THE GUYS HAVE NEW EMOTIONS I'm so excited to see what Jade's might be šš aaaa and Trey's, and Cater's too!! I've already seen Ruggie's expressions !!
Apparently Disney is releasing a new anime styled game, thoughts?! (Sorry Iām really excited about this and wanna know what people think it may be)
I already shared what I could find about Sparklink Stars here, although thatās more of an informative news post more than anything else. I can explain more of my own thoughts and feelings about the project!!
Below the cut, since itās a lot.
So first thingās first, Spalik definitely has different vibes than Twst does. It seems overall moreā¦ positive and traditionally fairy tale/fantasy-like. And while I do enjoy fairy tales and fantasy theming, Iām really thrown off by how positive Spalik is š It must be the NRC boys and their aversion to RSA influencing me, cuz the first time I watched the storybook trailer, my face puckered up in the same way that it would if I had tasted a lemon. So joyfulā¦ so full of hopeā¦ so saccharineā¦ Soā¦ disgustingā¦
Personally, I find the premise and the world not very interesting. I feel like they repeat the words ālightā, āhopesā, ādreamsā, and āhappinessā/āhappyā way too often. Even if these are major aspects or themes to the story, it sounds generic and much too uplifting to me.
I have mixed feelings on the design of the world and marketing materials. An island in the shape of Mickeyās head, the rainbow magical tree, and the castle being similar to the one in Disneyās logo feel uncreative at best, but I do find the overall use of blue, stars, and sparkles appealing. Not that itās any more creative, but I do like that kind of artistic sensibility.
Weāve only seen one character design so far, but we donāt have a name or personality for him. He seems to be the poster boy for Spalik and I assume heās based on Cinderella, given the colors + his headwear + the Cinderella gif posted on the Spalik Twitter before he went live. Itās a fitting choice, since Cinderella has her rags-to-riches story and was Walt Disneyās favorite princess. Sheās also got that iconic āa dream is a wish your heart makesā line, which I feel fits in well with Spalikās lore, or perhaps was even the inspiration behind the origin of magic in this world.
Something about the design of Cinderfella reminds me of Fragaria Memories, which has its own mobile game slated for a 2027 dropā¦ And I donāt know why, because their artists are different š I think it might be Cinderfellaās cravat, the fabric at his hip, and the jacket over his shoulders with the quilted interior?? The jacket definitely reminds me of the main face for FragMem, Halritt.
The character designer for Spalik is Kazui-sensei, the same artist behind the designs for Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle. Admittedly, I am not a fan of Kazui-senseiās art. Their characters read as too āsharpā and angular, and I feel that they have a tendency to overdesign the hair while underdesigning the clothes. However, Iāll hold my reservations and let their work for Spalik speak for itself instead of judging them based on past works. Based on just Cinderfella, he doesnāt really stand out among the sea of bishounen designs Iāve seen.
Itās interesting that the copyright for Spalik specifies Disney/Pixar, while Twstās copyright doesnāt. I wonder if that means Spalik has access to Pixar IPs in addition to Disney original ones. This, along with the different tones + themes and possibly gameplay, should keep the two games from competing or cannibalizing one another.
One thing Iāve been seeing around a lot among socials is people anticipating or hyping Spalink up to be an otome and claiming this is what will make it āstand outā from Twst. I donāt fault them for wanting an otome, of course, but I just find it odd when thereās zero proof it will be one. I wonder if this sentiment is coming from the crowd that was disappointed that Twst wasnāt an otome and now theyāre looking for an alternative or a āreal Disney otomeā to cope with that fact. Something about that makes me feel a little uneasy, as if Twst NOT being an otome makes it ānot good enoughā so fans are shopping around for āsomething betterā.
The other thing thatās giving me pause about this project is that coly inc., the company Disney is partnering with, is VERY openly pro-AI. It's directly stated on their website that AI is one of their "primary domains".
Additionally, there is an article in which coly inc. discusses their Disney-related IP being released in the January 2027 fiscal year (Spalik) and the company's IP strategy moving into the world of AI. More specifically, coly inc. states that AI will "improve efficiency, generate ideas, and support production". They also say they need to figure out how to not compromise the quality of their products (such as the story, which they aim to be "rich and touching") while "still using AI to stay competitive in the gacha game market". I have read the article myself and asked multiple fluent Japanese-speaking contacts of mine to confirm these translations are accurate, as the original claims of AI usage were born from a machine translation circulating on Twitter.
Now, TO BE CLEAR: not all AI is built the same, and it is not automatically a red flag that coly lists "AI" as one of its pillars; it depends on its usage. AI has its practical applications (like analyzing vast data sets that would be impossible for a human to do). It would also be entirely dishonest to claim that f4samurai, Disney, and Aniplex, the companies behind Twst, have never used it. For example, here is an f4samurai engineer admitting to using Google Gemini to scan their code for errors. The issue with coly is that they've implied they will use generative AI ("generate ideas"), and that makes people question whether the art and story will be human-made or AI slop. That's not even mentioning the higher computing cost and energy + water demands of generative AI compared to regular ol' AI. Twst does have a leg up in this regard, since nothing in its materials suggest generative AI was used at any point in their creative processes. It's just really disappointing to see the hype for new projects by coly doused because they had to go and taint it with gen. AI shortcuts š¬ Thereās no explicit confirmation that gen. AI was used for Spalink, but the fact that the company openly admits to integrating it in planning and production at all casts doubts on Spalink by association.
If I had to summarize my feelings on this new game right nowā¦ Iām pretty mixed on it, especially after confessing to the generative AI usage. Iām not excited for it in the same way I was for Twst, Iām only really keeping an eye on it out of curiosity + because itās new and novel. Itās kinda also filling in the void whole I wait for more RSA student reveals in Twstās main story/j
2087
kianamaiart
stormborns
areudirty
dededos
tangentwithtanner
romaincrisis
