VOLRATH'S PROFILE

Wow, this is pretty overwhelming. Thanks to the voters and everyone who was enthusiastic about the game over the years. What a way to go out.

I made a bunch of trailers for MotW, but doing one for someone else's project was a first and very fun. SSP is a parade of one striking image after another, and honestly I feel like most of the work was already done for me, I just had to arrange it and get the timing right.

A long while ago, I had listened to "Look for the Truth" and thought it was appropriate strictly based on the mood of the song. I had not played the whole game or heard the whole story yet, so I was surprised when Ronove told me it also fit very well lyrically. It would be possible to use the entire 5-minute song as some kind of tribute video if we wanted, but then there would be mass spoilage. The game's coming out soon, I've beta-tested the whole thing and it's excellent, so everyone play it when that happens.

For Christ's sake people, put the claws down. This is perfectly legitimate territory for a developlment blog. Everyone had their chance to spew and scold in the comments for the review, no need to carry that over here.

I haven't yet played this (with MotW done there are a LOT of projects I want to check out but I also just got a new computer like last week and have yet to install any RM programs on it), but I hope you don't give up just cause of the review and subsequent drama. It's probably wise not to read the comments following your uh...venting...but it was mostly about the ever-persistent topic of how to give/take criticism and less about the actual content of Emmy's review, so I don't think it's necessarily a foregone conclusion that the community at large agrees with the review's content. As for the review itself, it was a little condescending and had some problematic elements (the "dickbro" thing is the EXACT reason why I never allow players to name the protagonists in my games...it's way too easy to outright kill the drama with a ridiculous name), but I think there was some legitimate feedback and suggestions within it that are worth considering. Once the emotional reaction to it cools off, it may be easier to pick that stuff out.

If you do wind up starting a new project, I think I would enjoy seeing something driven more by story and characters. It's obvious from your posts that you're a skilled writer, and I think our projects need to play to our strengths. Or at least that's how I justify all the cutscenes in MotW. :P

Well yeah, I agree it should be. But the question I have is....since I am the game's co-creator but not the creator of the dungeon design, is it appropriate for me personally to vote for MotW in the Level Design category? Obviously I hope others do but I'm just curious about my vote.

Thanks to everyone who nominated us for this year's Misaos! The results are WAY beyond my expectations...I thought one or two categories, maybe.

Now I have an ethical question that I struggled with in the past years when MotW was nominated...a unique quandary that results from the collaborative nature of this project. Obviously I won't be voting for MotW in nearly all of these categories because that's not classy. But what about Level Design? That is completely ArtBane's work, not mine. I'm very familiar with his skill and process after all these years working together, and voting for him sounds nice...but I'm not sure if it's a very ethical thing to do. Anyone got any thoughts on that?