[IC] PBT "The Flash" (IC form updated)

[keepoto]

Please see the updated IC thread here. Grateful if you could help fill in the new IC form!

PBT "The Flash"




Intro

Hello all, this is Keepo. On the last day of the year 2022, I bring you the interest check of my first keycap design – PBT “The Flash”.

PBT “The Flash” takes its inspiration from the protagonist of Sword Art Online, Yuuki Asuna (simply known as Asuna in game). In particular, this set aspires to capturethe “classic” Asuna we know in Season 1 – the skilled and fearless swordmaster able to square off against any enemy. All in all, one of the most fleshed out female characters in anime, and certainly one I am impressed by to this date.

I recall reading the SAO light novel around a decade ago (Chinese translation), and was deeply moved by the conversation between Asuna and Kirito after they defeated Heathcliff: Asuna finally told Kirito her real name, upon which Kirito whispered the name and marveled, “What a beautiful name”. It is indeed beautiful – and I hope this keycap set is a worthy tribute to the beautiful name.


INTEREST CHECK FORM

Feel free to join my discord (it's new!)


Basic info

Profile: Cherry

Material: PBT Doubleshot / Tripleshot (please note below)

Manufacturer: TBD

Note: open to both PBT / ABS depending on manufacturer and community preference.


Kits

"The Flash" - Base Kit (Tripleshot Hiragana)



Note: kitting / included keys subject to community input and further change.

"Luminescent" - Doubleshot Alphas



Note: I decided to go with tripleshot base to better fit theme - this is subject to change depending on community preference.

"Lightning Blade" - Novelties



Note: the “Asuna” Katakana icon may be dropped if copyright issues arise; the silhouette icons are subject to further change / amendment, depending on manufacturer capability.

"Perfect Duo" - Numpad Kit



"Pure Light" - Spacebar Kit




Colours



Colour samples
Note: due to the camera and display, the colour you see on screen may not 100% match the colour of the sample.










Renders

[WIP]


Collabs

[TBD]

If you are interested in collaborating with me, please contact me on Discord (Keepo#3439) or through e-mail (keepo.and.meepo@gmail.com).


Vendors

[TBD]

If you are interested in working together, please contact me on Discord (Keepo#3439) or through e-mail (keepo.and.meepo@gmail.com).


Timeline

[TBA]


Acknowledgements

MoMo for doing the renders and giving advice along the way.
Semi_clock and Lynn for the icons/art.
Kansir for general advice and suggestions along the way.
Sylvieon and Ravenn for colour matching input.

[keepoto]

Updates

1 Jan 2023: IC form updated to include options for both PBT / ABS manufacturers. Kitting update will be reflected in the next set of renders.


Feedback that will be incorporated:

• F13 and R2 PgUp.
• Fixing the numpad kit.

[mr_foggy]

quick, chuck all possible weeb sets in pbtfans' queue before they pull a gmk on IPs
that said, even if I'm not big on SAO, cool set.

[Cylent]

Why has numpad 0 and 00 been replaced with alt and ctrl? You can replace the icon enter with accent enter. Bars kit is missing 3-1-3 layout.

Wait, why do you have an alpha enter in base rather than an accent enter?

TBH the kitting is a mess and there are some design choices I don't understand, like making the mods red rather than yellow with red legends, etc.

[BeesKeys]

Your kitting needs a lot of work, quite a few mistakes in it. No F13 no R2 Pg Up, just a couple of things missing

I suggest joining Keycap Designer Discord to get some help with your kitting

[keepoto]

Why has numpad 0 and 00 been replaced with alt and ctrl? You can replace the icon enter with accent enter. Bars kit is missing 3-1-3 layout.

Wait, why do you have an alpha enter in base rather than an accent enter?

TBH the kitting is a mess and there are some design choices I don't understand, like making the mods red rather than yellow with red legends, etc.

Mods are due to personal design preference - having considered your suggestion, I believe yellow on red is aesthetically more pleasing than red on yellow, and red better represents the character (as she is in S1). I am open to change if the community favours red on yellow.

Same for the white Enters - I believe that the alpha colour scheme looks better than yellow on red / another shade of red. If the community believes the white Enters are redundant, they can be dropped from the kit.

The Ctrl and Alt in numpad kit are due to following some template (which in hindsight doesn't make total set) - agree kitting needs a lot of fix and will work on that.

