Monster Reference - Akia
(by Tobias , Dec 19, 2009
I'd like to introduce a new character of mine - at first it was really only just a monster that I needed for a game, buuut over time she has kind of started to grow on me ;P May I present: Akia ^-^
Akia belongs to a species of little plant creatures that live high up on Midnight Mountain - a mountain surrounded by other mountains so high that no sunlight ever reaches it (hence its name). As it's always night, nocturnal animals and plants of all kinds have made it its home and flourish there, displaying vibrant and iridescent colours in the scarce light they have.
For as long as these little plant creatures can remember, they have always been at Midnight Mountain; together with Elders - larger tree-like creatures - that they honour. However, more and more vile monsters appeared at the mountain, so they built themselves a large fortification around their village to protect themselves, and have so far successfully fended off any attackers.
~~~
Midnight Mountain itself isn't exactly known for being safe. With that little light and many not-so-friendly nocturnal beasts roaming around hunting for prey, it is actually a very dangerous place to be, and the human settlers that live nearby know better to stay clear of this uncanny place.
Because of that, no one really knows what's out there. Only a few of the settlers have seen as much as a glimpse of what lies beyond the dark caves leading (through the surrounding mountains) to Midnight Mountain. And certainly none of them have ever dared to venture far enough so they would know that these little plant creatures even exist; until a family of farmers found Akia - unconscious, and in a pretty bad condition - at the entrance of one of the caves.
Akia doesn't remember how she got there, but going back was definitely not an option. She was raised at the village of the settlers (that's how she knows their language, and that's why they know her name ;P). Back home, when she was still with her kind, she was (like all her siblings) taught a few magic spells by the elders, which she uses to help and protect her friends at the settlers' village.
In-game she sides with players (so she is a monster, but a friendly one ;3), eventually teaching them several of the restoration spells that she remembers, once she starts to trust them.
(She can do photosynthesis, but if you give her something to eat, she'll eat that anyway X3)
Comments?
You are unable to post comments because you have Javascript disabled.
If you have a screenname here, you can
log in to bypass this check. Alternatively, you can just enable JavaScript for this site and your comment - trust me, this is a very safe and well monitored place. That Javascript restriction had to be put in place due to the large amount of spam currently received - sorry for any inconvenience, you can thank those weirdos who have to get rid of their pills so bad, they have to spam websites hundred times a day. Not that they went through anyway, but just having hundreds of spam postings show up every day in the review queue is a little irritating ^^;
Monster Reference - Akia - Comments
Yay, Akia! :D She's cute, I like her. She looks fuzzy, too, for a plant creature. |P
Oh shoot, this reminds me. I've still gotta test those quests. x-x Neh, Christmas rush!
Wow, that was fast X3 Glad you like her - and yup, she's a pretty fuzzy thing ;P The original drawings (like, way back) were a bit different, but I think I like her better that way ^-^
Thank you for your comment ^^
PS.: Christmas is keeping us all busy, isn't it? And it's supposed to be the most quiet time of the year, too ;P Buut yeah, don't worry - best to get other things out of the way first, otherwise you'll end up all stressed ^^; Feel free to test whenever you have time, but don't rush; I'll keep working on it in the meantime anyway ;P
Ehehe, not all monsters have to be bad! :D She looks really cute! And maybe she'll start to remember what happened before she was found as the game goes on! ...Or not, but either way, she sounds like a useful character. :3 It's great to see your game's still going!
Thank you ^-^ Yeah, they don't have to be - but if they're good, are they still monsters? X3 To be honest, I'm not quite sure whether she is going to remember (she was pretty little back then), but who knows? It might make for an interesting story ;P
Oh, I'm working on it alright - iiit's just a lot of work, that's all ^^
So that is who it is! I was wondering why you drew here X3
And such an adorable little monster she is.. I just love the skirt, and her head pieces. That color green just, I don't know, I love it since it pops out so much with the black.. good job, Mr Seal.! <3
Yup yup, that's her ;P She says she's happy to meet you too, aaaand she's glad that you like how she looks ^-^
(Not that she could do a whole lot if you didn't, the flowers and the big leaf on her head are attached. She is a plant after all, it's in her genes!! X3 Personally I think she'd look better if she grew her flower a little more orange, and with thinner leaves, but whenever I attempt to tell her that, she tries to bite me <.< Aaah .. here she goes again, now she's trying to toss me off my chaijuhzgtvfrcds TOBY SUCKS.
