Library Of Ruina Art Book Developer's Notes

This page lists all developer's notes written by Project Moon staff in the Library Of Ruina Art Book.

Background

These comments from the Library Of Ruina Art Book contain supplementary information on the story, setting and development of Library Of Ruina. Information is taken from the English translation. A list of acronyms denoting the author of each comment is located below (not a full list of developers):

Title	Name	Role
KJH	Kim Jihoon (김지훈)	Director, Main Scenario Writer
LYM	Lee Yumi (이유미)	Game Designer, Sound Designer, Project Manager
CTH	Choi Taehyung (최태형)	Game Designer, Senior Programmer
KJY	Kim Jiyun (김지윤)	Scenario Writer, Content Designer
KES	Kang Eunse (강은세)	Business Manager
JMJ	Jung Minju (정민주)	Game Designer
JHR	Jin Harin (진하린)	UI/UX Designer
LJH	Lee Jihyeon (이지현)	Character Designer
KHN	Kim Haneul (김하늘)	Character Designer
KDH	Kim Donghwan (김동환)	Character Designer
SYJ	Seong Yoonjae (성윤재)	Programmer
LJY	Lim Jinyeoung (임진영)	Programmer
MJY	Mun Junyeong (문준영)	Programmer

Transcripts

The Patron Librarians

Lower Floors
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Floor of History	LYM	When I worked on the Floor Realization, it was nice to be able to depart from characters set in the near-future City and design things more grounded within fantasy aesthetics similar to what we had in LC. I could also gain a deeper understanding of Angela's thoughts and sentiments through that process. The background track that begins with a tone of sadness and explodes into anger is another highlight of Angela's Realizations.	Vol. I pg. 4
	KES	I personally like Malkuth with shorter hair. You can see her real-life incarnation when you visit HamHamPangPang. She often dyes her hair to try and change her image... Malkuth working hard all the time is a pleasing sight :) Go get 'em, HamHamPangPang!	Vol. I pg. 5
	KJY	Since this was the first floor to have a Realization, we had lots of contemplations and concerns—especially so—since it was likely going to set a precedent for future Realizations to follow. I think I also agonized over the presentation of the story. Seeing the reactions of the players made all the effort worth it, though.	Vol. I pg. 5
	KJH	It's the ever cheerful Malkuth. Pairing Abnormalities with the theme of history was a tough task. It also took quite a bit of time to conceptualize the background design for the stage. I planned out the design with idea that it stretches out from here to Yesod, Hod, and Netzach's floors. I fondly remember the fans' positive reactions to our first Realization update.	Vol. I pg. 5
	KJY	When we first did the voice acting, I remember directing Malkuth's lines in a way that more clearly demonstrates her fluctuant and sometimes chilling personality. There was a more dramatic difference in her tone; her voice would be brighter than ever when she's feeling happy, but it gets as low as it can be when her mood tanks... After some consideration, we decided to re-record the lines with less contrast.	Vol. I pg. 5
The Floor of Technological Sciences	SYJ	I wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable with seeing the unorganized shelves in the background. I am filled with comfort now.	Vol. I pg. 21
	KJH	The appearance of the Patron Librarians has changed from how they were in the previous installment as the Sephirot. Yesod's hairstyle was the greatest challenge of all. We feared that giving too great a change would make him look like a different person, and Yesod wouldn't have liked it himself.	Vol. I pg. 21
	LYM	I got to learn more about Yesod as I directed his BGM and the Realization. We intentionally toned down the grandiosity of the BGM for the early floors, which was a shame because the tracks of the draft version were really appealing. I personally feel that the level 1 BGM bears a strong resemblance to Yesod, so I listen to it often.	Vol. I pg. 21
	KJY	I'm a fan of the gear-shaped lights in the background art for Yesod's floor. I only had a blurry idea of how I'd like the background to feel, but the art director grasped my thoughts well and reflected them in the art superbly, to which I responded: "Eureka!"	Vol. I pg. 21
The Floor of Literature	KES	When I first heard that Hod would be managing literature articles, I thought there could be something that suited her better. Of course, now I believe that literature matches Hod well. :)	Vol. I pg. 38
	LYM	Starting with the Floor of Literature, the director asked that the designs for Angela's forms look more like a Distortion. I grappled with the design concepts quite a bit. There was a lot of trial and error creating the visuals for Spider Bud's E.G.O, which was our first attempt at such effects.	Vol. I pg. 39
	KHN	Back when I was playing LOR for the first time after joining the team, I was fighting Today’s Shy Look with everyone watching, and was beyond terrible at getting the timing right. When I succeeded after about 10 tries, the whole team congratulated me like it meant the world to them. When they adjusted the difficulty later, they asked me to test it out.	Vol. I pg. 39
	KJY	I'm fond of the warm atmosphere on the Floor of Literature. How nice would it be to read a book in such a place, nursing a cup of tea...? It led me to believe that some would prefer the Floor of Literature as the prime get-together and reading spot, as seen in an illustration where the Patron Librarians are together. The assistant librarians join in sometimes, too.	Vol. I pg. 39
	KJH	Her antenna is pointing the direction opposite of her hair in LC. It looks like the fanbase is evenly split on whether they prefer Malkuth or Hod. Our team is evenly split on the matter as well, actually.	Vol. I pg. 39
The Floor of Art	LYM	The programmer went the extra mile faithfully recreating the presentation for the Silent Orchestra. And it was great to be able to implement an effect from the legacy versions of LC that was lost during the system overhaul.	Vol. I pg. 58
	KES	It's not like I like alcohol, but looking at you keeps reminding me of it. :)	Vol. I pg. 59
	JHR	The Sephirah symbols actually could have been made during the development of LC, but didn't come to fruition since there wasn't much need for such symbols at the time. So when the time had come to create symbols for the first four, we made whatever we got an idea for first. My personal favorites are Gebura's and Keter's.	Vol. I pg. 59
	KJY	I'm personally a big fan of the presentation for the Realization of the Floor of Art. I remember being fascinated by how well it fit the Silent Orchestra and Da Capo. I also liked the design for Angela's transformation, which was as pale as a plaster cast.	Vol. I pg. 59
	KJH	The Floor of Art was the first to have its background images for dialogue scenes and the battle stage drawn. Netzach had a clear image and characteristics, which made it convenient to work on him. Choosing Abnormalities was also simple as there were many Abnormalities related to music.	Vol. I pg. 59

Middle Floors
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Floor of Natural Sciences	KJY	The gem in the window seen in the backgound art for Tiphereth's floor is colored after Enoch's eyes. Tiphereth sometimes sits in her chair and stares at the gem in thoughtful silence. I wanted the stage background to give the feeling that it's interconnected to the other floors, similar to Malkuth's. I felt that Roland's lines in his Jester of Nihil form are the closest to the emotions he held in the past. He goes from hatred to despair to greed to wrath, and finally, that sense of futility. Like the jester taking his step forward in the Major Arcana card, will there be a cliff awaiting Roland underfoot? Or perhaps it's only a shallow ditch. I got an impression that the way the Fool goes forward without knowing what's lying ahead resembles Roland.	Vol. I pg. 78
	LYM	The fifth phase of the Realization battle has the Magical Girls bring Roland back to his senses so he doesn't meet the same fate that they did. It's like the final episode of an anime. Since "transformation" is a key theme for this floor, there was much work to do in terms of programming and art. Especially with the Jester of Nihil—every part of it required 4 times as much effort, or even more... The key words of the direction for the BGM were descending despair, a quietly boiling sadness, painful memories that flash before the eyes sometimes, and an illusion of Angelica; thus creating a contrast with Angela's track. The two characters' tracks could've gone with the same concept, both being grand yet composed, but Studio EIM has done a wonderful job expressing the ideas.	Vol. I pg. 79
	KES	She's the one character that grabs my attention the most when I make videos. From her adorable appearance to the radiant background, I think Tiphereth is a pretty charming character. After making videos featuring Tiphereth with her appearance in LC, working on the trailer for LOR recently got me thinking. "Oh, our girl Tiphereth! You grew up so fast!" Knowing that there's probably a friend thinking the same thing makes me laugh.	Vol. I pg. 79
	KJH	Tiphereth's all grown up. We decided early on that the Magical Girls would be placed on the Floor of Natural Sciences, but the Realization featuring Roland was a bit of a dilemma. In the end, Roland the Magical Midlife Man came into being. In the room shown in Roland's flashback, there are many things he salvaged from the collapsed home.	Vol. I pg. 79
The Floor of Language	KJH	Our biggest concern was introducing Gebura in her weakened state. We decided to give her a locked passive ability which would give an impression that her true strength is sealed away. Also, Astolfo (a character appearing in Roland's flashbacks) is working in the north, which is why he wears a fancy attire in comparison to most guests featured in this game, who are from the south.	Vol. I pg. 103
	KJY	I scratched my head a lot over the combat dialogue for Gebura and Binah... I even considered omitting them outright for cleanness. I shouldn't make them sound too weak, but at the same time, making them all cocky and overconfident wasn't a good idea, either. In Gebura's case, we eventually settled with the image of a mentor that cares for her assistants.	Vol. I pg. 103
	LYM	The battle between the Mercenary and the Wolf was one of the first things I'd been eagerly wanting to make since the inception of Abnormality battles. The basic idea was to help the Mercenary hunt the Wolf as raid boss, but my faulty direction led to difficulty issues. My deepest apologies and thanks to the players who bore with the Mercenary catching her breath.	Vol. I pg. 103
The Floor of Social Sciences	KJY	While I like coffee, I didn't have any expertise in the art, so I would often go down to HamHamPangPang (which was starting preparations for their opening) to watch demonstrations and ask the staff questions.	Vol. I pg. 124
	KES	I don't drink coffee, but you made me try it. :)	Vol. I pg. 125
	KJY	There's a single instance of Chesed not holding his mug in the illustrations on the Tumblbug page, and I remember getting a good laugh out of people's reactions to it. He never lets go of his cup even in an emergency... Chesed's coffee served as a good excuse to get the Patron Librarians together when writing Small Stories... I owe much thanks to it. It's like a magical bridge that connects them.	Vol. I pg. 125
	LYM	It was a pleasure to direct content with Abnormalities designed by MIMI, an artist I'm a huge fan of. I also had fun planning out the Wizard-of-Oz-themed battle where you challenge the Wizard's trials. As a side note, this is my favorite floor that has everything I like: Chesed, sunken ships, cooperation, and a BGM with the violin. ^-^ Hoyoyo~	Vol. I pg. 125
	KJH	His hair went through several design iterations, almost as many as Yesod's. The staff had a good laugh seeing Chesed absolutely refuse to let go of his cup in the flashbacks. The Realization for the Floor of Social Sciences was updated on January 1st, 2021. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the difficulty and glitches when it was released.	Vol. I pg. 125

