Jun 3, 2024

An Interview with Mosqi, an FAQ update, and two new goal unlocks!

ALZARA Radiant Echoes - abunchofdaftpunk

Hello everyone, we are back this week with a big brand new update for you folks!

In today's update, we get some answers to questions and unlock a couple of new rewards we earned over the weekend! Let's dive in.

Goal update!

We've unlocked our next stretch goal and social goal reward, which means we'll also examine what's next...

Stretch Goals

Current goal: Skill Tree Improvements €182.5k/185k

We are glad to include even more character designs from our talented collaborator Yoshiro Ambe! Ambe-san will now help us design four major NPCs, which will bring these characters to life in the same way our heroes have!

Next, we have a stretch goal to improve and expand on our heroes' skill trees! These improvements will give players ways to specialize and customize the heroes' roles. This feature is still in development, so more detail on hero progression will be available in a later update.

Social Goals

Current goal: Mini Digtial Artbook - 10/11 Goals

Our next social goal reward is unlocked, and we hit our next tier of Instagram backers! That means our community Discord now has TEN new wonderful emojis to express a wide range of emotions. Up next: a mini digital artbook for all backer tiers that'll be a mini preview of our printed artbook!

Follow us below to help reach it:
Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | Discord

An Interview with Mosqi

One of our wonderful collaborators on the project is Marcel Mosqi, an incredible artist from our home of Montpellier, France! Mosqi has helped us create the map for our world, a beautiful rendition of a place that once only lived in our imaginations.

We got a chance to ask Mosqi some questions, which we are sharing with you!

Do you have a favourite party member from the Alzara crew?

I love Nakheel's design a lot, but my favourite is Kayla. I love her hair and the colour of her clothes. It's a very original design, with a lot of fine details and very nice "flowing" elements in her outfit, which I like a lot.

I'm looking forward to discovering more about their stories, personalities, and dilemmas.

What are some of your favourite RPGs?

I started playing JRPGs with Final Fantasy 7, and it remains one of my favourites, although from the same period: Breath of Fire 3 for the sprite design and awesome music, Suikoden 1 & 2, and Grandia for that epic adventure vibe… they are also great inspirations and memories. There are so many, but I also loved Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360, Xenoblade Chronicles, and more recently, I was amazed by Chained Echoes.

Chained Echoes (2022), Steam Card Artwork - Marcel Mosqi

If you had control over an element like our heroes do, which would you pick?

I think I'd choose lightning. It's fast and powerful, and it seems that in every mythology, there is a cool-looking god of thunder.

Do you stockpile items in RPGs or use them as needed?

Using consumables is very hard for me, I even try to just forget they exist so I don't get bothered by the dilemma of using them or saving them. But I'm working on it, now I try to use them, and just keep a little aside for boss encounters or hard dungeons. I just really don't like having to farm for potions and such.

Do you have any pets that keep you company while you work?

I don't have pets. I like chocobos though.

If you could live in any RPG settlement, which would you choose?

Probably Costa del Sol in Final Fantasy 7, looks quite peaceful, I love the music, and there is the beach and a cool apartment.

What drew you to work on Alzara in the first place, and what got your attention?

When I was contacted by Emma, who lives in the same city as me, about a RPG she was creating, with a lot of the same references and inspiration I have, in a setting I love using in my illustrations, obviously I immediately wanted to work on the project. And I'm glad it's happening!

How do you define your style, and what inspired it?

I'm really bad at defining my style, and I never really had great control over it, it's just the sum of my inspirations and obsessions. There are obviously Japanese games, manga and anime influences, but I don't know where the rest comes from exactly. I like this idea of influences being processed subconsciously, and active conscious work and study being mixed together. As for my major influences, they come from artists like Tatsuya Yoshikawa, Yuzo Takada, Akihiko Yoshida, Mateusz Urbanowicz, Hidari and many more, including hundreds of incredible amateur and professional artists sharing their work on social media.

When it came to Alzara’s map, what did you look to for reference?

The major reference for Alzara's map was Chrono Cross's world map, but I also gathered a lot of trees and mountains or just grasslands. My main concern was the level of detail and balance between "unique" environments and reused assets. Drawing every tree and shadow differently would have taken way too much time, and would have looked like an illustration more than a RPG world map.

