Sunday, March 30, 2014

GWC XIII Announcement


Halo, dan selamat datang semuanya! Pengumuman yang akan kami bawakan kali ini cukup krusial, mengingat...

...ini adalah Writing Challenge terakhir di musim ini (2013-2014).

Yap - writing challenge XIV mendatang baru akan diadakan berbulan-bulan kemudian (estimasi sekitar Agustus), dengan nuansa yang baru. Selama periode hampa tersebut akan ada transisi pada jajaran staf Genshiken ITB, di mana prajurit-prajurit baru akan menggantikan peran seniornya yang telah mengabdi secara sepenuh hati selama satu tahun.

Untuk memperingati Writing Challenge yang sangat spesial ini, Rakaputra P. // Rheine selaku ketua Genshiken Story telah mempersiapkan suatu konsep yang sangat spesial untuk Writing Challenge kali ini : Open Santa. Apakah gerangan itu?

'Open Santa' adalah konsep di mana dua orang (atau lebih) dipasangkan dan masing-masing memberikan topik kepada partner-nya untuk dikembangkan menjadi cerita tersendiri. Kronologinya:

  • Partisipan mendaftar untuk mengikuti event via comment pada post Rakaputra P. di grup Facebook Genshiken ITB (Member Only) - deadline pendaftaran 2 April 2014
  • Partisipan kemudian akan dipasangkan berdua-berdua oleh Rakaputra P.
  • Partisipan menentukan tema yang akan dijadikan cerita oleh partner-nya, dan kemudian menulis cerita berdasarkan tema yang telah ditentukan partner-nya
  • Cerita dikumpulkan paling lambat 2 Mei 2014 ke adnin_likezcat@yahoo.com

Peraturan umum lainnya (cerita minimal 100 kata dan lainnya) tetap berlaku seperti biasa. Untuk menutup post ini, kami akan lampirkan sebuah kalimat mutiara yang dikutip langsung dari Rakaputra P. sendiri:

'Mari kita mewujudkan impian kawan-kawan Genshiken (ITB) kita!'

- Nivalyx

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Text Game : < untitled >



'Love may come in various forms, with various reasons'

----------------------------

Today we shall bring you to the world we never explored before - the world where ones and zeros meets letters and symbols:

Text-based game.

Forged specially for Genshiken Writing Challenge XII (in which we forgot to post previously, pardon us!), <untitled> allows everyone to experience playing an interactive web text-based game. This genre, although probably being visual novel's simplest form, actually holds a load of potential - The LCPANES Terminal, for example, currently possesses a perfect five-star rating on rpgmaker.net. With all these promising facts, how was this very game went, then?

First of all, let us warn the younger audiences first that this scriptborn from Ezra H. // illuminaseeker contains some pseudo-suggestive scenes, so readers' discretion is advised. Some of them are mind-bending, to be honest. The story itself opens with the interactive 'input your name' dialog box, followed by - I have no idea why the page is named login.php - the welcome (introductory) screen. What lies after that, though, is...

Well, this story tells about an ordinary college student whose life is about to change. Any move taken by you redefines the main character's fate, either positively or negatively. The main character realized that the tree of luck has been on his side recently, and he is on his quest to discover who planted the roots itself - a lecturer, a family member, or a fellow band member.

Several storylines haven't been implemented though (the game should allow you to pick whether you're taking a degree in accountancy/informatics/musical art but only accountancy is available prior to this version, for an example) but even with its current condition there are still 10+ outcomes possible. This adds a huge replayability value, which is a big plus.

The plot twists on this one are a major factor as well, though. It's massive - it adds a huge amount curiosity to the readers about what will happen next. The unusual pairing should also elicit a smile to its readers, as well as the message given on the every ending sequence.

To be honest, I feel quite weird while reading the suggestive parts. There's and ending I liked the most due to it being inspirational somehow (SPOILER : the 'laziness + lie combination' one) but the more suggestive ending ones are just... Well, perhaps that's because I'm not used to stories like this?

