So I guess the best place to start is with the origin of Ghosting Snow-White.
Originally, this page was going to have a whole lot of summaries of all my worlds—my story settings, character profiles and game ideas (for which Ghosting Snow-White was created in the first place. See below) Jin (programmer) and I (mostly everything else) was going to make and so on. But then I got hit by the logic bug (post my stuff here, and down the line when I want to publish, I get hit with a copyright infringement suit (and yes, I think my stuff is good enough to steal, like I said: "Megalomaniac? Me? No way, I really am better than all you!")). So I dropped that. Jin and I talked about putting our reviews on anime and movies here (hence the word "ANI-archy"), but nothing ever came of that.
Then Jin (my best friend) moved back to his native soil (hopefully for a limited time. You HEAR
me Jin!?), and there went the stuff about games (for which this whole thing was started in the—hey, wait, I said this stuff already), and pretty much everything that when along with it.Just let me start a little from the beginning.
Jin and I have been friends for a long time. He loved computers (he has a magic touch with them) and always wanted to make games. I loved to write, and come up with super complex worlds (truth, truth, I have a lexicon for one that goes over a hundred pages and is not even done yet). So we decided to make games for the computer. So the foundation was set, we had to come up with a name. Something catchy.
At the time, I made up my own publishing company name—one I am going to use when I open up my very own publishing house (a dream I still share with my love Belle—and sheesh, do I sound like a kid in this whole thing or what?? "My very own publishing house." Sheesh!). I named it Cinderella’s Crash. Which I will not get into now.
So Jin and I were on the bus, thinking of a name. We came up with some (The Pit and the Pentium, among others), when the thought came to stay within the faerytale theme I started with Cinderella’s Crash.
I came up with "Hacking Snow-White."
Jin didn’t like it.
I screamed and bitched, but "Hacking Snow-White" was not meant to be.
After many variants, I came up with "Ghosting Snow-White." Though for the longest time I was not happy with it. I wanted my Hacking Snow-White!!!!!!
I came up with the whole outlook of the thing. I wanted a really cool looking female robot (there was nothing at all of a tail), all glossy silver and everything, standing straight, while off to the side you see the back of some geek typing away on seven tower computers (get it?) which was hooked up to Snow-white. I wanted an outlet plug coming out of Snow-White’s foot, but not plugged into anything, yet her eyes glowing red anyway (an animated gif).
What we got was a pic of a gargoyle (remember, I love them) I was fiddling with.
In the end, that is what we put up (sans the wings of course).
So the first major part of the whole thing was up—our launchpad, our webpage. (And after paying up a hundred bucks to make the original site long, long ago, I decided to learn HTML myself. All this is mine.)
The next part was coming up with a game and game format. That was the hard part.
We both had plenty of game ideas—thousands. Problem was, though I can draw, I was nowhere near up to drawing and animating sprites—I have not really drawn on the computer in years, and a scanner was a distant dream. The other problem was the fact that Jin’s programming language really wouldn’t let us do any of those things anyway. (For those who care, Turbo Pascal ((sp?)). Luckily for us, what we wanted to do did not need animations and such—we wanted to do text-based CRPGs. And to put one up on all the others text-based CRPGs out there, we planed to have graphics—just not animated. Battles would take place on a grid from a birds-eye-view. Battles akin to chess, with the rest of the game being text and of the "Chose Your Own Adventure" type thing.
As things moved on, and after thinking about using many of my story settings as a springboard, I came up with something totally original. Something that was to be for the game alone. I have never done anything like that before. It was fun. The game was called "Blood-of-Kings." We even found a great artist named Jason Davis to do some (translation: most) of the pics for us. (Where are you man?????)
Here. Read it for yourself:
You wish to know about Ghosting Snow-White?
--"Yeah, so who the heck are you three?"
We are Alon M. SaMarion (game designer), Jinsop Mendez (game programmer), and Jason Davis (graphic artist), a small (non-profit that is) company wholly and solely devoted to making GOOD anime games!
To us, games shouldn't be anything but visual wonders. Don't get us wrong, we don't mind a few billion dollars spent on special effects, but a good game should be so much more than that. It should have a story that is interesting as well as original. We also like games that exercise the muscle in your skull rather than the one in your trigger finger. We will, however try to please a wide range of gamers. Sports and arcade action game fans probably won't find anything they like with the name Ghosting Snow-White on it (well at least not for awhile). For the most part, anyone who likes Computer Role-Playing Games (CRPGs) mixed along with strategy table-top gaming and even a dark fantasy-based Play-By-E-mail RPG - all in the style of anime - need look no further, for we are sure to please!
Our first major project is called BLOOD-of-KINGS, an anime sci-fi/fantasy text story-based game with graphic strategy battle a la table-top games and plenty of puzzles and riddles. It would feature a "Choose Your Own Adventure"-type story that would send you on many different courses of action and many different endings. The graphics are pretty primitive compared to other recent games, but if the words "I liked the book better than the movie" ever escaped your lips, we're sure you can appreciate this game. And to celebrate the birth of Ghosting Snow-White, you'll be able to download a copy (yes the WHOLE game!) for !!!FREE!!!
--"Yeah okay, but define 'GOOD anime games'."
--"So what're you three workin' on now?"
Embrace the Chaos
Coming soon.
Sadly, though we made a working model (two of the game’s battles were finished), story all but completed, "Blood-of-Kings" would not be coming soon.
Jin moved. Leaving me with a site I really had nothing to put in it.
I didn’t want to get rid of it. I liked the site and all, (and did pay a hundred bucks for it) so I kinda shifted the focus of the games to my stories and artwork (this whole thing got me into drawing on the computer big time!).
So now I am in the process of a major site revamp. I have a whole new Snow-White character design (among other things).
So what do I plan on doing with the site, now that it’s major point of being is gone (for now!!!!!) and a company that started out with two, expanded to three, and is now down to one????
I have no idea. I guess I am just going to wait and see.
--Alon June 3