En Memoriam Fragrance - LaDS 'Valko'
Hello, Deepspace Hunters! I hope you're all doing well in the oncoming heat of summer. I was going to release this in the coming week, with greater gravitas and a specially designed post completely customised to Valko's aesthetic on the date of his release, but I feel like following the information that has been revealed to us today it would perhaps be best to post it now. I'm sorry if this is how you're finding out about this, but Infold have released a statement which - at the point of this post being made - states that Valko will not be released, nor developed any further for 'Love and Deepspace'. I'm thoroughly surprised by this. As someone who remains perpetually behind-the-times, I only learned of Valko's release three days ago. He seemed like a new development and expansion of the potential of LaDS's lore and worldbuilding, and as a big werewolf fan I was excited to see his design and characterisation. His voice seemed soothing, his story like it perhaps would have both comforting and dramatic, high-stakes tones, and I find myself disappointed in Infold for their decision. I'm a game development-artist for my full-time job, doing my Etsy shop as more of a passion project at the moment, driven by my absolute love for engaging in discussion about perfuming, different fandoms, highly creative worlds, and all sorts of different characters. Every game development company works differently, but from what experience I have thus far I can say confidently that not only is this a huge disappointment to so many fans of 'Love and Deepspace' who had been anticipating Valko's arrival, especially since his trailer release, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also a kick in the face to so many of the developers who worked on Valko. The writers who'd put their time into a backstory and personality we may never know the extent of, the concept artists who had to iterate their hearts out to reach his cyber-sigilism inspired design, the VFX artists who made each of his companion-variants' particle effects, the character modellers who sculpted him to match the artwork, the groom artists who had to hand-place each weft of his hair and brush each strand into place for each card, the technical and motion animators who had to refine his motion capture made by defined actors along with creating his original battle animations, the designers and programmers who had to put together his cards and ensure they all ran smoothly... If Infold is to be believed, Valko has been worked on for years, by now. The decision has been made, so I'm sure nothing else can be done unless they decide to rescind their decision, but it feels as though the odds of that are low. I saw people preempting his release and already making fanart, already writing engaging fan fiction and theorising about what he and his story might be like. So, I know others will be disappointed, just like I am. So, for a time at least, I'm keeping my Valko fragrance up on my Etsy shop. If any of you want to celebrate and mourn what could have been, feel free to drop by. I wish you all the best. Stay safe out there, Hunters.