Upper Floors and the Director's Room
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Floor of Philosophy	LJY	Binah was the one Patron that required the most care in terms of programming. Since she wasn't quite like the others, there were a number of bugs when we implemented her, and I would blame Binah every time I encountered a bug when she wasn't at fault... Yes, the blame truly falls upon me.	Vol. I pg. 142
	KHN	The first drafts for the runaway birds that appear with Judgement Bird looked a lot cuter and more casual at first. The job felt a bit tough since I wasn't quite familiar with creature designs. I got help from someone else in the end. I don't know if the draft will make it into the artbook, but I hope to show it one day.	Vol. I pg. 143
	LYM	It was unfortunate that there weren't any chapters in the main story where we could make a giant boss character, but this floor filled that longing, even if by a little. Apocalypse Bird's stomp and the battery of lasers from its wings are two effects that still leave me awestruck.	Vol. I pg. 143
	KJH	Since Binah's brain was already scrambled in the past, she cannot give you any information about the Head or the City even if she were to become a book.	Vol. I pg. 143
	KJY	I love the background art for Binah's dialogue scenes. The atmosphere is bleak and dim, and somewhat dreamlike as well... I think it's a good match with the music in particular. The stream of water in the middle is shallow enough that you can walk through it with no problem, and lying in it won't fully submerge you. The stage background was directed to make it seem as if the Cityscape were being reflected in the night sky. We intended to create a visual representation of the conversation Binah and Elena had.	Vol. I pg. 143
The Floor of Religion	LYM	I spent days and nights wondering how to handle the somberness of WhiteNight when we were planning out the Realization. There were so many events and effects, writing down all the direction notes was a pain in its own. The two main concepts behind this floor's BGM are "requiem" and "hymn". The track gives off the feeling of a hallowed lament, melancholic in a way that's different from Chesed's.	Vol. I pg. 162
	LJH	Designing Realization outfits out of existing Abnormalities was challenging but fun. I wanted to depict a stronger synchronization with the Abnormalities. I was worried about how the designs might be judged, but I was relieved when they were accepted.	Vol. I pg. 162
	KJY	The lamps hanging on the stairs in the background art are pocket watches. A scene in a favorite movie of mine had countless pocket watches dangling in the air, which left a deep impression on me. Keeping records is important for religion, right? So I got this idea that Hokma inscribes special numbers or writings on the watches and hangs them himself. Only one of the watches is working at a time. Perhaps if a new event occurs, that watch would stop, and another watch would be hung.	Vol. I pg. 163
	KJH	We took him in a new direction where he holds a lot of bitterness, as opposed to his gentle impression in LC. When I was assigning library classifications to the Sephirot, looking at the category of "Religion" instantly made me think of WhiteNight, and it became clear as day that the Floor of Religion would be its place. However, I wasn't sure if we could reflect WhiteNight's characteristics in this game. In LC, WhiteNight was iconic for its ability to turn a huge facility into complete pandemonium after its advent. Fortunately, Director Lee Yumi organized the WhiteNight experience into something that could satisfy many fans.	Vol. I pg. 163
The Floor of General Works	LYM	Roland's chibi sprites were designed with the idea that he's hiding his true skills and is putting on an act, making himself seem sickly and weak. The art director did a good job portraying Roland's smug and easy demeanor. As for the Snow Queen's battle, we adopted the gimmick from LC pretty directly. I like how it turned out, as it seems more immersive than just watching it unfold in a containment unit.	Vol. I pg. 178
	KJH	When designing Roland for the very first time, he was modeled after the actor James McAvoy. I wanted to create a handsome character who is crafty and whimsical, but also doesn't look awkward when he gets serious. I was glad that many liked the newly introduced protagonist. Another candidate for Roland's inspiration was the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.	Vol. I pg. 179
	KJY	I love Roland's chibi sprite. It's probably my favorite. How can I put it? He's got the aura of... a master who makes you let your guard down? He looks relaxed at times, but when he takes a hit, he sells it well... I also like the contrast between his usual posture and the stature where he's wearing the Black Silence's gloves.	Vol. I pg. 179
	KES	It was quite hot last summer, but Mr. Son Soo-ho, the voice of Roland, recorded his lines with the air conditioner off to make sure that no noise snuck into the audio. The weather must've been stifling for him, since he was carrying a portable fan around his neck, but he kept a bright spirit throughout the recording. It was a pleasure to work with him. :)	Vol. I pg. 179
The Director's Room	KJH	Angela's crow outfit didn't quite suit the ambience of a library. So I asked for several sketches in order to give her an outfit that suits the librarian theme while still maintaining some design elements of the crow suit. Multiple hair and clothing drafts came up, and it took a while for us to decide on the final design.	Vol. I pg. 190
	KJY	Even though all the characters are precious to me, I can't help but cherish Angela the most; she is the protagonist, after all. I wanted to show her undergoing growth little by little. However, her attitude remained the same for most of the main story because we figured that players would take on the Realizations at different points, and so we left it up for the ending branches.	Vol. I pg. 190
	JHR	The themes of the Library UI were the neon lights of a cyberpunk world, the luxury of a library, and the stroke of ink. It was a textbook example of "elaborate but simple", the kind of requests that torment designers. Still, it was considered pretty if nothing else, so I guess that counts as half the success. I was very sorry about the UX for the early versions. I had to work under tight time constraints, and the constant changes with the game's systems made it difficult for me to clean things up. I sighed with relief when the total overhaul we pushed out in late November was received well enough.	Vol. I pg. 191
	KES	I wish to keep a promise I made with Ms. Lee Daeun. A convention we had planned was cancelled due to the pandemic, which was a huge shame since she was looking forward to it as well. (It was a period when COVID-19 caused a lot of uncertainty with holding events. Though things aren't much better right now;;) I vowed to plan a good event and contact her someday! Please wait warmly!!!	Vol. I pg. 191
	LYM	The sound effect for her snap was created from sound clips of multiple claps and finger snaps. The final version was created after going through multiple attempts to make a catchy sound, and I was happy to see that people liked it. Click!	Vol. I pg. 191

Canard

Canard
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Rats	SYJ	I never really noticed since I heard the lines so many times during testing, but when I gave it another watch later, I realized that Pete actually has a pretty charming voice.	Vol. I pg. 198
	LJY	"You know my dream, right? To become one of the Fingers of the Backstreets." Pete's behavior left a deep impression on me; even when everyone else has sunken in despair with their broken dreams, he proudly announces his ambition and puts his plans to reach it into action. I'm curious to see what he'd look like if his dream came true.	Vol. I pg. 198
	KJH	This trio was one of the last to have their designs made. Since they're the very first guests, they needed to be unique yet weak at the same time; I remember putting off their designs time and time again because of this dilemma.	Vol.I pg. 199
	LYM	Although it didn't make it into the game, I loved the illustration where Pete was looking up at the bright Cityscape from the dim alley. I could pick up on Pete's feelings from that piece. I hope you'll live a happier life from now on, Petey~^-^	Vol. I pg. 199
	KJY	The story of a rat who dreams. It's a fairy tale I've seen in various media, and one of the stories I liked. There were rats who were content with their current life and couldn't understand the dreaming rat, there were rats who had chased after their dreams but gave up after facing hardship. Looking at the stories of different rats, I wondered why they would say that you should be content with the present; it was nice to be able to tell a story elaborating on this topic, even if just a little!	Vol. I pg. 199
Yun’s Office	MJY	Finn was the character who's used the most for testing purposes, to the point of forming a sense of affinity with him. It's unfortunate that he seems to have been dethroned by Dong-hwan the Grade 1 Fixer.	Vol. I pg. 202
	LYM	It was difficult to come up with names for the Combat Pages of Yun’s Office, so I had given the page where Eri swings her blade a temporary name: "Eri's Wide-area Slash". Then the director saw that and turned it into an inside joke which lasted a while. Go, Wide Eri-a Slash~	Vol. I pg. 202
	KJH	In the initial draft, the background art that would be used for Yun’s Office actually belonged to Molar Office until the script was changed. The design was based on a dilapidated lawyer's office. The types and names of Fixer Offices took many inspirations from the ways of law firms formed around a court.	Vol. I pg. 203
	KJY	I like the stories of characters who try. The sort of characters who don't give in to the face of adversity, and rise again with renewed determination to do better next time. Finn was one of those passionate fellows. Of course, effort doesn't always pay off in this world, but I still think that kind of mental strength matters!	Vol. I pg. 203
The Brotherhood of Iron	SYJ	When I first saw "Y-you Only Live Once!" and "B-blow It Up!" in the card plan document, I almost fixed the names thinking they were typos.	Vol. I pg. 206
	KJH	Being the first characters in the game to showcase the concept of prosthetic bodies, they were also going to be early-game guests, meaning that we had to avoid making them look too powerful. That naturally led us to motifs like rusted iron and scrap metal, which resulted in the designs we have now.	Vol. I pg. 207
	LYM	The running poses of the Brotherhood of Iron were inspired by the way the robots run in the film Terminator. Since the Brotherhood had such ludicrous imagery, though, the poses came to convey a completely different feeling. Hehe!	Vol. I pg. 207
	KJY	These characters are notable for their buffered speech modules! I think it was fun to consider how to proceed with recording their voice lines. This is a side note, but when I skimmed through the scenario at first, I thought Mo was named 'Momo' because of this quirky speech pattern.	Vol. I pg. 207
Hook Office	KJH	The weaponry Taein has equipped is a bionic weapon manufactured by the workshop 'Union Co.' Initially, we had written down profiles for several workshops, but they didn't make it into the game due to issues with adjusting the numbers of contents. Bionic weapons sadly didn't appear after this point.	Vol. I pg. 210
	JHR	Hook Office's symbol is one of the icons I like from our earlier creations. I remember looking up a lot of graffiti images to figure out the shape of teeth that would better depict the feeling of "rough dudes" as well as the imagery of hooks to go with it. I liked how the meat hooks and the mean grin turned out to be a better match than I had thought. But, I do think the icon could have been better if the bloodstains were drawn as areas rather than red lines.	Vol. I pg. 211
	LJH	I'm personally a fan of Hook Office's Combat Page illustrations. If someone with murderous intent runs at you with their eyes glowing red in a dusky street where the only source of light is the moon and the urban glow softly shining on you from afar, I think anyone would be frozen stiff and defenseless in that kind of situation.	Vol. I pg. 211
	KJY	I like the concept of bionic weapons as used by Taein. There was a favorite work of mine where characters could morph parts of their bodies into weaponry, and seeing them battle used to pump me up. This isn't exactly the same as that, but I think I still like it in a similar sense. I wanted to introduce more bionic weapons, but unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to do it within this game.	Vol. I pg. 211

Urban Myth

Urban Myth
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
Pierre's Bistro	JHR	I earned the nickname 'Uncle Jam of Suji-gu' around the studio. Hand grippers are one of the few exercise tools you can use in an office environment, so I would work my fingers from time to time to get my blood circulating; then my coworkers gave me the nickname, joking about how I could make jam with my grip strength. I didn't expect meat jam to actually be brought up in the game.	Vol. I pg. 218
	KJH	They're guests that show a hint of the cruel side of the City. I put "meat jam" in the script without giving it much thought, but I was surprised to learn later that it's actually real food.	Vol. I pg. 219
	KES	Looking at them now makes me realize that time sure flies like an arrow. Meat pies... I'll make this meat pie one day!! :)	Vol. I pg. 219
	KJY	I remember thinking a lot about what the relationship between Jack and Pierre would be when writing the script for them. Are they a couple? Friends? Or simple business partners working towards a goal... Ultimately, it didn't change the fact that they cherish each other. I think the episode for these two characters was when we started making dialogue tied to special events. Characters in earlier chapters would only speak for themselves, but we gradually added more special lines to give a sense of affinity between them as we progressed. :D	Vol. I pg. 219
Streetlight Office	JHR	It's the same symbol that was featured in the physical invitation pamphlet. It was designed to signify that the streetlight becomes a fence that protects people. For a symbol that was designed pretty early on, I'm satisfied with how meaningful it turned out. The only thing I feel could've been better is that the shape of the streetlight lamp is slightly off.	Vol. I pg. 222
	KJY	My first impression of Streetlight Office is that... they're neighborly? Having just finished reading the darker stories from other parts probably reinforced that impression. I don't think that's a bad thing, though! They have their own goals, working hard in their own right.	Vol. I pg. 223
	LJY	The Office was a ray of light shining on the dreary, intimidating streets of the City. Its characters aren't too far removed from reality, which helped me grow fond of them. But... just who is Mars' mother?!	Vol. I pg. 223
	KJH	This group of guests was designed based on the trope of a traditional trio of protagonists. In particular, we wanted Mars to feel like the protagonist of a comic series. That may have been the reason it took a fair bit of time to decide on a voice actor to play his role.	Vol. I pg. 223

