Zhu Dragons

Forgot to post this.  Will eventually rewrite all their info but here are new images.

An adviser reborn

Long ago I said I may revamp the character in this image.

Well I went ahead and did that, only instead of revamping her I completely destroyed her and built something new.  Rani is actually the result of something similar.

There ya go, Kan Zha Ti.  The primary adviser of the empress and head tactician

Xiao Quan base poses

Some of the base poses of Xiao Quan in the actual visual novel

Qi-Koto

Qi-koto, one of the primary forms of ranged weaponry within Zhu. Fires magic projectiles or pure weaponized chi in older models. 

Ghost Image

Just showing the ghost girl from the last post in how she actually looks instead of a sketch. Expect some other little things like that in future demos, of minor characters and things to interact with to help give life to the palace.

Empress Formal

And the finished pic of the formal/ceremonial Empress.

It will have it's own sprites for certain moments within the VN, and will be one of a few variants the character will have throughout the story.

Art by http://www.startwo.net/index.html

As always visit http://www.bookofzhu.com/

Rani Formal

And The finished version of Formal Rani. This will be the design used for scenes at special events and ceremonies during the Visual Novel.  For a split second you may see her wear it properly but she will always be unhappy about being told to look and act like a more proper lady of her position.  

Rani formal Design idea

Normally I explain the idea behind it. But this time I'll let the amazingly talented StarTwo explain.


"We wanted to give her an outfit that somehow showed that she was connected to Princess Aya by details on the outfit (the motif on her sleeve and her headpiece as well as the little pendants on her outfit-except in Rani they are silver opposed to the original golden) and with some of the colours, although we tried to keep Rani's in darker tones than Princess Aya. 

To make Rani true to herself, we made her undress her right outer jacket sleeve and tuck it on her belt, she's wearing her own pants underneath the formal outfit (the outfit should be worn without pants, like Princess Aya's), she is wearing the feather accessory from her everyday outfit and her hair is supposed to be all tucked in on her headpiece, but we imagined Rani decided otherwise and just let's the hair spike up, doing only half of the demanded hairdo by the rules."

Aya Formal Design

Art by Startwo

While obviously characters won't be realistic and change clothes every day for the same reason that other cartoons and games don't do it.  But I did want to have a few different outfits for the different situations, and this above is Aya for serious formal occasions and ceremonies. Her normal outfit isn't super casual or anything, but I wanted something more fancy for her actual princess duties.  Star Two based the design off of her normal look, giving a more formal and lady like spin to create the princess garb.

NVL Screenshot

Just a screenshot of how the cgs are used.  The image in both was made by http://kopianget.deviantart.com/ for the Visual Novel

Placement Screen shot

Just a screenshot of two characters.  Was messing with placement for scenes like this. Decided to post this just because haven’t shown anyone on this background.

library spirits preview

A first look/preview of the spirits that work in the Palace library and at various other mystic locations within the palace area for the game.  

Rani default pose

Just a look at Rani's default pose/final design for the Visual Novel itself.

Aya pic 2

 

A different pic of Princess Aya by Henry in a different art style, mostly relevant due to showing more of the outfit as well as her blades.  Shows a nice amount of detail even if it isn't our preferred style.  I'll eventually right something about the swords specifically and post some weapon specific views.

Old Empress and adviser pic

Art by Henry

An old pic of Empress Li Ling and her Adviser, one of the first pics  http://mahenbu.deviantart.com/ did for me, back before the project was really a thing.  The adviser in the pic named Kreia will likely get a minor redesign or at least a touch up for the game.

Kanak Sujah

Art by Henry

Kanak Sujah was a hunter in a small village on an isolated island, when a pirate attack destroyed his home he expected to die as well but fate had a different path in store for him.  An ancient phoenix spirit bonded to him in his final moments, restoring his body and granting him powers and martial arts skills beyond that of any mortal.  Wielding the cosmic flames themselves he erased the pirates from the world before leaving his ruined home, to travel the world and beyond.  Through the spirit he had gained knowledge of ancient fighting styles long forgotten from the world, and his body was reborn with every death stronger then before.  For decades he used his powers to spread peace, and grant the helpless the power to protect themselves and their homes.  As time went on though he often found peace rarely lasted more then a generation and those he helped often turned into the wicked themselves as years passed.  At first he didn't falter but with each of his deaths the doubt and anger grew within his new body, until after 100 years it consumed him.  He decided people didn't deserve the knowledge of war and combat, and together with a band of disillusioned heroes they decided they would remove the capability from the world by any means necessary.

Aya Li Qiao

Art by Henry

Princess Aya Li Qiao is the eldest daughter of Empress Li Ling Qiao and the heir to the Imperial throne.  Born for the sole purpose of one day replacing her mother, instead of a child out of love she has struggled with understanding her place from a young age. Her mother is very strict and constantly pushes for Aya to be better in everywhere and was never really there emotionally. Such a way of raising resulted in a young girl who always felt the only way to earn her mothers love to constantly prove herself. So she strives to learn and understand the political intricacies as well as mastering the family martial arts.  She has very little friends outside of her family and palace staff, any outside social interaction almost always being for the sole purpose of learning how to deal with people as a princess and sitting in on meetings regarding law or trade.  Most of her free-time is spent training instead of hanging out with others leading to a more introverted princess who rarely has the patience to really deal with those outside her circle and struggles to define herself beyond the fact that she is the daughter of a loved and feared Empress.