I like random stuff

If you send me a request, there is a 99% chance that I will not end up drawing it, and it will just be sitting in my inbox forever; most of my requests have been sitting here over a year, and you will ultimately be disappointed

I’m just not into Cookie Run as my main hyperfixation anymore, and sure, sometimes I miss making fankids and say I’d like to make a couple more, but those are usually just whims and never stay for long. The only way that I would hypothetically make fankids as regularly as I used to would be for Cookie Run to be my main fixation again, and I don’t see that happening anytime soon

I just don’t want people to get their hopes up and think I’ll make something when I likely won’t, and if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t particularly enjoy getting asks in my inbox only to see that it’s to do a thing I haven’t done regularly in probably over a year now. So please just don’t send them

Oh and also, even if you see a new fankid I post, don’t automatically assume this means that I will start posting them regularly again and requests are open once more. This is most likely another whim and you will get your hopes up for nothing. Only do so if it’s clear that I am making them regularly again, like if I post multiple new ones over the span of at least a few weeks

Now I want Ages and Seasons to get some sort of remake like Link’s Awakening did. Though I suppose with them being two games, you’d either have to make two new versions or try to combine them into one (and from what I understand, the gameplay is the main difference between the two, so I don’t know how you’d combine the two seamlessly)

Maybe the solution is to make a new version of the game that incorporates elements of both, but also becomes its own story in the process, sort of like Pokemon Emerald or Platinum? I’m not sure

Okay one more random thing, but for whatever reason I really like Queen Nimbus’ design

I don’t know why, I think it’s just that it’s a bit different from the typical design I see for queen characters, particularly with her veil? Or at least Western ones

Though at the same time, I don’t think the people of Nimbus Land are meant to be wear clothing of a typical Western European style. I’m not sure where their outfits come from, but I don’t think it’s there

(I don’t know where to find good pictures but hopefully these will do)

So I suppose it makes sense for Queen Nimbus to dress in a different style than the standard Western queen

Mario for example has his fists/gloves, hammers and Koopa shells, and the standard attack animation and the timing is different for each type. But it also doesn’t go overboard with each weapon having a unique animation you have to memorize, so it’s not like you’ve wasted time learning the animations for the previous weapon either

I mean okay I don’t like it as much when I’m playing, but that’s just because I’m stupid and keep messing up the timing when I get a new weapon. Objectively I think it’s a cool idea and I feel like it’s implemented well with the balance of how many unique weapons you get. And even if you’re like me and suck at the timing initially, you have time to get used to the new attack pattern (plus you get a small indicator signaling when to time your inputs), and it’s not too punishing if you can’t get it down consistently

And then when I was trying to think up more RPG archetypes, I came to the conclusion: “crap those are basically all the classes you need”

Like yeah, there are more archetypes, but they’re either combinations of the previous ones (like Red Mages having both healing and offensive magic), ones that are only significant in particular battle setups (like how an Archer is only a unique addition if there’s a back row in the enemy lines that operates differently from the front row), or rely more heavily on gimmicks (Chemists or other types who rely on Items, Time Mages affecting battle speed, Bards/Dancers who use status moves)

If you’re making an RPG with battle elements at its most basic, the 5 characters in Super Mario RPG are really all you need for your party, and it’s probably one of the reasons why there’s only 5 party members

I think last night this revelation sent me into a bit of a crisis, like “what’s the point of more party members if these are the only ones you need?” But I think with more thought (Star Ocean was what made me think about this actually), I can see that RPGs usually diversify their party members in more subtle ways, like weapon diversity or more specific gimmicks. Party members can have similar functions, so long as they don’t play exactly the same

And can I just say, I like how a lot of things in the Boiling Isles involve more macabre and gorey elements like skulls and bones and I want to say flesh (there’s also fur but that doesn’t tend to have the same associations), but instead of being seen as dangerous and evil they’re symbols of old traditions being allowed to re-emerge as the Isles heal from Belos’ influence

These elements have a positive connotation in the Boiling Isles, likely because their land is made from a Titan’s corpse, but they also have a positive connotation in the story as well, we’re supposed to see the bones and traditional clothing and practices as a good thing

So basically, the idea was that the different graphical styles all technically co-exist, just on different "layers" of reality. In the lore, the world would have started out on its innermost layer, which for Evoland would be the GameBoy graphics, but as time went on the people moved up to higher layers, though some stayed behind in the earlier layers as well

Here's a basic graph I made in MS Paint to explain what's going on more succinctly

(I put PS1/N64 because N64 is more in keeping with the Nintendo theme, but I'm pretty sure PS1 would be the actual next step. Also I used NES and SNES instead of GameBoy because I thought that would get the point across better. There's also probably more layers, this was just a basic example)

Each layer has its own world, and there's likely ways to travel between the layers, but they get more and more empty the further down you go, since less and less people would have stayed behind in those earlier layers

You as the player would have to traverse the different layers for plot reasons, with unique things in each layer to deal with

Technically speaking, Anodyne 2 already kind of did this with its normal world, nano-worlds and pico-worlds, but the concept isn't quite the same as in that game, and the general concept of "graphical styles being on different layers of the world" can be used again, I'm sure

Blackarachnia didn’t have much going on, and maybe this cyber-link could have something to do with why she doesn’t participate much in the conflict? Though then again I think it was because she was a neutral party, and her connections with Sentinel and Toxitron are something that are meant to be secret

Though in addition, my brain’s still thinking about the Mario RPGs and their vibes, so add that into the mix and you got cartoony RPG adventure but also you’re killing gods

So I’ve been drawing more Ralia characters today. Well, technically I started last night when we went out for dinner, but the majority I drew today

We got Marilyn, Marina, Aster and a new character today (though not really since she’s just Marilyn’s mom), and while characters have obtained outfits and Marilyn and Marina have had tiny tweaks to their designs, there’s not too much going on here, I just wanted to draw the characters doing stuff

Also you get to see some of their tails. I don’t know why I drew them but I did, so there you go

So the other day I decided to try drawing/painting cloudberries since they were on my mind, but I haven’t really felt like continuing it since. But I figured I might as well show what I had done, since I don’t think it looks half bad

This was my reference photo, and while I traced a sketch from it, I also moved things around in the process, so it’s not exact

You can also probably tell that I didn’t have a consistent strategy while coloring the berries, I was kind of just learning as I went. That’s probably one of the main things stopping me from continuing, making all the berries look consistent

In Kirby, the characters are generally creatures made of blobs/circles, and while some are more clearly animals, a lot of them are nondescript creatures

In Mario however, most of the characters (not counting the regular enemies) are far more humanoid, and even when they aren’t humans, what they’re based on is generally clear, whether turtles or beans or other things. It also usually means they’re taller than the average Kirby creature

I’d say the Mario enemies are a lot closer to the general designs of Kirby characters, at least in how they’re smaller and more nondescript. But they’re still not quite the same. Kirby enemies are cuter while Mario enemies are a bit more dangerous looking (though still goofy)

I think the best word to describe the Kirby design philosophy is “cute”, but I haven’t quite figured out what the word for the Mario design philosophy is yet. “Goofy” I think is one word, but not all-encompassing

I wanna learn how to replicate the Mario and Luigi series art style, it’s just so good and tasty

The Mario RPGs are such a vibe, and I feel like that particular style in the genre goes underrepresented outside of this series. Instead of humans in a typical fantasy and/or sci-fi world, give me silly, colorful cartoon creatures to cast spells and defeat my enemies

And it’s not like this style bars you from telling compelling stories just because of its cartoony nature, as the Mario and once again Kirby games have proven otherwise