We've begun negotiating with publishers. Currently, we've had offers from many companies. Right now we're carefully going over their conditions.
Il kickstarter parla di early 2025
Minkia ahahaha sono stato leggermente ottimista
Non so mettere direttamente la pagina come fa Geddoe , perciò metto direttamente il tweet
Parecchi aggiornamenti interessanti
AGGIORNAMENTO #33
July 2023 Update!
Double KickstarterCreatore
28 luglio 2023
※日本語のアップデートは下の方にあります
Hello JRPG lovers! We have some more great reveals in this month's update!
Campaign Updates:
New Community Manager on Penny Blood
As the creators continue to focus more on the production, we've added in a new community manager to support the amazing community. They will be jumping into the discord on a regular basis and try to not only help answer your burning questions but also geek out with you on some of Machida-san's previous works. Don't worry though, they have a direct pipeline to the team and plan to use it to get you some secret intel from time to time. If you get a chance, please say "hi" back and let them know what you'd like to see as far as community interaction goes!
Discord Roles
We are finally done with the bot and want to explain how it will work. Here's how the download will work, directly from our engineers:
A unique key will be sent to the email address tied to your kickstarter backer account. That key can then be used on your discord account regardless of whether or not it uses the same email address. Next, a bot will appear on a dedicated channel for both the Penny Blood and Armed Fantasia discord servers and post a public message in that channel that contains a button. When you click that button, the bot will send you a private message with a form where you can input your key. You can redeem the key once on each server and receive the roles tied to your backer tier. Then you can show everyone on the servers just how much you love the games!
Note: Your email will not be stored in the bot’s database.
Development Updates:
ARMED FANTASIA
We're finally in the thick of summer now, and the back-to-back days of extreme heat are taking a toll on our bodies. We're doing our best to beat the heat, though. Please make sure you all keep your salt/water levels in check.
Today we have another report from Kaneko - fresh from a crisp air conditioned work room!
ARMED FANTASIA July 2023 Project Report
Field
World Map
We're still working on the white models for the world map.
Londenium, the stage of our story, actually has a vast, complicated structure to it.
Since the story outline is complete, we're also working on structuring the map in a way that allows us to do things like create mountain ranges in front of 'information' that we want to reveal with a strong impact after a player gets out of a dungeon, or give players glimpses of structures that they'll be heading to in the future.
The geography, which was once just a series of straight traversals from one place to another on the paper map, is evolving into a 3D form daily, including locations so high up that they're sure to make your loins quiver in anticipation.
Towns & Dungeons
Just like last month, we're creating new concept art that will be used to create new maps.
Similar to the town built above △△△△△, our images of maps with strong connections to the story are becoming more concrete.
We also created white models for new dungeons, and are upgrading white models we created previously in order to get them closer to final version quality.
As for the dungeon that appears in Alicia's prologue...compared to prologue dungeons that appeared in previous games, I feel like it's going to be the prettiest one ever. (Personal opinion)
Head-Up Display
We've created temporary designs for various data that will be processed on the field.
We want to properly display the necessary information while maintaining a wide view of the field, so we'll be adjusting things as we continue forward.
Incidentally, our key colors for this game are sunset red and orange.
Battles
Head-Up Display
In order to create temporary designs for various information processed during battles, we're starting by cementing in the design of the UI.
As Cross Order Tactics is the backbone system of our battles this time around, we'll be able to create battles that focus on strategy. Simultaneously, we're aiming to make the controls intuitive so that this focus doesn't become too complicated or annoying.
Scenario
After getting this far, (how far?), there's one thing I've become convinced of...
Even though he's stuck in with other outstanding characters, Ingram is doing a good job as the main character.
Of course, I intended for him to be the main character from the start, so that shouldn't be a surprise, but he isn't letting himself become an innocent bystander. He pulls the story forward, supports his allies, and also suffers a lot for us.
I'm still in the process of working on the scenario, but I feel like Ingram will definitely be able to overcome the last boss and pull me (Kaneko) to the ending.
Storyboard
I'm also working on the storyboard for event scenes when necessary.
According to the storyboard artist who's been reading the scenario, "the scenes (that Kaneko writes) have become more anime-esque than before." I didn't really think about that sort of thing or try to change my style this time around, but apparently that's the case.
Just in case, I asked them, "Is that a complaint?" but they told me it wasn't, which was relieving.
Design
Characters
We've spent a long time developing and verifying Ingram, Alicia, and Euclid, but now we've finally begun 3D model work on Mercedes, Sigurd, and Soleil.
We've been working together with the designers and adjusting things as necessary to make sure the complicated designs of the costumes don't fall apart during their conversion to 3D.
We're also working on new anomaly designs, models, and animations.
We're also verifying a rough draft for ○○○・〇〇〇〇〇〇, and designing Kimiquis' □□□□□・□□□□□.
PENNY BLOOD
◆2023.07.30
PENNY BLOOD Project Diary
Good evening, everyone. Today was another hot one. Niigata has been over the 30 C mark for several days in a row, so we’re right in the middle of summer. I’m trying to stay really hydrated to keep from getting heatstroke, but perhaps I overdid it a little, because I got a stomach ache.
