Enid C.

Hi! My name is Enid. Hong Kong freelance 2D / 3D artist currently based in the UK. Current project: Sais La Vie ☯️ - A cinematic kinetic visual novel based in 80s Hong Kong I make music sometimes!

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Wai at the immigration desk. Taken from Dream 2: Land of Dreams

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Things are escalating in the Kowloon Registry...

Taken from Dream 2: Land of Dreams

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First day in the Land of Dreams.

Even the usually gloomy Kowloon Walled City subdivided flat looks dreamy...

Taken from Dream 2: Land of Dreams

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Seagull Diary — 6 weeks old

First flight. First hunger. A fish that fell from the sky. I think he meant to help me, but I never got to ask him why.

So while I'm in full-on production mode for making Sais La Vie, I tried to squeeze some time early in the morning every day to write some short stories. 0530 is always a lovely time to do creative things.

This is my seventh work, a story that's told from the perspective of a seagull in his 20 years of life. I think it's a quiet little poetic allegory that might make one ponder and reflect, in an easily digestible way. So if you are interested in reading something light, consider giving Seagull Diary a go!

Update every Monday 11:00 UK summer time.

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Ah Tuk at his finest lol.

Let's see if Wai would go along his sales pitch 😆😆😆

Taken from Dream 1.5: Something Blues

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This is the design for the protagonist Chi Keung.

Chi Keung is a financially struggling vocalist working in a sound engineering and recording in Hong Kong.

He looks quiet from the outside but in his inside there lives a poetic cynic with a lots of unresolved emotions towards his father Wai Lim: Hate, contempt, distrust. These emotions keep fermenting in his psyche until he was hard-sold by the Feng Shui master into buying a suspiciou Bagua mirror, right before he has to attend his father's funeral. From that night he starts dreaming about his father and gets to know his side of the story bit by bit.

I deliberately made him look a bit old-schooled, like he was trapped in the 80s without him ever being aware of that. He wears that checkered shirt every day. But he's never aware it's also the same checkered shirt that his father also wore in his youth. I think it creates a nice contrast. The father and son aren't so different from each other than what Chi expects. The emo style hair is to highlight his tendency for introspection.

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Here's an in-game screenshot of Wai and his little brother!

Taken in Dream 1: The Eldest Son.

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So far I have designed Wai, the father of Chi, when he was 10, 17 and 20. Still have other ages to design but I could do that when I reach there.

What TGC (my dead work) has taught me is that, never get too fancy on sprite if you couldn't stand the long grind for detailed sprite drawing. It really kills the motivation. So now I'm aiming for a more simpler style for Sais La Vie this time.

I think using a Chibi style for a heavy story would have a nice contrast. You could say I'm inspired by the style of Made in Abyss as well. That story, accompanied with Tsukushi Aikihito's chibi style, is cruel in the best way!

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So this is the main menu of Sais La Vie.

It looks a bit like the main menu of my dead work. I couldn't help but use this style again because I really like minimalist design lol

And Bagua mirror is a real treasure for design. You can find so many little things on it that are already looking good as design elements.

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It's been a long while since I last updated this blog. And I have two announcements to make: I gave up on The Gilded Cage. And I'm starting another kinetic visual novel - Sais La Vie.

I love TGC. Really, I do. It was the idea I have had since I was a kid. After changing the worldbuilding and rewriting so many times, it still has to bite the dust. Maybe sometimes love could only take you this far. The thing is I felt like the story was going to nowhere, because most of the time I didn't know what I want to do. I couldn't connect to the characters because I used the wrong approach to writing. And like everyone's first project I was maybe a bit too ambitious, making everything as polished as possible before even before finishing the story (animation on each and every single one of the sprites, BGs that took me modelling for a whole week, etc.). It was a huge mistake, not recommended. And eventually I got myself into a long burnout phase...

During that phase I was in a creative slump. I thought this might be it. I couldn't write anymore. My creative juice all dried up... I was in a really bad shape. But in March I went to Japan and met one of my favourite musician and composer - Kato Hiroyuki. Watched his live. Chatted a little. It was nothing more than an ordinary encounter, a fan meeting the artist. But I felt like something suddenly unlocked inside of me. Like I have some divine reckoning after that encounter. And I started writing like crazy after I got back to the UK. In April 2025, I have finished the scripts of 5 stories, with the first one being Sais La Vie, now production in full swing (will share more progress later).

It's not stellar work compared to the great classics and indie VNs out there, of course, but I feel like SLV is really the best work I have written so far. I have changed approach to writing and I feel connected to the characters in a way I have never felt before. And I feel safer starting the actual production in Renpy (Hoorah!) after writing the whole story and not have it changed every three days.