World Map Preview / ALZARA Radiant Echoes - Marcel Mosqi

Your work on your personal project, MaQna, is incredible; what inspired that project?

The main inspiration for MaQna is Saga Frontier 2, which is a beautiful watercolor painted RPG from 1999, I was really impressed by its backgrounds when I played it as a teenager. I decided I would make a few mockups of my "ideal" game project, without realistic constraints. The goal was to try and see if I could make watercolored backgrounds for an RPG. Even if it takes quite some time, I think it is possible with the right scope and a very solid planning and organization.

MaQna Concept Art - Marcel Mosqi

Your designs often balance realism with colour and many fantasy elements; how do you balance these, and how do you make a world feel grounded and fantastical?

Realism is always something I'm worried about, as I love characters to have a few unrealistic or unusable elemens like huge swords or weird armor pieces. Usually I just prioritize a cool design over a realistic one, and try to add small details to make it more believable. I think someone more meticulous would study more thoroughly mechanisms, knots, real armor pieces and such to add to fantasy designs.

FAQ Update

We ran an AmA on Reddit last week (where you can still ask questions!), but we wanted to highlight some of the questions we got and the answers we gave, especially as we’ll be adding these to our Discord FAQ!

When creating the world's different peoples, did you take inspiration from real-world peoples and cultures, and if so, what were some of the inspirations?

We took inspiration from all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea: their people, history, habits, myths, and outfits.

Since our game is about sharing and that the archipelago of Taqsim is a fantasy world, we wanted to create a whole new world based on those inspirations. In that sense, you may recognize that Kayla's skirt pattern is inspired by Minoan elements, Adil's shirt has a Moroccan cut, and Nakheel's tattoos are made with henna... I'm only talking about the heroes here, but we've done the same for all elements of our world! We deeply respect all these cultures and are working hard to blend all of these influences into our fantasy world.

Will there be multiple difficulty settings? How will the game handle difficulty?

Regarding difficulty, when it comes to JRPG, it's more related to strategy, thinking, and how you perceive it. All of this is about balance, and our goal is for the difficulty to be well-adjusted depending on whether you're facing a basic enemy, a boss, or a key boss. Based on these different parameters, the difficulty will vary. That's our goal, but a whole balancing phase will be done during development. For now, we have a single difficulty mode that adapts based on the scenario and combat type. But afterward, we'll have to see depending on the Kickstarter's result. I've seen a few people requesting a difficulty mode, and that's something we could offer via a New Game+ mode, to be determined then.

What kind of sound direction will you have for the soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba? A higher focus on acoustic and orchestral instrumentation, more progressive rock-style compositions with electric guitars and synthesizers, a la Golden Sun or Star Ocean, or a balanced mix of both?

In terms of music, working with Sakuraba-san has been a delightful experience, and having him involved in the whole soundtrack is such a dream for us as fans of his work! He is always leading the creative process and following his own style, and it's been great so far. When we introduced him to the world of ALZARA, he composed the main theme in a couple of days, immediately getting the Mediterranean vibe. He combines a bunch of instruments that conjure the feeling of the Mediterranean, such as the oud, santur, kaval, castanets, and acoustic guitar, but also keeps room for innovation and inspiration.

What are the Sentinels, and how will backers be able to customize the statues?

The Sentinels are glass statues of Zals and ancient heroes who fell in battle. They play an important role in our world and will be featured in key locations in the game, such as a central plaza in a large city or a key monument in a dungeon.

In terms of design, since we want a certain harmony in these statues, we will propose different models that fit our lore to the backers who selected this tier. The backers will also be able to name the statue. In the game, when you interact with the statue, you will be able to read the name the backer gave it. We are also considering adding text provided by the backer in terms of design.

That’s it for this Monday update! It’s heavy on questions and answers, but the responses contain some gems, and we think folks will enjoy getting to know Mosqi a bit better. ☺

We’ve got more coming very soon, too, including an interview with Motoi Sakuraba, brand-new art from a couple of talented artists, and a look at the nation of Taqsim, the main setting of our game.

Until next time!
💛 Colin & the team at Studio Camelia