Karaski: What Goes Up... Slavic-Steampunk RPG Unraveling a Plot Onboard an Airship! - by Yakoob
nicked on 23/7/2015 at 18:15
Yep, at risk of sounding culturally insensitive, I don't particularly understand what you mean by "Slavic themed". Those words in the trailer have no connection to anything I'm seeing on-screen. If you just showed me the trailer with no text whatsoever and then asked me to describe the theme, I'd go with "steampunk".
Overall though, it was an engaging trailer and it definitely made me want to play the game.
faetal on 23/7/2015 at 19:26
Much as I love to keep up with your work - I think I'd really like to play this one when it's done. Looking forward to that :)
Yakoob on 23/7/2015 at 20:26
Here's a little sneak peek at (
https://youtu.be/axCVe-0wVEk) a flyby trailer showcasing environmental design. not public either, so keep to yourselves TTLGers :)
Quote Posted by Thirith
Are you still taking names for your Beta list? If so, I'd definitely be curious, and more than happy to give feedback.
Cool, I'll let you know when the next version is ready, hopefully next several days if i can squeeze the few tweaks i want from current feedback. :)
Quote Posted by Twist
Well... maybe I'm completely wrong, but if you put your evil marketing cap on and you want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, I think the sound and imagery conveys your intended theme to a larger audience better than the word Slavic.
I was actually going to drop it, but several people (including marketing agencies I contacted) comment how the slavic setting is really unique. So I felt it's one thing that makes the game stand apart, otherwise it may come off as generic victorian-english steampunk (because airships).
Your point about people not knowing what it is, is true. but my hope is that will again make people intrigued and curious, not backing off. I could be wrong, and it's a bit of a gamble. but hopefully games like Papers Please, Metro and Witcher have laid out enough foundation by now.
Quote Posted by nicked
If you just showed me the trailer with no text whatsoever and then asked me to describe the theme, I'd go with "steampunk"
My original pitch for the game actually called it slavic-steampunk ;) But I turned away from Steampunk moniker because a) there aren't as many steampunk elements (its more steampunk-lite) and b) running the pitch by numerous crowds at GDC drew very polarized opinions, people either loved or hated it. My fear is that non-steampunk fans would instantly dismiss it, while hardcore steampunk fans would criticize the game for not being steampunk enough (see a). Again, I could be wrong, but that's my hunch.
Quote Posted by faetal
Much as I love to keep up with your work - I think I'd really like to play this one when it's done. Looking forward to that :)
No worries, tell me what you think then :)
PigLick on 23/7/2015 at 23:54
Maybe you could change slavic to eastern european? Bit more unwieldy but perhaps more people would get that.
Also I have noticed a few spelling errors in the beta, are you aware of these?
Thirith on 24/7/2015 at 07:11
Any good way to show-not-tell the Slavic thing? Ideally people get the flavour of the thing, but tell them "Slavic" or "Eastern European" and you get a wide range of associations you can't much control, or no associations at all. Something like "In the land of Foreignovina" may do a more subtle job of this, together with the music. Communicate the mood in specific audio-visual ways rather than through more abstract words.
P.S.: Re: the beta, I'll be away from 5 to 14 August - just so that you don't plan me in at a time when I can't help much. :)
gkkiller on 24/7/2015 at 07:32
I don't know about Slavic (disclaimer: I don't really even know what Slavic means), but the trailer gave off a very communist-propaganda vibe. It's probably the use of the word 'comrade', all the red backgrounds, and the 60s music (I'm bad with time periods so maybe it's more like 50s? 30s?. Just saying, the word 'Slavic' could confuse a lot of people.
henke on 24/7/2015 at 11:39
The only thing I know about Slavic people is they're fond of calling up their cousins to ask if they want to go bowling.
Thirith on 24/7/2015 at 11:53
Which instantly makes it clear what this trailer needs: Big. American. Titties. Quite possibly stealthy ones.
Yakoob on 1/8/2015 at 23:42
Well, I redid the (
http://karaski.com/) Website Landing Page which now features a new version of the trailer! Yea, it's not perfect and cuts are a bit too fast in places, but I think it's an alright compromise between showing all the content I wanted, keeping it at decent length, and me needing to move forward with marketing this. More videos will be coming soon hopefully.
Thirith on 2/8/2015 at 11:10
Last time I'll bring this up, honest, but with the visual design and lettering as well as the music, mentioning "Slavic-themed" strikes me as overkill, plus it may well confuse rather than inform some of your audience. You're *showing* the Slavic thing, no need to *tell* it as well IMO.
Other than that, I like the trailer and find it intriguing, but I still have some issues with the art. The environments are fine, but the characters in motion need some work. Right now they feel like placeholder art to me, because they're so robotic in their movements and lack expression in their faces. Might it be an idea to stylise them more? Make the lack of detailed animation into an asset? (I expect that animation is one of the most difficult things to get right if you're not a big studio.) I'm not saying it'd be easy, but I expect that at the moment the characters would take me out of the game somewhat.
In addition, I think the graphics have become much more cohesive, but there are still some things that stand out and that I hope will receive another design pass or two. It's mainly elements that would perhaps best be described as graphic design, e.g. the newspaper in the screenshots, the crests, posters and ads. (I like the dialogue window, mind you; that one combines different design elements well.)
In any case, though, I'm very much looking forward to playing this!
