I certainly can’t talk about things that have inspired Neon Cell without mentioning Star Wars. I won’t waste your time here talking about the prequels, edits to the originals, and Disney sequels – there’s already enough of that out there. I’ll just say this: you’re always going to find good and bad aspects to everything you like and dislike. Check out the video below! It’s a compilation of the three cinematic trailers for Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. I feel like this short film really captures a lot of the elements that make me get nerdy about the franchise.
But let’s get back to how Star Wars has inspired my creativity for this series… I would say that the main noticeable similarity is the mixing of new and old. I mentioned before that I had trouble choosing just one genre for this story. I couldn’t ignore my love for Tolkien, even though the main setting was leaning more toward cyberpunk. The idea that a character with a sword can confidently face off against multiple gun-toting enemies, has always appealed to me.
One of my biggest issues to rationalize was: why would someone use a melee weapon when there are guns available? I think I found a pretty good solution that is specific to my universe of elemental mages and synthetic humans. And on a side note, I have induced countless instances of writer’s block trying to find reasons for everything. Lately I’ve been getting better about just focusing on actual plot holes rather than trying to justify every tiny detail. I mean, look where that got The Matrix sequels…