Urban Legend

Urban Legend
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
Zwei Association South Section 6	LJH	Julia was the first character I made chibi sprites for since joining the studio. Adjusting to the artstyle was hard at the beginning, and the sprite went through constant adjustments until it was put in the game. Looking at it now, I see a lot of room for improvement, but it's still the result of the hard work of my past self.	Vol. I pg. 236
	KJH	They were designed using police as a motif. I distinctly remember the characters, since their designs took shape rather quickly. Isadora in particularly was used frequently as a target dummy for testing chibi sprites or effects. I look forward to the day when we'll introduce more powerful Fixers from the Zwei.	Vol. I pg. 236
	JHR	To me, Isadora was the one who made the deepest impression out of the Zwei as a whole. She was the test dummy I used for conceptualizing the presentation of combat. I made demo videos for elements like the pace of poses during an engagement, camera movement, dice, and card drawing to show the programmers; they did a stellar job making it all a reality. And my thanks to Isadora for serving as a test subject throughout all of this.	Vol. I pg. 237
	KJY	The Zwei! It's one of my favorite Associations. Their clean attire and building interior, the office full of busy people dealing with new cases happening all the time... I liked how it encapsulates the feeling of a police station you can commonly see. In this game, we only got to show the atmosphere of Section 6 of the Southern Branch, but I'd like to elaborate on the roles and tones of other sections if we get the chance.	Vol. I pg. 237
	CTH	The Zwei's imagery is probably one of the first things that come to mind when you read about the lore of 'Fixers'.	Vol. I pg. 237
The Stray Dogs	KES	Being a huge lover of animals, the words 'Stray Dogs' troubled my mind so much that I made a plan for a General Invitation of 'Adopted Dogs'. It obviously didn't pass, though.	Vol. I pg. 242
	KJY	I remember them most for their tattoos and promises, on top of the fact that they show off their tattoos rather than hide them. It's the confidence in their own strength that I like. Maybe one day, Dino will have his whole body covered with tattoos like Gyeong-mi and Zulu?	Vol. I pg. 242
	MJY	I think it's important to keep promises.	Vol. I pg. 243
	LYM	Because the combat sprites were limited to chibi proportions, the punches and kicks of the Stray Dogs turned out cute rather than cool, which was a shame. Please imagine that they're throwing impactful and hard-hitting blows like what the Combat Page art suggests.	Vol. I pg. 243
	KJH	Gyeong-mi attracted more attention than I expected. He was designed after a designer in our team. We initially wanted to use his real name, but ultimately decided to go with a different one.	Vol. I pg. 243
	JHR	Hello, it's Gyeong-mi. I enjoy combat sports, and I think I was in the middle of taking wrestling lessons when this character was being made. Right now, I'm going light on exercise due to ankle problems, but I'd like to resume training once I've recovered and preach the importance of promises like Gyeong-mi does.	Vol. I pg. 243
Molar Office	KES	I remember talking to my friend about Mika from Molar Office because they had an almost identical name. Although her role wasn't anything major, that friend is short and adorable just like Mika, which makes her memorable to me. :)	Vol. I pg. 246
	KJH	I think this is the point where the plot truly begins to unfold. Myo from the previous game is mentioned here, and the subplot involving W Corp. marks its beginning here as well. I wanted to implement multi-hit effects since they use chainsaws, but unfortunately couldn't due to limitations.	Vol. I pg. 247
	LJY	I adore Olga's character design, and I found her personality enjoyable. I would like to try working for a boss like Olga, as long as... she doesn't fetch weird requests for us.	Vol. I pg. 247
	KJY	There are many Offices with unique names, but Molar Office takes the cake for me. I was particularly impressed by how the Office name symbolizes the way the Fixers mesh together to grind through requests. I also liked that even though they get into arguments often and seem volatile, they still rely on each other.	Vol. I pg. 247

Urban Plague

Urban Plague
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Carnival	LJH	I was asked by the director to make their poses grotesque and bug-like. It was funny seeing "Scuttle Scuttle..." written in the design document.	Vol. I pg. 258
	LYM	One of the programmers took a look at the artwork where the Carnival is running and said it looks just like the Art Director leaving the office, which got the whole studio bursting with laughter.	Vol. I pg. 258
	KJY	I was in charge of directing the majority of the voiceovers for the story, however, there was just one day when I couldn't participate. That happened to be the day when the Carnival's lines were recorded. Completely clueless about how the recording had gone, I heard the lines for the first time when they were implemented in the game, and it was so hard to hold back my laughter in the office. The characters are just oozing with charm...	Vol. I pg. 259
	CTH	It was the first episode to be added after the Early Access release. It features pages that manipulate the opponent's hand, but I don't think it worked well with this game since many bosses following fixed patterns were featured afterward.	Vol. I pg. 259
	KJH	Their unusual speech pattern alongside the voice actors' delivery made for memorable guests. Before their manner of speech was set, we thought a lot about how their characteristics should be expressed. And I remember visiting a custom suit store to learn more about the concept of tailoring.	Vol. I pg. 259
Full-Stop Office	KJH	The episode was first revealed at AGF 2019, an otaku culture convention. The current script is different from what was shown at AGF. In fact, we had adjusted the scenario and character lines prior to the convention, but the previous version got into the demo build by accident.	Vol. I pg. 262
	LJH	They're memorable to me since they were the first guests I received at the AGF 2019 booth before I joined the studio. When the artstyle changed to the current iteration, I was very much looking forward to seeing the Full-Stop Office characters in the new chibi style, but I didn't think I'd end up being the one to draw them.	Vol. I pg. 262
	KJY	I think these are the first characters I saw before I joined this project, beating out even Roland and Angela. They were the only ones I could look at and go "Oh hey, I know these faces!" Seeing them when I was reading the scenario was a pleasant encounter. As a side note, Argalia's pen was a silver fountain pen in my head.	Vol. I pg. 263
	LYM	Stephan had a charming character that made it easy to come up with ideas for directing his design concepts and page art. On the other hand, Liwei was a regularly cool guy, so forming ideas was quite tricky for him.	Vol. I pg. 263
	JHR	The symbol was made in a hurry when it was decided that they were to be featured in the AGF demo. The setting for Full-Stop Office did exist already, but I struggled with making a punctuation mark and a bullet hole into something that looks like a "symbol". That's when I was reminded of the stencil typography you'd often see in the army. I figured that I could make a fairly convincing design by combining the aesthetics of guns and military facilities. When I first started designing it, I was annoyed with the lack of ideas, but in retrospect, it's one of my favorite symbols; it's also the only one that has unadulterated hangul.	Vol. I pg. 263
Dawn Office	KJH	Salvador is fostering the younger generation after living a dramatic life as a Fixer in his youth. I think the story of his life could make for an interesting tale on its own.	Vol. I pg. 268
	LJH	I was curious about Yuna's weapon when I was working on her chibi sprites, so the director came in and gave me a detailed expression using a tablet. He drew a sketch of giant blades flying out of her cello case, which made me laugh because of how simple it was... It's a pity I can't share that drawing with you.	Vol. I pg. 268
	KJY	Dawn Office... It's the beginning of the first main storyline that I was put in charge of since joining Project Moon. Of course, the general framework for Philip's plot was already there. I wanted to write a fun story out of good characters and materials, but I see many things that could've been done better when I look back. Though it still doesn't change the fact that I adore this Office.	Vol. I pg. 269
	KES	I enjoy ssanghwa-cha a lot. My heart got filled with joy and excitement when a gift of ssanghwa-cha arrived at HamHamPangPang one day. Sipping the tasty ssanghwa-cha like zoop~ zoop~ I drank it all on behalf of Salvador :) Thank you Salvador~ And thank you to the people who had the generosity to give us those presents. I bow to you.	Vol. I pg. 269
Gaze Office	SYJ	Looking at the name immediately made me think of the rainbow Bonobono meme. Surprisingly enough, I heard that was not the intention.	Vol. I pg. 272
	KJY	I saw the Gaze Office as fellows who don't get along well. When I wrote the script, the general idea I had was that, while they're talented as individuals, they're totally out of sync when they work together, and Alloc is there to hold the two together and lead them.	Vol. I pg. 272
	LJH	When I was working on the chibi sprites for Gaze Office, Alloc's weapon still hadn't been decided. The design notes I received said that the weapon was going to be a stick resembling an oboe in shape, but I mistakenly drew an actual oboe, which got the director flustered. Nevertheless, it was approved and put in the game, and Alloc's attacks were accompanied by the instrument's sounds.	Vol. I pg. 273
	KJH	A chromatic group of guests. Having to decide on weapons and attacks for Alloc and Dalloc due to the game's structure of receiving guests through combat was difficult.	Vol. I pg. 273
	LYM	To go with Alloc's weapon, I made the SFX to produce an electronic sound resembling the woodwind. The sound was pleasing to my ears during the making of it, and it felt great to see the positive reaction from players.	Vol. I pg. 273
The Kurokumo Clan	JHR	The name being "Dark Cloud Clan" meant that the symbol wasn't going to have any color other than black, so it became the first symbol in the game to have opacity since I didn't want it to be too drab. The symbol was liked by more people than I expected, and it's one of my personal favorites as well. Also, aside from the symbol, I was very fond of Sayo's voice. I think the discrepancy between her soft tone and the harsh language she uses added a layer of depth to the character.	Vol. I pg. 276
	LYM	Making the katana SFX for this group was quite challenging. I'm satisfied with the clean and clear slashing sound that came out as a result.	Vol. I pg. 277
	KJH	The Syndicate didn't get to demonstrate its strength much for how frequently they appeared. Because of its size, it was destined to take on the role of the so-called jobber.	Vol. I pg. 277
	LJH	When working on the visual effects, I wanted to illustrate the feeling of dark clouds in traditional art. I felt proud when I got compliments from the staff that the effects were pretty.	Vol. I pg. 277
	KJY	I'm reminded of an illustration that didn't make it in the game. It showed the Kurokumo Clan trio looking down at someone, but it wasn't included in order to reinforce the fact that they're the kind of people who kneel before those who are stronger. It's like a visual representation of what Tanya said to Gebura? It was a bit of a shame to miss out on the three's confident faces, but I'm glad to be able to show it in the last chapter of the artbook!	Vol. I pg. 277
The Musicians of Bremen	KJH	During a visit to an art gallery in the past, there was an exhibition where objects were broken on the spot and the sound was expressed as music. Seeing that, I thought that perhaps there are various forms of music you can think of as beautiful, depending on the perspective.	Vol. I pg. 282
	KDH	After it was confirmed that I'd be joining the studio, I bought and played Lobotomy Corporation and Library Of Ruina to figure out the games' worldbuilding. Then I got to the scene where Oink attacks Angela, which was exceedingly shocking and upsetting. I remember attacking Oink with everything I got as soon as the battle started.	Vol. I pg. 283
	KES	The fairy tale I read as a kid was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the name "The Musicians of Bremen", but as of 2020, it gets me thinking about LOR. :)	Vol. I pg. 283
	KJY	Of all the unique characters in the Musicians of Bremen, I think Oink was my favorite. Imagine how impressive the Pianist's performance must have been that an Association employee who'd barely touched an instrument in his life decided to resign and start a career in music. His attire is also classy unlike the other two.	Vol. I pg. 283
Wedge Office	KES	Ssanghwa-cha is all I can remember. I wonder why...	Vol. I pg. 289
	SYJ	A sleek silhouette accompanied by a disproportionately large spear, along with a fancy hat and eyepatch! Oscar is truly one cool character.	Vol. I pg. 289
	KJH	It was rather difficult to decide on the concept for the trail effect. We were hesitant about putting colors into the effect because it's just a spear being swung with great force.	Vol. I pg. 289
	KJY	Salvador and Oscar met by chance a long time ago during an Urban Nightmare-class request. Salvador praised Oscar's composure and Oscar recognized Salvador's discernment, and from there, their friendship was forged. Moreover, they worked great together. This is all from a time when they were much younger!	Vol. I pg. 289
Philip	LYM	I like Philip's pose where he's pointing his sword ahead of him. The way he looks like he's steeling his determination is cool to me.	Vol. I pg. 293
	CTH	Being the second boss fight we made, there weren't many points of reference, and trying to implement a final attack of sorts had Philip using a page stronger than Greater Split: Vertical.	Vol. I pg. 293
	KJH	We needed the imagery and presentation of a protagonist having a moment of awakening; it was a time to try out various effects and such. The motif of the background is a Greek temple.	Vol. I pg. 293
	KJY	Through Philip's story, we wanted to convey the message that not everyone can conquer their suffering flawlessly. The E.G.O. wasn't fully realized, either; I thought of it as him engaging in a constant balancing act, trying not to fall into the Distortion. Sadness can strike again at any time, and you can never be sure that you'll overcome it.	Vol. I pg. 293
Love Town	CTH	This was the first boss battle to be added to the main story. As it is the first battle we made, it's pretty impactful, but the pattern isn't necessarily complicated.	Vol. I pg. 296
	KJH	Love Town was one of the most ambitious episodes for me. It was an opportunity to highlight the cruel sacrifices and irony lurking beneath another Wing. I took inspiration from the sci-fi horror films that left a lasting impression during my youth. This was the first episode to have stage changing effects and a song composed by the music group Mili.	Vol. I pg. 296
	LJH	I was curious about how the people of Love Town would look before we started working on them; then the director put up an image of Tomerry and circled parts of their body, and requested that we attach their heads and limbs to those segments. When you combine the three townspeople, you can see Tomerry's silhouette.	Vol. I pg. 297
	LYM	The music playing during the dialogue segment for Love Town was inspired by the soundtrack of the film Event Horizon. I was a fan of the film's atmosphere, so I was looking forward to how the music would turn out. I was happy that the composers at EIM managed to create an empty, eerie piece that fits Love Town well.	Vol. I pg. 297
	SYJ	This was the part that captivated me the most when I skimmed through the overall storyline for the first time. Personally, it was unfortunate that Tomerry's design was much cuter than expected.	Vol. I pg. 297
Tomerry	SYJ	I liked the background track by Mili so much that it was the only thing I listened to at work for two months. I don't know a lot about love, but I guess this must be it.	Vol. I pg. 298
	LJY	I saw this character on an art team staff member's monitor not long after I joined the studio, and my eyes were shaking at the startling sight. On top of that, the part where Tommy's head blows up during the reception... It was so shocking, I could feel my brain tremble. Maybe it was then that I decided I want to work with this team for a long, long time.	Vol. I pg. 298
	LYM	I tried to make the presentation and sound effects that play during Tomerry's battle give off an overwhelming sense of dread and terror. In particular, I put a lot of effort into Merry's scream; it makes me jump when I hear it in game, even though it's my own creation. I played the update four times in a row to test the difficulty just before shipping the update, and my head was pounding from the struggle and atmosphere of the fight.	Vol. I pg. 299
	LJH	Making the chibis for Love Town was quite hard, but fun. Seeing Merry faintly remember Tommy in the second phase gave me such a heartache, too. Although I'm pretty squeamish about gross stuff, I did my best to draw the grossest looking things!	Vol. I pg. 299
	KJH	The stage transition was designed with the idea that—because the Library is heavily influenced by the force of the mind—its interior is affected by guests with a strong aura of the Distortion or E.G.O. I like the moments when the background and music return to the Library's normality once Tomerry is defeated.	Vol. I pg. 299