I'm sure she could make you one of those skirts though :3 Then you could wear it and look aaaaall pretty ^-^
Hehe X3
(Haha, well don't hurt him! *pats* How about a nice crown of flowers or a flower necklace? Those always look pretty, with vines!)
We could be hula dancers together! ^-^
Now you're sounding like a fashion advisor for plant creatures X3
Akia: Hmm, what should I wear to prom?
Sylvana: How about this flower necklace? Pink goes well with vines!
You could ^-^ What would your little wolf look like, hula dancing? *hands you a pencil* ^-^
Good to see you haven't lost your touch Toby, it's been a while since we've seen some art of yours!
And hey sorry for not getting you the beta testing comments to you, the holidays and my recent flow of work has made it a bit hard to have time for extra stuff, but I will get the to you.
Anyways, now about the character. The color scheme you used is fantastic, love the lime green colors; they contrast very well with that little flower. Keep it up buddy!
I've been drawing ;P I just haven't really had much to post, that's all ;3
Oh, I see - yeah, there's been a lot going on around here as well. I don't remember our city ever being that busy around a holiday before ^^; And that's fine; make sure you update your Flash player and everything before testing though, I remember some oddities in the logs when you were testing. I've made it so that it'll report what version you're using, so I'll be able to tell as well ^^
Glad you like her ;P She's sitting in the village in-game, near the garden ;3 Way east from where you are X3
Ok cool dude, always good to be drawing even if it's not all being submitted ^^
Will do, there was a few problems I encountered which might have been flash errors.
And cool, I'll be looking forward to seeing her :3
eeeeee.
Akia is just so cute. And so silly, with being fuzzy.
I assume her fur also undergoes photosynthesis?
:3
Well, what do we have
here ?
(Shy, much? Well, only at the moment, I presume...it's those tropical flowers, I tell you!)
_____
hello!
I'll write more to you in a short time, Toby-dear.
<3
Hiya to you too!
Oh, her "fur" doesn't undergo photosynthesis, only her leaf does X3 If she eats, she doesn't need to do photosynthesis, but apart from that she can also just sit in the meadow and load up on energy ^-^
(It's not real fur either, she looks a little fuzzier than she's supposed to be ;P)
Glad you like her - and she looks very cute in your drawing <3 A lot more grown up and fairy-like in your style ^-^ It's been a long time since I've last seen a picture from you; does that mean you're getting back into drawing? ^^
-dons tiny round spectacles over goggles, beginning to take notes-
I see, I see.
Then, considering that
this is NOT fur, what is this so-called
fluff ?
eeeee. And I'm glad you liked it!
<3
Well, like you, I've been drawing all this time, but just haven't had anything to post; I don't really mind whether or not I show off my drawings anymore, seeing as most of them are five minute sketches or anatomical practices - and I know exactly what I want from those, so I don't really ask for critique. n wn;;
I'm also rather busy, seeing as this is my last year and all before college.
She's really cute ^^ I like that leaf hair, and the thorn scarf thingy, although the skirt feels a little cliched. She has that really adorable expression that all of your characters have, though, which just makes my heart want to melt X3 I feel so sad that she's being classified as a "monster" though.
By the way, are those actual in-game screenshots or just mock ups? I haven't heard from you in awhile so I have absolutely no idea what's going on with that game of yours XD
Aww, thank you ^-^ Yup, I know what you mean; her skirt is really just functional though - remember, those little plant creatures have been all by themselves on Midnight Mountain and know nothing of our fashion sense. It's pretty warm there all year round and leaves like these are abundant, so they're just using what's there. Akia would probably wear pants if you took her to stores in our world, but she's all happy with her skirt as well ^-^
(I know ;_; She's pretty surprised about that too, can you tell? In-game Akia helps and protects you against other monsters, so she really is friendly with players. The game still classifies her as monster though.)
