‘Cyborg Hunter’ was a crap game. Not only was it crap, it was too hard. Much too hard. I had a love/hate relationship with it. I wanted to finish it, but a particularly rotund boss on something like the 4th level always got the better of me with his infernal red laser. A little Internet research and I learn that the boss who ruined my Cyborg hunter experience was called ‘Cytra’. Cytra and his vessel, Cyborg hunter appeared on the Master System in 1988. I was 4 years old… I like to think that explains my inability to defeat him. Cytra? Craptra.

For as long as I can remember videogames have been at my very core. I have a tremendously fond memory of a youth spent in the local arcade, watching older kids, ‘masters’, pummel challenger after challenger on Street Fighter 2.

The more I think about Cyborg Hunter, and the total annihilation that it slapped in my face, the more pleasure I derive from decimating an opponent with a little panache.

I’m not suggesting I imagine Cytra each time the ‘YOU WIN’ logo is blazoned across my screen… rather I think early defeats lead to my ‘completist’ gamer attitude. Very quickly my brother and I become obsessed with the concept of ‘being the best’. As we grew up in that dingy smoke-filled arcade, our goal was to fill the shoes of the aforementioned older kids. Street Fighter 2, Samurai Showdown, Final Fight, Golden Axe, a side-scrolling beat’em up where the protagonists can turn into raging beasts… these are the games that nurtured our competitive streaks. Cytra’s laser wielding ways may have bullied me into submission years ago, but in my newfound battleground, I learnt to fight back.

I remember the first time I finished Street Fighter 2 in the arcade. Remember the fear that came with facing M.Bison. A modest but audibly present group of onlookers surrounding me. I came to enter my name and… froze. Benjamin Richard Hall. The allotted three-letter space is perfect, no? BRH? BEN? I faltered because after all the work it felt a little disappointing. BEN. My heart sank. I punched out the abbreviated version of my given name and walked away from the machine.

I don’t remember the exact date that my brother created his own pseudonym, but it had a tremendous impact on me. Alexander was, before my eyes, transformed into AKO. It had a ring, albeit a visual one. A visual ring. Stay with me. I was envious. Immediately the kudos that his victory over whatever game he’d been playing seemed more epic. More exciting. Special. I was so used to seeing ‘ALE’, but ALE was no more and before my envy riddled green eyes AKO was born.

After a few moments of [limited] creative thinking followed by a bash at the game of choice [perhaps killer instinct] I came face to face with the same title screen. Enter your name. I stared, wide eyed at the pixilated flashing letters. A timer counting down from 99 goading me. BRH? BEN? No. Not this time. I wanted in to the rank of gamers with tags and pseudonyms and kudos and secrecy. ZEN came quickly. I didn’t give thought to its longevity – to a simplicity that, perhaps, I’d one day come to regret.

Approximately 15 years later and I’m staring at the first comic book that I’ve had a hand in producing. DevaShard. I flip to the credits… Writer, Zen.

It’s a cute moment. Each time I sign a book or hear someone ask about ‘Zen’ I’m transported back to that arcade. My brother at my side. We’re playing street fighter 2, wasting money on games and wasting oxygen arguing over who’s the best. Not who’s the best out of Alex and myself,but the only “who’s the best” that ever really mattered to us. The only “who’s the best” that we needed to argue over. The only “who’s the best” that we must agree to disagree over. Ryu versus Ken. The correct answer, incidentally, is Ken.

Ken is the best.

Character Integrity? I’m thinking about the point where we pick his story up again in the series. I know I want to explore his clan, their origin, their motives, their homes… their lives. Looking at him a flurry of possible homes hit me. Bleached white sand mountains with tatooine inspired dwellings? No. Marriage? No. Suddenly I’m staring at a character that has standards. Things have certainly changed over the last two years. Viilal [the Assassin] is a character that will always be dear to my heart because right from the off his concept was clear to me. He embodies so many characters that I’ve literally played around as over the years. Rather, that my Grandfather played around as… he embodies the villains of my Grandfather. As a child I whiled away my post-school afternoons in the garden with him… with them. Getting home from school was a pleasant, if somewhat repetitive process. Shoes off [laces untouched] tie off [still knotted] freshen up, trainers on, head into the Garden… Save the world. Yes. Save the world. My grandfather would already be lying in wait. His supervillain of choice would vary, often he was simply a ‘monster made entirely from shadows’. I would vanquish him day-in, day-out for the good of mankind. Our fights would see us traversing perilous ravines, impossibly jagged cliff faces and such. His attacks would often disarm me, occasionally leaving me severely wounded. But either by healing factor or sheer strength of will I’d find my way to delivery of that final blow.

Viilal’s unrelenting commitment to assassinate his target was born out of the onslaught of attacks that my grandfather would present to me, each afternoon. I know Viilal’s character on the battlefield because I’ve fought him a thousand times in my past.