Furthermore, it feels quite sad that the design seems overwhelmingly simple - I can understand this though, considering the fact that it is being created for a (dead-lined) writing challenge. The casual writing style itself could also be improved more though in my eyes - further proofread should do good!

Overall, I see this project (if it can be called so) had undergone a promising start. Had the page had more than just a simple 'font size="5"' tag and a more solid writing, this shall attract a lot of pleasant readers. Frankly speaking, I envision that this project will be stellar if being worked as a team rather than solo - illuminaseeker himself is actually majoring Teknik Informatika (informatics), so the coding-related issues should do no big harm.

This interactive story-game hybrid may be played here, for your pleasure. Oh, and as further trivia, this game isn't named 'untitled' by purpose - it does meant to be untitled from the start.

PS : In fact, there are two text-based games submitted for this challenge - stuffs the second story coming soon! (not sure when though, I already have something more important to be posted next)

- Nivalyx

Thursday, March 27, 2014

News : GenCarnival


Hello there! We're back from our single week hiatus with - get hyped for it...

...nothing!

Well, you're reading it right. Basically there's nothing ultimately interesting over these past few weeks - just us being busy with our daily tasks, as usual. (it's obvious though that we need to keep posting things to tell the world that we're still alive, so we think this news post should work as a gap-filler)

Consider this post also acts as a call-to-arms, though. Most of our core members (including myself) had been busy preparing for GenCarnival, an upcoming creative exhibition event which will be held this April. The trailer above is freely viewable for your pleasure, and because we're lazy to craft a chain of words to describe the event in detail, we'll just copy and paste the words embedded on the video's description here:

A spiritual successor to our previously successful Gen-Reon (http://genreon.wordpress.com/), Genshiken ITB (through GenCarnival) aims to deliver the magnum opus of Indonesia's creative visual modern products!

This creative exhibition event will be held at Institut Teknologi Bandung (Jl. Ganesha No. 10) on April 19th, 2014 - we'll gladly await your presence there!

Let's join the fun together!~

...should be obvious already (from the wording) that we're heaving a deep role down the event, isn't it?

Well, anyway, we're still trying to opt in our members to the event. To all Genshiken Story members, if you appear to have a work-in-progress, consider to showcase it in this event! Don't let your work of art left abandoned in oblivion - benefit guaranteed!

Further information about the event is accessible here.

- Nivalyx

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Meet-up #7 Announcement

Halo! ...mungkin inti dari post ini sudah tertebak dalam sekejap, namun tak ada salahnya menjabarkan sedikit info mengenai meet-up mendatang secara singkat (:

Divisi story Genshiken ITB kembali menghelat pertemuan rutin internal dua mingguannya akhir pekan ini. Tak seperti pertemuan-pertemuan sebelumnya, kali ini Rakaputra P. // Rheine mengangkat tema 'Lucky Number Seven' untuk memberikan nuansa yang berbeda. Berikut detail teknis terkait meet-up kali ini:

  • Event : Kumpul #7 - Lucky Number Seven
  • Lokasi : CC Barat ITB
  • Tanggal dan Waktu : Sabtu, 22 Maret 2014 - 10:00

Minggu ini tergolong minggu yang relatif sibuk mengingat banyaknya UTS yang menghadang, sehingga (jujur saja) kami memprediksikan meet-up kali ini tidak akan semeriah meet-up sebelumnya. Meskipun demikian, apabila dicermati dengan seksama, tema 'Lucky Number Seven' kurang lebih cocok dengan situasi terkini - semoga beruntung bagi semua yang akan menjalani UTS akhir pekan ini, dan kami tunggu kehadiran Anda di meet-up kali ini!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Story : Mage Story (w/ News!)

Hello there! I'm still unbelievably exhausted after all the stuffs I've been involved on today, but look on the bright side - I got two nice things to deliver!

