As of today, it's been four years since I first put up Murong Yi as a free character sprite for public use. Time really flies! Here's a breakdown of how each sub-design of the character has done so far:

Of course people like the pink one best! 🤗

Looking back, at that point I was at the peak of my Xianxia Hell phase - that phase many of us afflicted with it know as "can only make, read, watch and buy Xianxia style stuff". As I'd figured that I was going to submit yet another Xianxia/Wuxia-style BL game for the upcoming yaoi game jam, what better thing to do than to start making character sprites and storing them for future use --- and also release them for other people's use so that there might be even more Xianxia BL visual novels out there?

I mean, the more the merrier, right?

So I began to dream. I dreamt about a prince who ruled over a kingdom of flowers, inspired by my own tiny garden patch in my backyard. I dreamt of large, flowering peonies that looked like my lovely little moss roses blooming over his clothes. 

And so I dreamt up Murong Yi.

It's also to note that at that time I was very influenced by the then-ongoing BL Xianxia dramas and novels. Murong Yi's name is actually derived from Murong Li of Men With Sword (technically a Wuxia title, but hey, it's pretty), while his design is influenced heavily by Crown Prince Xie Lian of Heaven's Official Blessing, which I had also been following at that time.

See the similarities? It's just that the Yi in his name means "One", since he's the firstborn of my visual novel sprites, you know, just like Hatsune Miku has "one" in her name too.

Anyway, as time went by, I started dreaming up new characters to populate his world too. I'd wanted to give him friends and allies, and I'd wanted to give him elders to guide him, a pet, and naughty village children to play pranks on him. I'd wanted him to have love interests and rivals. I'd wanted him to have good memories and people to share them with.

And so his village grew.

Murong Yi was the free visual novel character sprite that started my foray into making sprites and publishing them for public use. He was made with love, for love, and I look back fondly on how far I've come with creating these fun and brightly colored characters.

I never expected it to go over ten downloads, honestly, so this is truly a milestone for me! For all of you who have, thank you for downloading this sprite!

Cheers!