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finalfantasyix · 3 years

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Meet The Team Working On A Final Fantasy 9 Remake You’ll Never Get To Play

Final Fantasy 9: Memoria Project is a fan homage like nothing we've ever seen before. “It is no secret that fan projects get shut down all the time,” Dan Eder tells us about Final Fantasy 9: Memoria Project, a fan-driven love letter to the classic JRPG. It isn’t aiming to be a playable remake of the epic adventure though - instead, it’s an aesthetic homage to its timeless world and characters.

It’s somewhat anomalous in the world of community creations, but Eder wants to use this distinct identity to craft something truly special, even if many obstacles stand in the way of making it a reality. But the team keeps moving forward: “Without a doubt, some of the most frequent comments we get from naysayers is ‘have fun with it while it lasts’ or ‘cease and desist incoming’”, Eder explains. “People are understandably skeptical of the longevity potential of yet another passion project. The key difference is that, unlike those projects, Memoria is essentially an elaborate piece of fan art, nothing more - it will have no actual gameplay, will never be released to the public, and is nothing more than a ‘what-if’ scenario. [It’s] no different from any other fan-made piece of artwork. We have never, and will never, make a single dollar out of this project, and are basically doing this for the personal gratification of the fans.”

The genesis of Memoria Project dates all the way back to Eder’s younger years, with dreams of a potential FF9 remake entering his imagination soon after the original game’s launch. That’s no great surprise - millions still regard Final Fantasy 9 as the series’ finest hour. “While it's true that the project really started to pick up steam a few months ago, it wouldn't be a stretch to say I've been planning it since high school,” Eder explains. “I remember scribbling ‘FF9 remake’ on my notepad during classes and writing imaginary new features and battle system mechanics, starting online petitions to remake FF9 for the PS2, sketching drawings depicting scenes from the ‘FF9 sequel’ and whatnot. I could confidently say that my life would probably have been completely different had my older brother not borrowed this game from his friend in the summer of 2000.

“As a non-native English speaker who had never played an RPG up until that point, my first playthrough was a challenging experience to say the least, and I can honestly say that I understood literally nothing of what was going on the first time I finished the game (how I even managed to beat it is a mystery in and of itself). It didn't really matter to me though, since I was absolutely enamored with the incredible cast of characters, jaw-dropping FMV sequences, mesmerizing music, thrilling gameplay, and just the overall atmosphere and charm it exuded at every step. My unconditional love for this game persisted throughout my entire childhood and adult life, and it is one of the central reasons why I chose to become a 3D character artist in the video game industry. In short, this project is my way of thanking this game for everything it has done for me over the past 21 years.”

Eder’s passion for this game can be found across several industry professionals who grew up with games like this and wanted to replicate them, or create something entirely unique to live up to their brilliance. This is very much how Memoria Project found its feet, beginning life as a trivial side activity before blossoming into something infinitely more ambitious. It still has a long way to go, but there’s little urgency to reach the finish line, so the team can take their time and just enjoy the nostalgic indulgence of it all.

“Memoria actually started unofficially as a side project when I reached out to Colin Valek [of] Sucker Punch Studios in early 2020 after I came across his fanart of an environment from FF7,” Eder says. “I had already modeled Princess Garnet, and thought it could be a fun idea to combine our talents to reimagine the opening area of Alexandria. Initially, it was progressing at a snail's pace - we were slowly chipping away at it for over a year without making a lot of progress. While Colin continued modeling the buildings, I created another character - Vivi.”

This glacial pace received a resurgence of sorts in January when the Alexandria scene was finally complete, with Eder and company finally being able to see how much potential the project had if it was opened up to a larger range of creators. “When I posted that WIP screenshot, the response from fellow FF fans was overwhelmingly positive, more than we could have imagined,” Eder remembers. “Very quickly, other people from the gaming industry started reaching out - environment artists, animators, riggers, concept artists. That's when I decided to turn this side project into a full-fledged modern reimagining of the original game, while always making sure to emphasize the fact that this is a non-playable proof-of-concept, since we never have any intention of doing anything to violate Square Enix's copyright. Four months after officially announcing the project, we've grown from a couple of FF fanboys to a huge team of over 20 industry veterans working collaboratively to honor this masterpiece, fueled by our love and adoration for the source material.”

Now, the project has over 20 developers from Sucker Punch, Ubisoft, Rare, Unbroken Studios, and more all diving into this labour of love in their spare time, with composers and voice actors also contributing their talents to help make this glimpse into the world of Final Fantasy 9 worth celebrating. But Eder is aware of being overly enthusiastic, knowing that fan projects like this often doom themselves by undertaking something that isn’t feasible with so few resources.

“One of the most common traps for these kinds of fan projects is being overly ambitious,” Eder says. “Since all of us are actively working in the video game industry, we understand the importance of milestones, short term goals, and taking things one step at a time. For now, we are focusing our efforts on the opening sequence of the game, which mainly revolves around Vivi and his exploration of Alexandria. Where we go from here is still being discussed, but one thing I can say for sure is that Vivi will not be the only main character we're planning to include.” I’m told that Memoria is aiming to look indistinguishable - at least from a graphics perspective - from something you’d see in a triple-A blockbuster, and it seems the team has the pedigree to back that claim up.

Visuals are the entire point after all, since turning this project into a playable piece of media would require far more resources to create. By narrowing its focus, Memoria is able to deliver something special while also hopefully avoiding the ire of Square Enix. “The fact that this is a non-playable project definitely makes it easier for us to tailor the experience in a way that would truly allow the audience to be fully immersed in the world without having to worry about technical limitations,” Eder tells me. “Creating actual functional gameplay is a completely different ball game, one that we never had any intention of even discussing given the copyright limitations. This gives us a lot of leeway with how we are going to portray the world of Gaia in terms of character interaction, camera movement, [and] scene transitions. We have a lot of cool plans for the near future - please look forward to it!”

