Monday, December 14, 2015

RKS Developer Diary #7 - Cover That Cover!

Rosenkreuzstilette Schwesternschaft
Official Cover Art (Draft)
Hello, everyone!

Two months have passed since [erka:es]'s resident illustrator WOMI uploaded to his blog a sneak peek at the collaboration he's been working on with us for the past while.  Well, after many revisions and plenty of back-and-forth between WOMI and our crew, our collaboration has finally borne fruit.  I'm extremely pleased to unveil the official cover art for Rosenkreuzstilette Schwesternschaft!

As you can see, Schwesternschaft's cover pays homage to the original covers of both the original Rosenkreuzstilette and its sequel, Rosenkreuzstilette Freudenstachel.  The art was completely redrawn from scratch in a slightly different style than the originals, reflecting the evolution in WOMI's skill as an artist.  WOMI experimented quite a bit with different compositions and logo designs.  Ultimately, we decided on a composition and logo that embraced Rosenkreuzstilette's own history in the same way that the series has embraced gaming's storied past.  Every iteration added something to the composition that wasn't present in the previous one, and the results... well, they speak for themselves.

Scrapped Schwesternschaft
Logo Design
I have to admit, providing feedback to someone who is all at once your client, your benefactor, and your idol is all kinds of nerve-wracking.  You want to make sure that what they create is the best that it can be, but at the same time you don't want to offend them when you genuinely feel that they're capable of doing better.  Thankfully, WOMI has proven himself to be quite receptive to criticism, and responded to our suggestions and mockups in stride.  Suffice to say, I'm quite proud of what we've managed to come up with together.  お疲れ様です、ヲミWOMI先生!そして、有難うございます!

Rosenkreuzstilette &
RKS Freudenstachel's
Original Cover Art
I should note that the above cover art is not 100% final.  It's still rough around the edges (quite literally, in this case, if you take a really close look at it), but it's polished to the degree that I have no qualms sharing it with you all in its current state.  What do you think?

The way things are currently going, I think it's safe to say that the original Rosenkreuzstilette will have a Summer 2016 release date.  There's always the possibility of unexpected snags, but I think this is a reasonable timeframe in which we'll have everything ready.  If anything comes up that might delay the release, you can be sure that I'll let you know about it on this blog as soon as possible.  And, of course, we'll fill you in on the plans for Freudenstachel and Schwesternschaft once we've gotten all the details ironed out.  So, stay tuned!

Next time, we'll take a closer look at that new feature I implemented.  So many nods that we couldn't retain in our fan translation...!

See you later!

21 comments:

  1. That is one outstanding cover, TDOMMX! WOMI did an incredible job drawing all the characters. Instant fave.

    Also, interesting backstory of how the boxart design was selected.

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  2. Heheheh. Thanks.

    Did you notice that a certain someone is playing peek-a-boo?

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  3. Anytime!
    Hmm...
    Zeppy? :3

    I'm tempted to say on the bottom right the way Pamela is holding the Weißsilber; to me it looks like Pulseman.

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  4. 本当にお疲れ様、英語のチームとヲミ先生です。リリースデートがゆっくりしてください、未来の最終製品は素晴らしいなります。みなさんがんばてください!
    そして、ぜっぴくんのは、すごくかわいいすよ~w

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  5. I know that that cover is a draft, but it sure looks amazing. And Zeppy looks cute when he's popping up from behind Pam (short for Pamela, of course) there.

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  6. I take it that Spring 2016 is within the March-June 2016 timeframe.
    I'm aware that the original Rosenkreuzstillette's OST was basically a compilation of random free music from around the web, but do you think it could be possible to compile them as an album OST?

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    1. Sorry, but an official Rosenkreuzstilette soundtrack unfortunately isn't possible at the moment. I've gone into detail about why we can't do it here. The short version: we'd need explicit permission from every single artist that contributed to the game's soundtrack, and WOMI has been unable to reach a good chunk of them for ages. Without explicit permission to redistribute their work, we'd be leaving ourselves open to a future lawsuit -- something we literally cannot afford. We'd also need versions of the tracks that meet redbook audio standards; the in-game versions do not meet the minimum requirements for audio-CD mastering...

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  7. This +1000 ...OST much wanted! Spiritia/Grolla posters, Womi artbooks, doujinshi, OST's, figmas, nendos, 1920 new artwork wallpapers, Zepy-flavoured Pepsi, the whole works. Go beat crazy on this release guys! God knows we're all willing to schill out primo bucks for this long awaited masterpiece. Did I already mention Womi artbook? =D

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    1. >Zepy-flavoured Pepsi
      I dunno how I should react to this.

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    2. >Tia Plushie!
      ...and Schwer plushie too!! >:3

      >Zeppy-flavoured Pepsi reaction
      It can either be original erka:es-blog green, or hissatsukun-pic oily black... oh yeah, you know which pic! ;D

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    3. My top two recommendations for Tia plushie design would be these:
      http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BNZZ80/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1450708409&sr=1&keywords=fate+plush

      http://prettycure.wikia.com/wiki/Fluffy_Cure_Friends

      The Nendoroid one is rather high quality and I like how the hair bends and stuff. But the Fluffy Cure Friends have a more realistic head size and I'm not a huge fan of huge heads. Of course, I have no idea how feasible it would be to make Tia in either of those styles. but those are my hopes. And more characters than just Tia are of course welcome too. ♥

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    4. I think Gift did that Freudia plushie, some let'splayers were giving away a couple of years ago... Gift is the defacto Touhuo plushie makers, if I recall correctly, and they've done Freu~ so the rest of the cast would be highly welcome. Just an idead though~ =D

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    5. Are you saying there is an OFFICIAL Freudia plush?
      The only one I've ever seen is this one of a kind one that is fan made: http://hao-007.deviantart.com/art/Freudia-Neuwahl-Plushie-375765813
      So an official RKS plush already exists? Is that right?!
      I MUST HAVE! ♥

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    6. Oh wait, take note of what that deviant's description says. I don't think the Freudia you speak of was made by gift. Unless that person is actually one of gift's makers or something. ♥

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    7. Oops, yeah my bad, I was talking about the plushie featured in this video:
      http://youtube.com/watch?v=qqymUci9Cc8
      As you mentioned, it's a fan-made plushie... Gift really needs to make a whole set though! =D
      That and a little Spiritia hair-brooch cross, plus a Grolla cross-tiara for cosplayers, and...
      Man at Arms needs to make a Grollschwert replica just for kicks too~ XD

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    8. I... support all those ideas. ♥

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  8. By the way, when the original Rosenkreuzstilette is released sometime during Spring 2016, what age rating would you give it? Pretty much every game has gotten its own age rating since they started giving such ratings to certain games sometime during the 1990's.

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    1. I'd probably give it a "T" rating (13+). The revised English script has some pretty heavy themes as well as some mild swearing, and the graphics feature a notable amount of blood and violence (both in the graphics and in the enemy animations). The language in the script is a little milder than it was in the fan translation, but Tia and Grolla both swear in the original -- it wouldn't be right to remove that from the translation.

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  9. Personally, I think the cover's a little crowded and would look better if the fairies were removed. That said, I'm really hyped for this.

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    1. You and Xander (our new editor) think alike. I kinda agree, but I see what WOMI was going for by having the fairies front-and-center. I'm personally fine with either approach. WOMI said that he'd like to have final say on the cover art, so the decision of whether to include or remove them is his alone.

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