First, we got our hands-on the news. Remember the World Beyond The Window project we posted about earlier? Turned out that I could attend the Pasar Komik Bandung event personally, and managed to take a look on 'World Beyond The Window' comic strip: (don't mind this picture below though, it's fetched directly from Facebook and haven't gotten its fault-on-title fixed yet)



More or less everything is still mysterious at this moment, as the promotional book (booklet?) itself only consists of three rapid chapters : Smile, Brake, and Ruin. Aside from [SPOILER] three different characters centering at one single girl albeit their motive differences [/SPOILER], more or less nothing much is safe to conclude at the moment.

On the other side, we would also like to fulfill our vim to entertain dear you - our beloved readers - with a short story which has been sitting at a dark corner on my hard disk for days, waiting for itself to be posted. Without further ado, here's the technical details to the story itself:

  • Title : Mage Story
  • Event : Genshiken Story Meet-Up #6
  • Author : Ferry

...frankly speaking, in fact this is an untitled story - we unanimously referred to this story as the 'Mage Story' as it was submitted under the file name 'Mage Story.docx' back then. In short, it's a story about young archmages trying to reign supreme - with some stating it has some relevancy with the 'current political situation'. Whether it's true or not, it's up to you to decide how this enthralling fairytale went!

At this moment we'd also like to announce that there is still one more day left on the Pasar Komik Bandung event, and we'll also be standing by there tomorrow. We greatly expect your presence there, but for now - indulge yourself with this story! I'm signing out (:

----------------------------



                The corridor toward the Great Hall is lit up by two rows of lanterns, each containing a sphere of light, brought to life by magic. The corridor itself isn’t very spacious, only wide enough for about 5 people standing shoulder to shoulder and as tall as a two adult men. Beyond the corridor lies the hall where the Mage’s Association held their yearly meetings and rituals, as is the case now.

                It is the time where a soon-to-be archmage to present themselves to the assembly, obtaining their blessing and approval as one of the few people standing at the highest point in the world of magic. Such coronation happens every twenty-odd years, and compared to the association’s thousand-years-worth history, this is nothing new.

                And even then, the archmage coronation this year is still considered special. The reason of this ‘special’ label lies within the archmage candidate himself.

                He was only twenty-three years old.

                “I still think it’s too early for me, Master Aethnes.” The young man says as his steps slowly lost its pace.

                “And why is that, my pupil? You certainly have proven yourself back there at Nophantes.” An old, sage-like man named Aethnes Firres, who is walking beside the young man, asks. Without delay, Aethnes take the young man’s upper right arm and signals him to keep walking down the corridor.

                “Ah, that was… that was not much. I mean, I’m sure you can disperse the rain in less time and you certainly won’t have any trouble with the tornado. Meanwhile I still let the storm to wreck six buildings and causes 32 casualties…” the young man stammered.

                “And yet it was your quick response that doesn’t let the storm to cause further damage,” The master cuts his pupil short. “Stop selling yourself short. To succeed controlling the weather and averting disaster from a whole village, at the age of mere twenty-three? I believe that’s an accomplishment fit for a great archmage-would-be.” Aethnes proudly smiles at his pupil. The young man can’t help but to smile back at that.

                “Not to mention, you also saved several people and wizards to were trapped by the tornado. Those wizards are the ones who vouched for you to become an archmage, and the association has no reason to deny such request after they hear it was you. You did make a name for yourself during our travels,” Aethnes continued. “Isn’t that so, Young Hero Ardes Embert?”

                Ardes smirked at that nickname. A nickname given by the mage community for him, a prodigal mage who helps people around the land in need. Ardes still feel that the nickname is rather insulting toward his master’s role, as it make it seems like he was the only one who travels and help those in need. While actually, it was Aethnes who did most of the work of helping people. The so-called ‘Young Hero’ only did the dirty work of defeating and capturing the rouge mages who were abusing their magic to torment and tyrannize people. Yep, only that, and nothing more…

                “I believe the one and only time I deserve to be called that is when I finally manage to drive the Nophantes Storm away. The rest were your work, Master.” The young man answers.