Urban Nightmare

Urban Nightmare
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
Sweepers	KJH	These guests first made their appearance in Lobotomy Corporation. We held a meeting to discuss how to implement their iconic flurry of hooks. Sweepers have consolidated their footing in the City as a natural phenomenon and rule.	Vol. I pg. 310
	SYJ	They're familiar faces from LC. I was surprised by how big Lyla was.	Vol. I pg. 311
	KES	I remember doing a Spine [skeletal animation] study with the Sweepers while conceptualizing our third work. All I could make them do was flail their arms, though. I wanted to let everyone see the cutie Sweeper. Flap them arms~	Vol. I pg. 311
	KJY	I remember seeing a scene in a film where a character uses snippets of various radio broadcasts to convey a message, and thinking to myself that it's fresh and impressive. It was just like Valerie's manner of speech! Valerie's way of speaking feels rather different from the other two. It was the voiceover producer's idea to have them speak like a machine in certain parts. Thanks to that, a unique character was made.	Vol. I pg. 311
Shi Association South Section 2	CTH	When you successfully activate Boundary of Death, you get a damage number that's neatly divided or multiplied to yield 25 or 100, provided that there are no other Power modifiers. I wasn't going for anything specific, but it just happened.	Vol. I pg. 314
	KJH	Yujin is my favorite guest in this game. I'm especially attached to her because I made specific orders for designing the effect and visuals of Boundary of Death, as well as the passive abilities for the Shi Association. I often think that it might be fun to create a work centered around Yujin's eventful life. Boundary of Death!	Vol. I pg. 314
	LYM	I remember splitting the character 死 multiple times to create the exhilarating effect of Boundary of Death. Like this, and now, Boundary of Death!!	Vol. I pg. 315
	KJY	Yujin is a character harboring the ambition to address the injustice she sees in the system. I think it's admirable that she knows to swallow her anger at the moment and persevere until it's the right time. I guess that's how she could become the respected director she is, right? As a side note, I never got Boundary of Death to work while playtesting... I hope I'm not on her bad side or anything.	Vol. I pg. 315
	JHR	The Shi Association's symbol was one of the more experimental ones. First off, I had to add a touch of Eastern aesthetics with ink, and then I had to design a symbol using the fact that the Han Chinese character and number 4 are pronounced the same way. I put a lot of effort into this symbol, and it feels great to see it leave a powerful impression on people, combined with the presentation of BoD.	Vol. I pg. 315
	LJY	I think Yujin is a director worthy of respect. The burning passion hidden underneath her stoic and rational exterior, and the power to back up that coolness! Yujin, I love everything about you, even when you roll a 1...	Vol. I pg. 315
The 8 o’Clock Circus	KJH	This episode was done with full rein given to the scenario writer who had newly joined us. They did a good job conceptualizing the designs and settings for the characters. I especially liked how they gave Oswald a unique and charming manner of speech.	Vol. I pg. 320
	SYJ	It's my second favorite scenario next to Love Town. I'm partial to Oswald's manner of speech and the nonsensical metaphors he throws around.	Vol. I pg. 321
	KES	They're just pictures, but they hurt my heart Q-Q I don't wanna see the circus members Q-Q.	Vol. I pg. 321
	KJY	Sadly, Mr. Lion has no teeth; you can safely get into his mouth because he swallows things without chewing. He has formidable jaw strength, though, so he could crush you if he wanted. That's how he got Pameli from the Wedge Office. Whether the lion's "teeth" look sharp or round depends on your personality and ideals!	Vol. I pg. 321
Noah & Emma	KJH	I was worried that they might be perceived as too similar to Tomerry in concept. Thus, we held a meeting to express their unification in a more roundabout manner, rather than in appearance.	Vol. I pg. 324
	KJY	In the initial concept, the story was about a person who stole eyes from others in the hopes of seeing more things and lost their legs as punishment, alongside a giant who couldn't see. Their names and personalities were quite different from what we have now. I brought the story of a fairy tale I've always wanted to elaborate on, tweaked it to create the game's narrative, and eventually created Noah and Emma.	Vol. I pg. 325
	LJH	Noah and Emma were the most elaborated characters that I've worked on chibi sprites for. Glittering metal, colorful patterns on the clothes, all the fancy decorations... It was a pain to draw them, but I had with it nonetheless. Here's a funny story: I couldn't see Noah's hair from behind too well in the illustration where he's become a circus member, and mistakenly thought his hair was let down when I worked on his sprites, but later learned that I was wrong when I saw the card art. It has been since fixed, but I guess I must've been too afraid to ask for a simple confirmation at the time...	Vol. I pg. 325
Puppets	JHR	These guests gave me the most fun as I played the game. I personally enjoy a playstyle where you crush your opponent using a creative set of skills, and I remember seeing some people come up with a real spicy deck called the "Music Club" that combines the 8 o'Clock Circus and the Musicians of Bremen, which I had fun with. I usually don't refer to any walkthroughs on my first playthrough of a game, but the strat got me too intrigued to resist, so I checked it out right after getting through the story.	Vol. I pg. 330
	LYM	I was pleased that the voice the puppets generate as they talk proved to be satisfying. Gigigigig.	Vol. I pg. 331
	KJY	I was thrilled as I worked on this because it was the first point in the story where the Reverberation Ensemble's attire was revealed, if I remember correctly. If you're wondering why Jae-heon is wearing a long coat unlike the others, it's probably because of his preferences. As a side note, Jae-heon's monologue is one of my favorite scenes since it gives off the feeling of a stage play.	Vol. I pg. 331
	KJH	The continuation to the exciting story of the W Corp. train. It shows that the rich can escape even the cruel consequences of technology. T Corp's box was shown here to allude to the connection between it and W Corp. And the disappearance of the box was inserted as a reason to raise the Puppeteer's threat level. In the process, I unintentionally gave the players an impression that the box was a setup for a huge twist or something that foreshadows future events. The experience taught me to handle narrative devices more carefully in the future.	Vol. I pg. 331
Index Proselytes	JHR	I like that the Index's symbol turned out nice and good looking. Some symbols like the Hook Office's, Smiling Faces', and Sweepers' are ones I feel my personal design style was well reflected in, and I'm especially satisfied with the Index's.	Vol. I pg. 336
	CTH	Going highlander in this game isn't a huge penalty since a deck is only 9 Combat Pages large, but there's still little you can do about a bad starting hand.	Vol. I pg. 337
	KJH	The index finger is often used to point somewhere; your eyes are naturally drawn to the tip of the finger. The Index points at where the City denizens should go. However, one shouldn't lose sight of the moon in favor of the fingertip that is pointing to it.	Vol. I pg. 337
	KJY	I was asked to portray the Index as people who have blind faith to the Prescripts. Their eyes being covered is probably to represent the will to follow the guidance of the Prescripts no matter what. As you can likely expect, the blindfold doesn't hinder the wearer's vision at all.	Vol. I pg. 337
	LJH	This is when sprites started to have motion blur effects by default! We started including the trail effects in attack animations as stronger characters began to appear.	Vol. I pg. 337
The Smiling Faces	LJH	The characters have charming and unique designs, but they look so intimidating. I shut my eyes tight when I receive them in the game...	Vol. I pg. 338
	KJY	At first, they seemed so familar and welcoming... Though seeing them together does creep me out sometimes. I also thought their vital capacity must be amazing to be able to use such a massive pipe...	Vol. I pg. 338
	KDH	This was the first Syndicate for me to work on after joining the studio. Despite being in chibi proportions, it was difficult for me to adjust to LOR's artstyle, and I remember redrawing Wang three times or so. The Hahoetal-shaped smoke in special poses was added by the director's suggestion, and it was a delight to make.	Vol. I pg. 339
	KJH	I wanted to make characters with the Hahoetal mask as their defining concept. In a comic featuring a secret royal inspector that I read as a kid, I found the charming arrangements of Korean traditional elements impressive. In addition, whenever I looked at the mask, I found the bizarre smile rather creepy. That naturally led to the creation of this eerie Syndicate.	Vol. I pg. 339
The Crying Children	KJY	The unblemished innocence of a child is sometimes scary. Kids are at that age where they're the most honest with their emotions. Rather than complicated feelings... they tend to follow a single emotion staunchly.	Vol. I pg. 342
	KJH	The battle takes place in a cooled off background, contrasting with the Philip fight. In terms of lore, multiple smaller angels agglomerate to form one giant angel. That's why there are fewer angels in the background as the battle proceeds and why the massive angel gets smaller each time.	Vol. I pg. 342
	CTH	The boss battle spans seven grand phases. 7 whole phases in a turn-based game that's already quite time-consuming? Doesn't that mean it requires 7 turns at the very least? It's okay, though; in the internal test version, there were 2 more phases featuring two and four Children, respectively. Does that actually make it 11 total phases when you include the fusions?	Vol. I pg. 343
	KDH	I was quite shocked to see Philip end up distorting, when he felt so much like a protagonist. I spent a lot of time considering how we should go about expressing the texture of charred marble, the Salvador- and Yuna- shaped figures appearing in attack poses, effects, and such.	Vol. I pg. 343
	LYM	In the early design, the Crying Children had no face. Oswald used to have a line where he compliments the "vivid expressions", which was written because I felt Oswald would be able to find an emotion even in a completely blank face. However, after confirming the content with the director later, the face got multiple eye holes.	Vol. I pg. 343
WARP Cleanup Crew	JHR	Unlike most other cases, the illustrations came before the symbol for this group of guests. Based on the artwork drawn by Yunjung the art director, I refined the image into a logo with a touch of my style. On the topic of the WARP Cleanup Crew, while the symbol itself isn't my favorite, I'm a big fan of Rose's design and voice. Her hair color, her personality, her voice, everything about her seems so cool and stylish.	Vol. I pg. 346
	KJY	In the CG, I wanted to show the agents taking off all their gear and being in their casual apparel outside of work. They wouldn't be armed to the teeth all the time.	Vol. I pg. 347
	KJH	I wanted to demonstrate the power of the employees working for a Wing. Each corporation has its share of challenging tasks, similar to what goes on in Lobotomy Corporation. Maybe there are Wing employees or Wing-affiliated Fixers who are as strong as a Color, too.	Vol. I pg. 347
	KHN	I'm personally attached to these characters; is it because these are the first ones I worked on since joining the team? Also, the plot twists unraveled in this episode shook me up. Being my first work with an unfamiliar style, I struggled and consumed a lot of time at first, but I could finish it without trouble thanks to the help and direction from my senior artists. I drew the chibi sprites based on the character artwork designed by the Art Director, but Lesti's weapon is resting behind her back, right? I had fun imagining how the obscured parts of the weapon might look and coming up with a design myself.	Vol. I pg. 347

