Foreword

Back in June this year, I had the amazing fortune of being interviewed in an Edge magazine article alongside Hidetaka Miyazaki about online communities filling in the blanks for games they love. The journalist, Ben Maxwell, asked me: “Why is it important for you to do this?”. My reply was:

Back in 2008, when Demon’s Souls first launched, Japanese fans were lost as to what to do, or where to go in the game world. The stubborn amongst us decided not to give up, and started recording our findings on the Livedoor-hosted Japanese wiki.
Slowly but surely, we created a resource that took a difficult and mystery-shrouded game and documented the whole damned thing. I find myself 7 years later with an accidental mission: That any gamer can feel welcome in the RPG they want to try, and they feel there’s a community there for them with ideas, support and simple or in-depth explanation to complicated or obscure concepts.

In these 7 years I have been introduced to, discovered and met amazing individuals and teams who create exceptional content around the games we love. Fextralife would like you to meet them too.

In this series we will be showcasing members of the Souls community, who through their passion, dedication and hard work have become a bigger influence than most. Some of these individuals are already well known and others have been operating quietly behind the scenes. We hope you’ll get to know all of them, learn some things about them and gain some insight into the pillars of the community. You can find Episode I here, Episode II here, Episode III here, and Episode IV here.

Click on the tabs above (or watch this video) to get started meeting Cannonbreed and PeevePeeverson.

Fexelea

Meet: Cannonbreed

Our first interview is with Alex McDonald. A pixel artist reknown for his gifs and creations for streamers, he is also an aspiring game developer. You can find him on Twitter or visit his Tumblr.

Alex: I live in Melbourne, Australia. I have been doing Pixel Art for maybe 2 years and before that I did 3D-animations as a freelancer. Only recently did I discover my love for Pixel Art and I have been doing that ever since. I have also been working on a game in my spare time. I do amateur games development. When I’m not doing those things, I’m usually sleeping because I just do that all the time!

Alex: I’ve got a cousin and we both like similar games. Whenever he finds a game, I’d usually go over and we’d both be entertained by it. So, one day he ask me to come over and check out this awesome game that is so different and very hard. So I went over to his house and make my way to his room, and I could hear clashing of weapons, screaming and monsters dying! When I opened the door, I see this really dark and awesome game that looked so fun and I had a go at it. But then I absolutely hated it. It was too hard for me and I just didn’t like it at the time. I was like, “this is stupid and unfair!”, “enemies just run at you in groups and you can’t do anything about it”, “there’s too many different buttons you can press!”

So I left. But the week after that, I could not stop thinking about it!  It was unending and ever since then I just got hooked on it! I went and bought it immediately and the rest is just history.

It went from “Disdain” to “Obsession”.

Alex: While I was in my 2nd year of University, I started a blog and put up work that I did because I felt that’s what you’re supposed to do. I was making little things here and there – like little knights and monsters etc.  Then I saw this trailer for Dark Souls 2, and there was this really cool bad guy. He was some kind of a Mummy-dude and I was like I want to try to recreate him from what I’ve seen.

So what I did was, I downloaded the video and paused it at key sections and copied down all the details that I could. I really thought it was a Boss at the time, but it turned out to be just an Undead Jailer. But yeah, I had recreated that in pixel form.

Alex: I’ve done stuff for Indie games like Strife and Moonman. I made little fan-art pieces but not too often because I usually  spend my time on game development stuff. As kind of a homage, I did this DOOM-inspired creature thing, but apart from that its mostly Souls-related.

Alex: I’ve already finished University last year, but I did a Game Design course. I actually finished early because I got “recognition of prior learning” Credits because I was working in games development.

Alex: It was an easy thing to get into. Not to say its easy to be good at it, but the entry level is a lot lower. You can go very low resolution but still make something that looks decent, so I thought that’d be a good place to start. But then I realized there is so much nuance and there are so many subtle differences between different pixel artists and stuff like that so I just got hooked on it because of all of the way that I could learn! I guess you could say it sort of comes from a place of wanting to learn.

Alex: My job is just free lancing pixel art and animation but that is like a part-time job. I use that just to stay afloat, but the game-development stuff I don’t get paid for. I’m hoping that I can release a game and then from the money I make from that I can work on the next game and then hop from game to game using that as the source.