Now then, allow me to begin this month’s PENNY BLOOD Project update. As I described last month, we’re currently in the process of having publishers take a look at our walkthrough version. Some places have given us their best wishes, while other places have said they’re still in the process of reviewing everything, so it seems like it’ll take a little more time before we’ll get results.
I’m glad to see that everyone enjoyed the character relationship chart that I posted last time, even more than I anticipated. I got a lot of comments from people saying “Vito’s column was a total joke, right?” No, that’s not true, I’m always thinking very seriously about the characters. I’m also extremely excited to see how his love story with Matthew will develop in the main game. Will they become very close and romantic, or will it end with broken hearts? I don’t know how things will go once I start writing. Maybe it’ll even be connected to the true ending?! …No, there’s no way that’ll happen, so don’t worry.
Kato-san has shifted over from the main characters to the villains. The Hellhounders are finally being awakened, and as usual, despite being the one who thought them up, I’m discovering new things about them and thinking “Ohhh, so THIS is the kind of a person you actually are!” It’s a lot of fun. Incidentally, you’ll be able to see the new versions of Candy and Goliath in this update.
From this month, Hanya-san has been working on the earth fusion monster. I can’t touch upon it too deeply, but it has one of “those” lively feelings to it… Going back in time a bit, back when this year first started, I had Hanya-san design several monsters based on those that appear in the Cthulhu mythos. I had him use the characteristics of famous monsters that everyone knows and arrange them with unique PB-esque flair. Today we’ll be showing you the PB version of the “Dark Young.”
Watanabe-san is also working hard on creating image boards. Unfortunately, however, we won’t be able to show you any of his art during this update, because recently I had him draw a “very very important location.” It has a very sad atmosphere to it, and it’s a place I hope that everyone reaches in the game.
…That’s it for this month’s update. We still have a lot more hot days to get through, but for the first time in four years, Niigata is holding a Minyo Nagashi dance during the Niigata festival. Fun events have been returning all over the place recently, so I hope everyone can enjoy summer while taking care of their health.
See you all again next month.
Matsuzo Machida
As a special surprise we have a quick tease of Matthew chatting with Emilia. There's no voice yet but this should give you an overall idea of what to expect!
RIPRODUCI
Message from Hirota-san
Good evening. Every day it’s so hot I feel like I’m going to melt. Is everyone out there okay?
The other day, I went to Kyoto to attend BitSummit, Japan’s biggest indie game event. There were a lot of cool games there, and it was very stimulating. It was the first time in a while where I spent the entire day playing games instead of debugging them.
In July, I worked on several tracks that are centered around the cello. I also passed over the documents for the music I’m going to have Ito Kenji-san compose. And I’m still researching music from the 1920s, especially Irish and Celtic music.
Speaking of which, recently I was invited to participate in a local jazz session. I’m excited, hoping the performance will influence Penny Blood’s music in a good way. I want to take my 1920s jazz, blues and ragtime songs there and study while we do the session.
I wanted to do a stream of my composing this month, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to prepare, so I’m thinking of doing one in August instead.
I’ll keep giving you all updates as I continue to do my best, so please keep cheering me on!
Che fighi! Unica esclamazione possibile!
Io spero che riescano a mettersi d'accordo con i detentori del nome di Shadow Hearts, perché Penny "è" uno Shadow Hearts.
C’è un casino dietro i diritti di quel gioco, più facile che armed fantasia diventi wild arms 6
Sperare un pelino non costa nulla.
Facendo una ricerca su internet a marzo 2022 Universal Entertainment (che prima si chiamava aruze[e che prima si chiamava nautilus] {che al mercato mio padre comprò}) ha registrato di nuovo il marchio shadow hearts,ai tempi si era pensato che volevano ripubblicarlo sui PlayStation Classic…ma con il senno di poi ,visto l’annuncio di penny blood a giugno 2022, si sono semplicemente parati il c… per non permettergli di usare quel nome.
August 2023 Update
Double KickstarterCreatore
25 agosto 2023
※日本語のアップデートは下の方にあります
Japan continues to turn the heat up and we are right in the middle of typhoon season! It's not all bad since that allows us to stay inside and stay focused on development rather than braving the outdoors!
Campaign Updates:
Discord Roles
We know we said we'd get these handled this month and got very, very close... Unfortunately the bot programmer was not well and it pushed our schedule back a couple of weeks. Very soon though! Thank you so so much for your patience!
Quick call-out!
You know the Double Kickstarter is full of great music with some amazing composers as well! Well, it's come to our attention that another Japanese development team-led Kickstarter is moving up the charts--Ratatan. While this isn't a JRPG, it's still nice to see such a nice-looking game with great music also doing well!
Development Updates:
ARMED FANTASIA
Time sure flies. Japan’s Obon holiday is over, and according to the calendar, autumn is here, but this infernal heat hasn’t left us yet. Please make sure you’re all taking good care of yourselves. Here is Kaneko’s development report for this month!
ARMED FANTASIA August 2023 Project Diary
Field-related
Concept Art
We’re still turning our images of the towns and dungeons that will serve as the stages for adventures and story into model art.
