Freedom Planet's anniversary! What it means to me
July 25, 2024
Neera and Corazon done at a friend's suggestion for Pride Month...
IT WAS THE FREEDOM PLANET FRANCHISE'S ANNIVERSARY EARLIER THIS WEEK AND I didn't realize... otherwise I might have tried to draw something...
I wish I could more vividly pin the memories I had with the first Freedom Planet haha... I think I pirated it first when I was too poor to get anything more than $50 every Steam Summer Sale 😁 but I definitely remember loving this Sonic-inspired explosionfest and I felt like the game's biggest rider. I was mostly there to be annoying and tell everyone I saw that they're dumb for tearing so much into the silly harmless story because that's really what stuck out to me and I wasn't as harsh on it as a lot of people seemed to be. I guess as someone who was full of OC ideas and unrealized story ideas, it was hard for me to be unhappy with such an earnest and obviously love-filled attempt at building a world, even if the character writing was a bit funky and the cutscenes were a bit long. Of course, the gameplay was great, but I'd always wanted to tell stories, and the game's very ambitious storytelling for an action platformer stuck really nicely with me. I think Freedom Planet 1's immensely overflowing love in spite of its visible cracks was something that told me "if they can do it, you can too". It wasn't at the front of my mind, but I didn't let go of this sentiment I was left with.
Then the long-awaited sequel came, and it scrambled my brain like eggs. I couldn't tell you why! I couldn't tell you how! But it did. It helps that I didn't have a particularly strong feeling of "expectation", but the strong sense of identity on display was so wonderful to see. The action-platformer gameplay had been polished to a sheen; new defense and mobility options made its four playable characters all feel fast and flexible to play, and gave you the tools to deal with elements that would've otherwise been seen as cheap and unfair in the first game. The story seemed to have taken a lot of notes from the first game, opting for a slower more episodic and character-centric structure to really let you grasp the personalities of the main cast, before propelling into a heavier narrative without ever really losing its sense of fun. The spritework was beautiful, and the overall art direction was gorgeous. 24+ levels of well-baked goodness made up what is now one of my favorite games of all time!!
But maybe more significantly, it meant a lot for me as a creative, in a way I wasn't even prepared for. When Freedom Planet 2 came out, I started to draw the characters again. And then I kept drawing... and then I kept drawing! I drew short comics, I drew memes, I drew everything in between. I don't usually have such intense attachments, but something about this game and its characters rooted itself in my brain and didn't let go. For at least a year straight I loudly and annoyingly sang the game's praises while continuing to draw whatever interested me. I don't usually draw much fanart either, so this was big! I tend to focus a lot on original works, but the Freedom Planet characters had basically become an extension of myself after some point... it was truly surprising to have my artistic drive surface so strongly. It reminded me why I liked drawing, at a point in time where I was questioning whether I even wanted to keep doing so.
Fanart my close friend @funkyfunkyradio did for my fanfic, Snow Calm!!!
And it didn't stop at drawing, either. At some point I began plotting out a curious little fanfic project I called Snow Calm; it was my own take on the backstory of Neera Li (my unexpected favorite character!), meant to explain her present-day attitude and relationship with the cast. Compelled beyond belief, I worked away at this story until I finished the story's first "arc" of four chapters, and I had a lot of support from friends who really enjoyed what I brought to the table. I think it was working on this story that helped renew my interest in writing, and made me think more seriously about becoming a writer! Up to that point, I'd always had some kind of love for writing, but it was a bit... auxiliary? Certainly present, but I guess I'd been passively stifling it in one way or another. But at around that point I'd rediscovered by love for reading, and through writing Snow Calm, I feel like I'd sparked again my love for writing. It seems so small, but it means so much. Thanks to that inspiration, I went back to my original projects and decided "I can do better". Now I'm more frequently hammering at what I love for my own sake, and I'm going "I enjoy this. This is what I love to do".
So I owe a lot to Freedom Planet! Thank you for being an excellent game series with great visuals, action, and music. Thank you for helping me better realize my love for writing, and seriously rekindling my love for drawing. And thank you for telling me "hey, you can do it too" 😌 I'll clutch that tightly as I see all my ideas through.