Comments - Mr.12

I've only just recently gotten into environmental design, and I have to say, a lot of your scenery work is inspiring to no end. I may actually ask you to critique my work considering I'm still trying to find my sea legs in this domain, and since you're just plain awesome at this stuff. =P

Thank you, ma'am! =D

Noir much?

I likey. <3

Yes, the idea is to essentially open the flood gates and let as much information and material hit this site as possible. I definitely have enough stuff from development to start doing this, so I'm going to make an attempt here, and see what happens.

Thanks! =D

We try to improve the work as we go along, so your support is much appreciated!

Thanks!

I am nowhere near done with this page, though, so I'll try and update everything as much as possible. =P

I remember reading this article. Wow, it's been a while. =P

Congrats on your first blog post! :D

Alright, mister...I'm going to use Twitter from now on and update my ModDB page with almost-daily updates. Why the change of heart? No clue! lol

The actual reason is because I've noticed how much stuff I do get done in a single day, and I should, not surprisingly, keep some of my thoughts recorded (no matter how silly they are). I'll talk to you later!

Most of Khana's design has changed over the course of months (years, even). In an older design (prior to the version you see now), she had scales that covered most of her arms and upper body. For the sake of continuity, appeal, and simplicity, such features (the scales) were annexed from her design, or subtly placed without convoluting her appearance. =P

I swear, you have a kickass portfolio, Jen. Though I'm actually surprised to see that you do hand drawn animations as well. I underestimated your awesomeness once again! =o

Wonderful as always, Jen. Me likey! =D

Persona influenced 60% of the design at some point, so I won't lie -- it feels like it. XD

Are you asking if the game is free, or...?

If you are, then no. The game won't be free outside of the free open beta coming next year. =P

The camera is dynamic for the most part (it's simply a 3D camera locked into the X axis really). There's some in and out movement you can do with it as well, not to mention some nice twisting effects, but in terms of it being a conventional camera system, despite this game's 2D look and feel, it isn't.

Even though the camera system is basically finished, we're not showing it until the gameplay build is complete. Once it is, you'll see what we're aiming for. =P

Flash is used to draw all the illustrations and objects, yes. However, the game won't be running on Flash (I dislike the memory limitations).

20% (not the whole game, just the playable stuff) because Tiji and I are slow, good for nothings who are addicted to TF2. Break our addiction, and you people will get your game. =P

There's around 8 of us now, including me, if I'm correct. We have one main programmer who does everything (Tiji), another who had helped build the initial game engine tools (Millsa), and myself who works on all the art and animation -- I'm a decent programmer, but that's not my best field. Everyone else helps with the narrative, updates, audio, music, and voice overs. =P

We've tested what kind of things we can animate and put in the game in real-time, so there aren't any significant issues concerning details, only sizes. =P

Animation wise, the best kind of details are the details that know where to go without you having to redraw them every single frame. Everything in this video basically shows how I can adjust, shift, and place specific details wherever I want. Hopefully in the future, I can show how all this madness can actually create pretty amazing animations. =D

We are working on code -- Tiji handles that mainly. =P
I focus on art and design (some code) while he handles engine tools and other code work. We won't show a half done game with broken/unusable code until we lock our gameplay build.

The screenshots and gameplay footage will come probably during the winter time if not next year. There's been a few hang ups and we have this new animation system in development, so I hope by then you and everyone else will be able to see what I mean by all these things I'm talking about like a madman. XD

A feature on the gameplay in full detail will go up next month. I'm somewhat confident about the grand scheme of things, so I might as well touch bases on that while interest in this game is high. =P

lol, I didn't notice I put 2 million. Yeah, I meant to say 2 billion (spelling = fail). I'm glad you pointed it out. =D

Yes, The Avatar was a big influence for the conception of Nor Prime, particularly when it came down to world development, creating a sense of culture, and some of the in-game scenarios you'll see once the Beta comes out. Character designs and other things you pointed out are actually more so inspired by Team Fortress 2, FLCL, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, mid-century modern designs (The Incredibles most directly), and Balinese/Chinese/Southern Islander/Japanese/African sources.

I'm glad that you find most of the work on display professional and entertaining. There's a few other surprises I have coming through the tunnel, but I'm happy to hear that there's so much excitement built up already. =D

I know what you mean. Though I try not to let input dictate my heartfelt feelings for a character, perhaps, I do let the opinions of others shape my work down to the last shrapnel of code. Community support is what I really enjoy and take to heart because it gives a voice to everyone and I can make a better game as an end result of that.

Thanks! There is a bit of hesitation on my behalf to diversify the design to the eyes and many other parts to the characters (weight and age being a factor I'm still trying to interpret with variation). Facial animations are still fairly earlier on, so I'll take note of this and really try to expand upon the aspects that carry on too much repetition.

Awww, you added dear to it. =D

It looks a lot better than the one you showed me. Kudos!

Ummm...since your pointing that out, that would be pretty cool to experiment with. The only issue with having Khana's scales bloom throughout the game is the amount of work and extra animations needed to keep the presentation consistent. I'm already pushing my budget enough as is, so unfortunately, I realistically can't promise a feature like that. =/

...Though I definitely love that idea. XD

My intended audience is just a group I centered my design choices around for the sake of expanding my core audience (you people + whoever) and making the content more "girl friendly", so to speak. After seeing the amount of male interest within the past 5 months however, I'm not terribly surprised to see that guys like it more (I know I do)...and no, there are no ponies...yet. ;D

Thanks, everyone, for the support!

Currently, I'm swamped with work I have to muscle through. There's a lot more information and goodies I have coming soon, so the good stuff will arrive in time. I know I haven't sent out thank you comments to you all for your time, but once things have settled down a bit, I'll make sure and get back to everyone personally! =D

If you have any questions at all about the game, don't be afraid to post up your thoughts and commentary. Either me or my good gal Noobina will get to you ASAP when we have time on our side. Thanks again!

Aspect ratios for characters are anywhere between 300x700 and 500x1500 (though likely not a ratio I want to push often). Our game engine is designed in a such a way to handle high end images and animations, however you'll need a decent rig to keep up (not a $11k computer, just something that has a lot of memory and processing power). =P

No, those are scales, alright. lol

To be specific, her people -- that, being an alien race known as the "Bhacrio" -- develop large scales on their upper body. Khana isn't THAT old, so her scales are a bit shallow looking. Yeah, I know her appearance is very human looking, but that's intentional, to be sure. =P