Back in my office, fingers coaxed into action and I’m filled with a newfound urgency to address the back-story of our characters. To continue building on it, perhaps I should ask my Grandfather what he think Viilal’s home life is like… or perhaps I should concentrate on finishing Metal Gear before my girlfriend gets too immersed and starts beating me on it.

Essentially our office, our creative team, our product and our company truly represent and embody the meeting point between East & West. Situated in the heart of Hong Kong, which is rightly referred to as ‘Asia’s World City’, it is a place where companies from all over the Western world set-up to engage with China and the rest of Asia. Our diverse staff also equally represents both regions of the globe, split right down the middle with 50% of us coming from a Western background and 50% from an Eastern background. We have been able to connect and merge our backgrounds and ideas in a truly creative way to develop a ground-breaking product. 

Our creative team is no exception to this diversity, with exactly half of them coming from the Western hemisphere and half from the Eastern hemisphere. This often leaves people quite intrigued by our extraordinary art style. There is no doubt that the artwork is of the highest quality, but are the illustrations drawn in a Manga style, or in a traditional Western graphic novel style? Well, the honest answer is both and neither, because what we have created is in fact something totally new. It’s quite rare to find the art and the writing styles of East and West meet right down the middle, creating something that has been talked about for many years, but never truly achieved.

So apart from the fact that we have spent over a year researching and putting together our first product, that everyone on our team has had to study ancient Asian texts seven times the length of the bible, that we flew our entire office staff around Asia to visit temples, witness ancient landscapes, see sites of historic battles and get local feedback, I believe what truly sets us apart is the fact that our first product distinctively treads that very fine line between Eastern and Western culture , and in the form of a graphic novel – this I can honestly say is a first on many levels!

Soundtracks. Graphic novels. No relation, right? But should it be something we’re considering? Recently I’ve been pondering this question, and it’s turned out to be a good one to ask. I initially thought the answer obvious – until I realised the possibilities…

My line of thinking began at a logical point. If soundtracks and graphic novels are compatible, why don’t they already co-exist? You can generally judge the worth of an idea by seeing how successfully it’s been done before, and personally I can’t think of a single example where a graphic novel has been accompanied by a soundtrack - and you might say for good reason. “A graphic novel is a book, right? And books don’t play music last I heard…” Well, that’s a good point, and one that may have been valid 5 years ago. However, technology has made many previously unthinkable ideas possible, so if we assume that it CAN be done we have to ask why it HASN’T already…and the more I think about it, the more I feel that this is about as far as anyone must get with the idea. It hasn’t been done so it can’t be done. If we go beyond this and assume that it IS possible to supply a graphic novel with a soundtrack then we can evaluate the worth of doing so…

Take a moment to consider your favourite movie. Now imagine that it has a completely different soundtrack. Different composer, different genre. Imagine that it’s got a ska-techno soundtrack instead (and if you managed to pick the only film in existence that actually HAS that, give yourself a pat on the back). It’s difficult to do, right? After all, the soundtrack is integral to the atmosphere of a film, in the same way that it is for a video game. Music conveys mood better than anything else in the world and nothing can be moodier than a soundtrack (except, possibly, a teenager). It will instantly recreate the drama and the tone of whatever it was written for, and can help you relive the core experiences of said movie in an instant.

The opening notes of the Star Wars theme sum this whole idea up very nicely. The second you hear that fanfare you know what it is and how it makes you feel…which is like a jedi, obviously! It would be impossible to associate Star Wars with anything else.

Now consider your favourite graphic novel series. There’s a good chance you’ve picked something that’s already been made into a movie. And the reason for this? Graphic novels make (potentially) fantastic films – they are dramatic, action-orientated, filled with colourful characters and vibrant worlds. Graphic novels are visual entertainment, a story told with images - and a movie is a story told with images and sounds. And therein lies the key difference. But what if this difference were to disappear?

And suddenly you see why this is such an interesting idea. A graphic novel with a soundtrack. The missing link between graphic novels and movies! Instantly there’s a potential to make the whole universe so much more tangible, to make the story that much more dramatic and moving. It fits perfectly with our ethos of creating a real and expansive world, filled with character and atmosphere! Imagine reading an emotionally-charged battle scene with clashing swords and arrows raining down around our hero – and having the perfect score to accompany it! The whole tone of the graphic novel becomes more clearly defined, and the action and the drama is infinitely more visceral. Immediately there is a new depth to the storyline, and a new intensity.

Just like that the whole idea of the traditional graphic novel has evolved. A simple idea, taken to it’s logical conclusion. That’s why it always pays to look at things from fresh angles – you never know when a graphic novel soundtrack might come your way! And if you don’t allow yourself the creativity to see the potential in it, you might miss out on a very good thing.