Alex: I usally don’t do any line-art with Pixel Art. I just go in and make huge blocky forms. It looks like a big blur but then it slowly appears from that. I also do something called pillow-shading – it is not realistic lighting, but there just to show the forms. So I make the lighting look like it’s coming from the front or a little bit from above. It’s just kind of a way to fake lighting to make the forms read well, so you can actually see what you’re looking at. I always try and use techniques that I have seen from other artists.

Alex: The process for both is usually planning at the start where I’ll think about what it’s going to say and what it is going to look like. I try and think as much as possible before I even put a tablet-pen to the board because I don’t want to rush into it and then realize it makes no sense, or that it is not going to work so I’ll have to start all over again.

I will get heaps of reference. Then once I start, I try to drop down a palette usually first. So I’d just draw blobs all over my screen of all the different colors and all the complimentary colors. Then I’ll do a really rough sketch and then start all over again. I’ll make the general form, and then squint my eyes to check if everything looks okay. Then do a pass over it again and keep doing that again until I’m happy with it.

Alex: I’d say it is the Bloodborne demake that I made. It was like a gameboy start screen. I really liked it because I actually want to make a little game of it. I actually wrote on my blog “would anyone play this?” and people said “hell yeah!”

I really like it for the potential little game that I could just give away to the people for free.

Alex: I do alot of stuff for Peeve Peeverson.  I did his channel art and his Bloodborne-styled logo. I’ve also been working on a couple of T-shirt campaigns with him.

My first actual big gig was with Vaati Vidya. I had done graphics for his Patreon video.

I’ve also done stuff with Carson-Drew-It. I did some little animated Dark Souls characters for his stream. Like if somebody subscribes a little Sif comes up or if something else happens a little Solaire would pop up with his arms up into the sky – Praising the Sun!

So I’ve kind of done stuff with all sorts of different content creators that are Souls-related.

Alex: I’ve made my Twitter open so anybody can message me. You could just message me and ask me if you want something and we can go from there.

Alternatively, you can also send me a message on Tumblr and we can sort things out.

Alex: Currently I’m working with a programmer on a side-scrolling beat-em-up game. We’re using GameMaker Studio , which a lot of people said could be a mistake because it can be kind of hard and finicky to get advanced stuff out of it. But I think we’re trying to play to it’s strengths by making a platformer – which is something GameMaker is better at.

We get together 3 times a week and we work as if it were a full-time job. We get there early, work the whole day, have an hour’s lunchbreak and then we leave at 5.30~6.00 pm.  It’s kind of like dress for the job you want, so we’re pretending to work as a game studio until it becomes a real thing.

As for the game, we’re almost at a stage where we could give out demos of the basic combat mechanics. We’re aiming to have it in an Alpha-ish stage by the end of the year  so that people can play and get a feel for it. That way we can tell if people like it or hate it, whether they would want to play it, etc. Just to get some feedback. We’re kind of in the thick of it right now.

Alex: It’s based off a lot of Aztec architecture and mythology so it’s heavily inspired by that for the design. There’s even Devil May Cry and to some extent Dark Souls in the sense of having obscured mechanics and elements of figuring things out for yourself. I guess you could even say Shovel Knight, because its boiling down to just essentials so that it doesn’t have hundreds of moves. Just a couple of moves for the purpose of juggling enemies and stuff like that.

 

Alex: I think the sense of Mystery is just my favorite thing. It’s like you can play but still not know anything about the game? There’s so many ways to go, so many characters that mislead you and there’s just so many things that aren’t explained. I find that really refreshing because there’s no “do this, do that, make sure you heal, etc.” For example, when I first got cursed, I didn’t know what it was or why my health got cut into half. It was just amazing to feel actual terror and despair rather than feeling “its so easy, there’s checkpoints everywhere!”

It really makes you feel like you’re working at something and really trying to figure things out.

Alex: I’m actually looking forward to getting really mad and angry at the game! I guess it’s sort of masochistic but I can’t wait to get so infuriated that I try to break my controller in two!

I felt like Bloodborne didn’t really do that. It was a beautiful game and I do appreciate that Miyazaki wanted to try something different. I love the idea of trying something new but it was just a bit too easy? I felt like the hyper-aggression was so that you could just get into people’s faces and stun-lock them. Whereas DS3 looks like it’s returning to DS1 styled gameplay. It seems a little bit faster as well so it feels like it might be a little bit harder? But yeah I know it sounds crazy but I’m really looking forward to getting very mad.

