Nana MarfoA student with a passion for game development and all things Japan. Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
|
Back to Blog
NM GameWorks #13: Voices of Ideas21/7/2018 Hey all! We Have A LOT TO COVER today, so let's just dive into it! It seems recently I am able to take ideas from controversial subjects, and turn the negatives into positive. I can see this as a good thing, but I can also this is bad as I can do it with sensitive subjects. But that's besides the point. Anyways the idea came from the divided reaction over the She-Ra redesign. I knew nothing of She-Ra till this, but I find it interesting that women are going off at men (in general) that people that are mad the the design isn't sexy, saying that.. I'll just link to a tweet here(sorry if it's a bit TMI). Anyways, let me get to the point. I thought about 2 options. The first was giving Clare(my female lead from Different Spirits) a lean body bulid, and I have thought about giving Clare muscles(or as Eriquack calls it, making a Character swole), just to highlight the fact she is not weak. Credit to gravitureboxing on DeviantArt for this image. This is just stuff I think would be a good reference for anatomy. Speaking of, I am trying to rewrite Clare, but I have got nothing thus far. I am also writing a blog on the idea behind Different Spirits, but that may be a long way off. The other idea would to have a game with a Character that looks like She-Ra(anatomy wise), but at same time, is very quirky and different to how you would think she would act. A good thing about this is that the story would not have to be SUPER DEEP which is what I feel I am doing with Different Spirits,as that is more a love story based on teen love and whatnot. It just needs to have the message: look at emotions, not just looks. That's all I have on it for now, but let's go into progress on Unity-Chan's Dash! The Big thing is the Character Controller is ready! It is still a bit slippy, but I believe it is better that what we had before. However, to accommodate this, some level design has been adjusted. I am also happy to say that she has a voice! The Amazingly talented Amanda Fredette agreed to help me out on this! Thanks so much for voicing my character!
Besides that, I am working hard on a demo reel which I am calling "Nana's Fighting Street". Hopefully there will be a lot to show soon! That's all for now! I want to wish everyone competing in the Blogger Blitz 2 good luck! But, as we always do on here, thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if your enjoyed it, and take care. Written By Nana Marfo. All content(C) There Respective Owners She-Ra(C)Mattel
0 Comments
read more
Back to Blog
So, now that exams are over, I figured it was time to get back to anime. And why not start with first impression of an ongoing one? Even thought I am a season behind. Rules as always: 1.Spoilers are abounding here folks. If you want to watch it blindly... go watch it. Spoilers are here. 2. Depending on the Anime, this can get NSFW. 3. I am watching the subbed version. So, how does this compare to Season 1? This is my first impressions of My Hero Academia: Season 2 We begin with a recap of cap of the previous season(despite hero notebook being a entire recap episode) and Deku remind us that this is the story of he became the greatest hero. The opening had to grow on me a bit, but I can say Peace Sign is a really good song, but I prefer the madness that was the first opening. There is some of that here over-the-top flare here, but the visuals are really downplayed for the most part. A bit of shame really, but it's still a good opening just not as good as the first one. The city and UA in general is still recovering from the attack. However, All Might has written a letter to a his old teacher basically summing up his events from the 1st season, and saying the day may come that he may need his help. While the school was closed for a bit to allow it to recover, things are quickly back to normal, including an re-coupurating Erazerhead. Before this, the teachers have a meeting on these event and the League of Villans, and I find it interesting that All Might sees Tomura as a "Man-Chlid", which makes sense as he does not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. But back to the sport festival. This is an even bigger event that the Olmpics now that over 80 percent of the population has a quirk, and there is a lot of pressure to do, and Uraraka can see that. Anyway, we learn Uraraka's motivation to be a hero, which is to get money to help her a parents. I like this, as it gives a deep motivation,but at the same that is more down to earth that Iida or Deku. However, Deku has bigger fish to fry, as All Might comes to terms with the fact that he is running out of time as the Symbol of Peace, and this is this means Deku has to prep himself, as he needs to show that he can become the new Symbol of Peace. Talk about pressure, GOD DAMN! The ending has really good visuals, but And So,we Aren't Alone Anymore does not fit the show for me. It feels like something created for a high school anime, which I know this is rooted in, but because the hero focus, it makes this sort of ending theme feel off. Overall, I did really like this episode, but I feel it is more of a contiuation than a new Season opener. I do still really think this going to be better than Season 1. Also, Hero Notebook is Skippable, but good if you want a deeper look on things from Deku's Perspective. Anyways, that's it for now! Thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if you enjoyed and take care.
