I’ve been slammed in RL lately, and haven’t been responding as quickly or as thoroughly as I’d like to the IMs and notecards people have been sending me lately, so I thought it would be good to take the time to give a quick progress update on my new C:SI weapon.
As you can see from the above snapshot (which is an in-world snapshot with a gradient background photoshopped in), the build part is basically done, and I’ve started working on the product box / display stand. I’m relatively close to being able to call those parts finished as well.
I still need to make a hip-mounted sheath set for those who wish to have that option, and the animations to go with it. This should be relatively quick and easy to do, so I’m not too worried about that.
I also still need to finish the special attack. This is the biggest task remaining now, and the one I’ve been looking forward to the least lately. I do have a working special attack now, but it looks pretty lame, so I need to : Tweak the animations, completely redo the particle effects, find/make/edit a suitable sound effect to go with it, and test it to make sure that it’s consistent with other special attacks.
After all of that, I’ll distribute a version to a select few Beta testers (those who have given me the most/best feedback) that works with existing weapons, so that I can make sure that it works as expected and doesn’t bring up any big balance issues.
There’s still lots of stuff left to do, and although I currently have a lot going on in my RL that needs my time and attention, I’m working hard to get this thing done 
8 Comments
Greetings.
The anime of kodachi is very unique. And all the anime is beautiful.
Naturally, the anime of sp thinks that is unique and beautiful.
I would like to see sp of kodachi early.
And I would like to see early the box in which the product was stored.
However, I have not changed yet the opinion that the design(katana/anime) of taketori is more wonderful.
Well, I guess you can’t make everyone happy, huh? Aside from the deep sea fighting, I think everything is just wonderful. After seeing the display for this weapon, I don’t ever wanna hear that the others are better at this than you! That thing looks like hotness! I’m excited to see what kind of special you decided with. I kinda still hope for a bamboo special for the Taketori though. *wink wink nudge nudge* lol
I admit that the Taketori is fancier than the Kodachi, but that’s largely intentional. The inspiration for this kodachi actually went through a few changes, but it was always intended to be very simple and utilitarian.
Originally, I had been working on a weapon that I had code-named Shugyosha, because it was intended to be a battle-worn, simple blade such as the wandering samurai might use. I had imagined a destitute warrior who no longer had a master to serve, and whose honor would not allow him to serve another master, instead wandering the world seeking enlightenment through the Way of the Sword. He may not have much money, but he had a good and sturdy blade, and though it was well worn, he took very good care of it. This was to be reflected in the lack of adornment (no shiny!), and a grungier look to the textures.
At some point during the process of making that blade, I grew frustrated with my progress and took a break to re-read Gibson’s The Sprawl series for like the 10th time. If you are not familiar with William Gibson, he writes of a dark and gritty future world where technology features very heavily, and there are mercenaries for hire with cybernetic implants to give them hyped up reflexes and provide other combat advantages, which were nicknamed “Street Samurai”. Some truly bad-ass stuff.
As I continued reading this cyberpunk goodness, my thoughts about my weapon started to change. I still wanted the grittier plain-and-simple look, but I started thinking less in terms of traditional looks and more in terms of something that would not look too out of place for enthusiasts of different genre: vampire, samurai, cyberpunk, etc.
And, just because I wanted to do something different, I made it small and dual-wield. I am generally not a big fan of dual melee weapons, so it was an interesting exercise to make my own
So, yeah… It’s not fancy. It may not be as popular because of that. That’s fine with me, I’m happy to have done it the way I wanted to. Maybe when I return to working on the Shugyosha, I’ll have a weapon that is more visually appealing
GAH! Will I never find a way to work around the stoopid Animation Override problem? The special attack I *had* been working on will not work, since animation overrides um… over-ride the special’s animation. So I have a somewhat cheesy substitute special attack in place that will serve until I can come up with a new one that doesn’t suffer from that problem.
I also tweaked the control code based on feedback from one of my testers. Should suffer less from “kick instead of retreat” syndrome
Additionally, I have added a hip sheath set for those who prefer that. The draw and sheath anims are a little cheesy, but it’s really hard to deal with different avatar body styles and arm lengths, so there may not be much room for improvement there.
The product box is basically done. Since I inevitably get requests for a product box that doesn’t automatically de-rez (so people can use it as a display), I will probably have to redo the textures and such. There’s a big difference in what is acceptable quality for an object that will only exist for 30 seconds, and one that people want to leave permanently rezzed just for looks. I may end up punting on this issue, and just releasing as-is, and add an actual higher-quality display stand via auto-update in the future.
Tomorrow looks to be a very busy day. On top of my RL job duties, I will be having a visit with my buddy who is leaving this week for a four-year duty station in Louisiana, and I think we are gonna have BBQ
Chances are I won’t get around to working on the Kodachi tomorrow because of that, but the following day I intend to change the damage codes so that the Kodachi beta will work with non-Beta weapons. If all goes well with that for a few days, I’ll put it up for sale.
Greetings.
Ah..mmm… The katana-design of kodachi is 9 when thought the design of taketori to 10. And it is my individual aesthetic sense. Naturally, there are also people who say that the design of kodachi is more wonderful than taketori.
You Esprite Arch Ayame gave peoples the choice. Therefore, people choose their katana from many katanas.
One person chose katana by the performance which people speak about.
One person chose katana in the ornament. One person chose katana by anime.
One person chose…… So, Katana from which a design concept differs gives people a new choice.
I think that this is wonderful for everybody.
Only few of taketori is more wonderful than kodachi by a synthetic design. I don’t change this opinion.
However, the design of anime and the a product-box of kodachi is more more more wonderful than taketori. I think so.
I fought with glory and xena using new kodachi in meiji.
I noticed a few about sp of kodachi. I will report it to you, after confirming my reasoning.
And I heard the reaction to people’s kodachi. I will send notecard about it.
Have a good bbq-time and good time with a friend and good break time and more….
I am aware of a few issues with the special, and I’ve got an update that I’ll release as soon as possible, but I’m interested in hearing about what you noticed. Maybe you noticed something that I did not. Please let me know.
Thank you