Aug13
Courtney:
In the past sessions, we’ve answered some of your in-world questions about Idenau. But this time we wanted to do something a little different. If you have any questions about our inspirations, or the artistic/writing process in general, we’d be happy to answer!
I’ve always kinda wondered if you have some kind of set-in-stone story outline you follow, if you just wing it, or if you have some combination of the two.
By extension, do you have an ending in sight (albeit one that is far in the distance)? Obviously, I’m not asking for spoilers. I’m just curious.
Along this theme, do reader comments ever affect what’s going to happen in the story?
Not really. We love you guys’ comments and when you try to predict what’s going to happen. But we don’t let it affect us, and we’d rather try to keep you guys guessing.
A combination! We have the general trajectory of the story planned out, but not all the details. When we conceived of The Fourth, it was a very definite plotline that we’re following, albeit in a meandering way. We also have certain locations that we know they’re going to visit (for instance, we’ve known there would be a pirate adventure for a long time). But the update-by-update punchlines and misadventures usually aren’t planned out too far in advance. It’s good to be flexible.
And we don’t know how everything is going to tie up for each of the characters. But we do know, basically, how the story is going to end and that someday it’s going to come to a very natural stopping point. And then we’ll move on to another webcomic, right? :3
How do you balance the drama in the comic with its (at least seemingly) light tone?
During the comic’s run, have your main draws of inspiration changed, or the amounts for each changed? I mean clearly there’s zelda inspiration in here, but also other things, any shifts on that front?
Is there anything coming up in the future that might give a different tone to some story arcs? Gilly + Slice, for instance~? ..or maybe just an entire thing about Ecta and Davis being stuck in a secret bonus dungeon?
Victor
No seriously, the story would be a lot darker if it was just me, because I like sappiness and heartrending moments. Victor’s very good at keeping things in balance, I would say. I’m going to go ahead and bring in your last question here. In the future – a long time off, really – the plot will twist, the stakes will get higher, the characters may go through some hardships and we will touch on some backstory stuff that isn’t exactly cheerful (I mean, the First must have done something pretty bad, right?). HOWEVER, we will always keep the overall tone of the comic funny and hopeful. We don’t want to trivialize unpleasant things, but we also won’t dwell on anything upsetting for more than a few pages in a row. Because humor is a great tool for coping with hardship and absurdity in real life, and that’s how it’s going to be for our characters. And this comic makes people smile and be happy and we want to keep it this way. I trust Victor to keep things in balance. (Also, no matter what happens with Gilly and Slice, or anyone else, I don’t think a really sappy/cheesey romance is anywhere in the comic’s future. 
)
This is a fun one. Y’know, when I first thought of the idea for this webcomic, I pictured it existing in more of a Mario/platformer type of world. I’ve been influenced heavily by the Paper Mario games, which are already pretty parodical of that kind of story. You can still see elements of this, like the princess getting kidnapped over and over in her lifetime and most people being more or less casual about it, or the idea that Blank bounces around when he hits lava. The Zelda/adventure game direction was really brought on by Victor. It helps that we were playing A Link to the Past together when we were drafting the earliest comics. The Temple of Terror is pretty much straight-up LttP. (Kill all the enemies and the key falls from the ceiling! Again!)
But each arc of the story has its own inspirations, like Mire Manor had some heavy Scooby Doo elements, Iceburg being “stereotypical Canada” and the pirate story has its own wealth of influences. This way we can explore other genres and common settings instead of our entire webcomic being like “IT’S A ZELDA PARODY!” That’s only one part of it; a heavy influence that runs throughout, true, but there’s also inspiration from many other games and other media.
How many of your friends or family helped you along the way before and after the comic started?
NONE
Seriously though, Victor and I have done thus pretty much entirely ourselves. Our family members know the comic exists and have been supportive of our need to work on it, and some of our “real-life” friends are readers. But aside from that encouragement, we haven’t really gotten any help, which is fine because we haven’t asked for or needed it.
That is really cool that you two can do this together like that.
What about in a less direct way, like any influences?
Hmmm… we’ve tried to avoid basing the characters off of anyone in particular. Although sometimes they remind me of people, which may indicate a subconscious influence.
We had some friends in college that did Hawaiian Shirt Fridays every week, no matter the season, and they tended to just wear their tropical shirts opened on top of some other T-shirt, so that was the inspiration for Floyd’s attire…
I also consider Cyril to be a conglomerate of people me and Victor have known in band. They tend to be hairy and beardy and unkempt and earnest.
Hey, I was wondering something!
How does the work system work in this world? Specifically in Skaerva’s castle? Do workers like Floyd and Slice get paid at all? And what would they spend that money on? They do they have to pay for the rooms they stay in, and buy food or is that provided for them?
Do ghosts get paid? Or do they just work for fun/Retirement? Does Ecta work only for Skaerva to think highly of her?
Work/life at the castle would be an interesting thing to cover in a future session
I will say that almost all the ghosts at the castle, like Ecta, are the cursed servants/household of the First… and they don’t really NEED to work there, or to work at all, and nothing is strictly keeping them there… but when you’re dead but still conscious you need SOMETHING to do. The undead of Cattail Crossing tend to be more hedonistic and try to “live it up” as much as they can while being… well, not alive. But that gets old after a while. And I would say that while Ecta has always wanted her Lords to think highly of her, that is only a side-effect; her devotion is much deeper and less selfish than that. Dear Ecta! We’ll find out more about her… eventually.
Yay!
So much character development in your comics! Can’t wait to learn more!
Speaking of Ecta, I was wondering why her face has that “extended” nose, kinda like Skärva’s.
Well, ghosts’ faces get distorted and squished over time. The meta reason is I just like drawing that type of face. It was a lot less pronounced when I first designed her, and the rest of the ghosts, but I think she/they have more personality this way. Allows for some crazy-wide smiles.
Ah, sorry! I posted this question in the wrong area! X_X I need to read more carefully where i put things!
No problem! It happens! :3
watching your gravatars converse is amusing.. lol
What time-zone is this comic published in? So I can better understand tonight and such-and-such morning when there are update delays. And keep up the good work.
It supposedly goes up at midnight central time (that is, as soon as it turns Monday, Wednesday and Friday), since we’re in Texas. Although recently because of dog issues and other life stuff, it’s been less reliable. Hopefully we’ll be back on track soon!
And thank you!