White Models
We’re working on temporary models for new dungeons as well as new areas of the world map.
Gimmicks and Gadgets
We started implementing gimmicks that will serve as the action/puzzle-solving elements of the dungeons that appear in the prologue. Along with that, we’re also implementing functionality for the gadgets. As seen in past games, using the correct gadget will let you activate switches or push a trolley on the map into a sealed door and break it open. We’re preparing active puzzles that will be fun to watch as well. We still aren’t at a stage where we can show you the actual animations, but this time around we’ll show you the model art for a certain character’s (yes, it’s obvious) initial gadgets. The temporary names for these gadgets are “Bomb” and “Throwing Knife.” They’re two classic gadgets that you should be very familiar with, but I’m thinking of new ways to use them, so I hope you’re excited.
Scenario-related
Main Scenario
Still writing. Suffering at a good pace.
Storyboards
We’re working on event storyboards and force break storyboards in order. We also intend to use motion capture for the character’s animations in this game.
In previous games, like with WA3, we only did verification in the early stages of development, and didn’t bring proper motion capture into the game. (Therefore, things will turn out much differently this time, so I’m excited.)
I digress, but all animations up until now were done by hand, where I, Kaneko, used an umbrella as a weapon as I stood next to the person in charge, showing them poses and sword fighting in order to get my image across. (Basically like a martial arts instructor from classic kung fu movies) I don’t think it’ll happen, but I worry about what will ensue if they happen to capture my own movements.
Design-related
Characters
We’re still working on character design, 3D models, and animations.
Anomalies
We’re still working on anomaly designs, 3D models, and animations.
Last Boss
We still don’t have the designs for every character and anomaly yet, but we’ve already started working on the design for the last boss. As we talk with each other on how best to show and manifest the themes of ‘strength,’ ‘fear,’ and ‘lovableness’ (biased view from someone who loves villains), we also intend to make it a last boss that far surpasses all last bosses that have appeared thus far. We’re still in the rough stages, but so far the design is definitely worthy of its name, so I’m already a huge fan.
PENNY BLOOD
◆2023.08.26
PENNY BLOOD Project Diary
Good evening, everyone. In this season, “every day is really hot” seems to be the motto, and Niigata finally hit the 38℃ mark as well. Beneath the blinding sunlight, I can feel my HP depleting – even from a short walk to the post office.
Now, for this month’s PENNY BLOOD project updates. This month, we’re still in the middle of negotiating with our publisher candidates. Having many different people look at our project and give us their feedback allows us to learn about various viewpoints, so I’m very thankful for these chances.
Recently, I’ve cemented the overall outline for the scenario in stone, so I’ve been thinking daily about how I can make the climax as exciting as possible. As you know, PB is set in the time period where the nightmare of the eventual World War II looms on the horizon, so rather than having Matthew’s group heroically save the world, I want to make it something where they see the cogs of fate turning and slowly pushing things toward destruction and cannot stop it, but still intend to fight on and attain victories that they can personally accept.
Kato-san is still working on drawing the villains, while Hanya-san is drawing fusion monsters. Lately, Kato-san has been carrying her iPad around and eating delicious ice to stave off the heat, which also serves as her motivation. Going to a shaved ice shop called Nitoya, which is famous even in Niigata, is her most recent goal.
This month, we’re showing off Hanya-san’s second PB-style Cthulhu monster, “Quachil Uttaus.” It’s an Old One the size of a short human who has the power to induce age. Finally, Watanabe-san is drawing the attic of the BOI office building. This is the room that Emilia uses for jewel alchemy in order to create her powerful hereticores. We’ll be revealing that image board this month as well.
That concludes this month’s update info. There is a saying in Japanese: “atsusa samusa mo higan made,” or “no heat or cold lasts beyond the equinox.” It still seems like we’ve got a ways to go until we reach the equinox. Please be careful you don’t get heatstroke.
See you all next month!
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Good evening. The hot days aren't over yet, but it feels like there are some moments now where I can feel a comfortable breeze while walking. Little by little, the season is definitely changing.
The other day, I went to see "The Pope's Exorcist." I hope to talk about my thoughts with Director Machida on a PB Creators Radio.
As for sound development news, I've been researching interactive music and doing experiments in applying it. There are a lot of places in the design stage where I have to feel out what works well, and I'm focused on applying things in a way that properly fits the game world. By applying interactive elements to the songs, I aim to give players a feeling that they're actually participating in the story through the music.
As for composing progress, there are many songs where the composing process may change based on the interactive approach. Due to this, the fact is that I've found myself with a lot more songs that have yet to be completed. But this process is part of my creative experiment, and I'm enjoying exploring this unfamiliar sound world.
Before I conclude, I'd like to let you all know that I plan to do a composing stream in the afternoon on Sept. 3rd. Sorry it's taken so long. I'll post more on the details at a later date, so I hope you're all excited.
I'm having a lot of fun in my days of exploring a new world and feeling my way through various things. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and will continue to do my best in my work.
Tutti gli aggiornamenti
AGGIORNAMENTO #35
September 2023 Update!
