It's Alive!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1070798205/book-of-zhu-legacy 

Promo Video

An early look at a promo video for a crowdfunding attempt.

Update

Just an update on things. Slow going currently due to various issues on both end and the side of some artists, but still plan to have a new playable demo soon, though possibly on a different character then was planned.

Also will be some more info on characters within the next week or so. and I'm working on a comic project here is a very rough sketch as evidence.

Website

I went ahead and made a website with some details on the Visual Novel and such as well as some of the artwork.

Visit it Bookofzhu.com

Cutscene Test 2

 

A cutscene test. Music is random and not actually in it.  No sound effects yet this was just a new version of a test featuring some assets for an actual comic style cutscene within my stuff.  

VN Menu update

Adjustment to the Menu UI. Still a draft version but I changed the color of the boxes and made it so when you mouse over when it changes more noticeably.  Obviously further adjustments will be done, just every now and then I go back and update the working version of them.

VN Menu 2

New design

The colored lights change color when the mouse is over them

VN Menu

After messing with different looks and coding for a while, thinking this for sort of base UI for my Visual Novel

 In release it would be made to be prettier and stuff but I mean in placement and categories and stuff this would be the base.

Return would depending on the context either send you back to where you choose where to go or progress with a cutscene.

Old Royal pic

An Old image I found on my computer of the Empress and her daughter Aya Li Qiao. It's outdated as aya was redesigned but I still like it.

Lines by http://eclectic-lights.blogspot.com/

Visual Novel test

So decided to push forward with the visual novel idea to sort of set up the lore and the setting, while taking a break from the much more time consuming game project.  Just a martial arts themed tale focusing on the later generation of the Imperial family, showing what the world is like in current times.

A screen shot from a test of mine on the look.

Hwang Ce Concept

Sketch by Henry

Hwang Ce is a rather important character in my world, who I've toyed with for awhile but only recently really managed to turn him into a real character.  Initially he had appeared in an early story of mine in the shadow form, spewing cryptic messages around certain events and encouraging certain actions. I don't fully remember where I was going with him back then, but I think he was going to be one of the later villains or something who had been at a sort of war with the priestesses.   After I began to flesh things out more and shifted the focus on the stories, I begin to think about the various figures that would result of magic.  In the current incarnation Hwang Ce represents one of those Issac newton type figures, a genius who changed the way things are thought of.  He's used as a character to show off high level magic and information as well as explore the different schools of thought and ways of approaching large scale conflict within the universe.  I regard him as neither a hero or villain (though I'd put him more on the anti hero side if I had to), just a scientist who will do what he has to, in order to preserve the beauty of the cosmos and unlock its many secrets.

Hirara concept

Sketch by Henry

The idea for Hirara spent a long time being bounced around in my head.  Pretty since I decided to do a tale focusing on Xing Yi it was decided that it had to be some sorts of martial arts journey, even before then I know I had to go back to that theme with her.  And any such journey needs to have a master of sorts who teaches the fighting style and contributes to the character growth. The initial idea had a standard master, just some old character who teaches their fighting style to Xing Yi.  The archetype works and as long as the design and character were strong they'd serve the purpose so it was left as for a while.   As I began to flesh things out more I settled on her being a woman and having her look more like a mother over a grandmother to Xing Yi when it came to appearance.  With the change in look I decided to make Hirara more of a primary fighter and Xing Yi fall into a sidekick or partner role over Hirara simply being her Master.  The idea behind that was so that Xing Yi could grow and develop her own journey while taking part in her master's.  

I started think about how in some stories a big part of the training of swordsmen is to forge their blade, uniquely to their ability and soul.  It inspired me to do something like it with her, only for martial arts in general. Instead of Hirara teaching her student a specific style, she would help build a foundation and philosophy within the girl and help branch it into it's own unique fighting style.  Besides liking the idea, the choice gave me much more room in what to do with both characters since they no longer had to match up. Eventually resulting in me making Hirara a more mysterious legendary figure who just appears place without any known story of where she came from.  This is furthered by her clothing style being very different from the royal fighter look of Xing Yi or even the random Zhu garb, to hopefully give the feeling of a woman not bound by that specific land.  

Xing Yi Concept

Image by Sara and Gi. You can commission them here http://stkstarbullet.deviantart.com/

The character Xing Yi is one of the central characters of the first timeline, and supporting character in the 2nd timeline.  She came about when I was trying to flesh out the empress more and decided to try and create some other family members.  I needed someone who could give context to Li Hua's rule, someone that the Empress would always be compared to no matter what she did.  So I came up with Xing Yi Qiao, Li Hua's grandmother and the most honored empress of the modern age.  

