Greetings to you all!
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your continued support throughout this past month.
One might have entertained the optimistic notion that February would be a month dedicated entirely to video production. Alas, reality had other plans: the first half was consumed by an "extra round" of text-based work, and by the time the latter half arrived... there I was, a person who would practically wilt just by sitting at their desk.
You may wonder how such a state of affairs came to be. To explain, we must look back some six months.
To begin with, my physical vessel—possessing a level of health perhaps ill-suited for its "X-ty" years of age—is home to a spirit of equally questionable vigor. Upon this fragile constitution was placed the weight of six months of outsourced tasks and text-heavy labor, devoid of a single day’s rest.
The result. I found myself utterly unable to recall the very essence of what kind of videos I actually want to create!
What followed was ten days of continuous tribulation. My lower half, having become as vague and indistinct as a morning mist, refused to respond to any of my inquiries. Even when facing my desk, no vision of the screens I wished to build would come to mind; I agonized over whether "asking one's own heart what it truly desires" had always been such a Herculean task. Caught in the pincer movement between the relentless flow of time and a month-end that arrived—with great absurdity—three days early, I spent my days staring vacantly at the ceiling in anguish, slurping noodles of every cultural origin (Japanese, Western, and Chinese alike), and suffering repeated defeats in the first act as the Ironclad.
What finally rescued me was a "Moment" found at the summit of Mount Kami. Witnessing another person face the things they hold dear and reach a significant milestone—even if it was someone else's journey—provided me with more than enough reason to let Lady Aava take up residence within my soul.
“CAIRN” is currently available on Steam and PS5.
But let us set aside the talk of games for a moment.
Over the last three days or so, I have finally begun to remember the things I truly wanted to make (actually, thanks to Aava, partly at least). For starters, I have drafted the flowchart for a Suicune interactive video (intended for Ending B, featuring an ice-pillar restraint and a "licking game" that is impossible to win, culminating in being crunched and munched along with the ice).
In addition to this, I have compiled plots for various videos and a list of specific movements I wish to include. Joy has returned to my heart, and my lower extremities, too, are gradually reclaiming their sense of concrete existence.
Finally, I managed to heave my heavy frame upward and succeeded in creating a small amount of animation. This occurred a mere few hours ago.
To those supporters who might have raised a joyous cry of "Ooh! A video!", I must offer my apologies. It is currently in a rather unfinished state.
As of now, only Suicune is in motion, and the details have yet to be refined, making it quite "rough," to say the least.
However, the reason I had been rendered immobile was that I had forgotten the necessary attitude for facing one’s own heart (and one’s lower half)—the repetitive cycle of revealing the contours of what one wants to create through the act of moving one's hands to animate, and then moving them further.
In other words, now that I have managed to "squeeze this out," all that remains is to run. I can do this. Please, allow me to go forth.
Though I described it as quite "rough," if I am being honest, even at this stage I’m thinking, "Isn't it already a bit cute, actually?". Thus, I feel I can truly make this work. I shall save my triumphant shouts for once I have actually crossed the finish line.
It will take a little more time until the video is fully complete, but I would be most grateful if you could continue to watch over my progress with a sense of "lukewarm" patience.
And with that, that is all for today! I wish you a most pleasant day.
P.S. I uploaded the very wip video above also on MEGA.
Check out "A Fair Game between a Pred and a Prey">"wip">"teaser">"uncomp test" in MEGA link.