Now, I know there are quite a few people out there who find the Game Ranger series at least entertaining, but don't find it "magical" or "sexy". Well, I'm glad to report that should change with the Game Ranger 3.

Since I have a lot better understanding of the new way I'm using the sprites, things are happening a lot faster than they were. The first scene I was working on with the new sprites took me a very long time, but I've learned how to streamline the process. I don't work in Photoshop, but the program I do use is making things nice and easy just the same.

Still, there are times when certain things take a while to get to look just right. For instance, I have characters riding chocobos and it took two hours to get them to look good enough to use. The end result, however, is not only hilarious, but it looks very good.

The fight scene that I am working on will take a while. Good news? I have a lot of ideas to use that will make it fast paced and smooth. Please don't expect Proxicide or Alvin-Earthworm standards...I'm not that good nor do I understand the program well enough. I am, however, aiming for the same seat of the pants "GO! GO!!! GO!!!!" as R1665. No, I'm not trying to match R1665 nor am I trying to imitate any other author. I'm simply aiming to create a new standard for myself with the battle scenes and make them feel grand.

Also, Wyld and I have been going over a lot of ideas for the fighting scenes. There have been quite a few changes on just the one I'm editing right now. He'll throw me ideas that I never thought of, either for dialogue or for sequence, and I'll start to add or change it. This does slow some things down, but a lot of the time the changes/additions are for the better.

"I want screen shots!" you say? Sorry, not at this time. I realized I posted more screen shots than I thought the last time and I don't want to go about showing tons of the movie. Now, granted a lot of the caps were from the first scene, but I don't want to do that again. As I work along in the movie, I will show caps from different scenes, but only one or two at the most.

There will be a much better menu selection this time around! You can start at the beginning, skip to the fight of your choice, or go to the credits. Each part has a label such as "Section 1: Story" and "Section 4: Fight" so that you'll know exactly where you're going to be when you click on it. Selecting the "Section 1: Story" will obviously start you off from the beginning and play through the end. I may or may not add invisible buttons to allow you to skip to and from each section as desired.

Another thing...at this point last time with Game Ranger 2, and to a point Game Ranger: EX, the file size was getting large with only a few scenes completed. This time around? Well, with the entire scene selection done, the first scene completed, one of the fight scenes started, another partial scene with audio, full credits roll, and the bonus scene completed, I'm only looking at a 2.31MB file! Yes, that's right. What is the audio quality? Well, it's 32kb/s, which is higher than that of the previous versions. The frame rate? It's at 25fps! Yes, the animation has been optimized.

I'm really happy with the way things are turning out and the speed at which I'm able to produce the animation. Not bad for someone who has absolutely no training in this sort of thing and has had to learn everything through trial and error. Like I said, I'm really not that familiar with anything in the program except for movie clips, buttons, and still symbols. If I took a class, I'm sure I'd learn just how much of a "hard way" I do the animations are.

I'll keep everyone updated. I want to send out another thank you to all the voice actors who have helped with this project. Don't worry, your work is not just sitting around!