The Trenches Launches August 13, 2011

Back in the early days of the internet, there actually wasn’t a whole lot to discuss on it.  Since the userbase at the time consisted of high end computer users, it turned out many of us shared common interests.  Usually that revolved around love for science fiction and video games.  In 1998, Scott Kurtz, an artist and writer, broke new ground and created the very first webcomic.  His concept, tell the story of a Gaming Magazine and the people in it.  And such, PvP was created, but also, so was a whole industry.

Not too long after that, two other guys, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik decided they wanted to create their own comic.  One being a writer and the other being the artist, they decided to make their own comic strip and release it online as well.  The difference being that this comic would be from the perspective of gamers themselves.  As outsiders, they were completely free of any restrictions.  They would cover any taboo of the day that the media wouldn’t touch, and for their risk their comic strip Penny-Arcade is still considered the most popular webcomic on the internet.

Well, the rest, as they say, is history.  Now the popularity of comic strips posted online rival the long established ones in print media.  New strips are posted daily from all over the world, being written and drawn by people of every culture and artistic background.

Now, it seems these three have banded together to create something entirely new.  A webcomic, this time focusing on the little guy of the gaming industry, the game tester.  So many comic strips will cover video gaming or gamers, but very few cover the actual development of games, and just what the kind of people who make them are like.  (Barry Smith, I eagerly await for you to resume your posting schedule your InkTank strips).  The Trenches, first announced last year, has finally started its run, with updates promised on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  But more than that, they do plan to post up actual stories from anonymous testers, giving a peek into just what the workings of game development is.  (I wonder if Michael “RomSteady” Russel is in the pipe?).

Its starting off pretty good, check it out!