As for the sad truth of fan projects like this often being wiped from existence by publishers throwing out cease and desist letters, Eder is confident that Memoria occupies a niche where this won’t happen. It’s not a commercial or even playable product - it’s a piece of fan art, albeit an endlessly elaborate one. If the tides were to change, Eder believes companies should welcome the enthusiasm for experiences like this.

“If I were to be completely honest, I think it could be a potentially brilliant decision by Square Enix to do something wildly unexpected and invest in a project like this,” Eder states. “There's a considerable amount of hype, talent, motivation, and pure, unadulterated passion behind it. It's not something I would expect, but I think it could be incredibly helpful in regaining some of the trust and reverence that this legendary company was known for during its golden years.”

(source)

#final fantasy ix #memoria project #final fantasy 9 #ffix: memoria project #article #news #interview #long post #very long post!

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hillyans · 5 years

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Hybrids & Clones

Work in progress post about Hybrids and Clones in BGE2.

Hybrid-specific

6/12/17 E3 Trailer Breakdown:

Michel: Yeah, the pig tries to dominate the monkey, but the monkey is very confident, he's got no fear, and they're talking about "master" and "slave" and...

Chris: "Domesticated"...

Michel: Exactly, that's exactly the idea that even between hybrids, that are a mix between animal and humans, it was a way to establish that there is a social system in this world and you can clearly, a little example here...

[Zhou Yuzhu: "Show me the idol, show me the redeemer."]

[Knox: "Here you go, mate."]

...

Chris: So the pig is not happy with what's just gone down obviously and he appears to have something in his forehead...?

Michel: Yeah, that is some blood and some pieces of glass that fell on his head...

Chris: Look how many scars he has, too.

Michel: Yeah, yeah, this kind of scar is important because hybrids have been created for dangerous tasks that no human wanted to do. They can also be used as fighters, you know, like hybrids fighting against each other. And there's a lot of slavery so it's another way to reinforce the depth of the world and all this history that the characters are carrying on their body.

6/12/17 E3 Interview:

The big, very important thing is this is the prequel of BGE1, so we discover the pillars of the world, how this world is built, what is the role of these characters-- we call them the "hybrids". Hybrids are half-human, half-animal, and they've been created by humans to colonize planets that are very, very dangerous, whether it's toxicity or whatever. They are supposed to be a magic race by humans. We want to show, to express and to explain to the players what is this world about, how all these things are connected, and the trailer is a part of that.

...

Again everything is connected, it's really connected to the first game, so you will recognize races that were in BGE1. I like the first sentence in the trailer, "Where is your master? I don't deal with domesticateds," There is this kind of relationship, even if they're all hybrids, there is this social system between them, and there is a religion thing with the Pey'jin statue. They invented their religion, names based on gods and divinities.

7/17/17 Character Focus: A new character, Kim Hyun-Jun, is revealed.

Supreme hunter Kim Hyun-Jun was used by his former masters to track and capture the many hybrid slaves who attempted to escape – until he refused and fled.

He survives day-to-day in the Ganesha underworld by competing in illegal hybrid blood sports, and as a hired gun and incomparable hunter.

9/21/17 Character Focus: A new character, Hsing Hsing, is revealed.

Many religious pilgrims to System 3 used the hybrid descendants of the sacred giant panda to help build and maintain their temples and gardens.

10/24/17 Instagram:

BGE2 - What if we had the ability to create biological beeings and use them as mass market products - They could be used as toys and many other purposes . Let's talk about it ! #spacemonkeyprogram bgegame.com

10/24/17 “Hybrid Exploitation” blog post:

In the world of BGE2, hybrid slavery is the keystone of System 3’s economy. The Hybrid Slave Codes made slavery a permanent condition, inherited through trademarked genomes, and defined hybrid slaves as property: inanimate objects with no feelings and no rights.

We imagine the society might use hybrids as:

- Customizable house pets - Corporate bodyguards, conditioned to obey - Trackers to hunt down fugitive slaves - A source of spare organs for their owners - Combatants in hybrid blood sport arenas - Pleasure Providers… - Forced labor for resource or agricultural exploitations

Who knows what happens when a hybrid rebels or outlives its usefulness? Maybe their organic matter gets recycled into fertilizer or consumable goods…

In what other ways do you imagine the hybrids would be exploited and/or discriminated against in System 3?

12/7/17 Space Monkey Report #1:

(WIP)

5/3/18 Space Monkey Report #2:

(WIP)

6/11/18 E3 2018 Trailer Breakdown (video):

(WIP)

6/11/18 HitRecord World Overview:

What's really important is that the clones created in System 3 are being engineered, designed, to have a specific job. So, for instance, if we are talking about the hybrid monkeys, we know in the game they have been created to be miners because they're very agile. They are making good miners to work on those different mines we have in System 3.

6/11/18 HitRecord Anti-Establishment Art (post):

In the world of Beyond Good and Evil 2, pirates (both humans and hybrids) live and die to mess with the powers that be. When they’re not wreaking havoc on the system by attacking and pillaging corporate holdings, banks, and merchant vessels -- or looking for treasure and trouble -- those with an artistic bent create original ‘anti-system, anti-establishment, and countercultural artwork which calls out their rage against the oppressive society of System 3.

In BGE2, every member of society -- be they human or hybrid -- is a genetic clone, who is required to perform a specific role within the system. Thus, some of these anti-establishment messages seek to incite revolution or recruit fellow revolters - encouraging all beings to choose their own destiny and write their own stories. Becoming a space pirate is the ULTIMATE act of rebellion in System 3!

...

Space pirates have more means and resources than the hybrid slaves, but not as much as high society and the establishment. This should translate into the kinds of media and aesthetics we incorporate. For example, space pirates don’t ride around in new spaceships, they collect whatever parts they can find.