Yup yup, those are actual in-game screenshots. They weren't even taken for this drawing - for example, on the middle screenshot I just barely survived an event with Akia at quarter and I at half HP when it ended (if it had lasted only 2-3 seconds longer, one of us would have gotten knocked out). Thought that was cool back then and took a screenshot. When I went through the screenshot folder the other day, I saw this picture, and since it was pretty different in colour, I put it on this drawing X3
Ahh, I see.. actually, I believe I offered to help with your project like, ages ago? I still wouldn't mind, although I don't think I can afford as much time as I used to ;_;
Yeah, I remember ;P You seemed pretty busy back then already, so I didn't want to bother you too much; especially since I already had quite a bit of feedback to work through ^^
I'll gladly accept any help you can offer; do you have any preference for what you could be doing?
I have no idea; what do you have that I could do? XD As long as it has nothing to do with programming I should be fine.
I'll note you with a list of areas that you could be focusing on ^^ No programming - promised X3
Lovely work Tobias! Permission to draw her? Of course, all credit will go to you, I never forget to give credit, even to official companies! And li'l Akia is too darn cute NOT to draw! Please may I?
Thank you ^-^ Sure, you're more than welcome to draw her <3 You could even try it traditionally, I haven't seen any traditional drawings of you yet! ;P
(Oh, and don't worry that much about giving credit ;3 The way you're doing it right now in your gallery works all fine ^^)
I remember seeing this creature of yours a while ago - currently I'm making a NPC that's looking very similar to this so I came back for a look ^_^ Sure enough I may have been inspired by your design without even knowing.
First off, excellent choice of color. The outfit and eyes stand out well from the fur/skin no matter how small you shrink her in the game. Although for game characters, it might save you some trouble if you make them symmetrical - so they look the same when flipped around.
I like the upper part of the design more. Akia's legs and feet seem kinda rushed compared to say, the details on her head. For this reason I might prefer that the skirt-leaves extend all the way down to her feet (like the screenshot on the bottom left). What are those marks on her cheeks and forehead? Does she have ears?
Also if you don't mind me asking I would like to know where you get inspirations of your characters from!
Aww, that's good to know! *feels honoured*
To be honest, I wouldn't even mind if your NPC was completely identical to her either; I'm not really stingy with my characters or designs at all. ;P They could be long lost siblings, too - who knows? If the character you describe is the one you submitted to devArt, I totally adore her (him?) too - it looks really cute, and the style, the pose and situation (looks like it has trouble delivering that cake!) it's drawn in makes it just so much better! ^-^
Yup yup, that's a good advise. I do try to make monsters somewhat symmetrical - even though Flash would make it easy to ensure her flower is always on her left side. ;3 Akia is just .. an exception.
I usually don't worry about it a whole lot otherwise, because people don't tend to notice. It makes things a lot easier for me, to: Players can have hairpins, and they magically always wear it on the side facing the viewer. ;P The advantage is that you always know what someone's wearing - the disadvantage that .. well, it's obviously wrong. But whether I flip players around, or Akia - I am (at least!) consistently wrong. ^-^
I agree with the feet and leg part, too. She looks slightly different in the screenshots because they used early designs - personally I'd imagine she'd wear them a little shorter, because otherwise she'd be cleaning the floor with them while she runs around. ;P The markings on her cheeks and forehead are from her tribe - and I'll have to ask her whether she has ears! ^^
This monster here *points* was simply me needing an earth element monster to test
elemental alignments . Being earth, it sort of made sense to have it a plant, and well - here you go. In a related matter, I'd probably pick Palmon if I were a digi-destined, if she didn't digivolve into that huge cactus! Gomamon would be my second choice. ;P
Anyhow, thank you for your detailed comment - it's much appreciated! <3
Hi! Akia is awesome and helped me a lot with quests on lower levels! ^^ On that screenie on the far left it looks like she's helping a dormouse.. will the players be able to become other monsters (mice, cats, etc.)?
Silverpaws/Silverthescrub
Its beautiful! Akia looks so cute like that! I love how you designed the vines, skirt, and the flower! The leaf reminds me of the side of an apple xD! I wish i could be so creative too
![[Submitted Image]](/img/pictures/3_akia_ig.jpg "Monster Reference - Akia")