Double KickstarterCreatore
29 settembre 2023
※日本語のアップデートは下の方にあります
Hello JRPG Fans! We have entered fall in Japan and it's finally starting to get cool at night. Halloween products are starting to pop up in stores. That probably means we can expect another chaotic night near the Shibuya scramble (That massive intersection in Shibuya where people commonly take videos of the thousands that cross during a single day).
More importantly, it's time for celebration! We have reached our first anniversary of the Kickstarter. It's hard to believe that was one year ago.
Take a look at the amazing developer update below!
Development Update
ARMED FANTASIA
Our project is one year old now, so this month’s update will be coming from Director Sekiya instead of Kaneko.
ARMED FANTASIA September 2023 Project News
Hello everyone. I’m Sekiya, the scenario director for ARMED FANTASIA.
A series called the “Toei Kaiju Collection” is currently being released in a partwork where the special extras that come along with it are the main draw, and I finally received the last part in a series of parts - the tail, thus completing my King Ghidora (1964 version).
King Ghidora is supposed to be 100 meters tall, making it twice the size of Godzilla (second generation). But when you put it side-by-side to Godzilla, the difference in height is much greater than how it appears in the films, to a bewildering extent. (The truth is that the second generation Godzilla hasn’t been released yet, so I’m comparing it with Mechagodzilla, who is the same height).
Differences in mass are the source of all superiorities/inferiorities when it comes to physical power. Technically, no one would ever be able to defeat something this huge. Its looong tail alone is about as big as Godzilla.
Now, that’s enough of my desktop kaiju talk. Time sure flies… As of September 30th, our project will be one year old. Thanks to all your support and encouragement, all of our staff members are still working hard every day. Thank you so much!
Field-related
Concept Art
We’re proceeding with the work related to creating setting art for dungeons and dungeons. Towns will be especially unique in their outward appearances, so we’re sure you’ll get excited when you arrive at a new location. Londenium is supposed to be a world where alchemy prospered long ago, and technology has regressed in the time period in which Ingram and his companions live. However, devices that utilize alchemy are still being discovered here and there, which helps to color the world. Incidentally, the vehicles that appear will also be running on alchemy engines.
We’ve posted this one before, but here is our setting art for alchemy engines. Mysterious power growing in a green light…that’s alchemy!
White Models
We’ve implemented decorations and modeled walls in the town and dungeon white models, and every day, they’re looking better and better. The skill of our art team is greatly responsible for organizing the design of our unique “Westernpunk” world in a persuasive way. We can’t wait to show you the actual game.
The setting art pieces we revealed a year ago during the campaign have also been turned into models, and it’s currently possible to walk around them. We’re also adding fun little touches such as things that will make you say: “Oh… You can actually climb up here?”, etc. We have a feeling that town exploration is going to be very fun.
We’ve also gotten to a point where some gadgets and dungeon gimmicks actually function properly, all thanks to the hard work of our programming team. When you push a box with a character onto a floor switch and a door opens, you’ll think “Ahhh… This really is a spiritual successor.” It’s very moving.
In this town, you’ll be able to walk on top of the train. The town’s name has been decided, but it’s still a secret.
Scenario-related
Main Scenario
“Still writing. Suffering at a good place.”
This was Kaneko-san’s update from last month. He’s making progress on the scenario, but has no other updates to make through text at this current juncture. If we were to say any more, it would spoil some of the story, so similar updates like this may follow in the future, but we hope you’ll understand.
As a side note, whenever Kaneko-san finishes part of a scenario, the action scenes end up going way off course and including things that we didn’t talk about in our initial meetings. A third party reading this may just find that funny, but it actually causes a lot of problems for the workflow.
For example, in Wild Arms XF, we had a plot that started out simply as “Chartreuse (enemy officer) receives a report from a subordinate about the main characters’ army marching forward.” When he actually sent me the scenario text in an e-mail, it came when a message stating: “Sorry, I just got on a roll…” And it turned into a scene where Chartreuse receives the report, then grabs the subordinate’s head and rots it, purging the subordinate.
Whaaaaat?!
At this point, the detail about Chartreuse’s arm possessing negative vitality was suddenly added, allowing him to even be able to block a beam from the StrahlGewehr in the end. Of course, there are times when we can’t follow Kaneko-san’s scenarios completely due to issues on the development side, and we have to adjust how things are actually presented quite a bit, but I just wanted to leak the fact that Kaneko scenarios are usually always much more violent than what eventually gets released to the public.
Storyboards
We’re still working on event storyboards. When we receive a scenario from Kaneko-san, first, Ishii-san, the chief director and storyboarder, as well as I check through the content. But today…after receiving the latest scenario text, Ishii-san silently looked up at the ceiling. (See the above)
I believe he was most likely crying to a higher power for guidance. I didn’t see or hear anything, though.
After I glanced at Kaneko-san and saw him smile triumphantly and say “I know it’ll be hard. But it’s good, right?” I looked back at Ishii-san. He was still silently staring up at the ceiling.
Crazy action event scenes are born from the chains of trials and tribulations that men like him suffer through. Let’s all cheer on the higher power above Ishii-san’s head! (‘Cause it’s not my problem!)