6/11/18 HitRecord Anti-Establishment Art (video):

One of the key parts of our game is space piracy. Space piracy is everywhere in System 3, the main solar system of Beyond Good and Evil 2. There are many pirates in the underworld of Ganesha City. These pirates want to recruit the best crew members among the population of the city, but they're also challenging the system, questioning the society that enslaves hybrids.

6/11/18 HitRecord Anti-Hybrid Propaganda (post):

In this project, we’ll be creating signs, posters, and artwork designed by the corporations and the establishment to segregate and oppress the hybrid slave population. In System 3, the entire economy was built on the backs of its hybrid slaves -- part-human, part-animal genetic creations. Many areas of the sacred city of Ganesha feature anti-hybrid messaging and imagery designed to enforce the segregation between hybrids and humans. The powerful establishments in this society create and distribute this propaganda, which is designed to preserve the status quo and keep the hybrids in their place, at the bottom rung of society.

...

Hybrid Genotypes: For now, we want to focus on 8 hybrid genotypes: Monkey, Pig, Rhino, Shark, Tiger, Elephant, Chameleon, Snake

Hybrid Slave Code: Hybrids are only allowed in the poorest and lower levels of the vertical Ganesha City, where pirates, hybrids, and the criminal underworld reside. In the upper levels, hybrids are banned from gardens, shops, restaurants, and even from some of the temples to Ganesha and other Hindu deities. These places are where you can see the literal signs of hybrid segregation (for example: “No Hybrids Allowed” signs)

Fugitive Hybrid Slave Law: The establishment enforces a racist law that incites all humans in System 3 to hunt down runaway hybrid slaves. These posters might portray the fugitive slaves as a mortal danger to humans and the system’s economy. They might encourage humans (and bounty hunters) to ‘do the right thing’ and capture or kill escapees in exchange for a reward. They might take the form of ‘Wanted’ posters that would be seen on mobile billboards throughout the city, as well as in the streets of the criminal underworld.

6/11/18 HitRecord Anti-Hybrid Propaganda (video):

So, in the world of Beyond Good and Evil 2, hybrids are these sort of part human, part animal genetic creations and throughout much of System 3 they're exploited as slaves for their labor. The establishment and corporations who control many of the planets and cities in System 3 are heavily invested in keeping the hybrids in chains.

System 3 was built on the backs of hybrid slavery. In the world of Beyond Good and Evil 2, hybrids are not considered citezins. They're exploited by people and enslaved by corporations, all of whom want to maintain the status quo. Many areas of the city feature anti-hybrid messaging and iconography designed to enforce the segregation between hybrids and humans.

Another symbol of anti-hybrid racism is the Fugitive Slave Law. This law incites that all of the humans of System 3 to hunt down runaway hybrid slaves by portraying them as a mortal danger to humans.

6/11/18 HitRecord Hybrid Mythology (post):

In this project, we’ll be creating imagery, paintings, and rudimentary artwork, created by hybrid slaves, and depicting various interpretations of The Legend of Moksha. In the world of BGE2, ‘hybrids’ are part-human, part-animal genetic creations, and throughout much of System 3, they are exploited for their labor as slaves.

To cope with this bleak situation, hybrid slaves have developed their own beliefs, superstitions, and spirituality, designed to give meaning to their existence, and instill them with hope.

Perhaps the most well known of these stories is The Legend of Moksha, but there are many different interpretations and meanings given to this legend, depending on which hybrid you ask. Many hybrids believe that Moksha is a mystical gateway, which leads to a promised land where hybrids can live free. The most prominent interpretation of the legend can be found in written form HERE.

The various interpretations of this legend can be found depicted in primitive artworks painted onto the walls of caves, abandoned temples, and mines where hybrid slaves are forced to live, work, and survive. Both the legend, and the artworks, are designed to bring hope to the hybrids - that one day they may find salvation and escape their suffering.

...

For hybrids, the symbols in these paintings are based in ancient tradition and might be indecipherable to humans. For centuries, the hybrids have relied on these paintings as a form of exclusive communication.

6/11/18 HitRecord Hybrid Mythology (video):

So, in the world of Beyond Good and Evil 2, hybrids are these sort of part human, part animal genetic creations and throughout much of System 3 they're exploited for their labor as slaves. So to find hope in this bleak situation, hybrid slaves and communities have developed their own beliefs and superstitions and spirituality.

Hybrid slaves have developed their own beliefs, superstitions, mythologies, in this distant galaxy at the end of the 24th century. In this project, we'd love for you to collaborate on creating the imagery and murals that depict scenes and interpretations of this hybrid spirituality, from the point-of-view of the hybrids themselves.

The new hybrid religion is what gives them hope that one day they will be freed from slavery. For instance, one of the most important legends in System 3 is the Legend of Moksha. To many hybrids, Moksha is a mystical gateway which leads to the promised land where hybrids will live free.

We will tell you the story of one version of the Legend of Moksha to give you some inspiration.

Hybrids express their spirituality, beliefs, and legends in artwork that can be found in the underground areas of Ganesha City or in any caves in the planet, and everywhere hybrids work as slaves.

6/11/18 Moksha Legend (HitRecord):

The Legend of Moksha is told far and wide throughout System 3. Below is one of the many interpretations....

Many hybrids believe that Moksha is a mystical gateway, which leads to a promised land where hybrids can live free… And, while there are many interpretations and embellishments with each new telling (oral and visual), there are a few key steps that regularly appear as part of the pilgrimage that leads to Moksha and beyond…

1. The Calling: The Book of Hybrids suggests that the first stepping-stone on the journey to Moksha has already been taken--about a hundred years after the founding of Ganesha City. It is said that a hybrid monkey slaving in the mines of Naraka discovered a celestial map, which miraculously revealed itself to him when he touched an ancient meteorite freshly fallen from the sky….(which should’ve burned him to a cinder!). The location of the map remains a secret today, although many stories of Moksha contain clues that suggest its whereabouts.