Star of the City

Star of the City Rows 1 and 2
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Thumb	KDH	Working on the shooting animations, the firing effect, and Discipline was so much fun. All the named characters other than Boris actually had a special pose where they shoot their guns at point-blank range, but it was a bummer to see that few people noticed. Kalo is a pretty cool character, and as for Boris, working on his poses required a lot of thought since he fights with knuckles instead of guns. Being in chibi proportions, I feared that the short limbs might make him only look cute. His face was fortunately tough enough to alleviate my concerns while I worked on him.	Vol. I pg. 360
	LYM	Isn't Denis' face in the combat sprite when he attacks so adorable? After reading the story, I wrote down a note about how it'd be fitting to have his face change all of a sudden in the design document, and the artist did a good job expressing that. It's a discarded storyline now, but Boris could've been a boss initially. I undertook the design project for the Distortion, but it was my first time trying a hand at design direction, so the work ended up going wayward...	Vol. I pg. 361
	SYJ	If we get to revisit them, I'd like to see a character that's like Tom Hardy with a Tommy Gun.	Vol. I pg. 361
	KJH	Because of their antique design, the Thumb's guns were depicted as muskets or flintlock rifles. However, the idea in my head was closer to a breechloader or a lever-action rifle. In an earlier version of the scenario, the Thumb was planned to have a boss battle instead of the Index, but it was changed since it was deemed too graphic.	Vol. I pg. 361
The Blue Reverberation	CTH	The Blue Reverberation's on a brief constitutional. We set his health high with the assumption that he'll be in a battle where he faces multiple foes at once later, but then his next fight turned out to be a one-on-one duel.	Vol. I pg. 368
	KJY	I viewed him as someone who isn't all noble and lofty. We were especially mindful of this detail during the voiceover sessions. He's always laidback and elegant on the outside, but sometimes, he allows a slight hint of emotion to show. I was glad that the voice actor was able to nail that subtle change of tone.	Vol. I pg. 369
	KDH	I'm attached to the Gear Worshippers as I handled their designs and poses. Sadly, the Blue Reverberation was next to them and hogged the spotlight all for himself.	Vol. I pg. 369
	KJH	I wanted to create a character who is gentle and elegant. In addition, it's hard to grasp what he's thinking, and something about his personality signals he has a screw or two loose. The character was drawn up as a rival to stand against Roland when it was decided that he'd be a protagonist early on.	Vol. I pg. 369
Liu Association South Section 2	KJH	Their gear is equipped with ignition devices, causing a similar effect to Stigma Workshop. I planned their designs with the concept of warriors storming through the battlefield like a raging fire in mind.	Vol. I pg. 372
	KHN	I accidentally forgot to give Mei and Lowell gloves in their chibi sprites at first, but that became canon for Mei since it matches her lighthearted personality, and her hands weren't visible in her character art anyway. Lowell was given his gloves back, though. I enjoyed working on the generic foes since their weapon design was in a style I like.	Vol. I pg. 373
	KJY	A characteristic detail that had been omitted when the episode was revised is that Mei is knowledgeable about workshops. While not omniscient, she was the kind of gal who could spend all night talking about the weapons she favors. There was also a line where Lowell jokingly retorts in response to Cecil and Mei's antics, which had been removed because it made the scene feel less serious.	Vol. I pg. 373
Cane Office	KJH	Nemo earned quite a bit of fame thanks to his dialogue. It was fun writing his lines. Bada is a brother to San from Streetlight Office. There were some keen players who caught on to the connection from the start. And Martina's legs are prosthetics.	Vol. I pg. 380
	KJY	I was impressed by the scene where Nemo's voice is edited to seem as if an error has occurred as he screams out loud. ^.^ Following the director's suggestion, we applied the sound design used for one of the Abnormalities featured in Lobotomy Corporation. Reaching that part never failed to make me smile during work. I think it was delightful and good.	Vol. I pg. 380
	CTH	Nemo's manner of speech made it easy to name the pages.	Vol. I pg. 381
	SYJ	I saw Bada's name and jokingly asked if he's related to San, and got perplexed by the answer. I mean, I didn't seriously expect it to be real. I personally found Nemo to be charming for his joviality and craze for money. (Translator's Note: The joke here is that "Bada" means "sea" and "San" means "mountain".)	Vol. I pg. 381
	KHN	I tried my best to give Bada's chibi sprite a handsome face. San was included in the list of references for some poses, so I made Bada's poses resemble his while demonstrating Bada's own personality at the same time. They're brothers, after all. It was fun to design Bada's gauntlets which he kept behind his back. I considered drawing Martina's face beneath her hair, but decided to leave this part to the player's imagination instead. I'm partial to Martina's pose where she takes a hit, even though I know it was my job to draw it.	Vol. I pg. 381
The Index	KJH	I remember admiring how cool the unique moves turned out. The motif for the flower shape in the Index's symbol was aconite (wolfsbane). I like the scene where Argalia and Esther are standing face to face. Gloria's voice took inspiration from a certain spider-shaped robot from a certain series.	Vol. I pg. 386
	KJY	I remember being torn between a cold, robotic voice and a humanlike one when directing the voiceover for Gloria. Eventually, the latter was picked because I wanted to see a lively and cheerful Gloria.	Vol. I pg. 387
	LYM	The variation in Gloria's eye in her combat sprites is a charming little detail of this reception. And the reception also features stylish unique moves. The sound effect for 'Decapitation' was my favorite SFX I made in a while, which made me use Hubert's Page often for quite some time, hehe.	Vol. I pg. 387
	KDH	After working on the flowers, petals, and attack effect resources, seeing the special moves in action was spectacular. I felt proud to see the scattering blue petals in the Blade Unlocked mode, as it felt like I managed to give the Index a unique characteristic. Having to work on chibi sprites with 14 total poses not too long after I joined felt like a monumental task. It was at least fortunate that the Blade Unlocked mode only added affects to the attack poses and didn't add much workload. Hubert's damaged pose was missing when we first tested it... Speaking with the programmer, we decided to keep the pose stiff since he looked cooler enduring the hit while standing still.	Vol. I pg. 387
The Red Mist	CTH	While immensely strong, her position in the game is comparable to a midboss. She had to be an adversary who could be overcome by the player, and at the same time, her pages needed to be usable. Such stipulations made balancing this character a tough job.	Vol. I pg. 392
	KJH	I wanted to paint imagery that's simple yet powerful. The horizontal and vertical greater splits were all but confirmed to be her moves from the beginning. Although it couldn't be shown in game, a cloud of blood forms from torn flesh whenever the Red Mist's Mimicry cleaves an opponent. The title was given because of the thick bloody mist she leaves after battle and the appearance of her E.G.O. armor.	Vol. I pg. 392
	JHR	I saw many posts expressing disappointment with the Red Mist's symbol when it was first revealed. But there were also many people who were more understanding, explaining that it reflects her character. I understand the confusion with the sudden change in style since all the symbols in LOR outside of one and a half were designed by the same person, but if you had to ask why, the answer is: "It's the Red Mist we're talking about." I combined several cursive fonts and drew the letters by hand to try and emulate the coarse style as much as possible.	Vol. I pg. 393
	LYM	The music that plays when the Red Mist's E.G.O. is awakened was one of the drafts for the level 1 BGM of the Floor of Language. As soon as I heard the track, I got the feeling that it fits Kali better than it does Gebura, so I kept it safe and waited for the Red Mist update.	Vol. I pg. 393
	LJH	This was my first time working on animations; the short visual that plays after Mimicry is swung during Greater Split is the result of my work. I had never done moving effects or animations before, but it was a valuable experience, and the programmers implemented it wonderfully.	Vol. I pg. 393
Liu Association South Section 1	LYM	I remember watching fight scenes from several wuxia films to help with planning out the poses for the Liu. Directing poses for an Eastern combat style for the first time was challenging in many ways.	Vol. I pg. 396
	KJY	Xiao's lines contain a lot of four-character idioms and old proverbs that I personally like. For example, the saying that the cauldrons are broken, which means there's no turning back... My favorite among them is 不因人熱 :D (TL: "To not depend on others' leftover heat." I.e. to be independent, with a possible connotation of reclusiveness or arrogance.)	Vol. I pg. 396
	KJH	I participated in a doujin (fan-organized) convention in China once. We met the translator there and had a meal together, and that's when I showed them Xiao's design. The translator commented that a hydrangea would also be a fine choice for the embroidery on the suit, but we eventually went with the dragon design for a militant impression.	Vol. I pg. 397
	KHN	When I started, I didn't know Chun's gender. I worked on the chibi sprites without knowing the gender because I believed that emphasizing their personality takes priority over that when it comes to this sort of sprite work. The Liu Association's characters already have similar outfits, and I didn't want their poses to be identical on top of it. So I gave the poses some subtle differences based on the character's nature. I happened to see people who noticed it make posts comparing the poses and giving positive feedback, which made me exhilarated, and gave me a huge morale boost.	Vol. I pg. 397
R Corp. The Fourth Pack	SYJ	I'm a fan of designs that give off the impression of a big sturdy tanker, and that's just what the Rhino Team provides. I was impressed by Maxim's positive spirit that still shines in hopeless situations.	Vol. I pg. 404
	KDH	The Rhino suit was originally designed as a powered suit slightly larger than the body, but as we progressed, the limitations of chibi proportions made it excessively big. I do think bulky makes them look better and more reliable. Among the Reindeer Team helmets, I like the ones with sullen eyes. Getting hit with a Mind Whip by someone wearing it dazes me.	Vol. I pg. 404
	JHR	I'm partial to the R Corp. logo because it's one of the simplest symbols I've made, yet it conveys the meaning well. The head of each R has the reindeer's antlers, the rabbit's ears, and the rhino's horn respectively; we trimmed the clutter and left only the necessary elements after constant adjustments.	Vol. I pg. 405
	LYM	I find the way the Reindeer Team shake their heads whenever they attack cute. Though, I suppose that's their psyche being shaken in reality...	Vol. I pg. 405
	LYM	There were a few characters whose profiles I'd already decided or had in mind, and Myo was one of them. I established her profile while I was writing the script for another part, so I put it in the artbook right away with a few adjustments. As a bonus, the large-sized ice cream tubs are one of P Corp's products.	Vol. I pg. 405
	KJH	The name 'Myo' was used based on the idea provided by a backer for Lobotomy Corporation. The motif of her visual design is a lop-eared rabbit. In an earlier version of the script, the R Corp. captains were even more vulgar with their words.	Vol. I pg. 405