Design-related
Characters
We’re still working on character designs as well as animations for the 3D models.
The designs for the main characters are all done, so we’ve begun work on designing the sub-characters and town NPCs. Aside from Ingram’s party and the Iconocluster, there will be a lot of characters with that unique Kaneko-style charm, so we’ve been sending orders out daily while excitedly awaiting each new finished design.
Kaiju (Anomalies)
We’re still working on designing the kaiju. If you’ll allow me to complain a little…
Ishii-san and bee tribe, our developers, are working on the kaiju designs. bee tribe is always quick to share their design art with us, which is fine, but for some reason Ishii-san often refrains from sharing the final design art with me.
Why?
When we have meetings in the office about what the kaiju should do, such as “this part opens up and shoots a beam” or “let’s change the color of this part,” I have no choice but to use the odds and ends of the words I hear to imagine what it actually looks like.
I just hope I can get a grasp on what they actually look like after a while, when everything’s eventually shared across the board… But I just want to ask this question again. Why, Ishii-san?
We’re also continuing work on the 3D models and animations for the kaiju. Kaneko-san has been giving direct orders to the designers regarding the kaiju animations, and when it’s difficult to explain it using words, he acts them out himself. And all of a sudden, we have a kaiju rolling around our office!
Makes me realize that working in an office full of “adults” can mean a lot of different things… But perhaps since I’m also seeing such fine examples of acting, I also found myself wanting to re-enact Boris Karloff’s “The Mummy” as I was walking home from the office late at night. And so, when a policeman thought it strange and called out to me, I suddenly blurted out “Oh, sorry, I was just practicing my acting for work.”
Last Boss
As you all know, the last boss appeared in last month’s update. Progress is proceeding well on it, and we’ve almost completed its design. However…it’s so overwhelming, we’re starting to wonder if Ingram and his allies can actually defeat this thing. It’s got a loooong tail! And so, that concludes this month’s update. Please keep cheering ARMED FANTASIA on!
PENNY BLOOD
◆2023.09.29
PENNY BLOOD Project Diary
Good evening, everyone. As if God pushed a switch, summer suddenly ended in Niigata and autumn began. It feels more comfortable during the daytime now, but it’s become cool enough in the morning to make things feel a bit too chilly when under a single towel blanket.
Now, for this month’s Penny Blood project update. Just like last time, we’re still working hard at discussing things with publishers. Time sure flies…it’s already been a whole year since the Double Kickstarter campaign. I can’t believe it myself. Looking back, I don’t think we’ll ever forget that passionate September of 2022… As for what I’ve been doing lately, I finally finished coming up with the last part of the story. I had various ideas for the ending, so it was difficult to decide (and I still have yet to decide on certain things), but as Penny Blood will be properly inheriting the tradition (?) of the bad ending becoming the true ending, Matthew’s ending has become something I’m satisfied with. Now the only question is whether or not I can turn it into a good script.
Kato-san has been working hard on drawing the one-year project anniversary illustration, the centerpiece of our update this time. The Penny Blood campaign was unique in that we had character votes and wanted to create the characters through everyone’s input. Therefore, for this one-year anniversary illustration, she wanted to make sure she could feature all of the redesigned main characters. As I watch her from the sidelines, I’m extremely thankful that she was able to complete the illustration little by little during a period where it’s so hard for her to cut out long chunks of time. Please send her any grateful words that you may have as well.
Hanya-san defeated the earth-elemental fusion monster, and is now fighting against (designing) the wind-elemental fusion monster. Once wind is done, we’ll have all seven elements: earth, water, fire, wind, light, dark, and neutral. Looking at them side by side, I think we’ve come up with some very unique spectral knights. Instead of revealing another one, however, this time we’ll be revealing our third Cthulhu mythos monster, the Ghatanothoa. Since it’s the child of an Old One, it does resemble a certain something…
For this month, we’ll be revealing “Under the Harlem Elevated Railway” from the image boards that Watanabe-san has drawn. Since bootlegging was rampant in Harlem during the Prohibition era, its streets were dangerous, and gangs continued to fight with each other daily.
…That concludes this month’s update. We’re now in the season of appetite, overeating, midnight snacks, and picking up food off the floor and eating it. Wait, no, you shouldn’t do that last one. I hope you can all eat lots of delicious food in this season as well. Now, then, everyone, I’ll see you all again last month.
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Good evening, everyone.
We’ve been getting hot summer days non=stop even after September began, but things have eased up a little recently. This year’s summer was so hot it made me forget all about what other seasons feel like. But today, I found some red spider lilies nearby my house that were blooming. Autumn is right around the corner. The temperature can change quickly, so let’s be careful to stay in good health.
A full year has passed since we first received all that passionate support from you all during the Double Kickstarter campaign. Regarding my sound work, I’ve been exploring many different secret techniques and special moves that I’ll only be able to use in Penny Blood for multiple reasons, but I’m definitely progressing ahead.
Until the game gets released and you all can play it, every last staff member will keep running full speed ahead, so please keep cheering us on.
-
On the first Sunday of this month, I streamed “Composition work for Penny Blood” #コンペニ #compenny #2 on my TTS Products Youtube channel. Big thanks to all of you who tuned in!