Written By Nana Marfo My Hero Academia(C)Funimation/Toho Animation
Back to Blog
Hey all! I wanted to another deep dive into a topic, and one that I kept seeing around, but I know this one is dancing on firecrackers. Either way, let's get into it. Just as quick not, I will be using Final Fantasy XIII and the Kingdom Hearts games as examples to prove my points, and I do have some bias towards these games. Now with the self promo out of the way, what happened that promoted this? Scarlet Johansson, some I know for playing Black Widow in the Avengers and Major in a film I still need to see, Ghost in the Shell, was announced to be play a transgender man. Now, I don't not want to turn this into LGBT people need to play LGBT people. I am not a person to put movement into my artform and never will be. But hear my argument out: can't we relate to these characters emotionally, instead of looking at them from face value or gender? What I mean by this if we look at a character, and take what they look like away from them, do we have similar thought. Do we feel the same feelings towards something or someone? I know this is flawed, but to be honest that is what I did for most of my childhood. I have 2 examples to give here, one from me and one from a friend: How I emotionally relate to Ventus from Kingdom Hearts As you can see, this kid looks nothing like me. However, his stories in Birth By Sleep really hit me in the feelings. He really want to make some new friends and has a lot of issues trusting his current friends. I am bit anti-social myself, and do tend to get anxious(which does prevent me from making friends), but like Ventus, I really do want to make some friends. I am slowing getting better , but Ven here has helped me find someone to relate to. Also, is it weird I tend to relate more to video game characters than real people? I don't know, and frankly, I don't care at this point. I am too deep in the video game rabbit hole. How LightningEllen relates to Lightning Ellen was another motivator for me to write this. In her article for AmbiGaming, she writes: I grew alongside Lightning’s character as she grew throughout the FFXIII trilogy. It’s a special experience I’d never thought a video game series could give me. In a way, Lightning Farron turned into the overprotective big sister I’ve always wanted. Sure, I know she’s not real, but she is an inspiring force who has helped me become someone greater. Now whenever I feel stressed, depressed, hopeless, worthless, and helpless, I just have to look at the pink-haired warrior goddess, and I suddenly find the strength to keep fighting for a better future, no matter how bad things get. Read the full article for more context, but I can see Ellen that has a very deep connection with Lightning. I can also imagine her as my big sister.... but wait till the Final Fantasy XIII review(Hopefully soon). I want to my characters in Different Spirits (Partially Ethan and Clare) in this way so people can connect to these characters in the same way I do.
Anyways, that's it for now! Before I go, I do want to stress that I do have a donation page, and I use everything for this website. If you enjoy this content, want a free wallpaper, or just want to help out, please donate via Buy Me A Coffee. Thanks for reading, have great day, share if you enjoyed it, and take care. Written by Nana Marfo Extract taken from The Importance of Imaginary Role Models written by LightningEllen for AmbiGaming Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts(C)Square Enix
Back to Blog
Disclamer,: I have signed an NDA with the company FailBetter Games, therefore I will NOT be talking anything to do with Sunless Skies. This is purely to do with what I did at the company. For all of you that don't know, FailBetter Games are a studio based in London, who have created the games Fallen London and Sunless Sea. They are currently working on Sunless Skies, but probably due to copyright and NDA reasons, I was told to make my own game TO SHOW OFF IN FRONT OF THE TEAM. OK, now I'm somewhat scared and happy! I used the week to learn a lot about the studio. The company is very much focused on telling stories using games. The vibe is very chilled, and this means that they are able to focused on art of making games. I asked around on what everyone does from marketing, to narrative designers to programmers. I really enjoyed this experience, I just wish more companies would do it. Anyways, back to what I did. I had a lot of time on my own to make a game, and I think it came out well. The game is a 2.5D platform where you can run and jump. I wanted to add a slide mechanic but it failed. The control is JANK, because I used 2 different scripts for animation and movement. However, for a game made in a week, and my second game completed,this was not half bad. The company I made everything besides the textures, the models, the animations and the font. It was a great experience, and if you want to play the game, you can... now! I do plan to add more levels and fix the JANK controls(Just stating that so I don't a million complaints about how crappy the controls are), so please look forward to it! The Level right now should not take you more than 3-5 mins to complete. Also, I have as pay what you want, but you don't need to, and personally, till the game gets more updates, I don't think you should, I just could really use the money. Anyways, that's it for now! Thanks again to the people a FailBetter Games for a great week! And to all of you, thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if it's not to much trouble for you and take care.