Star of the City Row 3
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Index	KJH	I'm a big fan of Children of the City, the track used for the battle. I planned for the genre to be something like city pop. I remember putting a link to the song titled 'Yanghwa BRDG' [by Zion.T] as a reference in the concept proposal we sent to Mili.	Vol. I pg. 408
	JHR	I looked at Moirai's lines and thought she would be fascinating with a voice, and hers managed to become my second favorite in the game, bested only by Sayo. I honestly wanted her to have more screen time after this, and it's a pity the encounter with her was a one-and-done deal. Her voice was a perfect match with that subtly sarcastic way of talking.	Vol. I pg. 408
	KJY	I rather like Yan's spiteful side he had kept hidden. He's calm and unperturbed on the outside, but he's hiding some kind of secret. I wanted to focus more on Yan's past and his inner feelings that couldn't be fully unraveled in the story itself through his Key Page, and I hope the message was delivered well. By the way, I imagined the color of Yan's eyes to be a pearl white with an enigmatic tint. In fact, Moirai used to be a mysterious character whose face was concealed. Wearing a robe that gave her shade, she would stay an enigma until she parted. The design we have now is as ordinary as any City denizen could get. As we refined her character, she got more talkative and human. Looking at the players' reactions, I saw a lot of them find Moirai's manner of speech peculiar; I wrote her that way to play up her character and shamelessness a bit more. :D	Vol. I pg. 409
얀샋ㄷ요무	LJH	As I designed Yan's Distorted form according to the design documents I received, my heart was broken seeing what Yan had become. I liked every concept behind the design, including typewriters, inks, locks, and looms—and I dunno if I managed to weave all of them into his design well...	Vol. I pg. 410
	CTH	The outline of the fight given to us at first was "The two hands are separate entities, and there are turns where you should go full on defense or offense, similar to Xiao's Power null", but that disappeared without a trace as development progressed. Besides, the pages 얀샋ㄷ요무 used were not usable for librarians outside of a few special ones, so we had to make new ones.	Vol. I pg. 410
	KDH	I worked on the chibi sprites for this Distortion, the hands, and the librarian attire version; I loved the characteristic black ink effects. Thanks to that, making visual effect resources was a breeze. Based on the chibi designed by Lee Jihyeon from the art team, I polished the details and touched it up to make the sprites. While not visible when worn by a librarian, you can see Yan's head and face in the preview image for the Key Page; that's the draft Jihyeon worked on.	Vol. I pg. 411
	KJY	The Prescripts shown on the screen during battle against 얀샋ㄷ요무 were spontaneous ideas I wrote down right away. I tried writing carefully thought out ones, but I think I deleted them all because those didn't carry the ambiguity and bizarreness that Prescripts have. Prescripts are always convoluted, after all.	Vol. I pg. 411
	KJH	I wanted to reflect the Prescripts' nature of being seemingly meaningless but ultimately significant after going round and round on the name. I felt that the name 'enlxmfflsdis', which is "뒤틀린얀", [the Korean for "Distorted Yan"] typed with the keyboard set to English, was in line with the message. The translators converted the name appropriately for each language. ('얀샋ㄷ요무' = "Distorted Yan" with the keyboard set to Korean.)	Vol. I pg. 411
The Purple Tear	CTH	Being the follow-up to the Red Mist, an already powerful Color, the Purple Tear came out just as powerful. The director provided a definite outline on the passive abilities, so it didn't take long to plan them out, but implementing them took several leaps over the existing systems.	Vol. I pg. 416
	KJY	I remember thinking about what direction to take the voiceover. It was so hard to set the right balance between slyness and rigidness, I kept contemplating even moments before the recording started. My concerns melted away as soon as I heard the voice actor's performance, though!	Vol. I pg. 417
	KDH	Even in the planning stage, she had a staggering 23 poses excluding duplicates. I made frequent slip-ups while working on her default poses because I was nervous about handling a Color.	Vol. I pg. 417
	LYM	Four decks! Four times the poses to plan! Four times the sound effects! A moment of applause for the artists and their hard work...	Vol. I pg. 417
	KJH	When we decided on Slash, Pierce, and Blunt as the three types of damage early in the game design stage, we thought of a character who could utilize all three types to the fullest. Making a strong character who has the basics down led to the imagery of a mentor. What kind of knowledge has the Purple Tear amassed in her interdimensional escapades?	Vol. I pg. 417
Liu Association South Section 1	CTH	Fiyah, fiyah, fiyah. The Combat Pages in this column are all red because fire is the primary element.	Vol. I pg. 420
	KJH	She's at the middle ground between Distortion and E.G.O. manifestation. If Xiao had turned into an Abnormality, there would've been serious repercussions for the City.	Vol. I pg. 420
	KHN	It's Xiao, the Section 1 director of the Liu. She's grieving over losing her lover a few days before their anniversary. I was asked by the director to make her appear the most serious. That's the reason why her facial expressions are more intense than most other characters. I heard many times that Xiao plays a very important role in the story, so the pressure was real when I worked on her art. I had the chance to design Xiao's sword in the process, and it was enjoyable as an enthusiast of Eastern aesthetics.	Vol. I pg. 421
	KJY	The characterization underwent significant change during development. The key concepts for the first version of Xiao's story were "having all but one eye closed to everything else, while the open eye stares clearly into vengeance and wrath" and "a dragon that cannot fly into the sky, as it carries two cintāmaṇi (wish-fulfilling jewels) at once." I thought the script was a bit too highly charged and that a plot of pulling oneself together and fully manifesting E.G.O. would suit Xiao the best, so we turned it around. I remember strongly asserting my desire to write the script that way, hehe. By the way, if you carefully look at Xiao's neck, you can spot a scale grown in the opposite direction.	Vol. I pg. 421
Xiao	LJY	I got invested in the story of Lowell and Xiao for a long while. And I became enamored with the theme song 'Iron rotus' [sic], I would listen to it on repeat at work. I hope the two continue their lovely relationship together in the City.	Vol. I pg. 424
	CTH	The more virtuous a character is, the harder it gets to design a boss battle around them; you have to be careful not to break the character when you give them weak points. Ultimately, a gimmick was made based on the idea of the reverse scale, a popular concept associated with dragons.	Vol. I pg. 424
	KDH	Drawing fire for this character was such a fun task. The trail effects in particular were a delight to work on. The background was a lot of work. I had to redraw it once because I misunderstood the plan... Still, I was overjoyed to see the background I made be used for the video that premiered on YouTube. That made my confidence rise for future background art.	Vol. I pg. 425
	KJY	The motif is an yinglong, a dragon in Chinese mythology said to have the wings of a hawk; it is also said that a dragon who has lived for a long time can shroud its body with flame. It's unfortunate that she became rather over-designed because I was unable to cut down to size the ideas I wanted as direction went on. I referenced the OST of a certain animation-based film for Xiao's theme song. I was impressed by the way she overcame the initial confusion and gradually strengthened her resolve as she moved forward. In the case of Iron Lotus, that was more apparent in the lyrics than the melody. I am fire~	Vol. I pg. 425
R Corp. The Fourth Pack	LYM	Rudolph using 'Mind Crush' is really cool...	Vol. I pg. 426
	KJH	We uploaded a teaser poster for an animation featuring the Fourth Pack of R Corp. on April Fools' Day (KST). There's actually a story treatment we wrote for 10 episodes of that hypothetical animated series, showing events from the build-up to the aftermath of the Smoke War. I hope to make it someday.	Vol. I pg. 426
	KDH	In the original plan, Nikolai's Disposal only had one pose where she slashes the target. After a conversation with the director, two poses (lifting the sword then shaking it off) were added. It was such a fun job, and I still have fond memories of the work. Similarly, Myo got an additional pose for her Mass Attack. A relatively obscure detail is that you can see a paw print on the sole of Myo's boots in her evasion pose during Savage Mode. I made that with love. Working on Maxim's Ground Crash was a bit of a challenge. The idea of a hammer made purely of energy reminded me of Thor. I deviated from the usual modern-fantasy design and put more emphasis on the fantastical element. Rudolph's hair swaying when he uses Mind Crush was made at the director's request after I was done creating the pose. It took more effort, but it turned out a lot cooler, which I was satisfied with.	Vol. I pg. 427
	KJY	I saw Myo as a character who isn't honest with herself. She still thinks of Kali as her hero, but her attitude toward that former heroine wasn't the warmest. I thought about what she would say to Gebura at the very end, and whether she could keep her feelings concealed until the last moment.	Vol. I pg. 427