I started creating a song from the vague concept of “something that would be used in an event scene somewhere during the Japan arc,” but I think it ended up coming out really well. Next month, I’d like to do a stream where I explain how bass recording works.
Once I finish this song, my next plan is to do a stream of my interactive music work. I also want to do a stream related to the Madness Remix project as well. I’m going to try to keep streaming periodically until the Penny Blood development ends.
I also plan to ultimately edit the footage I streamed into something that’s easy to watch and make it available for viewing similar to the live concert video for all of you who have the Ticket Video Concert Pass.
Before, I wondered if there would actually be people out there who would be interested in watching a video of me talking about my own work and composing techniques as I actually work, rather than a live concert, but I’m very pleased to see that a surprising amount of people seemed to enjoy it.
I think it’ll also be very moving, not just for me, of course, but for everyone who tuned into the stream to eventually hear the final versions of the songs as they play through Penny Blood.
If you haven’t tuned in to any of my streams yet, I hope you’ll join everyone else in the next one as I continue to unveil the work that goes into Penny Blood’s sound world.
AGGIORNAMENTO #36
October 2023 Update
Double KickstarterCreatore
27 ottobre 2023
We have reached the end of October and that means many scares all-around with Halloween. Could this be the perfect time for a horror or Western Cyberpunk JRPG-based costume?
Campaign Update
Backerkit Survey Fix
We've needed to fix one incorrectly labeled item on the original survey. Backers affected by this will need to recomplete the survey. Please wait for us to send you an E-mail directly with a new survey link. Upon fixing this issue, we should be perfect on the backer surveys.
Development Updates
ARMED FANTASIA
Seems like our one-year anniversary for the project isn’t over just yet? Just like last month, today’s AF update will be coming to you from another main staff member!
Armed Fantasia October 2023 Project Report
Hello everyone. I’m Ishii, the chief director of Armed Fantasia. For some reason I’ve been roped into writing this update… It isn’t because I’m taking responsibility for forgetting to request a Halloween illustration or anything. That isn’t it, okay? It’s just not.
Field-related
Concept Art
Recently, we got some art for switches that will respond to bomb and knife-type gadgets. The movements the switches make when they react to the gadgets will be mechanical and pretty entertaining.
White Models
As development has continued, we’ve gotten more gimmicks implemented into the dungeons. As Sekiya reported in last month’s update, the familiar nature of solving these gimmicks really makes the game feel like a spiritual successor.
Scenario-related
Main Scenario
“Still writing. Suffering at a good pace.” (Going to keep using this until it starts grating on us).
The sound of typing on the keyboard just keeps echoing from Kaneko’s seat. Just when I thought it’s finally stopped, I go to the bathroom and come back out to hear it echoing again. Aside from necessary meetings, we both often go entire days in silence. Since he’s writing a lot, it must mean he’s in the zone, so I’m looking forward to my first read before we start the storyboarding. ONLY the first read, though…
Storyboards
We’re still working on event storyboards. Unfortunately, no higher power exists above my seat. (See the September 2023 update for more info). Nothing that convenient. When I look up at the ceiling, I’m usually thinking something like “Okay, maybe if we do this, we’ll be able to implement this well.” The team works on figuring out what’s actually necessary to implement everything, but if I don’t think about things properly while I’m working on the storyboards, I’ll basically be creating a hellscape for the team, so I try to give them as many answers as possible.
Design-related
Characters
We’re still working on character designs, 3D models, and animations.
The field animations are directly connected to how the gameplay feels, and we’re really thankful to bee tribe for fulfilling our requests so quickly. Just the other day, we sent out some detailed requests regarding the run animation, and they quickly fixed everything up. Thanks to that, the running now feels speedy but also easy to control.
Kaiju (Anomalies)
We’re still working on the kaiju designs. Due to the situation, we’ve been going through bee tribe and requesting some kaiju design work from some outside designers. I’m secretly excited for the new creations, since they’ll be filled with lots of little things that wouldn’t have existed in my design alone.
There’s still some discussion regarding the last boss that’s going on among certain parties, but the last boss is really cute! Seriously!
ARMs
Society’s in full Halloween mode right now, so a lot of things have become purple and orange, but what comes to your mind when you think of Halloween? Pumpkins, of course. Today, we’ll be showing you a design of something that’d be perfect for carving up a pumpkin: the Katana ARM! (Extremely forced segway).
↑Katana ARM design.
↑We’re creating a model based on the design art. The blade of the katana has a sheath, so it won’t always be exposed.
RIPRODUCI
↑It’ll also have a transformation gimmick to it.
The transformation gimmick may seem a bit low-key, but we intend to add an awesome effect that’ll make it spin around, so please look forward to that.
That concludes our update for this month. The days are getting colder, so please take care of yourselves!
PENNY BLOOD
◆2023.10.28
PENNY BLOOD Project Diary
Good evening, everyone. We’re finally getting into the real swing of autumn now. The temperatures in Niigata have dropped a lot, and the leaves on the trees of streets nearby are starting to turn red.