2. The Uprising: The Book of Hybrids tells us that the time for revolt is near… The alignment of the planets, moons and stars of System 3, presumably visible on the celestial map that was revealed to the hybrid monkey so long ago, is soon to occur. (In ‘game time’, we are approaching the end of the 24th century.) And when this happens, Moksha will awaken and the hybrids must throw off their chains and set out for ‘The Passage’.

3. The Passage: Once the stars are aligned and the hybrids have reached Moksha, ‘The Passage’ will be revealed, allowing those, and only those hybrids who deserve to cross over, access to the secret that lies beyond….

Hybrid artists have retold this story through the arts for centuries, notably through primitive paintings that can be found in the depths of the mines in which they slave their lives away. However, no one truly knows what lies beyond the mysterious artefact in deep space…

Also, the hybrids are not the only ones in the galaxy trying to crack the secret of Moksha…it is one of the major stakes in the numerous ongoing conflicts in System 3.

The gateway might offer rebirth; resurrection; immortality; an unimaginable source of power; a treasure of unimaginable wealth--or, some cynics say it’s a trap--a certain road to a quick and painful death. There are even stories that Moksha is the harbinger of a coming apocalypse, the time when hybrid gods will cross over into System 3 and take revenge upon all those who exploit the hybrid kind! Most hybrids and The Book privilege the theory that beyond Moksha lies freedom.

In the city’s underworld, and in all the places where hybrids toil as slaves, artwork featuring the mysterious Moksha artifact abound.

12/10/18 Space Monkey Report #4:

Clones in this world are created, are being built, engineered, to fulfill a specific role in this society. So for instance, if you are born a hybrid monkey, you are meant to be a miner because hybrid monkeys are very agile. They make great miners when they work in the underground mines of System 3. ... The other side of the planet is always turned towards space and frequently bombarded with huge meteorite showers, breaking the ground of the planets and creating these huge craters on the planet. And the humans living on the safe side of the planet are sending hybrid slaves to this dangerous side of the planet to collect a rare mineral called “Diwalite” that can only be found on this dangerous side of Soma. And of course those hybrids are sent almost to their deaths when they go under this meteorite shower to collect this precious mineral. ... The bombarded side is extremely dangerous, they are much like cannon fodder, they just get sent out and they know hundreds are going to die and they’re going to bring back just small chunks of Diwalite. ... And when the humans send hybrids on the dangerous side, on Naraka, they tell them they are on a godly mission basically, and that the Diwalite is sent by the Gods. And they tell them if they collect enough Diwalite they could win their freedom, and not be slaves anymore. It is something that almost never happens and again, most of the hybrids die in this pretty cruel process. ... Here we can see the hybrid monkeys who have a special mechanical glove that they wear in order to collect the Diwalite, which is incredibly volatile, it explodes in your face. One of the stories about the hybrids that go on this side is that they have a certain quota they have to obtain, and if they don’t obtain that quota, they don’t get picked up in the end, they just leave them to die. So it’s an incredibly stressful area for the hybrid slaves.

3/13/19 Cityscapes: “Districts of Ganesha City, Part 1″ (blog post):

The Temples, lush gardens and shops, which adorn the upper parts of this district (and are forbidden to hybrids), attract tourists from across the System. Meanwhile, in the lower depths of the city, the older, buried and abandoned temples have come to serve many purposes, including sanctuaries for fugitive hybrid slaves and defective clones fleeing the oppressive system, black markets, drug dens, illicit laboratories and other unsavory activities.

The shining city we see in our first Beyond Good and Evil 2 cinematic trailer for E3 2017 was built on the backs of hybrid slave labor, who form an underclass relegated to the lower areas of the city.

...

Here on the waterfront, an Entertainment Corporation runs the business of fun. An arena hosts extreme sports events, such as hybrid blood sports, where hybrid slaves and renegade human clones fight each other to the death, much like the gladiators of Old Earth. On another day, you might find Death Races, where the best space racers can take on one of Zhou Yuzhu pet pilots… or each other!

3/29/19 Naraka: The Dark Side of the Moon (blog post):

Forced by their corporate masters and with the (false) hope of freedom, hybrids brave meteorite impacts and risk their lives in a harsh environment to gather the dangerous and powerful resource raining down from the skies.

Space Monkey Report #5:

(WIP)

Clone-specific

6/11/18 HitRecord World Overview:

And when they arrive and settle, they've discovered that they've become infertile and the only way they're able to survive then since they cannot reproduce naturally is to clone themselves. So they use the cloning technology they brought with them and they're somehow able to continue to colonize System 3.

Cloning was the only way to actually populate System 3 at that time. So what's im portant is that all the characters that you will meet in BGE2 are actually clones. Clones coming from those original limited DNAs that they had on board the ship.

6/15/18 Instagram:

#BGE2 Shani last version by Pascal Ackermann, a fantastic 3d artist. An important theme for us is identity. This world is made of clones. All clones in bge are registered as numbers and are dedicated to specific tasks. Becoming a space pirate is a way to escape that pre-determined life and become unique. But freedom has a price and the society prefers dealing with quiet clones instead of unmanagable pirates. In BGE, you may recognize the same clones but in various roles and behaviors. They share the same DNA sequence but have chosen very different destinies.

12/10/18 Space Monkey Report #4:

To backtrack a little bit, the first expeditions that left the Earth in order to come and explore the Surya solar system came and the very first expedition was sent out and they deployed clones. Of course it was a very hostile and they were going to face terrible conditions. So the first people that they sent out there were just clones of the experts that came. And they established outposts and what you see here in the image is Dyaus, which is a huge gas giant around which you see the planet in the foreground which is Soma, and Soma’s a moon that turns around the Dyaus. This is one of the first planets that they settle.