                “Hahahahaha…” The old man’s laugh bellows throughout the corridor. “I’m still amazed at how a mage of your caliber – at such a young age, even – can be this humble. We magicians are an arrogant bunch, you know.”

                “’There’s an exception for everything.’”

                “Now, don’t you try to turn back my own quote to me…”Aethnes chuckles. Ardes soon followed.

                As the laugh subsides, Aethnes once again start the conversation.

                “Well, whatever you say, you can’t back down now. The Association doesn’t accept any ‘no’s, even from archmages. Or archmage-soon-to-be, in your case. So,shall we review what you’re going to do in the hall?”

                “I’ve memorized it down to every step.”

                “No harm in doing another review, right?”

                Ardes knows his master well enough to know that he won’t stop bugging till his concerns are gone, so with a fake sigh he reaches into his robe, and pulled out a rolled-up parchment, made from a curious mix of papyrus and leather. He opened the parchment, and at the center of it was an ornate circle made from blue ink. The circle is multi-ringed, with letter and magic symbols filling each ring layer.

                “Using the summoning runes on this parchment, I am going to invoke a catastrophe-ring spell: summoning a hurricane within the hall. I will summon it, control its movement, size, and ferocity, and then disperse it back to calm air. That’s the gist of it.” Ardes recounts.

                “…Well, I guess that’s complete enough for a review.” Aethnes replies. “Just remember, you are going to prove yourself to be worthy, Ardes. Don’t hold back in fear of hurting the audience. Show them that you CAN control the hurricane completely.”

                “When you say that, once again I wonder why the coronation must be done through a dangerous method like summoning a natural disaster indoors.” Ardes asks sarcastically.

                “I guess we magicians like to live dangerously,” The old man jokingly replied.
               
                The two men stop in front of an oak wood gate, ornamented with dragon carvings and golden handle.  Beyond the gate, they can here the murmurs of the crowd.

“Well, here we are. I’ll be watching from the archmages’ seat with the other four,” Aethnes says as he pats Ardes on his right shoulder. “Show them that you are worthy, my pupil. I look forward for the time that we’ll work together… as equals, archmage to archmage.”

“I won’t disappoint you, master.” Ardes nods confidently. And with that, the two of them open the wooden gate, toward thehall of coronation…


It was a stormy night. Even though the Nophantes Storm was quelled, somehow heavy rain still pours down upon the land. The rain was heavy enough that some people fears that the capital was going to be flooded – a baseless assumption, according to the magicians. Even if the city was really flooded, a coordinated magic from about 2 mages would be able to roll the flood into a colossal ball of water, which then will be flung far from the capital.

Fortunately, no such flood happened. However, the rain was enough to force people stay indoors for the whole night. Yet, within the dark alleys of Ferrema District, a hooded person was walking in a rushed pace, a small spark from his wand lighting the path he walks through. His face was obscured by the rain and the shade of his hood, allowing no feature of his face to be seen even when you’re directly staring at him.

The hooded man walked and walked, turning left and right in a bizarre pattern until he stopped in the middle of a small, one-man wide alley sandwiched between a stone tower and a wall. He turned upon a wooden door, reinforced with black iron bars and locked with a keyhole-less lock. A simple incantation and a sound -*click*- came from the lock, and with the cue the hooded man pushed open the door and walked in.

Ten steps, and 2 candles lit up at his left and right. The candles continue to light up, forming a path within the impenetrable darkness. At the end of the path is a round, wooden table, where four other hooded men sat.

“You’re late.” A grovelly voice scolded the hooded man as he reaches the table.

“Blame the rain,” he replied.

