Clicks on a Whim

An Infinity Nikki blog to talk about the weridness that is this game... With pictures!

[clicksonawhim]

Among Sunflowers (Again)

(Nikki posing among sunflowers, smiling or laughing)

For the first photo contest of the month I ended up making my way towards Stellar Lake. This is because there is a house with sunflowers where the sun will consistently shine down on Nikki in such a way that you can see the sun through the holes in her weaved hat.

(Nikki looking off in a distance among sunflowers. The sunlight dapples her face like freckles through her hat.)

I discovered this quality of this hat, and of this location last year, which was why I came back here. Especially since the theme was something to do with the sun and summer, so I thought this was a good photo.

There are actually several, but I can't remember which one I ended up using.

[clicksonawhim]

Summer Contest Photos

(Nikki out in the sun, staring out into the beyond)

So, of the photos I did manage to take, they were primarily for the new photo contests that get held on a bi-monthly basis. I actually appreciate these contests because they provide a bit more direction.

This is especially important if you have a lot of stuff and are starting to get decision paralyze.

(Nikki on the ocean with a bit of her boat behind her)

I didn't submit these ones by the way, it wasn't really anything special and I wanted something more interesting.

By the way, the hair is from the 5 star banner, putting hats on Nikki makes the pigtails disappear and gives her this nice front bang look.

[clicksonawhim]

A Forgotten Picture

(Nikki Covering Her Smile)

This pose reminds me a lot of Maomao from Apothecary Diaries, which I find to be wonderful. Also, I can't remember what pose this is, or if I had used a handheld item to get this pose.

Handheld items are fascinating by the way, not just because they had add to a character if you're doing more full body pictures instead of portraits like I do, but also they will move the hand(s) out of the way giving you a different picture if you mess with the angles well enough.

[clicksonawhim]

Summer Greetings

(Nikki Showing Offer Her Pretty Nails)

Despite the fact that The Stars Yearn season was a filler update, I still didn't take as many pictures as I would have. This isn't due to the lack of places to take pictures, I have a running list that is far too long.

However, I took advantage of the filler season to try and catch up on quests, even though I've been working on other things.

This was the final outfit I settled on for the season, since it was all supposed to be beach things themed. Also, it gave me a catch to show off her nails.

Also, you may have noticed that I made Nikki's skin darker, this is because I had her wearing some accessories that just show up better on a darker skin tone. In fact, a lot of the pastel colours generally show up better on a darker skin tone.

[clicksonawhim]

In Which I've Been Distracted

(Nikki Singing in a Tree)

So... I've been distracted, horribly so.

And it doesn't help that Infinity Nikki is meant to be played for more hours than I sometimes care to do so. I've been busy with a crafting project for my Everyday Journal, and the Steam Next Fest hit hard as I tried to play my demos before they expired.

As a result, while I did finish all the seasonal events, I didn't take time out to take pictures. This one was just from me wanting to take part in the photography contest that now gets held on a bi-monthly basis.

By the way, i really like this whimsicality and will probably mess around with it a bit more in the future.

[clicksonawhim]

And Bye Until Next Season Ends or Starts

(Nikki looking up at the covered moon or black hole in the sky.)

Despite the fact I took a lot of pictures, they were mainly due to the outfit studies this season. I wish I could say I will take more in the current season, but seeing as I'm distracted by other things and it's always a lot of things to do in each season, I'm not sure.

I'm not due for holidays for another month and a half by the time this goes live, so I don't really have the chance to play a lot of Nikki at the moment.

[clicksonawhim]

Above the Ruins

(Something sleeps above the ruins where the water parts)

Originally I was going to wait on taking pictures around the Boneyard, mainly because I was running out of time and wanted to finish the event stuff.

However, it was really hard for me to get up here, and I didn't want to make the trek back up even though I didn't really have an idea for what I would taking pictures of. So I threw Nikki back into the angel outfit and defaulted to one of my favourite poses.

In which it occurred to me I never took pictures of this frame of animation from the back. It is really neat and gives the sense of being summoned. I should remember this exists.

As for the sparkles, I think this lightening effect exists on a separate animation track, which may explain why I didn't realize I could do this.

[clicksonawhim]

Forests Fluttering: Outfit Study

Forest Fluttering happens to be one of my favourite ability outfits visually speaking, which is impressive seeing as this is part of the permanent banner. But probably one of the reasons why I am fond of this outfit is because there's a lot of things you could do with the different parts of this outfit.

