Originally posted by julia_maluca:

Purely out of curiosity, after seeing the trailer on the SSF stream just now - the Ghibli inspiration is obvious and welcome, but did you also get your inspiration from the Innkeeper books by Ilona Andrews?

Hey there, Julia!

We've heard that name a few times but honestly we still have to check it out. What were the aspects of Inkeeper books that you liked the most?

I like the world building, the amount of knowledge the protagonist needs to balance the cultural, dietary and personal requirements of all the different alien species that come to stay at her inn. And it's not presented as something "ohh, look, quirky", but matter-of-fact "they are living fire and my inn, which is a magical tree, will try to douse them, so I need to deal with that". The authors (afaik "Ilona Andrews" is a pseudonym of a writer couple) just plonk you into the world of philosophy-discussing space chickens and supersoldier werewolves and let you deal with it.

Originally posted by antek:

Originally posted by julia_maluca:

Purely out of curiosity, after seeing the trailer on the SSF stream just now - the Ghibli inspiration is obvious and welcome, but did you also get your inspiration from the Innkeeper books by Ilona Andrews?

Hey there, Julia!

We've heard that name a few times but honestly we still have to check it out. What were the aspects of Inkeeper books that you liked the most?

The trailer was certainly gorgeous. Who were the artists you hired to make it?