The Crystafam Gem & Gold rundown!!
First: Why? Well, I thought it would be funny to try and design pokemon that the FR dragons would design, based on creatures that live in their world, and then all the rest happened! My partner in crime @deer-rising contributed so much to this ridiculous project, creating the in-game pixel screenshots as well as the logos, which we'll get into later. Special thanks also to Arkeyr79 on Flight Rising, who created the Flight Rising Runes font that I used extensively in the magazine spread and on which Sourdeer based the logos and custom textwork. Doing all the layout and beating up the quality a bit to make it look like a magazine scan was a lot of fun. We were going for an overall Gen IV vibe because imo Gen IV and V were the golden era of fake pokemon leaks.
Crystafam Gem & Crystafam Gold
The game logos, designed and flawlessly rendered by @deer-rising. We went with "Crystafam" as the name of the game because this is a game made by Arcane flight featuring Arcane crystal capturing technology. The text in the first box of the magazine spread says... well the first line is just nonsense letters that look like they say "bitch cheddar". Um, because that's traditional. But then it says, "Welcome to the Umbra Region! Set out on your new Crystafam journey! Exclusively on the Stormlight Spark." (The Stormlight Spark is the name of the console it's on, which is Lightning tech, and a shoutout to the FR studio.)
Gem and Gold Protagonists: Fae and Mirror
Whereas Pokemon uses a lot of red, Crystafam skews more pink and magenta. Because Arcane! It also uses capture crystals instead of pokeballs. My choice to make the protagonists a Fae and a Mirror was pretty arbitrary, but Sourdeer's idea to base their colors off the dragons in the FR header banner was inspired lol. It immediately makes them recognizable, I think.
Moofio, Dilloom, and Mamertyke
The starters! Based on these guys:
They are Fire type, Nature/Plague type, and Water type (of course the types are the flight elements, not normal Pokemon types.) Mamertyke's name was originally Mammerteeny but we wanted it to be 9 characters so it got the Feraligatr treatment and got cut down to fit. I think that Moofio would evolve into a Fire/Earth type, and Mamertyke would probably be Water/Ice. If they didn't just stay pure Fire and Water.
In-Game Battle Screenshots and Vampuff
These are so incredible and they are made by Sourdeer. Look at the special crystal UI! She made a bespoke pixel version of the runes font! Custom type symbols. The sprites!!! Just outstanding work.
This bird is Vampuff, based on the Ragepuff familiars, and it is the regional bird (Shadow/Wind type). Unfortunately it was left on the cutting room floor because we wanted the screenshots to feature the starters. But it even has an animation!!!! Sourdeer is the best.
Professor Wispwillow and Rosmack
This is Professor Wispwillow, the professor who gives you your first Crystafam! Her partner is a Rosmack, the regional rodent Crystafam based on a Rodaque. I think it is Shadow/Water type and when it evolves it would dual wield bones to do the full jolly roger.
Finally we have a couple hints at the plot of Gem and Gold. The Crystafam are being infected by a dangerous Shade incursion! This is Nogdon, a pseudolegendary Crystafam, and it has been completely Shadebound!! You have to catch it or KO it to save it! The Shade also seems to be able to infect capture crystals, uh oh... Nogdon is of course based on Xhaztol a Noggle:
That's pretty much it I think! Oh, also the vertical text on the left says "You have to get them." The slogan of the series. Get them. You have to.
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