Alex: I feel as if I’m a tad bit too quiet at times. I do have an online presence but I just feel like perhaps I could commit more to making more things or being more vocal. Hopefully with games development and things along those lines, I can really make an impression so in the future people can go like “that guy who makes pixel-art things based off Dark Souls, even has games that sort of look like it.”

I feel like that’s how I want to make an impression. Going forward, I think I want to make more things that the Souls community can enjoy. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a Dark Souls game – not exactly the same, but having the same “Soul” I guess one can say.

Meet: PeevePeeverson

Our next interview is with streamer Peeve Peeverson. Check out his streams or find him on Twitter to get in touch.

Peeve: I’m from Louisiana, USA and NO I don’t own a fan boat or an alligator. When I’m not creating content, I’m mainly on Twitch – watching my favorite livestreamers and such. As of more recently, I also find myself travelling a lot. For example PAX South in San Antonio, TX ; PAX East, I went to Boston and while I was there I also took a trip to New York; E3- I was at Los Angeles and more recently Gamescom in Germany. I’m going to be in San Francisco and then Malaysia by the end of the year. So I’ve kind of gone from just my “internet thing” to “Oh! I need to packup to go somewhere soon!”

It’s getting a little busier than it used to be, but whenever I am chilling it’s just Twitch livestreams.

Peeve: I worked at GameStop for Two and a Half  years and there was this game that a lot of people were calling about. It wasn’t like super popular or anything like that but I asked two of my supervisors  – “What is this Demon’s Souls game everyone is calling about?”

They said “It’s kind of like a cult classic thing that just released and there’s a lot of people loving it. I tried it out but its super hard! I can’t get past the first level. But you should try it out, its pretty COOL! You can see like other players’ messages on the ground and there’s ghosts of other players that show how they died – that’s really awesome!”

I was just like, “Well yeah I guess I’ll try it out.”

Then, one day, one of my brother’s friends came over and he had Demon’s Souls. So I watched him play it for maybe 30 mins and then I got up, went to the store, bought my own copy, came home, skipped class that day and then just played Demon’s Souls all day long! That was it.

Peeve: I’d say my first time being invaded and my first invasion. My first time being invaded, I was in Stonefang Tunnel (2-1), right after the little guys throwing rocks from the roof. I got invaded and it was in the room with all the miners and stuff. I didn’t know anything about proper dueling at the time so it was just like – “OMG THIS GUY IS HERE TO KILL ME!”

Luckily I had cleared out the room prior to the invasion, but we were just fighting in and out of those hallways –  knocking everything over and smashing all of the furniture and stuff like that while scrambling to try to kill each other! I don’t remember the outcome but I probably died, but it was unbelievable and such an adrenaline rush.

Then hours and hours later, I found the Black Eyed Stone and then did my first invasion in area 2-2 Stonefang Tunnel. It was where they had all those cliffs with the little platforms and wooden docks hanging out their sides? I was just in basic black thief gear and was this tiny little lightweight Thief character with almost no defences. But when I went out there, I saw someone who might as well have been in a Ostrava cosplay. So I was just like “OMG, how am I supposed to kill this guy?” He looked like a giant compared to me!

Somehow, the fight continued on onto one of the docks really high up and I managed to get behind him and got off a backstab. So when it kicks him off of the sword, he just breaks through the wood and falls of the cliff to his death. My mind…just exploded! It was like the most intense thing I have ever experienced in any game. I was like, “HOLY CRAP! Is that a thing now? Have we reach that level of technology where we can receive this kind of an experience in a video game? THATS AMAZING!”

So that was it, after that I just got sucked into PvP and it was over.

Peeve: I’d say the “unexpected.”  It’s like you invade and every invasion is unique in its own self, some even more than others. Like you might invade and find yourself surrounded by the most try-hard gankers who just want you dead. They’re just going to be chasing you down till you’re pinned against a wall or something. So you never know really what the next invasion holds for you.

