Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

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AERenoir
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Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#1 Post by AERenoir »

... Well... I always wanted a samurai otome where the samurai gettables are all manly and fierce, not pretty and sparkly and bishounen like the stuff that's currently available now.
And because it seems that "Daimyo/samurai XYZ is secretly a woman and has romance with other daimyo/fellow retainers" type of AU seems to be gaining popularity in Japan... Rather than having the MC be a random person out of nowhere, the MC is also a historical figure.

Except I'm still undecided between making the main character actually a guy or a crossdressing woman. That... remains to be seen until I can finalize the story more. The basic layout of the story arcs is a matter of picknig and choosing significant events and filling in the gaps with extras, but the detailed moment-to-moment bits is a bit tricky to put together. Especially because I'm also still hazy about what time period do I want the story to span for. Making the game span for someone's entire lifetime is kind of... eeh...

I'm not gonna name names just yet, but needless to say, everyone involved are actual people. Well. At least my interpretation of them anyway.
sunrise logo.png
This logo is somewhat telling... I wanted something simple kind of like Kakukaku Shikajika's title or like this:
新撰組恋遊戯~幕末幻想異聞~.png
But... I guess it doesn't really work with alphabet titles =___=

Character designs... Well, I still haven't even had the MC's face fixed yet. I mean, depending on WHEN the story begins... his/her appearance would be rather different.
Samurai doodles.jpg

GUI stuff:

NVL narration box
emaki2b.jpg
ADV-mode
emaki3a.jpg
Scroll BG unrolls when the game starts. Considering making the scroll rolling/unrolling just be the transition for all scenes.
emaki1.jpg
Title and Prefs and Save/Load still WIP.

*sigh* This post sounds so lame.

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Re: Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#2 Post by Mad Harlequin »

AERenoir wrote:And because it seems that "Daimyo/samurai XYZ is secretly a woman and has romance with other daimyo/fellow retainers" type of AU seems to be gaining popularity in Japan... Rather than having the MC be a random person out of nowhere, the MC is also a historical figure.
I like this idea a lot. You could pick a historical figure about whom few details are known, if you wanted more leeway with writing.
Except I'm still undecided between making the main character actually a guy or a crossdressing woman. That... remains to be seen until I can finalize the story more. The basic layout of the story arcs is a matter of picking and choosing significant events and filling in the gaps with extras, but the detailed moment-to-moment bits is a bit tricky to put together. Especially because I'm also still hazy about what time period do I want the story to span for. Making the game span for someone's entire lifetime is kind of... eeh...

*sigh* This post sounds so lame.
It's definitely not lame! You have samurai that don't look like airbrushed underwear models! :o

I don't particularly mind if you make the MC a woman (there are plenty of fascinating stories about samurai women!), but if you go with a man instead, you have the opportunity to explore some complex social values and relationship dynamics of the to the time period.
I'm an aspiring writer and voice talent with a passion for literature and an unhealthy attachment to video games. I am also a seasoned typo-sniper. Inquiries are encouraged. Friendly chats are welcome.
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Re: Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#3 Post by underbliss »

Hey! I think it sounds really interesting, and your character design sketches are equally interesting!

In regards to your cloud textbox: perhaps you could consider looking up traditional Japanese art cause the way clouds are drawn in that style is quite distinctive and it seems like it might be easy to translate into a textbox, but that's totally easier said than done. Maybe just adding a bit of that swirly smokey flare around your tendrils would do the trick..
But aside from that suggestion, I like the asymmetric shape it has now, but I think there is something off in the 'balance'... like the textbox background needs to be larger or/and the text needs a greater margin... That's what I'd tinker with, anyway!
I think your scroll design looks really cool and the unscrewing thing is awesome!

Anyway I hope to see more!

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Re: Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#4 Post by AERenoir »

Thanks for the interest, guys! :D :D :D
Mad Harlequin wrote:You could pick a historical figure about whom few details are known, if you wanted more leeway with writing.
Mad Harlequin wrote:It's definitely not lame! You have samurai that don't look like airbrushed underwear models! :o

I don't particularly mind if you make the MC a woman (there are plenty of fascinating stories about samurai women!), but if you go with a man instead, you have the opportunity to explore some complex social values and relationship dynamics of the to the time period.
It's not just samurai women, actually. It's "historical figure XYZ is actually a woman in disguise and somehow nobody knew that!" So if I go that route, it would be kind of different than just making an OC samurai woman in historical context. I originally wanted to add "WTF pairing" in the title, but there wasn't enough space. It's all kinds of awkward because this is like one of those fanfics involving a pairing that doesn't make much sense in canon... except I'm doing it with actual history.

I'm not entirely worried about leeway, considering even with people who ARE well-known, apparently it's allowed to do all sorts of crazy things with them. That's what the Japanese people themselves do. Maaaybe the rules are different with me because I'm not Japanese, but... a number of manga authors who include so-and-so samurai in their manga sometimes admit in the comment section that they are bad with history and know jack squat about the people they write about. And the interpretation they used in the manga is just a rehash of all the done-to-death tropes.

