The Space Between Homage and Originality

I’ve been building toward The Sorceress at the End of Time for a very long time. Years, in fact.

One of my favourite kinds of stories is the kind that plays with time – Interstellar, The Fountain, Terminator… yes, Tenet too.

And personal favourite: Final Fantasy VIII.

There’s something about the way that game handles time, love, memory and destiny that really resonated with me, especially as a younger man.

But although it’s my favourite game, I’ve always felt like it never fully took advantage of its incredible premise – a sorceress from the future, the compression of time, and the emotional effect that would realistically have on the people trapped within it.

So I set out to create something that explored some of those ideas more deeply, along with my own, in a very new way.

I wanted it to be a story about time and the way it shapes our choices, our relationships, and the futures we believe are waiting for us. And ultimately… if it is that destiny cannot be changed, do our choices even matter?

Naturally, it draws inspiration from the works above, and probably many others too. That’s true of almost every “new” creation, consciously or unconsciously.

But the goal was always to build something original.

Early on, some of the feedback I received about the key art was that it looked too visually similar to FFVIII. Personally, I disagreed with some of that criticism - which I do admit, could easily be reality distortion on my part. But feedback matters, and it made me stop and think.

My intention was always homage, never imitation.

The more I reflected on it, the more I realised something important: the story itself, the characters, the themes in my story – they’re already very different. At a certain point, leaning too heavily into the visual homage was actually doing a disservice to the identity of my own work.

So I made a number of subtle (and some larger) changes to the artwork and presentation to move it further away from those original comparisons.

The story remains the same.
The emotional core remains the same.
The visual style remains the same.
And the homage is still there.

But hopefully now, the framing feels less visually derivative to those who felt that way previously, and more like its own thing - which is just what I wanted it to be.

I don’t doubt some people will still make the comparison, and they’re completely free to do so. But I’d encourage them to give my story a read first – and hopefully support a fellow Final Fantasy fan trying to create something original from a small thread of inspiration that meant a great deal to him.

The Inception of The Sorceress at the End of Time

Ironically, this entire project - at least partly - exists because I genuinely think there are some fantastic stories that could be told around the world of FFVIII.

I’ve got a few great ideas fully plotted and fleshed out. Not sequels, necessarily, but companion stories that expand the themes, deepen the mythology, and offer new perspectives on the characters and ideas already there.

If I ever had the opportunity to sit down with SquareEnix and talk about those ideas, I honestly think I could surprise them.

And along with my creative production, illustration and art direction background for large publishers and major brands, I could bring them to life as vibrant and exciting graphic novels.

I did try reaching out to SquareEnix through my agent at one point, but from what I understand, Final Fantasy development remains very internal to Japan, with little Western outsourcing on the creative side.

I suppose, a part of me thought that if I pushed the homage just enough, maybe it would catch their attention.

But then, not all attention is good attention.

So before launching Sorceress tomorrow, I wanted to make some visual adjustments and ensure that this project stood firmly as its own original story.

Because ultimately, it’s creating original stories is what keeps me going. It’s the thing that fuels me…and I’m so incredibly excited to finally release The Sorceress at the End of Time, which at this point is shaping up to be at least a trilogy.

Still, the impossible dream remains. So maybe one day, it can serve as a calling card to SquareEnix, for some of the FFVIII ideas still living in my head.

If it never happens, at least I’ll know I gave it everything I had. And if it does… well, that’d be pretty cool too :)

Sorceress is launching tomorrow on Kickstarter.

The project means a lot to me and I think is my most ambitious story to date. If you haven’t already, I’d love it if you could follow the prelaunch page, so you get notified when it goes live tomorrow.

There will be a lot of options to read the book - from digital, to softcover and collectors hardcover (and so secrets yet to be revealed).

Follow along here.

Hope to see you there!