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Of Starbound and cartoon physics
Apr. 9th, 2013 08:31 amThe other day, I brought something up with Chelle about Rokuna's sixth sense in Mon Colle Knights, before describing some ideas I had for a Starbound passage involving her hurting Daví for having perverted fantasies about Miyuki, followed by Kagami hitting her for spilling out what he was thinking to everyone else. Such a scene squicked her, not only for involving some OOC-ness and a groin attack, but also because of the lack of cartoon physics involved. I apologized for describing it to her, but also cleared a few things up, including the supposed lack of cartoon physics in the fic itself, but she didn't respond, which is understandable.
(If I ever do write the scene in question, it will definitely be toned down, as well as having Rokuna strike Daví in some other way.)
But anyway, Chelle's assumption that there won't be any cartoon physics in Starbound would most certainly stem from our past discussion of the first chapter, when she suggested that the girls hide their larger weapons inside their updone hair. I told her that while there are cartoon physics of sorts in Lucky Star, it's mostly in the form of artistic exaggeration (except for when Anisawa and co. try to sell stuff to Konata in the rowdiest manner possible), mainly to keep it cute. (For example, when someone's eyes look like "> <" when they get overly emotional.) In other words, not so deadpan like Haruhi, but not outrageously over-the-top like Mon Colle Knights either. (For some reason, I can't stand half of what MCK had to offer, even though I'm usually fine when similar stuff happens in other anime such as Nichijou. Might talk more about that another day.)
As far as trying to emulate the inventory system from the Earthbound trilogy goes, I had this idea that anyone host to a Magé Stone* can create a set number of magical, bubble-like objects, each with which to contain something regardless of its regular size. Anything contained inside these, including food, would also remain in the exact same condition until its drawn out as it was upon being contained. Any food items contained in such things would also be enabled to keep its consumers alive (in tandem with the mana that they collect anywhere rich with it), and/or in some cases to replenish any magic power they may have used up earlier on, and would be consumable even if the consumer has already eaten. (Only PK Healing would be able to heal actual injuries, though.) And, to top it all of, they can also be shared with other people, regardless of whether or not they're capable of psionics.
("Mage" (pronounced "mah-geh") happens to be the Japanese word for "bun".)
The above idea would only apply to the fanfic, not any possible game adaptation. But yeah, aside from regular hammerspace, that's pretty much the only way characters in the EB trilogy could possibly carry multiple large items, while most short-term members can't carry anything. Only Ness has a backpack, which would still be insufficient, while everyone else has only their pockets (except for Boney and Salsa, who, being animals, don't even have those). Except, then one would have to explain how certain enemies manage to steal food items, how certain food items become something else when kept long enough, and how the party in Mother 3 lose everything they had upon being washed ashore on Tanetane Island (and logically, they should've been ruined long before that, when the party first treads the ocean floor, instead of being conveniently gathered back up by Ocho). And, what about Jeff, until he meets Ness and Paula in Threed), and everyone you control in Mother 3 during the pre-time-skip chapters, when neither Lucas nor Kumatora is in your party most of the time (and before the former even learns psionics in the first place)?
Well, Jake did tell me to let the joke-items remain comical in use, instead of finding more realistic uses for them, if only to keep them in line with what the EB trilogy was all about. And, since enemies in those games do often have cartoony-eyes, I wouldn't be surprised if any animated adaptations of them did feature cartoon physics (and Mother 3 itself does, such as when a Pigmask captures Wess inside a hammerspace pole-net before dragging him back to Old Man's Paradise from Tazmily Square). So, chances are high that Starbound, in fact, will have that, although inventory space would still be limited either way.
In any case, this is exactly why I bought Mother: The Original Story several days ago. From what I gather, it's darker and edgier than the original game, but still has the same zany feel to it. Those two things together would also quite describe what Mother 3 is. So, can't wait to get started translating that.
(If I ever do write the scene in question, it will definitely be toned down, as well as having Rokuna strike Daví in some other way.)
But anyway, Chelle's assumption that there won't be any cartoon physics in Starbound would most certainly stem from our past discussion of the first chapter, when she suggested that the girls hide their larger weapons inside their updone hair. I told her that while there are cartoon physics of sorts in Lucky Star, it's mostly in the form of artistic exaggeration (except for when Anisawa and co. try to sell stuff to Konata in the rowdiest manner possible), mainly to keep it cute. (For example, when someone's eyes look like "> <" when they get overly emotional.) In other words, not so deadpan like Haruhi, but not outrageously over-the-top like Mon Colle Knights either. (For some reason, I can't stand half of what MCK had to offer, even though I'm usually fine when similar stuff happens in other anime such as Nichijou. Might talk more about that another day.)
As far as trying to emulate the inventory system from the Earthbound trilogy goes, I had this idea that anyone host to a Magé Stone* can create a set number of magical, bubble-like objects, each with which to contain something regardless of its regular size. Anything contained inside these, including food, would also remain in the exact same condition until its drawn out as it was upon being contained. Any food items contained in such things would also be enabled to keep its consumers alive (in tandem with the mana that they collect anywhere rich with it), and/or in some cases to replenish any magic power they may have used up earlier on, and would be consumable even if the consumer has already eaten. (Only PK Healing would be able to heal actual injuries, though.) And, to top it all of, they can also be shared with other people, regardless of whether or not they're capable of psionics.
("Mage" (pronounced "mah-geh") happens to be the Japanese word for "bun".)
The above idea would only apply to the fanfic, not any possible game adaptation. But yeah, aside from regular hammerspace, that's pretty much the only way characters in the EB trilogy could possibly carry multiple large items, while most short-term members can't carry anything. Only Ness has a backpack, which would still be insufficient, while everyone else has only their pockets (except for Boney and Salsa, who, being animals, don't even have those). Except, then one would have to explain how certain enemies manage to steal food items, how certain food items become something else when kept long enough, and how the party in Mother 3 lose everything they had upon being washed ashore on Tanetane Island (and logically, they should've been ruined long before that, when the party first treads the ocean floor, instead of being conveniently gathered back up by Ocho). And, what about Jeff, until he meets Ness and Paula in Threed), and everyone you control in Mother 3 during the pre-time-skip chapters, when neither Lucas nor Kumatora is in your party most of the time (and before the former even learns psionics in the first place)?
Well, Jake did tell me to let the joke-items remain comical in use, instead of finding more realistic uses for them, if only to keep them in line with what the EB trilogy was all about. And, since enemies in those games do often have cartoony-eyes, I wouldn't be surprised if any animated adaptations of them did feature cartoon physics (and Mother 3 itself does, such as when a Pigmask captures Wess inside a hammerspace pole-net before dragging him back to Old Man's Paradise from Tazmily Square). So, chances are high that Starbound, in fact, will have that, although inventory space would still be limited either way.
In any case, this is exactly why I bought Mother: The Original Story several days ago. From what I gather, it's darker and edgier than the original game, but still has the same zany feel to it. Those two things together would also quite describe what Mother 3 is. So, can't wait to get started translating that.