As some of you reading this might know, I wrote a blog called "Don't Shoot The Messenger," set in the Slender Man Mythos. Basically, it was about an man trying to find who he was and where he fit in the organization he was part of. I'm not going to really elaborate since those of you who know about it have read it, those who care enough will read it, and those who don't care enough probably won't even read this post.
Anyway, a bit ago, a friend of mine was playing Katawa Shoujo, which is an absolutely amazing visual novel with a terrible premise (dating sim/H-game about disabled girls developed by members of 4chan). And then I thought back to DSTM and remembered how, early on, there were a few parts of the story that would be affected by how people shipped certain characters. I jokingly tossed the idea of a DSTM dating sim around.
And then I thought a bit harder, and realized something.
While the Messenger was the narrator of DSTM, Poe was arguably the main character. Most of the plot involved her somehow. Unfortunately, due to her quiet nature and the Messenger's reluctance to go into great detail about his life, there was a lot of depth to her character that didn't see the light of day. And many of the alternate story paths we were considering featured her.
So I figured, instead of making a dating sim as a joke, I could make a serious story told from Poe's perspective. It would rehash some of the events of DSTM, expand the world some, and explore the story paths we didn't take. And with those branching paths, a visual novel would actually be the best medium to tell Poe's story
And now...well, I'm stuck on the idea. Even started writing some of it up. It's not going to be easy, of course. I have no clue who I'm going to get for an artist, and even less of a clue who's going to do the music (if I even include it). AJ (Poe's author) insists on being involved.
So yeah. A lot to do. I have no clue what I've gotten myself into.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Rurouni Kenshin and Villain Designs
One of my blogs will be drawing a lot from Rurouni Kenshin at certain points, intentionally so. One of the ways is that I'm going to be writing an arc with a group of ten villains, as a nod to the Juppongatana (or "Ten Swords") arc. Of course, ten characters is a lot, and since I pride myself on creating strong characters, I started thinking about what exactly these villains are going to be like. I realized that the job ahead of me was going to be harder than I thought.
You see, I want to pay homage to my inspiration, and that means creating villains in the same style that Watashi did. And Watashi made some very memorable villains. Almost all of them had not only a unique design, but a unique fighting style as well.
For example, the Juppongatana included Anji, a monk who knows a martial arts technique that can punch through stone; Usui, a blind, revenge driven man whose ears have become sharp enough to hear a person's heartbeat and sense changes in their body and emotions from it; Kamatari, a cheerful crossdresser who wields a giant scythe; and Henya, who has starved himself to the point that he can propel himself into the air with explosions and gain limited flight using his cape. And of course, there's their leader himself, Shishio, whose skin consists almost entirely of second and third-degree burns after being burned alive. In addition, he uses a serrated katana, which he sets on fire using the human fat that's accumulated on it.
These are only a brief description of just a handful of villains from one arc of Rurouni Kenshin. Some are sympathetic (Aoshi, Anji, and Enishi come to mind), some are monsters (Usui, Shishio, and Gein), but they all have a certain flavor to them. Something about them that's quirky or unusual enough or that just pushes the willing suspension of belief a little bit further (without breaking it) that makes them extremely memorable.
Now, let's compare this to another series. One that's fresh in my mind since I'm currently rereading it: Shaman King. Shaman King's villains seem similar to RuroKen's in some ways, at least in the terms I described. But later on, when the villains gain more actual flavor and become more numerous, they lose a certain aspect to them. You see, while they do have a lot of visual flavor, they lack the personality to be memorable. RuroKen's villains always had a strong design and strong fighting method, and usually had strong personality as well (though some didn't get enough screentime to get to that point). In Shaman King, the villains had a strong design, and not much else. And unfortunately, a lot of these designs boiled down to stereotypes. Sure, they were cool to look at, but they started to lose a lot of appeal when you found out that they weren't much past mariachi, cute witch girl, Gothic Lolita girl, or guy-who's-made-out-of-blocks-that-totally-aren't-legos. They're good designs, but they lack the substance an the execution to make them good characters and, consequently, good villains.
So what's my challenge in this? Well, I need to come up with ten characters who have a memorable design, and to make sure that I execute that design in a way that is memorable. They all need to be unique, though. Easily identifiable from each other. Strong motivations. And I need to do all of that without resorting to cliches or stereotypes.
This should be fun.
You see, I want to pay homage to my inspiration, and that means creating villains in the same style that Watashi did. And Watashi made some very memorable villains. Almost all of them had not only a unique design, but a unique fighting style as well.
For example, the Juppongatana included Anji, a monk who knows a martial arts technique that can punch through stone; Usui, a blind, revenge driven man whose ears have become sharp enough to hear a person's heartbeat and sense changes in their body and emotions from it; Kamatari, a cheerful crossdresser who wields a giant scythe; and Henya, who has starved himself to the point that he can propel himself into the air with explosions and gain limited flight using his cape. And of course, there's their leader himself, Shishio, whose skin consists almost entirely of second and third-degree burns after being burned alive. In addition, he uses a serrated katana, which he sets on fire using the human fat that's accumulated on it.