...

What’s really important in mind is at that time, cloning was the only way to populate this new solar system. So people in System 3 have been created from a limited number of DNA strains that they had on board that very first ship. It means that all the people you will meet actually in BGE2 are clones coming from those limited number of DNA strains. Clones in this world are created, are being built, engineered, to fulfill a specific role in this society.

12/21/18 “Space Monkey Report #4: VOD & questions answered!” blog post:

Do clones age?

“Yes, clones do age. Uma, in our second trailer, is a prime example of a clone who aged. But keep in mind that clones may age in ways that are specific to them…”

...

How does cloning work in this world and is the entire population made of clones? Are people still infertile during at the time BGE2 takes place?

Clones cannot give birth. Human beings purposely created them with this limitation. Since clones were the only ones to ever reach System 3, the whole population of this planetary system is made of clones who were created in cloning centers.

2/14/19 “Diwalite: The Ultimate (Re)source of Power” blog post:

Human & Hybrid Cloning: To populate and construct these new colonies in far-away planetary systems, pre-programmed Diwalite was sent along with specific strains of DNA in order to create cloned humans and hybrids to begin the colonization process.

3/13/19 Cityscapes: “Districts of Ganesha City, Part 1″ blog post:

Ganesha City was founded on the planet Soma by the cloned members of an India-based corporation, and one of the original members of the Earth conglomerate that led the colonization of System 3.

6/19/19 “Space Monkey Report #5 Livestream: Your Questions Answered” blog post:

Only male clones? Are there any female clones?

“To create clones in System 3, there is an equal number of male and female DNA strains. For example, there is a female as well as a male hybrid monkey DNA strain.”

...

So I guess there will be no children in System 3?

“Exactly, human and hybrid clones are born with adult physical characteristics, so there are no real children per se in System 3.”

#lore #world

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cryamore · 7 years

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AND DEVELOPMENT UPDATE ROUNDUP

We’ve gotten a number of questions from our Discord members in the past month and it’s time to share them with everyone along with our answers.

See what a handful of our backers have been asking Rob, Aivi, surasshu, and me after the jump.

Kishou asks the following questions:

Can you change Esmy's appearance? Like, with armor sprites?

Sadly, given how Cryamore’s sprites are designed, it’s too taxing to make armor sprites for Esmy as we’d have to make armor sprites for a lot of unique animations, idle, running, hit, ground cast, mid cast, high cast, Vanish animations, Boulder Dash animations, etc. and then multiply that with 3 or 5 directions each.

The most we can offer for visual customization are palette swaps.

Featured above are palettes for default, Braxton, Bliss, “Dewritos”, and Black & Blue

I just want to see Esmy in something revealing like a swimsuit

Rob can probably arrange that in another artwork. I could sprite Esmy in a swimsuit but I don’t think we have any scenarios written down that feature her in one.

Of course, we could always write one in...

I'm not sure if this is asked before but is there a love interest in mind for Esmy?

Esmy’s too focused on her work and studying cryamore to notice anyone that may have feelings for her.

Right?

There's no "right" or "wrong" way to clear the game right? Like, surely some spells solve puzzles but there will be proficiency in not just weapon choices but spells in fighting too?

We’ve done our best to make sure your offensive/defensive ability and weapon loadouts will always be viable so whether you like playing ranged weapons with hard hitting close combat abilities, using mobility enhancing abilities with melee weapons or whatever playstyle tickles your fancy, we’ve spent a lot of time ensuring we got everything balanced and fun enough so there won’t be an absolute god tier and worst tier loadout.

Phosphatide asks:

About story flow: with games now searching for the perfect balance between "linear progression" and "open world freedom" to avoid blatant in-game walls preventing the possibility of sequence-breaking exploration or aimless wandering with no sense of urgency... what was your goal for Cryamore?

Alan: Honestly, I personally wanted full-on freedom to go explore some of the hardest areas of the game and risk the chance of getting wrecked, but we had to corrall things a bit to ensure you stay within the story bounds. Rob being the lead on this has final say on direction.

Rob: I wanted to instill a sense of survival in the game and make sure that the abilities are a big focal point for both puzzles and combat so we were able to block off certain areas of the world the way Metroidvanias would; give you a hint at what might be ahead, but you're blocked by something that needs a new ability

Alan: There's still freedom to be had but you can only go so far before you either hit a roadblock which needs an ability or sometimes story progression (you need clearance to explore south of the island)

So yeah, the goal was to give some freedom but not too much and I'm hoping we managed to achieve it with the world design I've done and with enough usage of the puzzle solving abilities we've made.

Tomar asks:

Curiosity here. Do you guys do art asset sharing through your VC system, or do you use something simpler like dropbox/google drive?

We’ve mostly used Dropbox all throughout to share asset files.

Above are the four folders we have set for Cryamore. Backgrounds has Rob and me contributing to it, Illustrations has Rob, me, and JC and Juby’s contributions, Inspiration Music has Aivi and surasshu’s work (a lot of unheard of to the public music WIP files) and Sprite-Animations has my work.

Once something like music, animation or an environment asset is set, Rob or I transfer it to Unity, apply any settings necessary (import and display settings for 2DToolkit, audio settings for Master Audio, etc.) and then upload it to the SVN so the file and all its settings will exist for anyone on the team with a Unity key and access to the Cryamore SVN.

Do you use freecamp for like kanban/task management stuff?

When we had more people in our team, we used OpenOffice and then switched to Freedcamp to keep track of tasks and bugs. Now that it’s just Rob and me, and Aivi and surasshu on sound and music, we mostly just keep a personal to-do list.

Xaelon asks:

I have no idea if this is possible with how the game is built, but something you could add to promote replay after the base game is completed would be a "randomizer mode" that shuffles various things into different places.

