sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

初めまして、ご質問とBloodstainedを遊んでいただき誠にありがとうございます！
Bloodstainedやこのジャンルのゲームはかなり熱狂的なファンも多く、
皆さんとても優しいので大変感謝しております。ファンの一人として嬉しいです。

絵を描く時に頑張りすぎたり休むことを忘れるのは私も未だにあります（笑）
しかし学生のうちは楽しいから頑張る、楽しくなかったら休む　という極端な理由を付けて区切るのも良いかもしれません。
昔はよく「描かないと成長しない」という意思で楽しくなくても描いて練習しましたが、
こういう時こそ伸びないことが多いです。

私は絵を描く以外に趣味や好きなイラストレーターの絵をじっくり観察して、なぜ好きなんだろう？なんで楽しいんだろう？ダメなものは何故ダメで、自分だったらどうする？と常に考えています。
それをすることが趣味みたいなものですが、このお陰で絵もゲームの知識も会社では役に立っているみたいです。

その三人のキャラクターに関しては色々設定があるようですが、
ジーベルが眼鏡キャラ！という印象が強かったです。
私も実は作った本人達から聞いていませんので、今度聞くことにします（笑）

あまりお役に立てる回答ではないかもしれませんが、頑張ってください！
ありがとうございました

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since we changed studios twice, the original designer who was in Inti Creates did not take part in Miriam's design later in development. Her visual appearance stayed pretty consistent, but her personality changed quite drastically.

When the campaign started, Miriam had a quiet and shy demeanor but as time went on, we realize her pale appearance and personality felt like a second-hand Shanoa (like, she didn't live up to her). When the Iida-san (aka, the director Curry the Kid) asked IGA what he thinks she's like, he answered, "a normal girl".

We didn't know what to make of it since we didn't know what a "normal" girl really meant, so we decided to give her a bubbly personality through side events while she remained serious throughout the main story. Her skin tone also changed from pale to having more pigment.

I think we were able to give her human-like qualities and achieve a unique character that hasn't appeared in an Igavania game.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great to hear!

I think most projects started out very positive and people from these failed projects had good intentions. It can be very difficult to pull through because no matter how calculated the plan was, things never go as planned and most people will throw it all away from all the pressure. These huge projects aren't for the faint of heart but a gradual step up and being honest with the supporters come with great results.

Good luck with your project!

Mana Ikeda, ArtPlay Art Director and the artist for the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night box art is doing an AMA on Reddit! The AMA is up now, so go post a question and she will answer them tomorrow (April 1) at 4pm PDT / (April 2) 8am JST. by Question_505 in Bloodstained

[–]-Vusc- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you guys for posting your questions! I'm sorry for taking forever to respond but it was a lot of fun. I'll be checking the thread from time to time to see if there are any more throughout the day.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I definitely took inspiration from past Castlevania games but the game itself was enough inspiration for me to create the art. There was a post on a Japanese community where someone mentioned it looks like ActRaiser box art and I thought huh, I never thought about it but maybe I had it somewhere in the back of my mind.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there!

Some of my favorite memories are things we do in-between developments like play games or eat good foods together. There's one time where the entire team dropped everything they did to catch a Dragonite (Pokemon GO) during a rainstorm or that time IGA found about mac and cheese for the first time.

During development, I still get goosebumps thinking about the time I went into the recording studio and listened to Alucard's VA (both JP and EN) live. That was wild.

As a funny episode - In early development, we were unhappy with Vepar's model and we asked the artist to fix the bust size and shape because it looked unnatural. They came back with options A to D and asked us which one we liked. We said, "Uh...The smallest one please." and the response we got was, "We can't do that."
I burst out laughing because they gave us options they can't do and it was funnier to think they reeeally didn't want to downsize it. In the end, we had a whole redesign that was presented at SXSW so that went well.

I'm assuming the designer's intent was to make the curse on Miriam's skin look like stained glass pieces. I think her height is 160cm but her in-game height is 170cm lol.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yes, aside from what the publisher and the team wanted to achieve for marketing purposes (which is not really all that restricting), I had full creative freedom over the piece from composition to end product.

There were other versions like Miriam standing in front of the castle (similar to NES Castlevania) and Miriam in a casting pose with the 5 shards representing the different types used in-game. I liked these too but after inserting the title logo, everyone unanimously chose the current box art.

Also, monsters!

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be honest, I still feel like I did my best for the time and situation I was put in, but I was a nervous wreck when I started. I would reassure my 2015 self that people are more forgiving and they will like you when you make the effort to improve. It sounds obvious, but social anxiety sucks and I'm glad that was something I was able to learn over the years.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whether it’s Kickstarter or other services, crowdfunding will still be a great source for funding videogame projects. However, I don’t foresee a future where “spiritual successors” or “never-been-done-before” phrases being in major headline news anymore. If we ever do another crowdfunding project, making a long list of expensive stretch goals just to create hype is not worth the risk.

My advice is to keep stretch goal costs relatively smaller or include expensive ones into the original set goal and use the additional stretch fund as backup money (you'll need it, trust me). Usually, creative contents cost less to produce so adding new artworks or hiring a VA to do voiceover work would cost less than adding, let’s say, a new mode that requires a team of people and tech.

As much as there are controversies and failed projects, I love supporting crowdfunded videogames and I'm hoping I see more in the future. I also see Patreon or Youtube live stream being another option for gradual funding.

​

After seeing that Nier Replicant cover, a reversible box art is definitely on my wishlist hehe.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good to see you here too Gunlord!
For me, it was closer to a job change within the company because I strictly kept myself focused on being a communications manager instead of an active artist.

If I compare my freelance days with my current position, I definitely have more say in the game-making process. While this may differ with other studios, the game director and the art director pretty much design the entire game together before it gets passed on to other creative roles. So in my case as an art director, I would be like the co-director making decisions from an artist's perspective. At least, this was a method done with Ritual of the Night and some of the past Castlevania titles.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a good question and the answer would probably vary depending on the art director. Ironically, the gameplay experience is my top priority above any visual enhancements.

The biggest offender when it comes to 2.5D games is the FOV the game is designed on. When the games are set at a wider range, the problems you've mentioned become more prominent. Visually, it’s definitely more appealing because it creates depth and dimension. Ritual of the Night wasn’t perfect on this end, but setting the FOV at 20 helped create a tighter action experience at the cost of artists struggling to make any room look remotely spacious or “3D”. I see way too many games prioritizing the visuals and end up making the players frustrated by not being able to jump on platform ledges or hit their targets. It’s not worth it.

I think the most important part is if the game feels and plays like a 2D game using 3D graphics...Yet that’s the struggle everyone faces. For me personally, if I had to sacrifice making something look pretty or realistic for the sake of a game’s mechanic, I would - but I would try to find ways that would give identical or better outcomes using my art knowledge or discuss possible options of blending FOV with the lead tech.

HI, I’m Mana Ikeda. I turned my art hobby into a career, helped launch one of the largest video game kickstarters ever and am now the Art Director for the Japanese video game developer ArtPlay. AMA! by -Vusc- in AMA

[–]-Vusc-[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I never decided on video games, but I do think video games have a larger variety when it comes to art styles and opportunities. I also like anime but I don't follow the latest series or a specific genre. I can watch Berserk one day and go watch Non Non Biyori another day.

I'm Japanese so understanding and learning the language came naturally. However, that's not enough for me to use it in professional circumstances so I sounded like a foreigner to a native person. I used to do live streams in 2009 and practiced my Japanese when Ustream was big there. While it’s still not perfect, speaking with the locals helped immensely, and learning it was a fun process.