These are only a brief description of just a handful of villains from one arc of Rurouni Kenshin. Some are sympathetic (Aoshi, Anji, and Enishi come to mind), some are monsters (Usui, Shishio, and Gein), but they all have a certain flavor to them. Something about them that's quirky or unusual enough or that just pushes the willing suspension of belief a little bit further (without breaking it) that makes them extremely memorable.
Now, let's compare this to another series. One that's fresh in my mind since I'm currently rereading it: Shaman King. Shaman King's villains seem similar to RuroKen's in some ways, at least in the terms I described. But later on, when the villains gain more actual flavor and become more numerous, they lose a certain aspect to them. You see, while they do have a lot of visual flavor, they lack the personality to be memorable. RuroKen's villains always had a strong design and strong fighting method, and usually had strong personality as well (though some didn't get enough screentime to get to that point). In Shaman King, the villains had a strong design, and not much else. And unfortunately, a lot of these designs boiled down to stereotypes. Sure, they were cool to look at, but they started to lose a lot of appeal when you found out that they weren't much past mariachi, cute witch girl, Gothic Lolita girl, or guy-who's-made-out-of-blocks-that-totally-aren't-legos. They're good designs, but they lack the substance an the execution to make them good characters and, consequently, good villains.
So what's my challenge in this? Well, I need to come up with ten characters who have a memorable design, and to make sure that I execute that design in a way that is memorable. They all need to be unique, though. Easily identifiable from each other. Strong motivations. And I need to do all of that without resorting to cliches or stereotypes.
This should be fun.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Project Updates
Just an update on what I've been working on lately:
Wandering from Death: My one openly ongoing Slenderblog. I'm largely in the development phase for my plot at the moment, but I've got ideas.
Warrior, Wizard: a short story about, well, a warrior and a wizard (or, more accurately, "mage"). The two become close friends but are both forced to deal with their feelings of inadequacy as their growths differ.
Operation Stirling: A collaborative Slenderverse project that is currently remaining secret. Let's just say that I'm finally starting to get to the meat of my part of the project, though.
I've also reacquired a ladybug bucket hat, so my "DaLadybugMan" persona can finally get back on camera and do some reviews I've wanted to. I'm leaning towards House of Leaves for the first one.
In addition, I'm also occasionally working on A Terrible Fate, my Zelda fanfic, and a commentary for Don't Shoot The Messenger, though those are less frequent.
I finished Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and was excited to transfer my info and launch into the sequel, Radiant Dawn. Then I found out that my disc was one of the ones that didn't recognize Easy Mode saves (since the PoR "Easy Mode" came about when the translation was made easier; it didn't exist in Japan). I COULD play Radiant Dawn anyway, but I want those few bonuses I get from transfering a PoR file over, dammit! So basically, I'm going to have to pay through all of PoR again.
I've also gotten my hands on No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. I've beaten the first three (of 10) bosses in the former, and so far I'm not particularly impressed. I'll stick with it, though. See if it improves.
Writing
Wandering from Death: My one openly ongoing Slenderblog. I'm largely in the development phase for my plot at the moment, but I've got ideas.
Warrior, Wizard: a short story about, well, a warrior and a wizard (or, more accurately, "mage"). The two become close friends but are both forced to deal with their feelings of inadequacy as their growths differ.
Operation Stirling: A collaborative Slenderverse project that is currently remaining secret. Let's just say that I'm finally starting to get to the meat of my part of the project, though.
I've also reacquired a ladybug bucket hat, so my "DaLadybugMan" persona can finally get back on camera and do some reviews I've wanted to. I'm leaning towards House of Leaves for the first one.
In addition, I'm also occasionally working on A Terrible Fate, my Zelda fanfic, and a commentary for Don't Shoot The Messenger, though those are less frequent.
Reading
I'm currently reading Chronicles of the Black Company, a compilation of the first three Black Company books. I'm also picking back up on reading the Trigun manga and have managed to find the first two copies of Video Girl Ai (by the same guy who did I"s, one of my favorite manga), though acquiring the rest of both series might be difficult as the former is fairly expensive and the latter is pretty hard to find.
Watching
I've finally decided on an order to watch the shows I'm catching up on in. Top priority is ABC's Once Upon a Time, an entertaining (if not fairly campy) show about a town in Maine where storybook characters are living with their "Happily Ever Afters" taken away and no memories of their former life. Kind of like LOST if LOST had magic OH WAIT
The next two on my list are Trigun, which is about a gunslinging pacifist on a desert planet, and Fullmetal Alchemist, which is about...a kid who's an alchemist, I guess. A hotheaded alchemist working at his craft under the government. There's obviously more to both shows, but that's the best I can put their concepts.
Playing
I finished Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and was excited to transfer my info and launch into the sequel, Radiant Dawn. Then I found out that my disc was one of the ones that didn't recognize Easy Mode saves (since the PoR "Easy Mode" came about when the translation was made easier; it didn't exist in Japan). I COULD play Radiant Dawn anyway, but I want those few bonuses I get from transfering a PoR file over, dammit! So basically, I'm going to have to pay through all of PoR again.
I've also gotten my hands on No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. I've beaten the first three (of 10) bosses in the former, and so far I'm not particularly impressed. I'll stick with it, though. See if it improves.
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