Inspirations: Mega Man part 1

Hello fellow dreamers,
    Do you remember your first dream? How about the first thing that made you dream? I don't know exactly what it is, but the longest dream was thanks to a little game known as Mega Man II... for the Gameboy. The first character I can remember designing was based off Magnet Man, because magnets were awesome!!! The idea of levitating thanks to magnetic powers or sticking to surfaces so I can fight steadily were ideas I had back then and I wasn't even in school yet. However, those dream characters I made back then faded away fairly quickly due to interests in Pokemon and Star Wars, and also since my brother rarely let me play Mega Man II.
    The main glory Mega Man would obtain in my imagination came in the form of a misunderstanding but still in awe. It was when I saw the cover for Mega Man X. Mega Man in a cool white armor! It actually wasn't until a few weeks ago that I finally played this game. Back then, I didn't know what different consoles meant, I didn't know that there were already 3 generations of consoles of which I had none. My first experience with the X franchise was perhaps my favorite Gameboy Color game called Mega Man Xtreme. It actually was the first Mega Man game I ever beat, and I beat it over and over again (as well as unlock that glorious white armor and "Hadouken!").
    I'm guessing at by this point, you all have realized that X is the inspiration for the character Xagem. To this day, Xagem has been the core of my stories the longest, even though he was initially separate from the Neostriker universe. I probably went through maybe 5 revisions of Xagem before I finally incorporated him thanks to the development of "forms." Another fun fact is that Xagem was also the first story I ever wrote as a little kid. It's short and horrible, but it was mine and I loved it.
    There is so much I can talk about with how Mega Man (Rockman in Japanese) helped me and even more so with the character Xagem, but I'll leave those details for another time. I hope you enjoyed this insight.

J, D. Nyle

P.S. If you have any fanfiction on Neostriker, don't forget that you can send it to my email at jnyled@gmail.com for a chance to be uploaded on this blog.

Inspirations: LEGOS

Sometimes the best source of inspiration is the access to creative tools. Playing with Legos led to many different ideas I implemented in Neostriker. For example, both Celonret and Gnugger were characters I first made out of Legos to play with. Gnugger and his transforming ability came from playing with a lego star wars set and adding wheels and playing with different shapes. Eventually I was able to design a humanoid figure that was perfect for use in Neostriker. However,  I also liked the jeep design so I kept the transform idea.

P.S. I'll be busy for a while so there won't be any updates for the next two weeks.

Inspirations: Digimon Part 1

    When I started Neostriker, there were three main series from which I took inspiration. In the end, only one maintained its significant impact at the core and that was Digimon. Many of the ideas I implemented where so core that I didn’t realize how much it had influenced me until I began to look back. Part of this is seen in chapter 18 with Sunflare as it effectively “digivolved.” However, that was perhaps the most explicit reference.  This is because everything else I implemented was later refined by other series like Mega Man.

    The first development beside the “evolution,” was probably the use of neocards. This came from Digimon Tamers. It developed further due to Yu-Gi-Oh at first, but most of those developments were removed. The further advancements came thanks to Mega Man Battle Network. This where I took the idea of Neocard Combos, as well as some weapon designs.

    Perhaps the most substantial inspiration was Forms. While it looks a lot like Cross Fusion from Mega Man NT Warrior, I was playing with the idea long before I even heard of it. In fact, trying to watch Digimon Frontier is how I came to learn about Rockman EXE before it came to the US as Mega Man NT Warrior. I could go into more detail but I believe that is enough for today. I hope you enjoyed learning where many elements came from.

J. D. Nyle

Inspirations: Dragonball Z

When I was a lot younger, I remember Dragonball Z when it was airing on Toonami. Now, this series did not impact Neostriker too much. This was more of a side series that I played around with separate from the Neostriker precursor. The main element that I would attribute is the hunt for the Elite Stones similar to the Dragon Balls. However, I think you might agree with me that it was a weaker aspect of the story. For my next story, I have new plan based off the developed nature Elite Stones. That's all I have for today and I'm currently planning my next post so it should not be a long wait this time.