“So much for saving Nophantes, eh? The storm still hits us in the capital,” Another voice spoke up. “What do you say for your pupil’s doing, Aethnes?”

The mysterious hooded man opens up his hood, and revealed the face underneath: an old man with white hair reaching to his back. His beard, neatly trimmed, hung to the base of his neck. “I say… he did a good job of saving that little village.” Aethnes answered.

“HAH! Good job, you say!?!?” The first, grovelly voice raised his voice. “You say he did a good job by saving a village which is to be punished for missing the harvest schedule? How much loss do you think the kingdom suffered because those lazy farmers decided to use that newfangled ‘technologic’ tools instead of old-fashioned hand farming, and because of their malfunction the harvest was late by a month?!? How many gold did we have to pay to those neighboring countries because we can’t fulfill the selling contract, huh?!”

“I say he did a great job at SAVING the village. It being punished by us, the Council of Archmages, has no relation to it.” Aethnes answered with a flat tone.

“Why…. You… “ The first voice expressed his anger.

“Enough of that. There shall be no fighting between us.”A fourth voice, which sound so eerie and ancient, suddenly spoke. Hearing the voice, Aethnes and the first voice quickly went silent.
“Valvoga.Aethnes.” The fourth voice continues.

“Yes, Grandmaster.”Valvoga Sieglus, the man whom the grovelly voice belongs to, answered together with Aethnes.

“You should know, that we gather here… not to discuss the village Nophantes. No, we gather here to discuss the one… the Young Hero… Ardes Embert.”

Silently, Aethnes swallowed when he heard his pupil’s name.

“As you all aware, the Nophantes wizards who were saved by this… Hero… recommends to the high council for making this…upstart young mage to become an archmage. A glance to his many, various deeds for this land in the past 10 years has swayed the high council to his favor, and hastily they agreed to make him an archmage.”

“Those simple minded fools!”Valvoga shouted, as if he’s letting something off his chest.

“Of course, from the four of us in the Council of Archmages, none agreed for his coronation. Pray tell, how do you think that a mere twenty-three year old is equal to us? Such is insulting to the magic we studied for all these years.”

                “But, Grandmaster,” Aethnes cut the ancient voice. “His grasp of magic, potential, and thirst for knowledge is equal to-“

                “THERE IS NOTHING EQUAL!” Valvoga slammed the table. “ARE YOU SAYING THAT A TEENAGER CAN KEEP UP WITH ME, THE MASTER OF FIRE FOR 30 YEARS AND COUNTING? ARE YOU SAYING THAT’S THE EXTENT OF MY MAGIC PROWESS?!?”

                “That striked a nerve, eh?” The third voice, who was silent for sometime, spoke up. Valvoga turns and glares toward the third voice. However, he ignored it. “But, true. It’s very insulting to say such things, Aethnes. Is this pupil of yours so great that you have to sing him praises?”

                “…That was never my intention, Eneas.”

                The third voice, Eneas Arphim chuckles. “Then I guess we all agree that this ‘Young Hero’ are not fit to be one of us archmages.”

                “That’s also not-!”

                “Silence.” The ancient voice spoke again.

                “Aethnes.” The speaker of the ancient voice, the Grandmaster, turns to face the old master. “You should know that this pupil of yours, were he to become an archmage, is a threat to this secret council. His idealism and curiosity will, without a doubt, clash with our goal to preserve the rule of magic within the land by any means necessary.”

                “How can you be so sure-“

                “I hear he took interest to those ‘tec-no-nogy’ tools when he encounters them in Nophantes.” Eneas smirks. “Even though such heretic things go against the rule of magic… Maybe he thought he can combine the two into something greater. Ha! He hasn’t realized that magic is the supreme force in this world.”

                Aethnes went silent. He can’t find any rebuttal to Eneas’ slander.