Impurity

Impurity Pre-Ending Receptions
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
Hana Association South Section 3	LYM	Since their weapons are malleable and don't have a definite shape, the artists and I toiled to make various poses. On a side note, we associated Geon with spears, Gon with defense, Gam with kicks, and Ri with swords.	Vol. II pg. 6
	KJH	I wanted to infuse the symbolism of the four trigrams into the characters and setting. We wrote up a lot of drafts and adjustments. Back when he was in Charles' Office, Olivier rivaled Roland in terms of power. Right now, he's living a more stable life, away from the frontlines.	Vol. II pg. 6
	KJY	The same lines Mirinae, Angelica, and Xiao all said are some kind of battle cry. It's not used by everyone, though. It's uttered as a means to reaffirm the dedication to fell a Star of the City. The story of Charles' Office is one of the topics I'd love to write about someday. Olivier, Astolfo, Renaud, Ogier, Naimon... and all the others. They're all unique in their own ways, and there are tons of tales I'd want to tell with them.	Vol. II pg. 7
	KDH	When I started working on them, I thought Olivier was the director; he seemed tough at a glance. I found out later that Mirinae was the director, and Olivier was fighting a duel with Roland later. Maybe I should've suggested adding a few more poses with more love if I knew that the character was gonna be more important. I looked at columnar jointing formations [a type of geological structure] as a reference for portraying the trigram weapons. Looking at the weapons play versatile roles in kicks, punches, and attacks, I thought it was fitting for the Assocation that manages all the others.	Vol. II pg. 7
The Black Silence	LJH	I shed sweat and tears working on all the poses for his arsenal of 12 weapons. His attire is a basic suit without any coats or ornaments, so an awkward pose was going to be highly noticeable; it felt as if my skills were being put to a test.	Vol. II pg. 12
	KJH	The Black Silence's gloves are more than just dimensional weapon storage. When the Black Silence shows up, the gloves muffle all sound in the surroundings other than the Black Silence's weapons cutting through the air. The logo has a [EKG] pulse trace going flat to reflect this. While the Red Mist is a warrior who fights in open areas, the Black Silence is analogous to an assassin carrying out missions efficiently in small spaces.	Vol. II pg. 13
	KJY	I'm a huge fan of the idea that a high-pitched noise is produced when the Black Silence and the Blue Reverberation meet, their deadening and echoing effects colliding. Even more so when you consider that the interaction can be a representation of the relationship between Roland and the Blue Reverb, and by extension, Angelica and Argalia.	Vol. II pg. 13
	LYM	For Roland's Combat Pages, I drew inspiration for their presentation from combo attacks in 'Devil May Cry', a game series I'm a fan of. A huge thanks to the artists who got the staggering amount of poses done for Roland the weapons master.	Vol. II pg. 13
The Reverberation Ensemble	SYJ	I loved the designs for the uniforms and logo. I definitely want to buy a hoodie with the same design.	Vol. II pg. 16
	KJH	I planned them with antagonist groups commonly featured throughout creative works in mind. With their uniform indicating their affiliation to the same group, the members also have individuality in their appearance. They're linked to Roland's karma, big or small.	Vol. II pg. 16
	KJY	This is the point where the plot begins to sprint for the ending. It was a thrilling experience to work on this part. I took great pains to make connections between the members and the Patron Librarians. I think fleshing out the ideas in my head and putting them in words was the most difficult part.	Vol. II pg. 17
	LYM	This chapter had me thinking constantly because I had to direct 6 battles in a short time. It also features the wonderful, playlike BGM of the Reverb Ensemble. We originally planned for 10 variations, but had to settle with 4 due to time constraints. It was unfortunate that we had to reduce the impact of each character's individual instrument, but I was nonetheless happy to hear the tremendous tracks produced by EIM. I remember Oswald's clarinet being super cheery compared to everything else in the BGM draft I received. Haha.	Vol. II pg. 17
The Crying Children	KJH	His fire is tinged with the color of grief and despair. I like to think that he has the desire to look away from reality and run from it when it has become too warped and out of control.	Vol. II pg. 18
	KDH	His attacks prior to the ignition seem light; the poses look as if he's only repelling his opponents without any emotion put into the action, presenting a contrast with his attack poses in his ignited state showing desperation. It's like Philip's burnt and ashen heart was kindled once again.	Vol. II pg. 18
	KJY	As a big chunk of his emotions is resting in the Library, the Unspeaking Child's restraint and indifference are the only feelings left in him. Philip probably won't ever blame himself or wallow in regret, though; I think he realized that there's no point in trying to find meaning in the misfortune one went through.	Vol. II pg. 19
	LYM	Since Philip plays a pretty prominent role, I racked my brain to design his gimmick and effects. I wanted to show Philip, who cooled down as he became the Crying Children, burn again with the rekindled flames of heightened emotions as he confronts the librarians. Please enjoy his battle along with his gloomy Cello~	Vol. II pg. 19
The Church of Gears	MJY	I did my best to make her seem natural and holy when she floats into the air.	Vol. II pg. 22
	KDH	For the Mass Attack, I gave her the air of a cult leader surrounding by a circle of light. The radiance of sacred light enveloping the creepy silhouette of the leader of the Church of Gears.	Vol. II pg. 22
	KJH	She can predict many future events through the intellectual power of her ever-steadily rotating gears. She can manipulate others, taking a different approach from the Blood-red Night—that is, inserting gears into their brain.	Vol. II pg. 22
	JMJ	This was my first encounter with Eileen. From what I could see, she strongly gave off the impression of a religious cult leader. So I designed her pages around the idea of cultism. Since Eileen isn't the strongest fighter herself, I wanted to place the focus on the support and allure of a religious leader. Being the first main story character I got to work on, I grew quite attached to her.	Vol. II pg. 23
	KJY	The script for Eileen's encounter was written by Kang Eunse from the design team. It's always a huge joy to read what other people have written. Just as how it's not possible for a person—no matter how smart or creative they are—to unify everyone else's minds, reading the conversation between Eileen and Yesod allowed me to think about the interaction from a different perspective.	Vol. II pg. 23
	KES	As I wrote the script, I tried my best to immerse myself into Eileen. I thought about what I would feel and speak if I were in Eileen's shoes. When you imagine yourself in the position of a character that's vastly different from you, the story you write is gonna change depending on how you empathize with them. In that respect, I feel there's a lot that I could've done better with her.	Vol. II pg. 23
The Eight Chefs	MJY	I liked her Key Page's appearance the most for how outlandish it looks compared to everything else.	Vol. II pg. 26
	LYM	The theme for Greta's Combat Pages is 'Fun Cooking with Greta's Gourmet Games'. What kind of dish will she make? It's a bit of a shame that her gimmick was focused more on gluttony than cooking.	Vol. II pg. 26
	KDH	She got quite bulky for reasons similar to R Corp's Rhino Team. Trying to emphasize the size of an already large character in the chibi proportions might have gone a little bit far.	Vol. II pg. 27
	SYJ	When the Eight Chefs were mentioned early in the story, I expected a terrifying character, but the result was a pretty amiable and friendly one unlike what I assumed. As long as she doesn't try to eat me, that is.	Vol. II pg. 27
	KJH	Driven by endless edacity, she devours her targets until no meat is left. The desire to keep eating even when her mouth is full manifested as mouths all over her body.	Vol. II pg. 27
	KJY	The name 'Greta' comes from the word that means "pearl". In addition to the pigment of her skin resembling its color, the fact that pearls are created as a result of the mollusk accepting irritants invading its body was another point of association I thought of with Greta. An extension of this tidbit about pearls is the idea of filling yourself up with something other than your average food, as Greta brings up.	Vol. II pg. 27
The Musicians of Bremen	LYM	Each head of Bremen has its own idea going with it. I'd planned a battle that uses the buffs and debuffs of the Musicians of Bremen to an extreme, but the outcome was rather wanting in terms of fun in gameplay.	Vol. II pg. 30
	KES	The individualities of different people melded into one Bremen... isn't that fascinating?	Vol. II pg. 31
	KJH	They perform using their own body as instruments. The three distorted into one body because their wishes aligned.	Vol. II pg. 31
	KJY	Despite combining into one, you can actually hear hints of the different personalities in their voices. Doodle-doo is full of doubt and anger; Heehaw is frivolous and prone to laugh at others; lastly, Woof is leaden but resolute and self-assured.	Vol. II pg. 31
The 8 o'Clock Circus	KJH	He tears people apart and exposes their minds to stage a show. His ability is an ideal base for creating Distortions.	Vol. II pg. 32
	LYM	To highlight Oswald's vibrant character, I planned out poses where he uses various circus props to attack. I was touched by the way our artists brought Oswald to life. Oswald's evade pose is so adorable.	Vol. II pg. 32
	KDH	I put a lot of love into this character. His poses in particular were a delight to work on. It was an easy task thanks to the clear direction provided by the design team. His exuberant mannerisms, such as giving the peace [V] sign when he evades an attack, his swinging arms in the same direction as his legs when moving, and making an exaggerated reaction when hit; it might seem contrived on other characters, but Oswald makes them work. I think that distinct character is a special appeal Oswald has.	Vol. II pg. 33
	KJY	I like that he only considers himself when he chooses a scent to perfume himself. Why care about others' thoughts on the smell, when your decision is what matters the most? You have to be well aware of what you want to pick for a satisfying scent. That way, it becomes a way of expressing and adorning your real self, rather than enveloping yourself in an insincere cover. I thought these points could be relevant to what Oswald thinks of the Distortion.	Vol. II pg. 33
L'heure du Loup	KES	My fav character. Wolves are cute. :)	Vol. II pg. 36
	LJH	When I first drew Tanya's chibi sprite, I made her face round and her muzzle short in accordance with the default head shape, but everybody laughed saying she looked like a chihuahua. It was embarrassing, but I managed to improve it through feedback from the art director. I learned that features in chibi proportions don't always have to be short and stubby.	Vol. II pg. 36
	KJH	She used to be an executive member of the Middle. She's harder and faster than before. She might actually be on par with Gebura in terms of combat prowess.	Vol. II pg. 37
	KJY	The two kinds of violence Tanya discusses in her page are a topic I've always had in mind. I often thought about what differences there are between the two. It was a tad bit tricky to put it in words, though... I saw her as a character that shares many similarities with Gebura, but who has walked down a different path due to a slight difference. In fact, that can be said for the rest of the Ensemble and the Patrons, right? Gebura could have easily fought alone, but there has to be a clear reason she decides to fight alongside her fellow librarians. And Tanya fails to understand why she bothers to do that. I wanted to put a line where Gebura points that out, but she happens to be handling things alone too often on her floor in game... So I sadly had to take it out.	Vol. II pg. 37
The Puppeteer	KJH	He uses special strings that only he can manipulate. With these strings, he stitches and sculpts human bodies into puppets.	Vol. II pg. 38
	KES	Even though I don't exactly know how devastated one might feel from losing their child, I guess he wanted to shake off the pain of that loss by making puppets? This is off-topic, but the silver hair of his human form is so charming. Q-Q	Vol. II pg. 38
	LJH	Initially, I gave Puppet Angelica a sword from its artwork for its chibi sprites, but the director commented that it looked too light and asked for a heavier weapon. I designed it in a hurry due to the tight deadlines, but it thankfully got a pass.	Vol. II pg. 39
	LYM	This is the part that features the shocking Angelica puppet. As Jae-heon is the puppeteer, he rarely jumps into action himself, mainly using counter dice. Thanks to that, playtesting his battle doubled as a test of my wits. The rolls of the puppets and the counter dice have been lowered a lot as a result ;—;	Vol. II pg. 39
	KJY	There was a lot of consideration involved when I thought about the reason Jae-heon is so obsessed with puppetry. Usually, people are attracted to outward beauty, right? But I didn't see Jae-heon as someone who would be attached to the appearance of his puppets, even if the loss of his son gravely affected him. On another note, I envisioned that Jae-heon's son wasn't related to his father by blood. In the backstory I pictured, he found a kid abandoned in the Backstreets and brought him home. It was a rather reckless and impulsive decision, but I don't think it's one he would regret.	Vol. II pg. 39
Blood-red Night	KES	I was fascinated by how our artists portrayed Elena. I was imagining stuff like an unperturbed gaze or a vampiric aura... And I think they depicted her features wonderfully. :)	Vol. II pg. 42
	LJH	When we were deciding who should work on each of the Ensemble members' chibi sprites, I told the director that I wanted to take on Elena. Not just because I liked Elena, but also because I thought I'd be able to cut time spent on effects by utilizing the resources I'd worked on before. Gotta use the time you have efficiently!	Vol. II pg. 43
	KJH	I like the concept of vampires forming a hidden society in an urban setting as writing material. Blood is the medium through which Elena controls her victims and reconstructs their flesh. The residents of Love Town including Tomerrry had their blood and flesh fused by her power.	Vol. II pg. 43
	KJY	Elena probably wasn't so ruthless in the beginning. Perhaps the inner conflict she faced at first was stifling herself for a long time, and the emotional baggage that accumulated over time ended up twisting and distorting.	Vol. II pg. 43
Yesterday's Promise	LYM	Early in the planning stage, I racked my brain thinking about what Pluto's magic really is. Magic is such a convenient concept to bring to any direction... After giving it a fair bit of thought, I planned the battle around paper contracts and magic circles that were featured earlier in the story. For the contracts' abilities, I designed them as key pieces to support the dream decks I've always wanted to try.	Vol. II pg. 46
	KJH	He wields magic through the obligation and debt of contracts. The capacity of magic is proportional to the complexity of the obligations and the substance of the price; a highly intricate contract can grant him nearly omnipotent powers. He can manipulate reality using the other party's willingness to keep their voluntary promise and desire for wishes to come true as resources.	Vol. II pg. 47
	KJY	This is kind of random, but when I lie down and get lost in thought, I sometimes feel this sense of alienation that makes me think: "What if all of this is just an illusion?" Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see... What if the world I know is gone when I open my eyes again...? Am I actually lying on the streets and not at home? I've got all sorts of imaginations like that. That was a helpful reference for writing Pluto's story. I remember receiving voice samples recorded in various tones for his voiceover. A young voice, a sly voice, a foxy one, and a stern one... At first, I expected his tone to be cold and rigid, but in the final iteration, Pluto's voice is that of a dapper devil with a gentlemanly bearing. The scammed Fixer shown in one of Roland's flashbacks is indeed Pluto. The members of the Reverberation Ensemble are related to Roland in one way or another.	Vol. II pg. 47
The Blue Reverberation	JHR	Making a symbol for him was quite a tricky task. As he plays a vital role in the scenario, I wanted to make his symbol look good to match his importance, but matching the shape of a scythe with the feel of a reverberation wasn't as simple as I'd thought. It's one of my works that I still hold regrets about. When I first the exchange in the Purple Tear's episode and saw Argalia turn the previously calm conversation around with "Your son died more than 40 years ago"—a line showing his deranged and caustic side—I got so excited for the voiceover of that part. I was curious to know how the elaborate tension would be conveyed. The voice actor's passionate delivery struck me with awe.	Vol. II pg. 48
	KJH	He uses a scythe that resonates at exceedingly high vibration frequencies. In the Blue Reverberation's wake, small vibrations remain like an echo. I enjoy how the word '잔향' [janhyang] contains two meanings: a reflection of sound waves [from 殘響], and a residual aroma [from 殘香]	Vol. II pg. 49
	KJY	Argalia and Angelica are twins. One was born on December 31st, and the other, January 1st. Their birth flowers are the false cypress and the snowdrop, each synonymous with "immortality" and "hope" in the language of flowers. Funnily enough, these synonyms fit the opposite siblings better. His nickname 'Uberto' was taken from the false name Angelica gave Argalia to hide his identity in the original novel [Orlando Innamorato]. In this game, it was used as his false name in the laboratory. Oh, and the name also means "to enrich". Argalia thought the name was uninspired, though.	Vol. II pg. 49
The Black Silence	KHN	For the phantom of Angelica, I was requested to make her poses seem like Roland's attempts to imitate her. The list of references included sprites of the Black Silence as made by another member of the team, too. I wanted to emulate a similar feeling in the way she faces her foes.	Vol. II pg. 52
	LJY	Every act of this reception showed Roland's agonized struggle with his fixation on the past; it threw the programming team into an agonized struggle with the numerous bugs... Still, I'm happy that the final-boss-like fight against the Black Silence turned out so cool!	Vol. II pg. 53
	KJY	Roland was a character whose eyes were fixed behind in many ways. When he first ran into Salvador, he anxiously kept looking backwards and left himself open for a surprise attack. But, there was one time in the past when Roland could look ahead, and the encounter with Angelica is what I think brought change to Roland's life. With Angelica gone now, he's regressed to watching behind and reminiscing about the past. To Roland, Angelica is an angel that brought much pain as well as much happiness to him. Overcome with the grief of losing his angel, Roland wanders until he meets another angel: Angela is the source of Roland's suffering, but at the same time, she gives him a reason to keep on living by any means. I remember the artists at Mili explaining to us as they worked on the song that 'Gone Angels' expresses Roland's determination to kill that angel with his own hands and leave nothing behind.	Vol. II pg. 53
	MJY	When we were implementing the creature phase, the monster at its initially requested size was so big that its Speed Dice weren't shown on the screen, which made us burst into laughter; and when it was hit by a move like Discipline, it would flap like a balloon and made us laugh all over again.	Vol. II pg. 64
	JMJ	In the second phase of the reception of the Black Silence, the stage and pages were themed after the Smoke War. Dice breaks were put in for reasons related to the presentation. Seeing it die a lot quicker than what we'd seen during playtesting made me think that maybe we could have made it stronger in retrospect.	Vol. II pg. 64
	KJY	The text displayed during the final phase is what Roland is muttering as if he's speaking to Angelica. However, his words are aimed at Angela as well. They're not only comments Roland makes on the current state of affairs with his vengeance being just ahead, but it is also a matter he'd always been pondering over.	Vol. II pg. 65
	LYM	The third phase is a melancholic one where the distorted Roland reminisces on his memories of fighting alongside Angelica. I deliberated a lot on designing special effects. And the intended solution? Shimmering behavior and such because I wanted to show the coordination between the two. As for the fourth phase, I wanted to highlight Roland wallowing in futility and agony as he relives the past after losing everything. I was happy to see that players liked that part.	Vol. II pg. 65

