LunarNET
LunarNET
LunarNET
LunarNET
LunarNET Non-Flash Navigation




History of LunarNET

Lunar: Four Heroes Story April Fools Joke

Welcome to LunarNET's 2003 April Fools joke. For our joke this particular year, we announced a new LUNAR game, titled "LUNAR: Four Hero Story" based on the adventures of Dyne, Ghaleon, Lemia, and Mel. We released a fake Japanese magazine scan, and some promo wallpaper, but there was quite a bit of stuff that was never used. This special feature reveals some of the other material we used. Below you can see the two versions of the "magazine scan". The one on the left is the one we released, and the one on the right is the untouched version, before being made to look like a scan. As you can see, we distorted the "scan" version quite a bit, and tilted it a little. We also added a small black gradient to make it look like it was the crease in the magazine fold. All of the Japanese text involved was Kizyr's doing. The design itself was my own (GhaleonOne) doing.

Fake "Magazine Scan"
The Original Document

 

Besides the fake scan, we also put out two sizes of wallpaper. This is where Renn Inoue came in handy. Renn is probably the LUNAR fandoms best fanartist, (at least in my opinion) so having him along to help was great! And hey, think about it. Even though this is a joke, and there is no real LUNAR: Four Hero Story, at least you got some really nice new wallpaper right? ^_^ To the right is the original untouched artwork from Renn. (I resized the image slightly to create the wallpaper) One last note about the wallpaper: It was originally going to be promo artwork, but I didn't have the time to create a game logo that would look professional enough on the artwork. So we just released wallpaper instead. If you're still looking for the wallpaper, feel free to check the wallpaper section of the site, where this artwork is available for download in wallpaper sizes.

Next we have the various screenshots located at the bottom of this paragraph. The two on the left were done by Renn. Those two are the Mel/Dyne battle screens. One of which was used in the magazine scan. The third and fourth ones are title screens that I designed. You can easily see why they weren't used, as the quality wasn't all that great. This was also before we had a name for the game (hence the title Lunar Adventure) The fifth picture from the left is the card screen for Mel's battle sprite that Renn also designed. This is simply a Lunar Legend card grab, where we turned the color of the card red, pasted in Mel, and had Kizyr fix the text so that it read correctly. The final two are the battle pictures that are ultra-small in the magazine scan. Once you click on the englarged versions, you'll see why. They are nothing more than EBC screenshots (one of which was horizontally flipped), with the main characters and Ruby replaced by Dyne, Ghaleon, Lemia and Ghaleon's fairy sidekick. And then some HP/MP status text at the bottom. Oh, and Renn also designed all the sprites. (minus the fairy, which was cut out of another EBC screenshot)


Next up is some other random stuff we mostly didn't get around to using. The sketches are "concept" style artwork from Alunissage. And the sprites (3 Lemia and 1 Dyne) are Renn's design. So are the two example screenshots of the magic spells he designed. The logo is my work, which would have gone on the artwork Renn designed. Unfortunately the logo is crap, and looked like crap on the artwork, so I nixed that in favor of the wallpaper idea.


Finally we come to the various links to forums and such that talked about this joke. We honestly were shocked at the amount of forums that got to talking about this, and I'm sure a few new ones will be added to this list in the next day or two, as we continue to find more each day. Some completely fell for it hook, line and sinker. Others totally believed it was just a joke. And still others (most of them) remained skeptical. All in all, it was a great joke, and we recieved a lot of praise for the final product.


[ © 1997-2024 LunarNET | Terms of Use | Legal | Privacy Policy ]
LunarNET

Lunar World of Lunar

Lunar Interviews
Lunar The Silver Star Lunar Eternal Blue Lunar Walking School Lunar Silver Star Story Complete Lunar Eternal Blue Complete Magical School LUNAR! Lunar Legend Lunar Dragon Song Lunar 3 Lunar The Silver Star Lunar Eternal Blue Lunar Walking School Lunar Silver Star Story Complete Lunar Eternal Blue Complete Magical School LUNAR! Lunar Legend Lunar Dragon Song Lunar 3 Lunar History Timeline The Novels The Manga The Artbooks The Soundtracks All The LUNAR The Four Heroes Story Lunar Encyclopedia The Interviews Lunar Threads Fandom Works Lunar Merchandise Lunar Multimeda LunarNET Staff And Credits LunarNET History Contact LunarNET Lunar Weblinks What Is Lunar?