Written By Nana Marfo Unity-Chan(C)Unity Technology Japan
Back to Blog
Hey all! Gaming Diaries came up with a good question of the month: It is coming into wedding season, if the shops and people I know are anything to go by. So in that spirit, you and a plus-one are attending the gaming wedding of the year. Which video game character do you take to the wedding and which character gives you advice on what to wear? I can tell LightningEllen is rubbing off on me because the answer to the second part of the question is Lightning Farron from Final Fantasy XIII. Thought there is some reasoning to it, and that is Lightning Returns. She wore a lot of costumes in Lightning Returns (Ignoring the ones that blatantly fan-service), so I think she would work out great here in picking what to wear! As for who I would take... hmmm... Sora! This would be just to get him to realise some feelings... Anyways, that's it for now! Thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if you enjoyed it and take care.
Written by Nana Marfo Question of the month by TheGamingDiaries (She did a really good piece on Media VS Gaming) Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy(C) Square Enix
Back to Blog
So, this was annocenced at E3 and has released as 100% FREE game. But is it worth your time? Rules: 1.Spoilers are abounding, and depending on the game, can spoil the experience. This one in particular is very story heavy, so be warned going into the review. 2. I will not put aside any bias, but will try to be fair for games I do not like. This is my personal opinion. If you want to send your opinion, please do so in the comments below. 3.I am covering the PC version. Been a while since my last review, huh? This is my review of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. Story We begin with a 10-year-old boy named Chris Eriksen, who loves to tell stories about him being Captain Spirit, in his room on a Saturday Morning.. He lives with his Dad named Charles, who likes to drink, even in front of his kid. He also seems to very violent with Chris, as we see a bruise on Chris arm, something that his dad may have given to him. From the go, you can tell that the loss of Chris's mother has shaken Chris's dad, meaning that he's now a drunken alcoholic. However, I still get the feeling that he cares. From here, Chris is told to wake up his Dad when he has finished watching the game, so they can go shopping for a Christmas Tree. After you wake up Dad, you speak to a women named Clare Roberson, and afterward in a gut punching confrontation with the dad, you learn that Chris's mother died in a Car Crash. Yep, that it. The story is a bit disappointing this time round, but it makes sense. This is a demo, and they want to give you more of a taster of the world is like. The world revolved are Chris and what he chooses to do, but if you are rushing through the game, you may find it is a bit minimal for a game like this, so I while liked it, it also felt a less enjoyable than Life is Strange Ep.1. Gameplay As with Life is Strange Ep.1, the game is mostly choice based. You can walk around your house but unlike Life is Strange, the game is more open world. All of the tasks in this game are optional, and while this works, this is alienating for player who are playing this game and have played Life is Strange 1. I can't speak for Before the Storm, I haven't played Before the Storm. Still, I like the choice. You feel like a kid on a Saturday Morning. The big change between Life is Strange 1 and Captain Spirit is the superhero actions. Instead of being able to rewind time, with a press of a button Chris can do superhero actions. In my opinion, this really sells the fact that we are a 10-year-old. Using the power of IMAGINATION is always cool, and I can't wait to see what they will do with it in Life is Strange 2. Looks, Sound and Final Thoughts The game looks great! The graphics seem slightly touched up from look of the first game. I am also really happy to say the facial animations are much better than the first game, but I feel they still need some work. One thing, I can never fault Dontnod for though, is their music choices. Death with Dignity is a perfect fit for this sort of game. Overall, I can say I enjoyed this game. While the story may not be there, the new gameplay features and music were enough to draw me into the game. If you are an fan of Life is Strange, or plan to get Life is Strange 2, get this, it is 100% FREE! However, I will say don't get if your a newcomer to the franchise. Play the original first. Either Way, thanks for reading, have a great day/night, share if you enjoyed and take care!
Written By Nana Marfo The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit/Life Is Strange (C) Square Enix/Dontnod Entertainment |