Here’s quick gameplay of Kraft And Slash from Purejam Games on Itch.IO. Link: https://purejamgames.itch.io/kraft-slash
This post’s game is called Kraft & Slash. An in-browser game with a cute crafty aesthetic, decent tune, and solid gameplay. Not sure the motivation behind Kraft & Slash, but it appears it’s done its job in the look good feel good, please distract me into playing vibe. I am fond of this style because it reminds me of crafting field trips I used to take when I lived in the PNW. This would fit right in at a local artist shop or something of that nature.
My Visual Novel
I took the foundational steps in thinking just a little bit about how my visual novel idea might go. Several years ago I wrote a novel about an alternate history coming of age story taking place in the 2000s. What might have happened if nation borders were deprecated and you could go anywhere, whenever. Just an environment for the story really. I worked hard on it, with several versions and revisions.
In one revision I had this idea of making all the characters basically these fashionable hipster types. I’ve been obsessed with the idea of hipsters long before the invasion of them. Some of that has to do with my lifelong interest in how society works and the people in it. As I went for my walk today, I realized that this visual novel adaptation of it could come to fruition in one major way, character art.
I’ve always been pretty fond of the character art in that famous Norwegian band A-Ha’s “Take on Me.” It’s kind of pencil sketched and comic-like, yet it emphasizes lines for expression. I’ve been working on my drawing more, I really need to look into portraiture, but I have this other crazy idea.
Patterns. No, not Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, although that might have some influence. “Fashion Patterns.” They’re around, and there are probably millions of them. What a wonderful idea to work with though. I’m not really sure what decade or what style, but it’s enough to push the wagon a little further.
That’s it. More to come.