I enjoy it and have a passion for it. One thing I want to reassure you all of – is that if I am not as active on Twitter Spaces its generally because I am busy using the computer or just listening to the radio chatter by choice. I will always be around in discord to share works and stuff and be attentive as much as possible. You will always see active developments because Im hopeless at keeping secrets.

Can’t wait to progress to the next chapter.

/Mully