Speck of Life /  by Raymond Schlitter

After spending 5 years in Japan without a single return visit to my home in Kansas, I was startled by many observations upon my eventual return. One of the most exciting features of Kansas I had taken for granted before I moved was the sky. Due to crowded buildings, trees, mountains, haze, and persistent cloud coverage, it requires some effort and a little bit of luck to clearly view a gorgeous sky in Japan. However, in rural Kansas one only has to walk out on his lawn to be treated to a complete 360 degree view of broiling heavens. Some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets on a daily bases make the deal even sweeter. Enthralled by these ever changing lofty landscapes, I compulsively set off for the country with only an iphone and a mini tripod in order to make this collection of time lapse videos. Graced with interesting cloud movement nearly everyday, the project was complete after just one mid-summer month.

All life flows in one constant movement. Even man-made artifacts fit into this beautiful current, and should be woven in with care.

Beat Diver /  by Raymond Schlitter

What is that mad beat coming from the depths of planet Boom? The schizophrenic PushPulse, and his partner Dig, search out the source for their own groovin' collection of tunage. Introducing Beat Diver! A wonderful rhythm game concept. Dive down psychedelic chasms collecting beat bits to the rhythm while avoiding obstacles.

PushPulse makes the dives, collecting the appropriate colored beat bits as either of his two halves. Dig stays in orbit and intercepts the beat transmission to help predict where the next beat bits will come from.

PushPulse can flip his persona at the press of a button changing his waveform and track pan. If you listen to the sample track I made you can hear this concept in action. Collecting the beat bits while in the wrong form will result in a penalty.

Every dive is capped off with an epic boss battle.

Juncajar: An Uncanny Universe /  by Raymond Schlitter

Juncajar. A universe where planets, moons, suns, and stars all swirl around like moths entranced by a fiery light in the center. In such a wild flux no one can predict the future events nor learn much from the past called history. In this world where one cannot say if the sun will rise tomorrow, present events rule all, and love is unyielding.

Yet, the estranged spirit known as Lordy Duke still believes in the future, and his power to shape it. His zealous devotion to astro cosmic analysis lead him to deny the inheritance of the entire kingdom of Orzo in order to pursue a misunderstood ambition more often called, stargazing.

Within his asteroid tree house hermitage, drifting somewhere in the outer swirls of the great cluster, it appears Lordy Duke does just that - stargazing.

What could he be looking for?

A legend so old and far-fetching it can only be told with the lightest of heart. For ancient accounts describe enormous planet-sized fish creatures that swam deep in the black sea of night sky. With shimmering metallic jaws lined with millions of razor sharp teeth, the Gigagills devoured cosmic debris, asteroids, moons, and even planets.

Oh, there's much more to the story, but it becomes too erotic to share here. Really, I'll keep that part to myself ;p

Freedom of Choice /  by Raymond Schlitter

A satirical piece on how the over abundance of mundane choices can enslave us. I found this to be especially so in Japan where people seem to work non-stop. But at least they have the cutest products in the world.

One may be inclined to think the more choices at hand, the greater his or her freedom. This really depends the nature of the choice. Say you have a lethal tumor growing near your brain. The situation is dire, but you find yourself in the position to choose a life saving operation. What would you choose to do? Count down the days to your own death, or opt for surgery? With very little thought most likely you would choose to get the surgery and never look back. Easy choice, right? On the other hand, imagine you walk into a convenience store with the intention of addressing the slight tug of appetite. You stand before an entire wall of bottled and canned drinks, multiple aisles of canned goods, boxed lunches, candy, chips, and so on. The choices are almost innumerable. You're processing... what I like, what's healthy or not, what's new, whoa, they also have gift cards, DVDs, porn? Do I need this? For a time you find yourself caught in a prison of mundane choices. This choice of light consequence appears to be much more difficult than a choice of heavy consequence. Are we not more free when not choosing, merely acting as a matter of course?

Mondo: In The Black Hair Chronicles /  by Raymond Schlitter

Mondo is a foreigner looking for love in the land of Easton. But he is unfamiliar with the feral secret of the women in this strange land. If he doesn't push all the right buttons, a tepid flower of a woman might reveal her true nature and transform into a bone whip wielding beast, or perhaps a psycho nurse with a two meter long syringe. These are the stories of Mondo.

Based off real experiences and starring myself, Mondo is one of my most personal works. A year after moving to Japan I found myself living in a period of estrangement, drifting in and out of awkward relationships. Deep down I wanted a meaningful relationship, commitment, love. But every person I met ended up being a character in a bad kind of way, and shamefully I tended to treat them as such.

Thus, a satirical comic book began to form. I think Mondo was my attempt at using humor to bring cohesion and meaning to an entanglement of odd life experiences.

ZAPI /  by Raymond Schlitter

During my 5 year period teaching English in Japan I was always thinking of an excuse to draw pictures for my job. One such idea was to write and illustrate a children's book I could share with my elementary aged students. As I was beginning to miss my family at the time, the story is based on the idea, "There's no place like home."  

Purchase the entire 20 page story in digital format for a single dollar on Amazon.

Beast Planet /  by Raymond Schlitter

Bore out of teenage angst, the original concept for Beast Planet arouse back in high school during a detention period I had to attend in place of a chemistry class I was doomed to fail. My off kilter mind created a violent world centering around a masked amnesic character who can only discover his past through bloodshed. Why has the planet transformed into a crimson nightmare full of grotesque monsters? Why do the souls of these monsters contain the memories of human lives? Who the hell am I? These are the mysteries Bachaus must unravel in Beast Planet. 

Since those troublesome years of public school I still occasionally revisit the world of Beast Planet to blow off some steam. Here is a vague comic book concept from the latest plunge.