Impurity Ending Receptions
Section	Developer	Comment	Page
The Floor of General Works' Final Episode	KDH	Working on the Heart of Aspiration was a huge hassle. On top of the difficulty to depict the details, her design itself was heartbreaking and grotesque. Drawing the blood vessels was especially painful; red hues being everywhere made it hard for me to stay focused. On the contrary, the Snow Queen was a bliss to work on. Her design was gorgeous, and she has a solid theme of snow and ice, so the sprite effect work went off without a hitch.	Vol. II pg. 70
	LYM	The amassed experience of musing on Angela's past as I designed the previous realizations helped me quickly form the outline. The phases represent Carmen's death, the process of Angela's creations, the loops during Lobotomy Corp's lifetime, Angela being left alone after the true ending of LC, and the moment when Angela was rejected by A. As this was the very last bit of content we made for the game, every member of the studio was at their peak performance.	Vol. II pg. 71
	KJY	Angela's lines displayed in the background during the battle were written based on the virtues she learned from the Patron Librarians. The virtues aren't put in the same exact order, though. Carmen's dialogue represents the feelings Angela harbored in the past. I wanted to show Angela remaining steadfast and overcoming the trials one step after another, so I specifically asked for a system where the text changes depending on the status of the battle.	Vol. II pg. 71
	KJH	The character adorning Carmen's headband is indeed Kkomi. It's her most cherished gift, received from Ayin.	Vol. II pg. 71
The Reverberation Ensemble Distorted	KJH	The perception-blocking mask allows the wearer to blur their presence in the crowd. It's a rare device, similar to the gloves. It makes eyewitnesses perceive the wearer as little more than a random passerby grazing past the corners of their sight. That's why most people were unable to recognize Roland when he was using his wife's gloves, mistaking him for the Black Silence. The only identifiable feature was the quiet surrounding him created by the gloves, which the Black Silence was known for. In the game, we intentionally left the existence and identity of the Black Silence vague. Whether Roland was actually the true Black Silence or not was irrelevant to Angela during the final act of the story. Although he wasn't a Color, Roland still had the skills to earn the trust of Charles and take the role of the leader in his Office. Durandal was the only weapon Roland used originally.	Vol. II pg. 85
The Reverberation Ensemble Distorted Lower Floors	KJY	I saw that many people were struggling to find references to Greta and Philip in the background. The objects hanging on hooks like meat at a butchery market are Greta's, and the candles placed at the far back are Philip's. :D I struggled to think about what sound Bremen should make after distorting... Fortunately, the folks at Studio EIM provided a voice that doesn't deviate too much from the other Ensemble members but still has a mystical feeling, which I was so glad to have! It was like a musical instrument.	Vol. II pg. 86
	KHN	Eileen appears slender and delicate, yet powerful. It sounds ironic, but she really is. And I like that side of hers. In addition, her poses were in the style that I was the most confident I could bring to life.	Vol. II pg. 87
	MJY	I increased the size of the laser fired by Philip when he uses Wound of Sorrow, thinking that it could use a visual upgrade over the version in the first Reverb Ensemble encounter. However, the result bore a resemblance to the energy blasts often seen in a popular comic series, so I rolled it back.	Vol. II pg. 87
	KJH	The Crying Children's design was so intense, we considered changing it to avoid Distorted Argalia from being overshadowed, by its sheer grandeur and impact. Each of the three designers took charge of level design for one layer of the second reception of the Reverberation Ensemble.	Vol. II pg. 87
	JMJ	From the number of Speed Dice, to the distribution of mass attacks, to the traits of individual characters, a lot of thought went into composing the battle. I designed an act where Eileen and Bremen support their allies while Philip and Greta take the frontlines. I remember considering all the passive abilities and Combat Pages to make this a proper follow-up to the previous fights as much as possible.	Vol. II pg. 87
The Reverberation Ensemble Distorted Middle Floors	KJY	I get glimpses of Oswald watching Jae-heon make a new friend for his troupe with twinkling eyes. He'd be able to stay cheerful and frolic about wherever he goes... I liked the pose where Oswald hops along for how it embodied his character vividly.	Vol. II pg. 94
	LYM	I was in charge of designing Oswald and Jae-heon's cute little tag team action in the middle layer battle. I told myself that I should refrain from making more cooperation gimmicks while working on the third phase of the Black Silence's battle, but then I found myself back into suffering by designing another coordination gimmick. Also, Oswald in the Combat Page artwork is so very lovely.	Vol. II pg. 94
	KJH	Designing attacks for Oswald and Jae-heon was a challenge. While the visuals of the Distortions themselves were good, neither of them could really be described as combat-oriented; I had only considered characterization and never stopped to think about how they would act in combat when we first designed those two Distortions. Fortunately, the designers and artists went the extra length and gave them nice and appropriate poses.	Vol. II pg. 95
	KHN	I wanted to show Tanya's toned body that she'd been keeping hidden under her suit. I brought a bunch of anatomy books to reference for her poses. Opportunities to draw well-defined muscles on female characters don't come by often, and I was elated to be able to seize one. It was a greatly valuable experience. They say weird and strong characters like to strike these kinds of poses, right? When I saw Jae-heon's full body art, one thing was certain to me: that I should make his poses look as powerful as I can. So I tried to pose him in a more exaggerated manner compared to the first round.	Vol. II pg. 95
The Reverberation Ensemble Distorted Upper Floors	KJH	The large heads particularly stuck out for the chibi sprites of Elena and Pluto, which was a pity as it diminished their imposing aura. During the post-battle sequence, there's a scene where Roland and Argalia duel in their chibi sprites. This scene was inspired by a fanmade video I'd seen on the internet, which had Argalia and Roland exchanging blow after blow constantly in their chibi combat sprites. I watched it for a while, and then it occurred to me that this could be good to use as a dramatic finish to the battle.	Vol. II pg. 100
	KJY	I'm partial to Argalia's pose where he lifts his hands like a conductor. I'm also a fan of his elated tone before beginning the performance. If you ever wondered if the object hanging in the background is there because it contains multiple meanings, you probably guessed right. The object holds significance for Argalia, Elena, and Pluto. His poses are rather extragavant as opposed to his usual relaxed and carefree self, but seeing him raise his hands to lead the performance gets my heart jumping. The excitement in his voice as he's about to begin the performance he clearly wished for adds to that thrill. Argalia's eagerness is almost palpable in his demeanor. As discussed in another chapter, I am a huge fan of this side of Argalia.	Vol. II pg. 101
The Head • The Eye • The Claw	SYJ	The Claw wearing a formal suit in the previous game was cool, but Baral flaunting his coat is pretty impressive as well. I wonder how those pieces of equipment are worn?	Vol. II pg. 108
	KJY	The conversation between Zena and Binah was a tricky part to write. Originally, the two used to speak in the same manner... But that felt more like a comedy sketch, so she became a character that assumes a prudish and dissimulative attitude exclusively towards Binah. For her voiceover, I remember asking for a composed and charismatic acting similar to Binah, but with a younger and more lively voice.	Vol. II pg. 108
	CTH	As Angela let go of everything, all the guests that had become books were swept from the Library. So I jokingly suggested we empty the inventory along with a visual effect where the pages scatter away before the Head fight. Of course, if we actually did this in a game where you have to invest so much time into obtaining pages, many a keyboard would collapse into the Light.	Vol. II pg. 109
	LYM	The track that plays during the battle against the Head was actually proposed as a draft of the level 3 BGM for the Floor of Philosophy. At that time, we picked another draft that gave off the mood of a final boss to be realized, since this one felt a bit too graceful to suit Binah. When I listened to this draft once more as we prepared the Head battle, I concluded that this was made for Zena.	Vol. II pg. 109
	KJH	Initially, we designed the battle in a way that the player would win no matter what, as we felt that defeat would be an unnecessary and unpleasant experience to have in a special encounter at the very end of the game. Contrary to our expectations, however, many players expressed dissatisfaction with how the battle was handled, so we changed it to what we have now. It served as another lesson for us in game design.	Vol. II pg. 109
	KDH	The first impression I got from the concept art drawn by the art director was that Zena is so cute. I think that made me put a ton of love into her chibi sprites as well. Binah's chibi sprites were a substantial reference for her poses. While Binah is a bit indifferent, Zena is relaxed and unworried, it's as if she's dealing with trifling nonentities. In that vein, I love her expression in her block pose.	Vol. II pg. 109

Wiki Directory
Mechanics	Abnormality Pages - Achievements - Battle Symbols - Books - Builds and Decks - Combat Pages - E.G.O. Pages - Emotion Level - Floor Realization - Guests - Invitation - Key Pages (Key Page Stories - Passive Abilities) - Librarians - Library - Manual - Reception - Small Stories - Stats - Status Effects
Floors	Floor of General Works - Floor of Philosophy - Floor of Religion Floor of Natural Sciences - Floor of Language - Floor of Social Sciences Floor of History - Floor of Technological Sciences - Floor of Literature - Floor of Art
Characters	Main Characters / Patron Librarians: Angela - Roland - Malkuth - Yesod - Hod - Netzach - Tiphereth - Gebura - Chesed - Binah - Hokma
Terminology:
Locations	The City (Districts - Nests - Backstreets) - Outskirts - Ruins - The Library - The Great Lake - The Black Forest - HamHamPangPang
Lore	Abnormalities - Distortions (Bloodfiends) - E.G.O. - Cogito - Night in the Backstreets - Seed of Light - Smoke War - White Nights and Dark Days - Singularity - The Rules - The Hunt - The Taboo - Humans - Artificial Intelligence Ethics Amendment
Factions	Fixers - Offices - Workshops - Associations - Syndicates - Five Fingers - The Head - The Eye - The Claw - Wings
Music:
Albums	Original Soundtrack
Songs	"String Theocracy" - "From a Place of Love" - "And Then is Heard No More" - "Iron Lotus" - "Children of the City" - "Gone Angels" - "Poems of a Machine" - "Salt, Pepper, Birds, And the Thought Police"
Other:
Media	Lobotomy Corporation - WonderLab - Library Of Ruina - The Distortion Detective - Leviathan - Limbus Company
Development	Voice Actors - AGF 2019 LoR Q&A Session Compilation - Library Of Ruina Art Book