                “And such was the evidence, Aethnes.” The Grandmaster continued. “This pupil of yours are too naïve, too curious. He won’t accept our reason for the superiority of magic. He won’t accept our way of governing this land from the shadows. He is not yet ready to speak in the same mind as us, not yet fit to be an archmage.”

                “But he’s good enough to be a hunting wizard, I guess.” Eneas said. “Cleaning up after those mages we let to go rouge needs some skills, after all. And that way, he’ll still see us as good and the rouge mages as evil; with hardly any chance to realize that we played the rouges as a measure to control people. He’ll be the best hound in our history!” he ends his opinion with a malicious grin.

                “…” Aethnes was still silent.

                “The decision is final. Ardes Embert is NOT to be an archmage.” The Grandmaster concludes. “And we, four members of the Council have decided that Aethnes Firres is to carry out the Council decision within a week, by any means necessary. Thus is the meeting of the Council today. Dismissed.”

                And with that word, all the lit candles were suddenly blown by a strong wind. Aethnes was alone in the darkness.

                “…”

                “Oh, Aethnes?”Suddenly, Eneas’ voice rung through the darkness. “I have one more fact to motivate you.”

                “…what are you saying?”

                “I believe the Association assigns archmages to a province within the land. There are 5 provinces and 5 archmages… and yet here comes the sixth archmage. Heh… I just hope you don’t get retired, seeing your popularity is eclipsed by your pupil…”

                “….!!!” Aethnes’ eyes widened.


                Along the way, Ardes was silent as a stone. It came as no surprise, as he botched the hurricane summoning. It almost went out of control and would destroy the Grand Hall with everything inside it, if not for Aethnes’ quick action to subdue the wild wind. The Association senior members were furious, but an appeal from his master manages to soothe them and spare Ardes’ life. In return, he is to serve as a mage hunter for life with no chance to improve his standings.

                “I’m… sorry it turns out like this, Ardes.” Aethnes speaks to the young man. “I’m the one who pushed you to become an archmage, yet it ends in a public humiliation… really, I’d never thought it’ll end up like this.”

                “…Don’t worry, Master.” As they reached Aethnes’ tower, Ardes finally replies.

                “I believe life as a mage hunter isn’t that bad. Now excuse me, I’ll… get some sleep. It was a tiring day.” With that, Ardes climb the stairs toward his room.

                Aethnes’ eyes follows his pupil until he disappears from his sight. Words can’t express how regretful he is right now to destroy his own pupil’s life with his own hands. After all, it was he who sabotaged Ardes’ summoning. Using ink with the same color as the parchment, he drew some additional symbols upon it to allow him to influence the hurricane, and drove it out of Ardes’ control.Then, using the same method, he’ll bring the hurricane under control, and save the whole assembly. Fulfill the Council of Archmages’ orders while saving his own popularity…

                Remembering his malicious plan, Aethnes throw himself into his work chair. Such deed left him drained, both physically and mentally. Tomorrow he’ll have to help Ardes to adjust to the life as a mage hunter… butnow, he doesn’t want to think about anything. 

                Especially not the possibility that someone will know his ‘crime’, this malicious deed toward Ardes.

               

                Nobody will know, right?

“But, Grandmaster,” Aethnes cut the ancient voice. “There’s nothing wrong with a new perspective, isn’t there?”

“Heeheehee. Nothing wrong, you say,” the third voice, who was silent for some time, suddenly spoke. “Of course, there’s nothing wrong with idealism. But really, Aethnes, remember the reason why this Council were made in the first place.”

“…To lead this land to prosperity, and to preserve the ways of magic…”

“…by all means. Do not forget the last part, Aethnes.” The third voice chuckled. “And THAT explicitly say that we do… unsavory things to accomplish that goal. Such disobedience toward the magicians’ guidance,  and that so-called ‘progress’, like the Nophantes ‘ tek-no-gy’ case, isn’t needed, and must be disciplined.”

“And what does have to do with Ardes?”