The sketch above is actually her as a princess still, which is what the game I'm working on will feature.  The lead up to her becoming Empress which will serve as some what of a parallel to what happened to Li Hua and how they two are almost variations of the same person/idea. Not really too much to say beyond that of the idea behind her, except that with her as a character I wanted something to bring a greater sense of power than Li Hua does.  By the time Li Hua's reign comes around Xing Yi as a person fully represents the might of Zhu tradition and as such is the greatest obstacle to overcome in actually bringing about a new era.

Project Eras

Figured I should explain the timeline talk mentioned in the Li Ling profile.  Essentially the Zhu project (which really needs a title. So if anyone has a name idea, give it to me), is actually several different works that take place in one of two different generations of the Zhu Empire.  These two timelines of events focus on different characters and situations but are both linked and together weave the narrative of the setting. 

The first time line focuses on the era of Princess Xing Yi Qiao up until she becomes Empress herself. (she will get a post about her soon) So everything taking place during the time she was growing up and up until the first few years of her rule is the first timeline.  

The second is during that period of time around Li Ling who is the granddaughter of Xing Yi (the age's aren't as far apart as you may think, due most Zhu being teen mothers.). This is the more extensive timeline, covering a broader range of time as well as location but much of the backdrop needs the first to truly be understood.  Going forward each thing I write here will have something saying which timeline it's for/from. 

The Evolution of Zhu (Concept)

When I first came up with the setting that Empress Li Hua lived in, it was more or less just a means to an end.  It was little more than "here's a place where they do martial arts" but soon after I decided to really look at it and began to take inspiration from things like Jade empire and kung fu flicks to slowly but surely add on to it.  It was a large island on some world that was vaguely described, but really outside of the fact that it had the standard martial arts mystic power going on it was basically just another china stand in.  That didn't really change until I started to change the Empress herself, feeling no need to even hold on to former limitations.

The Zhu people became their own distinct species, with various races of their own as well as a fleshed out origin and explanation for their similarity to humanity.  The island of Zhu Shang Qiao ceased to be their whole nation and was changed to be merely the capitol kingdom of a much larger Empire.  That Empire itself fitting into my new way of handling things as it went from a straight fantasy setting into what I'd consider an even mix of fantasy and science fiction.  Zhu retained their mostly magical roots but now they were part of a larger universe filled with races and groups of all tech magic levels.  As time went on it progressed more and more into it's current state the people and Empire they live in no longer being just a place to have martial arts fights and a unique world all their own with those inspirations and the concept of chi merely a fundamental building block instead of the entire thing.

Empress Concept

This particular image was drawn by Henry, you should all give him your money http://mahenbu.deviantart.com/

While she wasn't the first character made for the universe, her creation is the one that sparked the project in it's current form and pushed me back into world-building and is generally what most people are familiar with. The idea for her started in a role play, one taking place in the marvel universe actually.  I had made a martial arts based character and wanted a canon to tie her into, eventually leading me to Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, a newer character who really wasn't explored much at the time.  When it came to time to write on and use her, I had to make up  most things given the limited info eventually it began to drift so far away I just decided to make a whole new character.  I keep part of the name, Making it Li Ling Qiao (the marvel character is Li Hua)

From there I began the basis of what became the current project on the Zhu setting, giving it a name and beginning to map out the sort of society that would create her.  Both it and her went through several early drafts but I settled on the design you see above for her, her story and personality being based on my take on the moral grayness of a traditional military leader and the disconnect that it causes between her home country and those around it.  There is a lot of focus on her in various projects, mostly going forward she'll be referred to as The Empress though sometimes it'll be by her name or Zhu Princess in some stories. My next entry will likely be some in universe background on her.

What is this?

So basically my fans (all 3 of them) wanted a place where they could have easy access to my updates and info while I work on things. So on the off chance that some people I don't know stumble across this blog I guess I'll do a brief explanation.

I'm Lekkuen and I've dabbled in various things for a while, some of which is scattered around the internet.  Right now I have been developing a setting for me and others to use in various projects, a universe that is what I'd call an even mix between sci fi and fantasy.  Most of the attention is being focused on one specific area of the setting as that is where my current projects will take place in, but every now and then I'll provide info on other areas and aspects.  One thing about the setting though is it's made to be pretty open and I would love if others made things within it, something that has my full support as long as it's not completely changing established aspects.