Inspirations: Pokemon

    I'm sorry for the delay in writing this first update. Certain circumstances have kept me busy but I hope everything shall be calm for a moment. I hinted a while back that I wanted to go over the many inspirations for Neostriker. The first one I will cover is the one that began the long chain: Pokemon.
    Neostriker began it's life as a Pokemon clone. Back when I was very little, Pokemon was absolutely amazing. I believe I went through about 3 different variations before I finally arrived at what would become Neostriker. I remember how I would play Pokemon Blue over and over, and even though the series was banned in my house, I still managed to watch some of the original TV show. These glimpses would unlock my imagination as I would pretend and design more "pokemon" and play with them.
    The first little monster that I recall designing was based off a fox plushie I got as a kid. Now those who read Shining might realize that the first neomon that is friendly happens to be a fox-type. Coincidence? Anyways, you may also have noticed how there is not much you could say is inspired from Pokemon throughout the book. That is the case because, as I said before, it was banned in my house. Eventually I didn't care and I decided to move on to other series for inspiration. So even though Neostriker began it's life with heavy Pokemon influences, I eventually moved away and decided it best not to keep it. There is more to the story, but I feel like it's best to save it for later.

Until Next Time,

J. D. Nyle

The Future of Neostriker: Shining and Fanfiction

    Can you believe it's all done? When I wrote the story over 5 years ago, my intent was just to have fun with it. I didn't care so much about it back then, but as I developed it more and more, I became very attached to this story. It was a fine tribute to the many things that developed Neostriker as well as being a good tool for developing the series. There a few things that I didn't put together until I began writing David's story, but when I look at it, I can't imagine a better way of making it all fit together.
    You may be wondering about the ending for the book. I personally think it is a fitting ending for the major themes of the book. Before I had a sentimental ending, but it turned out less than satisfactory. The current ending may make some people question what was and what wasn't, but that's fine. I originally intended the book to be a complete story to stand on its own, but as I got closer to the end, I wanted to leave an opening that I would allow me to write the sequel I had planned. However, the sequel that has been in my mind for the past 5 years is not right for a book. As much as I want to write the story, I believe it would be best as a movie or TV show. It's something that needs to be seen. As a result, I'm holding back on writing that story for now and focusing on developing the Neostriker Universe.
    I don't know how long it will take before I am finished with my next book, but I can tell you it will take place at the beginning of Neostriker. That's right, it will be partially about Xagem, the character I made which began my development of Neostriker as a whole. I have been planning this story for years, but I wanted to finish Shining before I started actually writing, mostly for practice. In the meantime, I intend to be publishing a mini-series called Legends, which will contain many short stories concerning the characters in my next book.
    Now back to Shining. As I mentioned before, many series were inspirational in my development of Neostriker. Before, I simply copied what I saw. It wasn't until I had a lot of practice with it that I began to transform it into something new. I shall be honored if my series will be the same for others. Therefore, I am encouraging fanfiction for the Neostriker: Shining world. I only ask that you do not write about the beginnings of Neostriker as that is my next subject. I actually have about 7 stories planned, and most of them are hinted in the story. I do hope I will have the time and talent to write all of them eventually.
    The plan to encourage fanfiction was actually part of the intent when writing the ending to Shining. I want people to feel okay with misunderstanding something occasionally, because misunderstanding something can actually be inspiration to the imagination. Neostriker is full of things like that. An example would be Saiber Armor. Yes, I know what happened and what didn't, but I also like playing with the idea of certain things changing. There is actually one thing I would like seeing changed that would make things even more interesting, but I also believe it's time to move on from Shining.
    Now to encourage fanfiction even more, I would like you writers to send me your fanfiction. That way, I can publish them on this blog for everyone to read. If I find something objectionable or controversial, I may edit it for protection of my story and characters. I actually had a very controversial chapter in the early drafts of Shining, but it betrayed the idea of creating a simple story for everyone to enjoy. As a result, I prefer to keep things simple and good while the controversial topics can be for another series.
 

Sincerely,

J. D. Nyle

Update 5/16/15: Currently not accepting fanfiction. I still encourage it, but at the moment I want to focus mostly on the new novel. I will start accepting it again in the future so keep on writing.

delay and fan creation

I'm sorry everyone. Episode 9 will have to be delayed due to some last minute edits to Episode 8 and forgetting how it affected Episode 9. I hope to have it released next Wednesday. Until then, I thank you for your continued support.

Speaking of support, I was sent an image and link by a reader, named Emily (according to her DeviantArt profile). I was very impressed by the work even though it is simply costume jewelry. Apparently, it was crafted years ago but it looks like a perfect representation of what Jenny's pendant might look like. I might have to commission a real thing.

Looking through her other work, I am even more impressed. If I need anything steampunk related, I might have to contact her. If the link above doesn't work, you can find her profile at http://nonconformity777.deviantart.com/