Hello, ALZARA backers and community members!
We’re now into the second week of our Kickstarter campaign, so let’s review our goals and see what comes next…
Stretch Goals
Next goal & unlock: English Voice Acting - €150k
We're still working our way to our first major stretch goal! We're almost there with only €4k-ish remaining! After that, our next major stretch goal will be having esteemed composer Motoi Sakuraba on the entire soundtrack!
Social Goals
Next goal & unlock: Animated Discord Stickers - 7 Goals
We've unlocked our next major social goal: avatars and banners! This pack of avatars and banners will be available for use on profiles and social accounts on any platform. It's a bit of a throwback to forum signatures (if you are also old enough to remember those!). They will be included in a future Kickstarter update.
Next up for rewards, we have: a pack of animated Discord stickers, expanded demo access to almost all backer tiers (minus the "Keep Me Posted" tier), and a mini digital artbook!
Edit: I almost forgot my jokes!
Q: What does Hugust like to call himself? (and his shield?)
A: The Rock (and the Hard Place)
Q: What does Hugust call all the rocks he keeps in his pocket?
A: Rockets
Q: What saying does Hugust have hanging above his mantle?
A: "Don't take life for granite."
Let's get to know our heroes...
In the first of our deep dives, let's examine two of our leads: Kayla Skoros and Adil Pygolampida. These two have grown up together and have been friends for years, but the fragile peace they know is about to be shattered…
🔥 Kayla Skoros
Skoros means "The Phalene" - Attracted to the light, but must learn to turn away from it. Keeper of the vision when night comes. Majestic bearing, inner fragility.
Kayla Skoros is an instructor in Shanidat, the capital of the Taqsim archipelago. She is also heir to the role of leader of the Taqsim. Strong, determined, and radiant, she will realize early on that she will have to take on more responsibility than she ever imagined. She is outspoken and sometimes out of step, but she has a good heart, and nothing matters more to her than her friends. She also hates dirt and loves figs.
Kayla is often bold and likes to take risks, though she never broke a bone! She can tow cabbage carts, lift heavy stones, and mow an entire field, and she likes these activities as they clear her mind and let her focus on staying grounded in herself. She has dark, thick, wavy hair that is as much a source of pride as a hindrance in battle. Her eyes are a fair green and sharp. Her skin is golden from the sun. In combat, she uses a Yataghan, a traditional Turkish weapon which is sabre-like.
She’s stubborn and very self-confident. Truth is, though, that she feels the weight of her lineage and the responsibilities she’ll have to take on. She’s always ready to take part in a fight, either to defend her ideas, for honour or just for the fun of it. She always speaks true, whatever the consequences. Kayla has a tendency to play the hero and often rushes in to save others, even if they don’t need the help.
Her dual education sometimes leads her to take the wrong attitude, mix words, and make mistakes, which can make her awkward to some people. She hates being confronted with her mistakes.
🍃 Adil Pygolampida
Pygolampida means “Firefly” - Light-bearing, fearless, courageous and comforting. Yet weak and harmless, not in control of the consequences of its actions.
Adil Pygolampida is a Taqsim diplomacy student who resides in Shanidat with Kayla. Intelligent, perceptive and energetic, Adil has no equal when it comes to convincing. Passionate about fashion, he takes great care of his appearance. Adil is fascinated by the politicking of the ruling class; he believes that his role is to reveal to everyone the decisions and stakes of the upper echelons. His naivety can play tricks on him, however. He can be judgmental of those who don’t match his work ethic.
Adil was found as a newborn on the island of Kalokeri. He was adopted by a poor, working family with no hope of social advancement. He meets Kayla by chance, and they become fast friends after some debate and argument. Thanks to her, he starts studying philosophy and rhetoric, which he follows with great interest.
Adil is thin, has sharp eyes, and is energetic. His movement flows easily like air, almost like he is dancing. He takes care of his looks and acts more noble than he actually is. He wears long coats that enhance his figure and wears numerous rings and accessories to compliment his look. He is very tall, with short dark hair and brown eyes. In battles, Adil plays a flute and is able to create powerful waves using air streams.
Adil is a very social person who often imitates someone's mannerisms and traits to understand their way of thinking. He’s a master at persuasion and very curious about everything. On the other hand, because Adil can be very naïve, he deeply believes that people are fundamentally good. He loves jewelry, beautiful fabrics, and all that is luxury. Adil can also turn from theatrical to taciturn in a jiffy.
Adil dreams of going far away and having great adventures so he can one day tell his stories to his children, whom he will adopt, as he himself was once.
An Ode to Newsletters
If you’ve been on the internet lately, you know that algorithms, search engine optimization, and industry consolidation can make it hard to reach you. Yes, you, the person reading this! Many folks are competing for your attention, and breaking through the noise can be hard.
To help solve this problem, we have a newsletter! You might already even be subscribed to it! This is our way of contacting you directly, removing the stuff that gets in the way and personally dropping a little letter right into your inbox. It’s like a pen pal, except you can’t mail us back, but we do save on postage!
Newsletters are a great way to support the games and developers you are excited about and to get an easy-to-parse update on what we’re doing. During the Kickstarter campaign, we send a new email every week with our updates, but once we’re heads down in development land, we’ll only pop in once a month or so at most to let you know how we’re doing.
We aim to treat our newsletter subscribers like the busy friends you always mean to catch up with. We’ll respect your time and will always be excited to share what we’ve been working on.
If this sounds good to you, subscribe here!
Thanks for reading our latest update! We’ve still got more for you this week to share, and we are still working towards our stretch and social goals! Things always slow down after the initial launch, but with your help, we can keep the momentum and add even more cool things that we’re excited to share with you.
Until next time!
💛 Colin & the team at Studio Camelia