Though I will admit, this outfit, minus the butterfly themed vest doesn't really read bug catching outfit, it more reads as a gardening outfit.

The dress for this outfit has always looked a bit.. unfinished without a vest or a jacket of some sort over it. It might have to do with the fact that the 'dress' looks like an overdress pulled over another dress. Like the top layer looks like the thing Nikki would put on to not get her actual address under it dirty.

It also looks very uniform like, from the simple gold buttons to the cuffs that look like it's keeping her sleeves out of the way. Also, it's easy for the clover motif on this to get very lost.

My favourite part of this dress is the large stitching and lacing. It's the lacing that makes me think this is an over apron dress of some sort, meant again to keep things out of the way. Nikki has shoved daisies into one of the pockets.

Also gardening gloves! It's a reminder that I would like to take this outfit and do something with it in the greenhouse in Florawish. I would like to take pictures of the watering animation in this outfit, but unfortunately you can't use the Moment Capturer on your home island because it's in co-op mode.

I really should ask Infold if there is a way to temporarily turn co-op mode off on your home island so you can use the Moment Capturer. So many animations that can't be really caught well at the Home Island.

Again, wonderful stitching on this, the hat isn't my favourite, but I think you could use it for something far more whimsical. Again, I've changed the hair style out in order to see more of the outfit.

I really love the best, but the vest doesn't love a lot of the outfits that I have. Though, it has been a long time (nearly a year) since I've tried to match this vest with any of the other outfits. So I should probably go through what I have again, but the nature of the vest clenching at the waist means that the dress has to be pretty simple in order for it to be used.

One of the primary reasons why I began to do these series is because of details like the endings on the lace. It has little petals attached to it, which isn't as noticeable without a close up.

The boots, while so pretty, is under the category of, how does this even work? While it does make the boots more sleek by having the bows in the back, no one would actually tie their shoes like this.

Also, I think I've used these socks in the past for other adventuring/hiking Nikki outfits.

Speaking of details that would absolutely get lost, did you realize that the "flowers in the jar" are actually just painted on flowers? I did not, and had assumed that Nikki just stored plants in a jar, like children sometimes do.

Instead she's keeping glimmerdrops in that jar.

At some point I am going to have to find a good spot for dark or night time pictures due to the special effects, but for now this will do. It does glow a bit, but not a lot that you'd notice running around in the over world, and it does require a bit of messing around with the camera to catch it well.

These are, I think loose French braided pigtails, and a style i should use more often I think. They're very cute and innocent looking. It's also clear how they intended the ribbons to appear.

Overall a really cute outfit, and I tend to like the base outfit, though the brown evolution is also a good coloration.

[clicksonawhim]

Playing with Fish

(Nikki watching as the little fish swim around her hand)

I don't play with the Eurekas as much as I really should, and I should because there are some really need ones that would make for great pictures. A fact that I will just add to the ever-growing list of things to take pictures of.

The hand Eureaks though are my favourite as they're the easiest to make it seem like Nikki is interacting with them.

(Nikki watching the fish play together)

It was a lot of fun to do these types of pictures, and I'm sure there are poses within Camera Mode that you can do something similar with it as well.

Combined though with the fish swimming with this decoration, it made for a really good photo.

[clicksonawhim]

To See the Sun

(Nikki shielding her eyes from the sun above her little perch)

Even though these are item decorations, these can also be considered a small slice of a world because some of them have their own lightening.

In this case, it's supposed to be the illusion that Nikki is underwater, so she has lightening from above like the sun breaking through to the water below.

Such as this case where if you peer through the umbrella you can kind of see that sunlight.

[clicksonawhim]

A Never Arriving Afternoon: Decoration Item

(Nikki looking far off into the distance)

Because I didn't really take any photos of the whole item, for those not familiar with this, it's a surreal item piece of floating school desks to make it look like it's underwater.

The reason why I didn't take a far away picture is because I didn't really find a place that I liked as a background. I took Nikki to Serenity Island because of all of the bubbles but it still wasn't the best place. So a lot of the pictures ended up being close ups.

I will say for the first half of the animation it looks like Nikki is experiencing something. She has this forlorn look to her.

Also, because it was forever ago since I took this picture, I don't know if that bubble in the picture is from the item or from Serenity Island.

[clicksonawhim]

A Different Curse

(A different Nikki in another timeline flinching from a curse casted.)

To finish the rest of my play of the Untamed Freedom whimsicality, I put Nikki back into my default angel outfit and threw it over to the ruins in Florawish.