We could probably apply that to enemy spawns and some cryam deposits but the environment layouts though aren't as flexible sadly as we don’t use tilesets and the collision bounds of the environments aren’t generated by object due to a lot of irregular organic shapes.

We definitely have considered implementing a NG+ option though, maybe with levels and certain abilities intact on the next play but with more mobs and other difficulty boosts.

shadowreaper5 asks:

Do skills with timers (like the buff to breathe underwater) have a visual representation of the time left?

To a certain extent, yes. Esmy’s going to have a breath meter over her head while underwater without the Oxy Barrier ability.

We initially wanted to just have a blue fill over Esmy’s status portrait (which changes to her holding her breath) while underwater but so it’s easier to keep track of, she’ll have a meter above her head when she isn’t using Oxy Barrier underwater.

While we do have spells with durations, some of them won’t have a meter and rely on visual cues: a timed magma mine will blink when it's about to explode, time paradox clones should blink when they're about to fade, and shadow cloak should fade back to full visibility upon ending. As it is though, we will mention the duration of spells in their info box at the menu.

Tarquinn2049 asks:

Ok. This question is a bit on the other end amd might make me sound like a jerk due to timing. But does it support 4k? And if so is it by pixel doubling? I can totally play it at 1080p if hardware scaling will ultimately look better.

Our native resolution is 720p which we’ll be upscaling to 1080p. We won’t be able to provide 4K support as working primarily in 2D where our target resolution is 720p would require us to rework the assets in a larger size so as not to lose crispness of lines and pixels on a larger resolution.

Rob: The game looks freaking good on a 50-70 inch, though haha! I for one can't wait to playtest a lot on console (devkit).

DEVELOPMENT UPDATES

Unity editor-wise, Rob has been working on optimizing the code further. The sorting order of the game was archaic and clunky, so Rob decided to squish it down to a simpler and more effective form that relies on Sorting Order that Unity didn’t have early on during our development. We instead relied on Z index which required a lot of fiddling around with when setting objects up.

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You can see in that test room video that the “Order in Layer” is changing value. Back then it would be the Z in the Position attributes and we’d have to manually set the value beforehand to make sure things appeared behind or in front of objects right.

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Rob also implemented full analog movement instead of just the D-pad, this allows for more control, though it’ll need a bit of tweaking as it currently looks like Esmy’s skating along the ground like she’s about to break it down and provide everyone with boosted shields.

There’s been polish going on in multiple fronts on the graphical end as animations and environment assets get fixed.

Above is the fist weapons, we initially were going to go with brass knuckles but decided that it wouldn’t be that noticeable on the sprite unless we made it large but I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t miss the weapons so I designed these gauntlets that shows a bit of the transition from steamtech to cryamtech and also offers a more interesting silhouette while also making a bit more sense as a viable weapon against dangerous monsters.

The fists primary function work as a mashable combo. One press of the attack button does a jab, two presses in quick succession performs a jab and punch, three does a jab, punch, uppercut combo. It’s quick but it doesn’t have that much range or width in its melee attack range.

The second function is the parry which allows you to negate any damage if timed right. Rob’s in charge of securing the timing for all these as he’s the one in Unity and more well-versed with the parrying system this was inspired from (Street Fighter 3) so I trust he’ll make sure it’s balanced. We wanted to make the fists fun to use but even better if you master it and hopefully it’ll show.

The crossbow also underwent an animation rework during its polish phase. The old animation was too focused on being realistic that it didn’t look interesting (i.e. it looked too slow) and the crossbow already has it tough in being interesting when up against the pistols. So far everyone feels it looks much snappier now while still keeping to the timing of the old animation.

What differentiates the crossbow from the pistol is that Esmy can hold her shot and slowly strafe while doing so, only firing when you let go of the attack button. The crossbow also has different types of bolt quivers that you can equip. Currently we’re playing around with piercing properties and stagger/slowing/knockback properties.

We’re also looking into displaying the ammo/bolt count below Esmy everytime she fires so the player can easily keep track of their shots (we’ve been running on infinite ammo all this time just to get a feel of the weapon first before applying a limit).

The rapier’s animations will still need the pixel pass but its roughs are ready.

You’ll notice two phases in the rapier animation. The basic thrust and the secondary backdash. These are the primary and secondary functions of the weapon. One allows you to dash forward with a piercing strike and another for quick evasion, making the rapier a weapon all about mobility (which could be handy for speedrunning too).

The Ghilcrest buildings are undergoing their design polish as well. You’ve all seen the Cryatisium and Esmy’s Home and now the Inventorium and the Cafe are joining them in polished goodness.

The overworld environments have also been undergoing its rework. More unique object assets have been made and its design is now following the Overworld map that I completed.

Worry not about the above image. Though we do have Brax (and some other characters) following you at some points in the game, it’s not a dangerous escort mission where you’ll have to struggle to keep your companion alive, the Berribuns were added on the map just for this screenshot (they ignore Brax and only go for Esmy).

I’ve tried to incorporate hints of the past steamtech throughout areas of Noka Island that the settlers covered, some machines like the one on the screenshot above were retrofitted to use cryam instead of steam (I did receive comments on how the smoke blobs look more like rocks so I’ll probably change it to wispy smoke).

The HUD has also undergone a visual polish to make it look more bronze plated to go with the early post steampunk-ish feel.

I’ll be continuously working on more animations and environment asset polish all throughout while Rob cleans up code, works on other background assets or lays said assets out in the Unity editor.

ART SPOTLIGHT

Every now and then, Rob (and sometimes I) take a breather and make some art (which will all eventually end up in the artbook) so here’s some of the choice pieces as of late.

Rob made something that could be wallpaper material once he cleans it up in a higher res, it’s an array of Bliss in a custom outfit.

Another wallpaper-ish piece from Rob with Deseret, Bliss, and Sorbet looking all tough and showing what I’ll just assume to be Ghilcrest gang signs... despite it being a small community.

