First Eurasia character designs!

This one for the protagonist, Jivaka, is only preliminary, but they are on the verge of being finalized. :) Thanks go to Keiichi Iwakura for his amazing game designs.

An article about The History Boys

I have a whole slew of favourite fictional characters. One is that has stuck with me for quite some time is Donald Scripps from The History Boys, a British play (and later movie) by Alan Bennett. I think he's a wry, savagely sharp, yet coolly compassionate and observant member of the cast who prefers to counsel rather than judge, and to poke fun at the serious sides of life.

If you're interested (or want to learn more about the quirky world of The History Boys), have a look here for my analysis of the character. The movie itself is excellent, I highly recommend it if you aren't squirmish about homosexual undertones and themes (although IMO there's no reason why anyone should feel that way in the 21st century). :p

New character in my visual novel

Yar Lha Sham Po

With celestial eyes of freezing cold rime and nostrils that howl stormy blizzards through the three worlds, the mountain deity Yar Lha Sham Po is the supreme god of Tibet's primal, pre-Buddhist pantheon. Conceivable to human sight as a massive, eerie white yak, the god's presence on Tibet's peaks is responsible for the bitter weather that enshrouds the highest mountaintops on the Roof of the World. He is also the patron divinity of the fertile Yarlung Valley, from where the empire's monarchs emerge onto the stage of history. As the reigning emperor, Trisong Detsen has now turned his back on the old gods and accepted Buddhism as the state religion. Poised to invade Tang China, he plans to tap into the fury of Yar Lha Sham Po and direct its elemental power against his very enemies.

Character design by Keiichi.

Current Projects

This week shouldn't have been a busy one - all I did in terms of actual work was write up a report, and send a few emails so that article publications and other housekeeping matters would go smoothly. So why am I absolutely knackered, and have been so since Wednesday?

Visual novel. I makes it.

Visual novels belong to a genre of video game that is not very popular outside of East Asia, although this is very slowly changing. Ripped straight from the Wikipedia page (which is, to be fair, reasonably informative):

Visual novels are distinguished from other game types by their extremely minimal gameplay. Typically the majority of player interaction is limited to clicking to keep the text, graphics and sound moving (most recent games offer 'play' or 'fast-forward' toggles that make even this unnecessary).

Most visual novels have multiple storylines and many endings; the gameplay mechanic in these cases typically consists of intermittent multiple-choice decision points, where the player selects a direction in which to take the game. This style of gameplay has been compared to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Most, however, strive for a higher level of plot and character depth than the aforementioned series of interactive children's books. These can be more closely compared to story-driven interactive fiction. While the plots and storytelling of mainstream video games is often criticized, many fans of visual novels hold them up as exceptions and identify this as a strong point of the genre.

In Hong Kong and Japan (and I suspect in China, Taiwan and Korea to some extent too), visual novels for both guys and girls are reasonably popular. Japan most certainly leads the way, with diverse sub-genres of visual novels that can cater to many different demographics.

In keeping with the "creative media" concept of this blog, I decided to expand my silk road storytelling into this field and make A Thousand Hands more or less my own creative platform. Currently my visual novel is powered by Novelty, a very beginner-friendly platform and engine for visual novels. When I'm finally done with it, I'll export, zip, and upload it here at A Thousand Hands, where it will be available to be downloaded and played for free.