“Heh, don’t play the fool Aethnes. That pupil of yours still thinks that it’s a mage’s duty to help people. He won’t be able to take in the fact that we, magicians, are superior, and those ‘helps’ we give are our way to guide the lesser beings.
 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Story : Mysterious Affair...

...at Styles', Part 1. Yes, the full title doesn't fit in a single line, so I had to split it up like this. In case you're wondering why it should be split into two lines : it's the consequence of the (somewhat faulty) CSS line somewhere in this page - and yes, you got it right! We're just lazy to tweak it! Yaaaaay--

Anyway, hello again everyone! This time we came up with a short story we handpicked from one of Genshiken ITB's sub-projects, Gen-Magz, from the mind and hands of our reigning overlord - Rakaputra P. // Rheine! As the title intuitively says, Gen-Magz is an online web magazine which was first launched back then in 2013 encompassing the visual modern culture. Here's a quick shot at the story's custom page title on the magazine:


...and now, we got to the actual story here - beware, spoilers ahead!

Although you might expect a horror story from the title alone, this part of story doesn't envision much of it - in fact, this part serves more as a prologue. The story tells the tale of Rick Styles - a college student - with his companies who intended to spend their holiday in his very own family village. Things were very nostalgic at first, and it remains like that until the end of the story - the climax-building part only appears for a brief second.

I can fully understand why it's like that though - I got the impression personally that this story had been made long ago, sitting aimlessly on the hard disk, and then submitted as an entry for the magazine. I'm just assuming here though (I don't know whether this is true or not), bt frankly speaking, although I've been hanging around the core team of Genshiken Story for a while, until now I haven't read any single story from Rheine himself. And yes - I was surprised by the choice of words here. In my life I've only had encountered two people with this level of English diction mastery. Simply astonishing.

I personally think it's more than worth to wait for this story's sequel(s) though, as Rheine himself had proven himself as a 'wizard of words' through this story. But what REALLY worth the wait is seeing how the plot development will be - the story had featured a pseudo-psychic personality thus far (which adds much weight to the interesting side), and who knows what will be added in the future? As far as I concerned, no one but Rheine himself.

If you're wanting to know more about our Gen-Magz project, further information about it can be found on our Facebook page (the link is available on our sidebar). Speaking aside, I am also a contributor myself for that project, so... (:

Feel free to read the entire story here : Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3!

- Nivalyx

Monday, March 10, 2014

News : World Beyond the Window

"When you wake up feeling worn out, open the window and look for something you've never seen before."

----------------------------

Hello! Yes, we're fully aware that we're not posting news often here. But worry not - this very time, we're bringing you the long-awaited big news!

...well, frankly speaking, there are more important stuff for us to deliver, but we decided to publish this out first. Genshiken ITB will be participating (as a stand contributor) on the upcoming Pasar Komik Bandung 2014. The event's name translates into 'Bandung Comic Market 2014', so it should be obvious what to expect there (:

Speaking aside the event, the main news we're trying to headline is this : Very recently, one of our prolific author - I'm sure you might have been familiar with this name by now - Karina R. // Riesling, sent us this picture about her upcoming project which will be showcased will have the teaser comic of it be showcased on the Pasar Komik Bandung 2014 event:


Portrayed as 'a visual novel with an otoge feature' from the official description given, the visual novel tells the story about 'someone who lost in a town, hoping to be found - however, in the end, she have to be able to find herself''. Aside from the fact that Riesling did the above picture (and will do the majority of the artwork for the game) by herself, not much details are known about this VN to the outside world.

We're not directly promoting the event, but here's the details about the upcoming Pasar Komik Bandung event in case you're wondering:

  • Event : Pasar Komik Bandung 2014
  • Location : Braga City Walk
  • Date : March 15th to 16th 

I myself don't really know whether I could attend the event or not, but for sure I'll try to get the copy of the VN and post my afterthoughts about it here. Stay tuned!