Now, for this month’s Penny Blood project update. As I write every time, we’re still in the middle of negotiations with publishers. One thing that often comes up in conversations is how the entire game industry around the world is experiencing a slump compared to the past couple of years. We ran the Double Kickstarter campaign itself during the pandemic, where lots of people were stuck at home, so the state of the industry was much better then. But now, (although it’s a good thing), entertainment that involves travel such as tourism, sports events, and so on have all returned to normal, so the game industry has lost that temporary boost. When you think about it, it may just seem like things have gotten back to normal, but within these circumstances, I’m doing a lot of thinking in regards to the best way to increase the value and show off the charm of the Penny Blood IP. Penny Blood needs to be an attractive product first and foremost to all the fans and backers as well as to publishers.
Kato-san drew a Halloween illustration for us this month. She has been working hard on creating character designs, drawing trihedral figures, checking lots of different things, drawing illustrations, and designing even more still… Basically she’s as busy as one of those turboprop engines that’s always spinning and making lots of noise. Her hands move so fast atop her tablet that I can’t even keep track of them. Her comment for this month is “I tried drawing the characters so that they look like Halloween-esque monsters!” Apparently her favorite is Luca showing off his cute fangs.
Hanya-san has finished the wind fusion monster and is drawing its trihedral figures now. This month, we’ll be showing you another piece of new art right off the presses: “Ronan, the Mad Tempest Knight.” The concept for this fusion monster is “a half-beast knight who can control the wind,” so I asked him to draw a beautiful boy who uses a lyre as a weapon. Game system-wise, I think Ronan will be more of a support-type fusion monster who sings Bardic music in order to buff party members.
Watanabe-san, our image board specialist, just finished drawing the indoor race track. I believe that America was the main place where greyhound races were held in 1923, and we’re going to make sure the gambling den run by the gangster Owney Madden in Penny Blood will be ablaze with excitement. Luca will take part in the races in order to train himself, too. Oh, and there won’t just be dogs running in these races… I imagine it’s going to end up being quite a wild place where you’ll get to see a lot of unusual races.
…And that concludes this month’s update. We’re right in the middle of autumn now, so I hope you can all cherish the leaves as they start to really change color, eat some good food, and give your stomachs all the nutrients they need. See you next month, everyone.
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Good evening, everyone.
The end of October is near, and our mornings and evenings are starting to grow cold. Compared to how long summer was, it feels like autumn will go by in the blink of an eye. I hope none of you are getting under the weather as we shift seasons. Try to do your best to get enough sleep and eat balanced meals. I’ll do my best as well.
Last year around this time, I unveiled to you all the Graveyard song that I composed in collaboration with Kaida-san. I want to have more meetings with Kaida-san, do a bunch more composing with her, and have you all listen to even more of our work, so I’ve been thinking up a lot of ideas.
Now, regarding my sound development work, I think that sound lists are very important. Ideally, a sound list will include the names of all sound files, where they’ll be used, the priority of production on each, how far the production of each has come along, whether or not they’ve already been implemented, which ROM version they’ll be implemented in, and additional information that if fully analyzed, should give you a detailed idea of what the sound situation is for the entire product. This list acts as a bridge between the sound designers, programmers, planners, and other team members, so it’s very important. Thus, I believe creating a good sound list is part of the work involved in order to make good sounds. Thinking about what sort of list would be best or most convenient for specific projects and developments is also part of the fun. Therefore, I’m doing my best to increase the quality of the sound list daily so that I can keep making good sounds for Penny Blood.
I also have an announcement to make. Next Sunday, I will be streaming my “Composition Work for Penny Blood vol.3” next Sunday, on 10/29 from my TTS PRODUCTS Youtube channel. I’ll be working on music that I want to use for the Japan arc of the story, mainly focused around bass recording.
Composition work for Penny Blood vol.3
2023 Oct.29 (Sun.) JST 3PM-4:30PM
https://youtube.com/live/J4Ee_rnqIfo?feature=share
AGGIORNAMENTO #37
November/December 2023 Special Announcement!
Double KickstarterCreatore
1 dicembre 2023
Welcome to the November 2023 Update (Well, actually it's December now isn't it!). We have a VERY SPECIAL announcement that may come as a surprise so pull up a chair, sit down, and read-on!
Yukikaze/STUDIO WILDROSE x Natsume Atari proudly announce Penny Blood: Hellbound
RIPRODUCI
Penny Blood Hellbound is a roguelite companion title based in the Penny Blood world. It has been developed in the indie-spirit with Natsume Atari providing the core development and STUDIO WILDROSE creating the concept and leading the overall creative direction. It features:
・Play as the Hellhounders - the rival group of baddies that try to thwart Matthew and friends at their every turn in Penny Blood.
・Roguelike gameplay where each run provides a plethora of unlocks, power-ups, and new skills as you march forward towards the final confrontation.
