Eiyuden Chronicles is back with another monthly update from the team for July 2021. This update includes another character reveal, some concept art, and some words from the team as they celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the game and its Kickstarter.
Character Profile: Ormond
Kuwano Chimes in on Ormond
Eiyuden Chronicles character designer, Kuwano, gave us some details about the process. She said that in the first stages of the design process, she gave Ormond more attributes typically associated with dwarves. Kuwano submitted a rough sketch of Ormond with a bushy, unkempt beard.
The team quickly pointed out that his meticulous personality would mean he’d most likely keep his beard neatly braided and wear colors that would mask the dirt on his clothes. The picture above is the cleaner and more presentable version of him.
Background Concept Art: Camp Village
Things often get changed, but we thought you’d enjoy seeing the differences between the production process and the final product for Eiyuden Chronicles. I’m an avid camper myself, so I always feel a sense of excitement when I see the progress of the tent designs.
Murayama’s Monthly Development Report
Murayama, the game’s lead director, and writer gave his monthly update on Eiyuden Chronicles’ development. He emphasized that the story revolves around the characters. The ultimate goal is to tell their life stories through the thoughts they have and the choices they make.
Murayama also added:
The goal is to always put a lot of effort into making sure a character’s particular point of view accurately drives their actions. I feel characters lose their integrity when they end up doing things they wouldn’t normally do for the sole purpose of moving the plot.
Once I have a general plot going, I often find that some of my characters will go and do things that surprise me. Moments like that are a thrill to see, and I always end up giving those characters more screen time. When a character says a line that’s so true to their very being, it really moves me, and I get so into it that I end up acting out the scenes in my head.
I think assembling a group of characters that are so grounded and true to who they are, then seeing how they interact with one another is what really makes an intriguing story. I can’t wait for all of you to meet these characters. Sometimes they give me so much trouble and other times so much joy.
Eiyuden 1 Year Kickstarter Anniversary: Thank You for 1 Year!
A Word from the Team
Komuta also chimed in during the monthly EC development report, in which he said:
I, Komuta have been busy creating the world map for Eiyuden Chronicles, based on the plot Murayama created. The story, planning, design, programming—a lot of people in different departments are working in parallel with one another, which can sometimes cause delays. One of my main duties is to make the final call on things so we don’t have any setbacks, but I just can’t pull myself away from working on the world map—even though I still have a ton of other decision-making calls to make…
Komuta also added about finalizing some of the main plot elements:
Using some of the more finalized elements of the plot, I’ve come up with a rough idea for the map, and have been brainstorming with Murayama to fill in the gaps. There’s a village northwest of the town Perrier is in, and I want to put a dungeon southwest of that village. That dungeon should also be southwest of the town where Perrier is located.” Just when we think we’ve laid down the concrete foundations, we’ll get a message like:
There isn’t any terrain warding off this area, but you won’t be able to access it until you reach a certain point of the story. Sometimes, we’ll get directions that seem almost like a riddle, too! If you have the proper requirements, you can move forward with the design. Other times, we’ll be given a keyword out of nowhere like “massive forest.” But with each new piece of information, the world map begins to take shape, piece by piece—a bit like Neo Atlas!
Lastly, Komuta reiterated his excitement about creating Eiyuden Chronicles’ world map. Especially within the context of story and game design perspectives:
It’s just so exciting to create the world map for an RPG game. Murayama usually gives me the fundamental details from a story and game design perspective. After adding towns and dungeons, we go to Junichi and the designers to discuss how we want the locations to look and feel—for example, I want the view from this spot to have more impact. Once we start to see the larger picture, everyone gets more and more hyped—I want to take a stroll around this world! I want to go on an adventure!
From Junichi Murakami
Murakami in celebration of one year since Eiyuden’s announcement states how much the team thinks about the game. Murakami said:
One year has passed since we started this Kickstarter, but every day of it has been spent thinking about Eiyuden Chronicle. From a production standpoint, we wondered how to best use the funds you’ve given us to meet everyone’s expectations. “How should we go about collecting any extra funds we need?”
When will we need to onboard more staff? And so on and so forth… We were always scrambling with the mountain of things we needed to do. Then from an art direction standpoint, we’ve rebuilt the prototype based on how the actual game is going to play. Creating graphic structures and images that are stable enough has been a daily back and forth of trial and error.
Murakami also reveals that most hours of the day are filled with negotiating certain ideals and compromise:
We lose our daylight hours negotiating ideals and compromises, while our evenings are dedicated to creating resources. “How can I be this busy?! We’re running out of time! Will, I ever get any rest?!” This sums up the past year for me, but I don’t regret it a single bit. Probably because I know there are people out there who will enjoy what we create.
Lastly, Murakami tells us how thankful he is for all the fans of Eiyuden Chronicles and the Kickstarter:
So lately, I’ve found myself thinking about how glad I am that we did a Kickstarter in the first place. I’m sorry to keep all of our supporters waiting, but I’m going to keep doing my best every day. So, please keep rooting for me!