Your kitting needs a lot of work, quite a few mistakes in it. No F13 no R2 Pg Up, just a couple of things missing

I suggest joining Keycap Designer Discord to get some help with your kitting

Noted on F13 and R2 PgUp, and will seek help with kitting. Thanks!

[Jsdfbn]

the colors on this kit are cleaaaaaaan

[shima]

revise your novelties. some of them are impossible to make.
set just feels like every other double/tripleshot pbt weeb set and doesn't seem unique in any way.

[aicyborg]

I'm not really into weeb sets but the colours look nice here. Potentially in, depending on the manufacturer used.

Could you please consider adding JP sublegends to the ISO-UK keys? Designs exist; Agilr's sets GMK Noel, Tōko, and "a" as examples. As it is, UK users would struggle with 1 and 4 numeric keys having sublegends but 2 and 3 without. Just looks off.

I don't think your kitting is as dire as others do but I think you should look at what manufacturers are able to do - for instance I don't think PBTfans (which seems like the most likely eventual home for this) offers the flexibility you want.

[Silentism]

Kinda interested in it. Personally I think her hair should be shown more somewhere in the set, but not sure how I would incorporate it in there without messing around with renders myself. I think it might be worth considering just dropping the yellow for the sake of hopefully having 1 less round of color samples, plus I don't think its that noticeable when orange and yellow are being used as legends/sublegends in your renders.

[keepoto]

the colors on this kit are cleaaaaaaan

thaaaaaaanks!

revise your novelties. some of them are impossible to make.
set just feels like every other double/tripleshot pbt weeb set and doesn't seem unique in any way.

Novs are being revised in accordance with manufacturer feedback, will be posted in next update.
Thanks for the comments! This is why I didn't approach GMK (Uniqey) 

I'm not really into weeb sets but the colours look nice here. Potentially in, depending on the manufacturer used.

Could you please consider adding JP sublegends to the ISO-UK keys? Designs exist; Agilr's sets GMK Noel, Tōko, and "a" as examples. As it is, UK users would struggle with 1 and 4 numeric keys having sublegends but 2 and 3 without. Just looks off.

I don't think your kitting is as dire as others do but I think you should look at what manufacturers are able to do - for instance I don't think PBTfans (which seems like the most likely eventual home for this) offers the flexibility you want.

will look into JP sublegends to ISO-UK keys, but I think whether the ISO-UK keys will be kept / JP sublegends are possible depend ultimately on manufacturers. Since this set is not going to GMK (for obvious reasons), will check with other manus.

Kinda interested in it. Personally I think her hair should be shown more somewhere in the set, but not sure how I would incorporate it in there without messing around with renders myself. I think it might be worth considering just dropping the yellow for the sake of hopefully having 1 less round of color samples, plus I don't think its that noticeable when orange and yellow are being used as legends/sublegends in your renders.

we're currently revising the Asuna silhouette novs, might add a front profile nov if the technology is there. I fiddled with the colours a bit but think using another colour (say sth close to hair colour) on the F-row or numbers row would be kinda strange...

On a side note, will post a render of alt red alphas (requested by some in IC form) in the next update. Might not feel too Asuna, but maybe people will like it?

[ankit]

Why has numpad 0 and 00 been replaced with alt and ctrl?

For... 1800 support? Which is what a numpad is used for? Not sure why you keep asking for numpad 00 in every IC when nobody actually uses that key. The "meta" numpad move would be to only include nippled numpad 5 and replace the second one with numpad 1u equals.

Actual kitting issues:
R1 1u tab is a first
R1 1u backspace is the wrong color but you can remove that key
R4 pipe is the wrong color
R3 PgDn with no R2 PgUp R3/R4 PgUp and PgDn would be cool
Alpha colored accents

Consider terminal iso instead of uk iso.

[Designerstudio]

Really proud of you, keep on!

[aicyborg]

Consider terminal iso instead of uk iso.

Without any rationale provided, it's just basically like saying "nah, ISO-UK users don't matter." As an ISO-UK diehard, that kind of sucks to hear. Consider not considering that. Though if you make this with PBTfans they'll make that decision for you, but at least their international kit is cheap.

Terminal ISO satisfies no specific region. For a lot of actual ISO users, terminal-only support is a compromise that actually doesn't really serve us.