By the way, it's at this point I should also warn there is a consistency problem with my photo taking because I was trying to get an angle without Momo in it.

(Nikki noticing something below her is glowing.)

By the way, you can kind of see the remains of the ring on the ground in the picture on the left which is a neat detail. Nikki is sort of backing up in this as if seeing the danger.

Out of context this look has a more sad expression to Nikki's face.

(Nikki realizing there is a problem and attempts to run, perhaps a bit too late)

Admittedly the run animation when she tries to dash away looks a bit odd in still, but I like the glimmers of what the chains that are starting to appear.

(The chains are unfurling to latch out to capture Nikki.)

I'm not sure how many tries it took to capture this. The moment where you see the chains grab her, but they're still not completely taunt. At her feet you can still see they are a bit loose.

(Nikki has been trapped!)

The primary reason why I chose the ruins in Florawish is because they had places that were tilted. One of the fun things about this whimsicality is that the chains will get longer if the distance from which they manifest and Nikki are farther away. There is a limit to that distance though, but it does give it a sense that she is trying pretty hard to fly away.

I've been told by @wereah that these last sets of pictures is very much some "Final Fantasy shit" which is pretty typical of the kind of pictures I take at times.

In part because I like it dramatic, and in part because I always like putting Nikki in pretty clothes.

[clicksonawhim]

A Trap or Curse?

(Nikki flinching back as the ring explodes in her hand, it was trapped)

This has the most interesting expressions to me because she's reacting to something negative that has happened. And you don't need to use this whole animation, just parts of it that may suit your story telling needs.

(Nikki wondering what had happened earlier.)

Like this look of concerned bewilderment at the aftermath of the ring exploding. This is only half of the animation, but I actually stopped here with this outfit.

I would end up putting Nikki in one of my default pretty outfits and take her to a different location.

[clicksonawhim]

Whimsicality: Untamed Freedom

(Treasure Hunter Nikki Admiring The Shiny Ring She Found)

The name and description of this whimsicality is really odd to me. It's from the Forest Need Not Listen season, as part of the 4 star outfit from the 5 star limited banner.

It's supposed to reflect someone who has been chained, but then finds themselves free as they break those chains. However, the animation for this reads more like someone found a cursed/trapped ring and ended up chained.

There's actually no animation that shows the breaking free of the chains when ending the whimsicality.

However, it doesn't remove the fact that this is a really neat whimsicality in terms of animation. Which was the reason why I dressed Nikki up as a treasure hunter finding a questionable ring in the ruins.

I actually ended up dressing her up in two different outfits for the two parts of this animation.

[clicksonawhim]

Banner Fun with Glory Whimsicality

(Nikki Looking Like She's About to Start a Fight While Waving a Banner Around)

You'll need the Moment Capturer to gather these types of pictures. She waves the banner around both at the start and at the end. This is from the end set of the animation.

It certainly makes her look heroic and dramatic. I hadn't experimented but I wonder if wearing a different full version of the outfit will change the banner colour on the whimsicality.

Granted it's one of those cases where I would like to change the banner colour regardless, but this isn't a pose from the camera mode.

The beginning animations for the banner is also a lot of fun.

If you're wondering where she is, this is a bridge in Wish Field, I had hoped to get the mounted pictures, but the Knight Stallion looked so bad that I gave up on the idea.

This actually looks more like she's waving around a sharp pointy object like a spear. It's not what it is, but that is what it looks like.

[clicksonawhim]

Weird Whimsicality, Fun Expressions

(Close Up of Nikki as She Holds Up a Banner to Rally Troops)

As much as I make fun of the Knight Stallion in this whimsicality, the expressions are fun. They also have a lot of potential for making a villain Nikki. A favourite past time of @wereah.

It's funny.

Probably because in reality she's so wholesome.

But look at this.

(Nikki Looking Evilly at Someone Off Camera)

Doesn't she look like she's about to give an evil monologue right then and there?

I may play with this whimsicality again at some point I think... especially with the banner poses.

[clicksonawhim]

Whimsicality: Glory (Horses Are Terrible)

(Nikki Riding a Knight Stallion Holding a Banner)

In fairness to Infold, I once heard an animator say that the hardest thing to draw/animate is a horse.

Knight Stallion was always an odd looking horse, but having Nikki ride one only makes it clear how odd it is. It's not the most majestic looking thing.

However, as Nikki's unimpressed look may indicate there are a lot of good expressions to be had from this whimsicality, and I would end up having a lot of fun pulling them apart.