Peeve: *Chuckles* God damn it!  If you want to get used to parrying, just go in there and get the hang of the parry windows of each of the weapons and such. I always tell people to parry 0.5 secs earlier than you would normally think to. Essentially, you’re going to go in there and miss and get your butt handed to you a lot. But I’d say its a good trade off to get your butt kicked a few hundred hours to have it just beat into you exactly what the timings are. In short, lots of dying would be the answer to that.

Peeve: Yeah, I love parrying the really aggressive Red Knights because they run up to you and throw out an attack immediately which you can parry like it’s nothing.

Peeve: I grew up with 3 brothers – two older and one younger – so we have always been into gaming ever since we were yo ung. We used to have a ColecoVision way back in the day and I used to play Q-Bert and Zaxxon on that. So I’ve always been into gaming but [for my favorites] I’d go – Ultima Online, Bloodborne (aside from the PvP match-making), Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1 and possibly Ninja Gaiden for the NES.

Peeve: I have a lot of games that I need go back and finish so there’s a lot I have been playing. More notably, I’ve been doing my first playthrough of  Elder Scrolls IV – Oblivion for over 2 years now. I’m still only like maybe halfway through it because most the time I just end up messing with the ragdoll physics and stuff. So there’s quite a few games that I’m “playing” at the moment.

Peeve: Not after Dark Souls 1 released, I made it to the No.2 spot in the Book of the Guilty on Xbox 360 – which at the time wasn’t filled with cheaters with perfect 60,000 indictments and stuff. It was actually respectable. It’s like if you see someone you’d be like “Oh damn! This guy is really high up in the Book of the Guilty.”  So people, started taking notice of that I guess and at the time I was part of the DS1 Wiki-chat.

I would get into invasions and then go over to the Wiki-chat and just type these massive walls of text about all the crazy stuff that just happened to me. Until one day somebody just goes to me like “You know what? You should consider recording your gameplay and put it up on youtube.” Then there were others saying “yeah. I’d watch that!” I just hadn’t considered something like that so I asked them “you really don’t like the walls of text?”

They replied, “No!  Get something to record so you could shut up!”

So that Christmas, when my mom was buying me and my brother something for up to $200, I got myself a Hauppage! PVR. After that I just started making Youtube videos and it just picked up from there.

Peeve: I’d say ‘Return to the Nexus’ which is the Demon’s Souls community event that I organize annually on October 26th. I call it the spiritual re-release. We just all start a new character, start fresh and play along at the same time so that it promotes activity at similar level ranges throughout the game. I put a lot of time making a video about that and I’d say it’s my favorite video.

As for stream, there is one livestream that I can really pin-point. That was the Dark Souls 1 – Prepare to Die Edition (PC) release day and everyone who streams Souls-content was streaming that day and there were viewers jumping from chat to chat going “OMG so-and-so reached Artorias / OMG this guy is invading, etc.”

So there’s this other content creator Rurikhan, I invaded him and it was the first time we ever “met” so to say.  There’s a recording on his channel from his perspective where he sees “Invaded by Peeve Peeverson” and he goes like “Peeve Peeverson? That has to be an NPC.”  He thought I was an NPC for the entire fight but our viewers in our chats were like “OMG Rurikhan and Peeve are fighting. Come watch!”

It really seemed like it lasted forever and I hope Dark Souls 3 release day can kind of get to that level where everyone is just enjoying all the streams going like “OMG this guy got paired with that guy,  or , OMG he is fighting this boss for the first time!”

It just feels like it really brings the community together to see so many viewers get hyped up in so many different streams at the same time. It’s really cool!

Peeve: I’d say I’m not sure but I do try to stay in touch with the community as far as possible. For instance, I knew we were going to be able to play DS3 at Gamescom so I organized something where we’d test mechanics and stuff the community would be interested in knowing and get as much information for everyone as possible. I guess also just try to keep a positive atmosphere in my content.

Peeve: I’m most excited to see the return of Dark Souls 1 movement and combat – especially parries. A lot of the community has been waiting for another Souls game built upon the original system. A game that goes back to its roots. So in my opinion, because DS3 is going back to the roots of Dark Souls 1 and Demon’s Souls, that alone is a massive step in the right direction.

Personally, I’d love to see the return of the ‘Banish’ spell from Demon’s Souls. I think it was a solution to a lot of the problems in the later titles so I’d really love to see it come back. And the penetrating sword. A long elegant sword is all I need. So those are the things I’m really hopeful for in DS3.