I researched enough to know that I'm not pulling complete bullshit out of thin air, so... yeah... I kind of thought, "To hell with logic, then" the day I found the novel where Uesuhi Kenshin was a woman in disguise and the plot involves romance with Takeda Shingen :? (if you don't know who I'm babbling about, please wiki them)
underbliss wrote:In regards to your cloud textbox: perhaps you could consider looking up traditional Japanese art cause the way clouds are drawn in that style is quite distinctive and it seems like it might be easy to translate into a textbox, but that's totally easier said than done. Maybe just adding a bit of that swirly smokey flare around your tendrils would do the trick..

But aside from that suggestion, I like the asymmetric shape it has now, but I think there is something off in the 'balance'... like the textbox background needs to be larger or/and the text needs a greater margin... That's what I'd tinker with, anyway!
I think your scroll design looks really cool and the unscrewing thing is awesome!
That's what I was trying to do, actually. As I said in the sample narration, I want the GUI to be styled like an "emaki", so I referenced the clouds from the Heike monogatari emaki. I even tried to apply the gold-leaf bits to the clouds :P

Image

I don't know how to fix the off-balance-ness of it, though TT___TT I already changed the cloud shape a few times and this is the best that came out so far, but it still looks off *weeps*

--------------------------------------------------
Contemplating to draw the sprites traditionally to make it look even more like an emaki. That, or somehow figure out a way to emulate ink brush strokes digitally. I've seen plenty of "faking watercolour" tutorials, but not ink brush strokes...

I tried markers earlier, but it's totally not working well. I have very limited amount of markers and I'm not liking the way the character ended up looking when inked this way:
Image

I think I will be using this method that I once tried. I just need to refine the technique more...
Image
Painted in watercolours, inked with a brush-pen.

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Re: Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#5 Post by Mad Harlequin »

AERenoir wrote:It's not just samurai women, actually. It's "historical figure XYZ is actually a woman in disguise and somehow nobody knew that!" So if I go that route, it would be kind of different than just making an OC samurai woman in historical context. I originally wanted to add "WTF pairing" in the title, but there wasn't enough space. It's all kinds of awkward because this is like one of those fanfics involving a pairing that doesn't make much sense in canon... except I'm doing it with actual history.
Oh, I misunderstood then. I thought you meant you were considering making the MC an insert. But working with a historical figure in that sense---that is, making a historical figure into a woman in disguise---could be really interesting.
I'm not entirely worried about leeway, considering even with people who ARE well-known, apparently it's allowed to do all sorts of crazy things with them. That's what the Japanese people themselves do. Maaaybe the rules are different with me because I'm not Japanese, but... a number of manga authors who include so-and-so samurai in their manga sometimes admit in the comment section that they are bad with history and know jack squat about the people they write about. And the interpretation they used in the manga is just a rehash of all the done-to-death tropes.

Oh, don't get me wrong! You don't have to be worried, really. I know which kinds of works you're talking about. Some of them are very historically accurate, and others aren't. I just thought that it might be easier to write something fresh if it's about somebody relatively unknown (you can fill in more details).
I researched enough to know that I'm not pulling complete bullshit out of thin air, so... yeah... I kind of thought, "To hell with logic, then" the day I found the novel where Uesuhi Kenshin was a woman in disguise and the plot involves romance with Takeda Shingen :? (if you don't know who I'm babbling about, please wiki them)
I think I remember hearing about that one somewhere . . . I should look it up!
I'm an aspiring writer and voice talent with a passion for literature and an unhealthy attachment to video games. I am also a seasoned typo-sniper. Inquiries are encouraged. Friendly chats are welcome.
"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
— Mark Twain

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Re: Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#6 Post by underbliss »

Ohhhh, my mistake then!
I wasn't familiar with Emaki and my reference to Japanese traditional clouds is entirely what pops up all over the place when you google aforementioned term, but obviously not what you said you were going for! :shock:

ANYWAY looking at that painting I think your textbox is emulating it very well!
I think that any awkwardness is mostly the 'balance' and not your rendering of the clouds... I'm afraid any specific suggestions I make might make it worse rather than help (like have you tried directly referencing that picture and making a tendril extend the entire width of the 'scroll'? Course then the textbox might end up huge and distracting so pff)

In any case it's a very cool idea but the shape of that style of cloud is gonna be making it tricky, so I wish you luck!

Also I heavily approve of the watercoloring :)

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Re: Chasing the Sunrise [Samurai][Historical Figures][?xB]

#7 Post by AERenoir »

Mad Harlequin wrote:I think I remember hearing about that one somewhere . . . I should look it up!
This one. I kind of want to read it for the lulz, but I don't understand Japanese at all :(

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