Here's a more realistic pin-up style Bliss that Rob also made.

Rob also pays tribute to Atlus’ Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series by rendering Esmy in Shigenori Soejima’s style.

I did the same and tried making a Shigenori Soejima tribute using his soft paint style commonly present in Stella Deus and some Persona art. I chose to represent Team Bliss.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

We’ve also got a few new submissions of fanart from the community that we’re proud to share with everyone. We’re grateful to have all your support and enjoy seeing everyone’s renditions of the Cryamore cast.

@Cliffist pays tribute to the fab queen, Bliss because clearly, she’s supposed to be the star.

@boss_ruru also decides to rep Team Bliss with this lovely piece of Ms. Barson in one of her many alternate outfits.

But it’s not all Bliss as MellowMarz aka @HeartlessHat provides a pistol toting pixel-art Esmy.

I’ll be working on the pixel art and animation featurette next. I had to hold it off since I needed to prep this first.

It should give an idea of what the update will cover.

I hope you enjoyed this update and all the news! Thanks for taking time to read through these.

- CM Alan

P.S. I also managed to secure one of the previous builds we made and will be preparing a guide to go with it for the backers on Discord.

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septi-art · 7 years

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Art, Artists, and Community Interaction

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. It’s something I think both artists and people interested in consuming art should take the time to read. It’s a discussion worth having.

[Disclaimer I’m basically spit-balling this, and it is based on my own experiences and perspective. This discussion and advice may not be universal.]

Having interaction with your audience/community is something that I feel is incredibly important as an artist. When you make art you need to be marketable, you need to sell. This isn’t universally true but if people aren’t seeing your art, somewhere along the line, something has gone wrong. There are multiple factors that go into your success as an artist of course. Things like work ethic, self improvement, and the core foundation skills you use to create art in the first place, are fairly obvious factors. However once you’ve made a drawing your work isn’t done. You still need to show it. You still need to sell it. Otherwise you’re not really a successful artist, right?

It gets lengthy under the cut, but please take the time to read through this and consider sharing it. I put time into this and would like for it to gain at least some visibility.

From my experience there’s more than a few factors that play into your success. Your audience, your business sense, and your ability to interact with your community as an artist however, really stand out as important to me. And all three are linked very closely to each other. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and I want to touch on specifically the first and last elements on that list. Business sense is important, but it relies entirely on the artist to understand how business and entrepreneurship work. Community and visibility do not.

As an artist you depend on your audience and the community surrounding your work, however large or small it may be. I know that personally I have several friends who I can rely on to support my work. They may be a small network of people, but they are in the notes on almost every post I make on this site. As an artist I want to see this network grow. If I spread my community it makes me more successful as an artist, and this benefits me a lot as someone who plans on using my art as a source of income. As someone who has yet to break into the professional setting, my options are limited to freelance work and private commissions being my major sources of accessible income. Freelance work and getting commissions can rely heavily on reputation and visibility. This is why I (and many other artists) need a community.

Growing a community is something that takes time and effort. And it’s something that I believe requires the artist and the audience to sort of meet in the middle. Realistically though, growing a community is primarily the artist’s job. In day to day life, as a consumer, it’s not my job to advertise a product to myself. A company wouldn’t just give me a product and tell me that if I like it, and want more of that product, I need to try to get my friends to buy it too. In the same way, forcing the audience to sell the artwork they consume is not practical, and just straight up won’t work. As an artist seeing people only hit the “like” button is frustrating because it limits my exposure, but also it’s not that person’s responsibility to hit “reblog”. Just like it’s not a consumer’s job to sell the products they want. However art isn’t quite like say, Pepsi, or a pair of new shoes. The audience shouldn’t be passive in their consumption of art. After all art at it’s core is interactive.

This is where community and interaction really come into play. I both need and desire to have people care about my artwork. But getting “popular” is slow. Gaining an audience, is slow. Early on in your art career your visibility is very small, and no one knows who you are. You have no reputation, and no incentives for your audience. You need something to sell them on.

For someone to want to be involved more actively in consuming art they need to have a reason to care. This is why fanart is so popular, this is why web comics and artists with long running series do well. They have a product people can identify with or learn to identify with (this is why my Dark Souls sketches I may have drawn in an hour have several hundred notes and my personal work I spend days working on gets no traction comparatively).

This just shows that on some level, for an audience to care, art has to have an immediate appeal to a person. This is either based on personal taste (what art really stands out to you?), or by appealing to a group of people as a whole (drawings video game or TV characters from popular franchises that people love). I feel that being able to do both is important. Bring in people based on topics or themes they know already, and hopefully they stay because you have a body of work outside that they like as well. And outside of your artwork, appeal to them even more by showing that you have an accessible community. That you care about the fact that they like your work. This is something you can do through community outreach, by doing things like:

Drawing things you know people will like, it doesn't have to be your entire body of work but it helps to make your content relatable to your audience(which I mentioned already).

Make and post art frequently.

Streaming your artwork on places like YouTube and Picarto.

Show works in progress (WIPs), or show how you make your art from time to time.

Interact with other artists (draw together with them Google Hangouts are great for this, this post might be helpful for that).

Create a system to reward people for involvement in your community, Patreon is a good way to do this.

Another way to reward interaction is to let the community have some influence in your content (polls and contests).

Set up a way for people to make small donations, it’s better than undercutting your prices. it’s more affordable for people who care but aren’t just full of money. Using a Ko-fi button is good for this.

Post to as many sites as you can.

Respond to feedback now and then

Posting with regularity, and making your content accessible with links to where you post attached is also a smart idea. Make it easy for people to find where you put your art.

Just because it is the artist’s job to build and “curate” their community doesn’t mean that the community itself should be passive. If you are seeing art, you are interacting with it. And if you are interacting with it, even for 10 seconds, it took hours and hours of effort on top of years of practice and learning just for the artist to let you see it for those 10 seconds. Even mediocre artists often have spent a large amount of time trying very hard to get as far as they have. No one should have to try that hard not have some kind of payoff. This is why your support as a consumer matters so much.

