zCreative Journal

UNDER THE DOG

The first anime that got funded by Kickstarter. They got 800,000 dollars from it. That is a REALLY big number for an anime production. So naturally, some anime communities are abuzz with this news, saying how cool it is and all that.After watching it, I don't get what's all the buzz about. Story and concepts was nothing revolutionary. Other than the fact it was funded via Kickstarter, it was nothing to shout about in my opinion.









I'm not that impressed from the trailer, sure, it's not another high school, fan service laden harem adventures, but the trailer looks like any other sci-fi movie out there (fancy tight suits, fancy vehicles, fancy fights and explosions, the works). On the contrary, the plot (which you can read on their official site linked below) seems, quite interesting and managed to get pique my interest and the backgrounds and scenery art is very nice. I won't say much more, it's just a trailer, we'll wait for the final product.

But the the thing I want to talk about is about anime production via Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a popular funding platform for creative stuff (though it's popularly used for game projects). So I was surprised that an anime is using Kickstarter for funds.

Why am I surprised? Well, the Anime industry over there don't really give a damn about overseas market. They really focus on the local market, ESPECIALLY the otakus. Sure, they give licensing and stuff to overseas companies for a Western release, but most of the time, it's just an afterthought (except those HUGELY popular series/titles like Evangelion. The release their movies in a lot of places other than Japan.). In other words, they're not too fond of outsiders So I'm surprised that they're using Kickstarter, a western funding platform, that is mostly funded by people NOT in Japan (I'm not saying Japanese don't visit this sites, I'm just sure a lot of them don't visit western sites)

In other words, in my view of it, these people are, for once, trying to cater to an audience other than the Japanese. I'm not saying they're producing it exclusively for the western audience, but I guess they're opening up to it. Hopefully my guess is right.

Another thing, in the video, the producer, Hiroaki Yura said how the production committee restricts the creativity of the creators. These are probably true. Like everything else, everything boils down to about getting profits. And of course these committee, where most of them are business-minded, only green lights ideas that will promised a decent amount of returns. Hence why the anime industry is overrun with generic anime catered for otakus. I've heard stories of how many writers and mangaka are forced to change their stories as ordered by the higher-ups.


Now with Kickstarter, they can skip all the executive meddling and stay true to their vision! You see, as bad as most anime are now, I still can see some genuine ideas and concepts that is very interesting to see. And unless they are some big named established person in the industry, many won't have the chance to show their ideas to the world. So hopefully, more of them will make good use of Kickstarter to make better quality (animation and story-wise) anime that is funded and approved by a broader audience. And hopefully, anime industry will acknowledge the existence of the evergrowing overseas demography and not just cater to the local audience.

Before I go, I want to congratulate their success on Kickstarter and wish them luck producing Under The Dog.

Here are some related links:Official Site
                                              Kickstarter

So...games as a story-telling medium. Well, everyone likes a good story. And usually most get their dose from movies, television, books and so on and so forth. But rarely from games.

Now now, calm down boy/girl, I'm not saying video games have no story to tell whatsoever, but you some people don't really mind much about the story compared to the game play.

Games we're created for fun and people loved it because it is fun. Fun factor, for me, determines whether the game is good or otherwise. You COULD  have a boring cliche story line, but if the game's mechanic and game play is fun, people would eat it up anyways. What I'm trying to say is, games can sell well even WITHOUT a story line IF the game mechanics and game play is really good and/or FUN!

Plot was nothing to shout about, but the game play was fun!

This game doesn't even have a story line. Just kill the other team!

Ditto

How about the other way around? Good story line with 'meh' level of game play? It depends I guess. The only real pull you got is your good story. Looong walks, talks and cut scenes with a generic stabbing/shooting/exploring in between. People might get bored. The trick is getting the balance between game play and story line.

Don't make it soo plot heavy that it feels like a an "interactive movie" with some game play thrown here and there. Balance game play or story line ( or rather,60 % game play, 40% story line). As the industry have shown, though good stories does make the game really really good, in the end game play is more important.

In an unrelated note; Visual Novels. Like the name suggests, its like a (quite long) picture story book with the option to choos your actions. Plot Heavy Gameplay at it's finest. The only gameplay you get is picking choices that affects your story. The rest is wordswordswords and pictures.

On an interesting not, Half-Life doesn't have cut scenes, only scripted events... sure you do have moments where you stop and have to hear the character talk you you...but then you can rund aqround the room and put a bucket on his his while he talks!

And that's all for now. Goodbye!

It's been a while since I posted. Been busy with my last semester's finals and now doing practical/internship at a design/print shop.

Just a short post bout what I feel about this practical. The place I work at is a printing/design shop...anything from coupons to banners, books to t-shirts. So I've been assigned as a designer. There's two sections; one works at the  counter up front, complete with numbering system and all that (they deal with quick jobs like business cards, posters and various other printing/design requests), the other reports to the marketing department (mostly corporate jobs or jobs that is needed in high quantity).

I am stationed at the marketing section upstairs, quiet and peaceful compared to the bustle of the counter downstairs. The designers under marketing, naturally, have more customers than marketing, so we under marketing mostly work at our own pace. Though sometimes the guys at the counters send some customers to us when they are getting too busy.

So, omitting other details that one might find when they read this, I'm just gonna jump straight to the  point of why I post this; the customers.

My understanding, their understanding.

It seems that I've found a new found interest, paint splash/splatter/blots/whatever you call them. I'm still figuring out how did this interest start...

I was playing around with paint tool SAI and this came out. I guess this was my first time doing the style

I was starting to like the style, so I applied it to my Kill La Kill fan art. As you can see, there isn't much splatter...more like blobs. Well I AM improving~

Anyways, I've been playing with this particular style. I love the messy, grunge like feel it gives, but still have a form and can deliver a message. In a way, this style is the closest thing I might get into abstract art.

Madoka Magica fan art. Ink blots are fine too.

Another application of it in my Madoka fan art.

A cancelled OC of mine. What I like about the style is the eyes. When done right, it makes the eyes looks gorgeous...or scary, depending on what colour you use.

Another application of it, with a Beyond  the Boundary fan art.

Farawe...I'm thinking  of re-doing it.

Ink blots! I love to use this style on eyes!

Haruhi Suzumiya fan art.

Got new headphones...dat bass...

I'm still searching for artist who do practice the style. Yes, I know of Jackson Pollock, but his style is way too deep for me. So if you know anyone that practices splatter style without being too deep into fine-art territory , do tell me.

2deep4me

I prefer doing the paint splatter myself, making them from scratch, imagining how splatter and the flow/drips looks like, random blot, etc. I'm not a fan of just downloading some Photoshop brushes of splatter brush and just using it like that, but sometimes they look too good to pass off.

Z.illustrations and Behance

Anyways, that's all for now, stay tuned for other posts and rants from me.