Comic #757: Anima (Patreon)

For readers who no longer play, anima is a currency you collect, like artifact power or Azerite. Similar to artifact power, but unlike Azerite, it is an actual item you loot and sits in your inventory. Many of them do not stack, and often the amounts you collect are very small. Thus you can amass quite a huge pile of anima which doesn't always translate to a large value.

I had some trouble early on writing this one, and ran into a bit of a block. I have a trick that I use when I get into blocks, and it can be really helpful. The trick is to reverse the punchline and the setup. This doesn't always work, but you'll be surprised how often it can solve your problems.

For example in this case, I originally had Nyte dumping out a ton of anima at the start of the comic, and the punchline reveals that this only amounted to 95 total anima.

The issue here was that I couldn't find good way to reveal how much anima she gained. I could have an NPC say "That was only 95 anima", but this feels needlessly expositive, and takes away from the joke. I could have her using the actual interface, and you could see her anima value increase by 95, but that's a bit too subtle and clunky.

In the end, by having the punchline (she's turning in 95 anima) become the setup, I can have the final panel be the reveal that she dumped a ton of anima (which was the original setup), and I don't need any dialogue for exposition in the final panel.