I am also commissioning Kato-san for the music. Imagine having a collab with your favourite artist! That's my dream coming true 😆😆😆!!! I will definitely remember March and April 2025 for the rest of my life~~~

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What gets Cavina so excited?! 😶

Hmm... Pretty much anything that's Phantom Diva related 🤔

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So another track for the game! It's called "The Illusion We Called Waking". I actually had this inspiration while practicing on the piano (hey focus on your practice!). Sometimes banging on the keyboard will bring you to unexpected place, I guess? And just the arpeggio of chords with a #4 are beautiful enough that I wanna make a whole track just for the sake of it lol.

I think the beauty of this chord lies in its inherent dissonance from the tritone. Mild, but not too overbearing. Just enough to spike your nerve a little but not enough to stab your ears. Also a lot of major 9ths sprinkled here and there, sometimes even minor 9ths. Thanks to the high register of the celesta it sounds less harsh than it is.

While writing the piece, the dissonance set this scene in my head: In the depths of the night, you’re alone, shrouded in quietude. Thoughts start settling into your mind, uninvited. You can’t help but get caught in the flow of consciousness that you usually neglect under the pretense of playing busy in the day. What’s happening now? Maybe you have a sudden epiphany that things aren’t what they seemed all along, all while drifting, slowly and unknowingly, into dreams. And as you search for something—salvation? understanding?—within the dream… is it really a dream? Is the final contrabass note the end of the dream, or the end of the reality we thought existed?

I came up with this part where the hanging bass superimposes over the arpeggio motif. It sounds a little jarring, but I think it’s just the right amount. The descending chord progression was also inspired by a track composed by MusMus. I think it’s called “神話 (Myth)” (hey, don’t tell anyone!). I used it in the DEMO but would consider making another track to replace it later.

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I was pretty drained from drawing Cavina’s sprites (she’s got a lot, and it's quite draining doing them all in one go, ngl). So I thought why not brainstorm her theme instead? And that… didn’t go too smoothly either. I was stuck for a few days with nothing that sounded decent. But creativity is a messy thing I guess? Because when the creative juice finally came crashing, I outlined the whole thing in under an hour. Not a masterpiece ofc but it just felt right for Cavina: bubbly, chaotic, full of energy!

This time, I actually paid attention to texture. It's something I didn't touch on, since I tend to focus more on melody and harmony. But I figured it was a good chance to do some experimenting.

Since Cavina is sooooo energetic, I went with a loud, blaring synth first to match her character. Added some crisp comping for punch as well. But I feel like that wasn't enough because the midrange felt a bit empty, so I layered in a slightly detuned synth and a more melancholic one underneath. I think it’s fitting, because not-so-spoiler spoiler alert: Cavina isn’t exactly who she seems, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

Of course, this also means the track gets abrasive to the ears at times (trust me, after the 1000th listen in Logic, I was this close to turning it off). But this was the best balance I could strike to keep that bubbliness without losing too much depth.

Hope you enjoy! 

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Seems like Cavina's having some OPINIONS about the second man of the Aria 👀

Also ft. the new background of the entrance of the Dancing Shadows Theatre! I was aiming for a blend of classic and vintage design (if that makes sense?) with elements from older theatres and 20th century ones.

There are many meshes on the scene. I'm sure my old laptop would just die 😵. Thankfully I've bought a more powerful laptop and it can handle so many meshes now! And my god did it run so smooth like silk I'm crying 😭😭😭

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The look when I'm singing in my bathroom. You are gonna be surprised cuz I'm such a good shower singer 😎. At what level? Hmm... probably as good as Cavina 🤔?

Wait, why are y'all covering your ears?!!! 😭😭😭😭

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New sprite: Cavina WIP

She's such a energetic and chaotic character so I think I'd have to work on her sprite for a while before I could continue typing the script. There are 4-5 sprite change in just a few dialogue.

I feel like my brain goes blank when I draw folds now...

Used to be able visualise a little bit of them if I tried hard enough. And then I can go from there and imagine (though they might not turn out to be realistic enough lol).

It's inevitable I guess because I haven't practiced in ages 😑

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So I've finally finished writing the theme for TGC! When I was writing the theme, I have the imagery of Livvie gazing up at the starry sky above the Citadel through the gilded bars of her cove before her flight.

For inspiration, I actually started the piece with Ace Attorney 4's The Guitar's Serenade in mind. The chord progression of that song is soooo stunning! But of course I can't just steal from the song. So I mimicked it a bit with the bass and added a bit spice with the transition chords.

As a beginner composer, I'm guilty of making lots of mistakes in the track. The first draft of the track is so busy that I could barely recognise the theme itself. And I don't have an intuitive enough ear to know what parts to cut. So I really spent quite some time experimenting with what to cut. Setting those mistakes aside though, there are things that I like about the track, like the crescendo part in B section. I think it reflects the growing urge for Livvie to escape from her cage. And it hits a relatively quieter C section before getting more dissonant, which pretty much sums up her adventure.