PS :  Yes, we know, the image we embedded above is quite large. We're just lazy to resize it (:

- Nivalyx

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Meet-up #6 Announcement

Divisi Story Genshiken ITB kembali akan melaksanakan kumpul rutin dua mingguannya pada akhir pekan ini. Setelah meeting sebelumnya tak bertema, kali ini sang pemimpin kami - Rakaputra P. // Rheine - mengusung tema "Thank God It's Saturday" atas dasar yang... Yah, kami rasa cukup jelas (:

Detail-detail mengenai acara meet-up kali ini sesungguhnya tak banyak berubah dari meet-up - meet-up yang telah dilaksanakan sebelumnya:

  • Event : Kumpul #6 - Thank God It's Saturday
  • Lokasi : CC Timur ITB
  • Tanggal dan Waktu : Sabtu, 9 Maret 2014 - 09:00

Lokasi meet-up - meet-up selanjutnya rencananya akan terus berganti seiring waktu, agar setiap meet-up memiliki variasi dan warnanya tersendiri. Namun, untuk saat ini, kami menunggu Anda - massa Genshiken Story - untuk terus berkarya dan mengembangkan potensi dunia visual modern bangsa!

Monday, March 3, 2014

Poetry : Lullaby


Selamat malam semuanya! ...yap, puisi kali ini merupakan puisi ketiga dan terakhir (sekaligus yang paling panjang) dari trilogi puisi Lisa. Namun, sebelumnya kami akan memberikan sedikit intermezzo terlebih dahulu!

Gambar di atas merupakan gambar karya Rakaputra P. // Rheine yang diunggah ke grup Facebook internal kami (Genshiken Story). Sang kreator gambar menjelaskan gambar ini sebagai 'sebuah gambar yang penuh dengan nilai-nilai filosofis' - dan ya, setiap ilustrasi yang terlihat dalam gambar di atas merepresentasikan sesuatu dari Genshiken Story. Anda mungkin akan dapat mengidentifikasi Stomach Book dengan segera, namun apakah gerangan arti dari delapan ilustrasi lainnya? Kami serahkan sepenuhnya kepada Anda untuk mencari jawabannya (:

...oh, dan yap - salah satu ilustrasi di atas adalah representasi dari puisi sebelumnya, Ashes. Terlepas dari gambar di atas, detail teknis dari puisi yang kami angkat kali ini adalah sebagai berikut:

  • Judul : Lullaby
  • Event : Genshiken Meet-Up #5
  • Pengarang : Lisa Santika Onggrid // requiem 

Puisi ini sedikit banyak memiliki atmosfer yang sama dengan puisi terdahulu (Ashes), sehingga kami menyarankan Anda untuk membaca Ashes terlebih dahulu.

Selamat membaca!

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Lullaby

Under the city made of stardust and ashes we sleep
Rocking in Earth's cradle, Vulcan is our watcher
Here, stories told in cycle,time a mere number
Echoing empty halls and pillars were promises we failed to keep

I saw darkness, the city in eternal slumber
We didn't run then,
from Pompeii, where we now lay

No one remembered in the face of doom
How the women smiled and the way the men cheered
Just the other day walking down the streets with a hum
In the merry day of Vulkanalia memories whirred

The temple of Isis, the bustling Macellum
Drowning with crowds leaving no room
Jars of preserved fruits tumbling down the shelves
One or two tremors weren't cause of stress

Walls fallen and rebuilt, fallen and rebuilt
Yet we didn't run then,
from Pompeii, where we now lay

Atop the hill, where the flowers bloomed
We sang and danced and now buried
There used to be windswept trees
Standing still, what remained was the breeze

Standing in the rain of dust, I recalled the day long past
The witch of Vesuvius, my mother said
Looked upon children of unkindly heart
Was she there, that fateful night?

Under the city made of stardust and ashes we sleep
Forgotten and barren
Yet we didn't run then,
from Pompeii, where we now lay