Art of the day:
Mino is a solo indie dev and the artist behind the games Rabbit and Steel and Maiden and Spell. Heavily influenced by Touhou, mino created a 2D rogue like “raiding” game about well, rabbits and the moon. With some borrowed mechanics from MMOs like Final Fantasy XIV, the game is a fantastic mix of bullet-hell style combat with several unique classes. The sketch above was done during a Twitch stream where I was present, and shot the idea out that the purple reminded me of “gravity”. I watched mino draw before me and change the character pose and design to fit this idea. It’s incredible to be able to talk with these artists and watch them draw so fluidly, then run so freely with an idea. Mino is incredible creative mind and amazing artist that made the most stand out game of 2024 in my opinion. I eagerly await the DLC.
Song of the day:
ZUN happens to also be a solo dev, artist, and composer of the Touhou Project series. Touhou 8: Imperishable Night has a bit to do with Rabbits and Moons. Above, the final spell card/theme is played on piano – Voyage 1970. A beast of a track, incredibly iconic – pianists take this as a challenge to play. And why the name Voyage 1970 anyway? Well you see, it’s a reference to NASAs satellite’s Voyager 1 and 2, and well the main antagonist of the game is Kaguya Houraisan based off of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter which is also more commonly known as The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which has to do with the moon, and rabbits, and the moon is stolen by moon rabbits in Touhou 8, and by the way did you know that Japan named one of their own satellite’s Kaguya based off of all this lore? Okay I know I sound crazy. The west sees “the man in the moon”. Well, the east sees the rabbit. And thus, expansive moon rabbit lore. Why is “Sailor Moon” named “Usagi” and have those iconic twin-tails anyway? (Translators note: Usagi means “rabbit” or “bunny”). Oh no, I’ve gone too far, I’ve said too much. I guess maybe if you’re interested you can click all the links and connect all the dots and see the decades of inspiration!
Thought of the day:
Much like days before, I cherish the communities that rally behind solo indie devs, artists, and composers. Thank you for sharing your art and music with me. And thanks to anyone who dares read or listen to me ramble about it all.
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