That being said a consumer’s job isn’t to sell the product. But being passive in your interaction with art really doesn’t benefit anyone. The largest form of this I see is people hitting the “like” button, and nothing else. Doing that is like walking up to a street vendor and telling them you like what they’re selling, and then walking away. Consumer interactions like that mean that while you get to see the art, the artist now has a smaller audience (I’m basically saying likes on posts essentially do not matter from a practical perspective).

And yes, it’s not your job to make the artist’s community larger, but it’s worth considering that you can. But then again, why should you if it’s not your job, right? By being active in your consumption you can join a group of people who are a network that truly supports an artist and will benefit both the artist and you. If you interact with the art you appreciate, and especially with the artist, you increase your chances of seeing more art you like. it doesn’t even have to be monetary contributions.

So how can you help out, how can you be active in an artist’s network? Here are some things you can do:

Hit “Reblog” instead of “Like” (it’s easiest thing you can do and involves almost no extra effort)

If you see art you like, find out who made it. More often than not, they have more like it.

Follow artist’s streams.

Ask questions.

Leave comments. As long as it’s not rude or negative just say something in response.

Give money if you really, really, like the art. Support on Patreon, Commissions, or even just one or two dollar donations are all super important.

if you can, just learn about art! broaden your appreciation for it. It can even be fun (seriously art history is crazy).

[Keep in mind that not all artists will interact with you or their communities the same, use good judgement. This post is all coming from someone who is talking about smaller artists working independently or freelance, and trying to build a following on an online platform like Tumblr.]

But like I said, your job is at the end of the day, to just be an audience. You can do whatever you want. You can hit “like” and keep scrolling, I won’t stop you. I won’t be surprised or upset even. But if you really like a piece of art, if you care about art in any way, keep this discussion in mind. It’s really important. Art can’t exist without an audience that supports it.

TL;DR - As an artist, reach out to people and actively make yourself visible. As an audience member, interact and support artists you like.

#art #art discussion #art resource #artist resources #artists on tumblr #artist community #septi art #god this took forever to type up #long post #sorry if you're on mobile

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pieman24601 · 6 years

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Important Art Updates: Upcoming Projects and Goals!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well. I have some important announcements to make! There are some BIG changes coming to my art sites, and how I do business here. I'm completely revamping how I go about things in an effort to be more successful, prevent burnout, and ultimately provide a much higher quality of work. I should've done all this a looong ago, but for some reason, I just didn't. I'm changing that now. From this point on you'll see these changes slowly go into effect, and I certainty hope it makes everything much much better. So, lets go through whats happening, shall we? -------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon: I have NO idea why I never set up a proper Patreon. I'm going to be fixing that ASAP, it should be up and ready relatively soon. The Patreon will be art focused, but it will help support me in all things that I do. Patreon donators will have access to unposted art, as well as sketches, WIPS, and more. Depending on your tier, you could have access to art packs and other paid projects for free! You'll also have influence over what I draw, with Patreon exclusive polls and votes. Supporting my Patreon will allow me to do more personal projects, such as comics, interactives, vore games, and more. I will have more details soon when I finish setting it up. Art Packs: I want to sell little art packs, probably around like $5 each. One of the things I really struggle with is burnout. To help prevent that, I am going to be making little art packs of various themes containing exclusive artwork only available in the packs. I may even do some comics like this. Vore Games: I'm a game developer, so I have a lot of vore game ideas. I want to flesh these ideas out and make them available for all of you to play. I have some prototypes built up that I've been unable to use for ages, but if my patreon gets enough support, I may be able to take these ideas and make them whole. I'd love to do this as I think you'd enjoy my games not just for the vore, but for the gameplay and story too. Physical Goods (Shirts, buttons, prints, plushies, dakimakura, and more): I just think this would be really neat~ It would also force me to go to more cons and set up a booth or something. I'd just love to make some fun little pieces of merch for you all to enjoy, so I'm looking into methods to make this possible. I have some ideas planned, from little plushies of Sarah Vixen, to shirts with fun designs on them. I'll hopefully have something ready soon! I wonder where I can get a Sarah Vixen branded apron made... Commissions: I will still be doing commissions, but I will be going about it differently. To avoid burnout, and keep the quality of the art high, I will be taking commissions only when I am in the mood. I will also only be accepting Ideas that I am super into, or enjoy. This means I will be implementing some kind of theme system to help people know what I will be accepting. I will also finish all my pricesheets, which means I will be taking not just standard art commissions, but comics, sequences, pixel art, and more. Sorry for the wait on that guys, I know you've been wanting comics for a VERY long time. Interactives/Stories: "Predator Practice." was an absolute blast. I LOVED making that and seeing all of you react to it so positively. I know a lot of you are just begging for more, and I'm working on it. I want to do something like it, a kind of spiritual successor of sorts. Plans are being made. Don't you worry. Thank you so much for your patience on this, I am always so happy to see that so many people care about the interactive, it's just fantastic to me and makes me smile. Comics: I really want to make comics about the world my characters live in. I want to show Sarah, Chris, and Nomu going on grand adventures with friends. I may fuse this idea with the interactive, making things more interesting, almost like a D&D adventure where all of you are the players helping my cast along. I want to tell stories about my characters, and even stories about new characters you've not seen before, like how Chris met his partner Digimon. I feel like this would be a lot of fun, so please let me know what you think. -------------------------------------------------------------------- So yeah! That's the general plan for my art stuff. I hope that These big changes produce some of my best content for all of you enjoy. If you have any questions, PLEASE feel free to ask them. I will answer them the best I can. Thank you all SO much for your unending support, I love you all, you're just the absolute best. Thank you!

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