・The Malice System where the more blood you spill, the more currency you earn for unlocks
・Blood spilt also allows for better mobility via "bloodsurfing" where you can unleash stronger momentum-based attacks and skill-based upgrades
・Strategize your run well by choosing the best pair of Hellhounders out of a total 6 selectable characters that you can swap between in real-time
・Music by Yoshitaka Hirota with guest composer Noriyuki Iwadare of Lunar and Grandia fame
・Reserve your copy now at the Double Kickstarter Backerkit store here
https://penny-blood-hellbound-store.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
・Closed Beta for backers launches December 14th on Steam and features around 10 hours of gameplay as well as an exclusive Closed Beta Backer Emblem only available for those who back during the Beta phase.
◆Words from Matsuzo Machida
I’m sure many of you are surprised by the sudden announcement. Personally, I’m very excited now that we’ve finally reached this moment.
The truth is, we’ve had the idea for a companion game from the time when we first ran the Double Kickstarter campaign. As the producer of the campaign team explained, companion games are very meaningful products that allow us to answer the passion of all the backers and fans waiting for the main game while also preventing the excitement surrounding the IP from dwindling.
However, since making a companion game requires a separate cost and would cause people to worry that we creators would become too busy with multiple projects and not be able to give them all enough attention, we didn’t include it as a stretch goal in the campaign.
Looking back, I remember exactly how things were at the end of 2022. Just when we were about to give up on the idea, Natsume Atari contacted us and asked us if we’d be interested in making the roguelike game they were currently developing set within the Penny Blood IP.
The roguelike genre is one where the player goes through multiple runs in order to fully “clear” the game. While they’re different from JRPGs, they’re also popular around the world as well. It was possible for me to create a world and main characters that would fit that concept, so I gratefully accepted their offer.
Once actual production began on Penny Blood: Hellbound, the director Furukawa-san as well as the rest of the development staff began working on the game with a stunning amount of passion. And now, the fact that we’re able to reveal the fruits of their labor today is a very big step for both us as well as Penny Blood.
I hope you’re all excited to experience Penny Blood: Hellbound, a roguelike game where we unleash the Hellhounders, the villains of Penny Blood.
◆Words from Takanori Furukawa (Game Director at Natsume Atari)
I’m so happy to be able to announce PENNY BLOOD: HELLBOUND to you all today.
This game is a companion game to PENNY BLOOD, and the entire team has worked very hard to make it a way for every player to enjoy the amazing world and charming characters of the PENNY BLOOD universe.
With Eiyuden Rising, we aimed to create a game that people who aren’t great at action games could still enjoy. Working on the development was a great learning experience for me, and I was also happy to see the finished product receive some praise. We also heavily focused on creating gameplay and action that feels good. I hope to use that experience to make this game embody the true fun of a roguelike action game as much as possible.
Natsume Atari has mainly focused on developing action games for some time, so we’ve always wanted to create a roguelike - a genre that’s popular all around the world. We’ve also been big fans of Machida-san for quite some time, so once the desire to create an exciting game with him grabbed our hearts, we took the liberty of contacting him.
Machida-san’s clear vision and burning passion serves as great stimulation for us, and the chemical reactions based on those things have caused lots of interesting ideas to pop into our heads. One of the most representative ideas would definitely be the “blood” motif which includes the bloodsurfing mechanic among several others.
As of now, we’re convinced that we’ll be able to deliver new excitement, revolutionary elements, and a whole chain reaction of surprises to you in a “roguelike action” form.
The entire team has poured our blood and hearts into this game, so we hope you’re excited for it, and we hope it moves you just as much as it’s moved us!
Penny Blood Hellbound Roadmap
The main goal of releasing the game into Closed Beta now that we have enough content is to get as much feedback as possible from our most supportive fans--backers like you! There are two ways you can provide feedback. In the main menu you'll find a link to a Google Form that asks some basic questions. We'll also have a Closed Beta channel in Discord as a secondary feedback option. We'll use your feedback to tweak the experience before we enter into Early Access some time in February 2024. Here's a quick look at the current roadmap:
Campaign Updates
Backerkit Store - Paypal
Since we have entered the holiday season we want to allow more people the chance to pre-order Penny Blood or Armed Fantasia so we are planning to enable the PayPal purchasing option in BackerKit. However, there are important steps to follow due to the intricacies of integrating PayPal, especially since Kickstarter does not support it directly.
Please note, if you're using PayPal to purchase something via the Double Kickstarter pre-order store, fill out your survey until the payment step and do not finalize it. You'll be charged once the shipping costs are confirmed. This process ensures your order is correctly processed. For Penny Blood Hellbound's store since everything is digital you can disregard this step.
Survey Update
This is also the time where we are going to fix the ongoing survey bugs that have plagued us since we first launched the survey. These are the fixes:
・We have adjusted the [Both Games - Combo Physical and Digital] survey questions to accurately reflect the correct choices now. If you have chosen that reward please help us by adjusting your survey via the link below.
・Please adjust your survey to change your Discord ID from the old format to the new format if you use a new unique discord name now instead of the old format with the four numbers at the end.
・We have altered one question to ask backers if we could send them information about other Japanese campaigns in the future (probably once every two years or so). This is only to help other Japanese creators since it's a small industry and we are all trying to learn from and help each other. If you are OK with this, please adjust your survey to answer yes to that survey question.
Please help us adjust your survey by going here and re-completing it:
https://double-kickstarter.backerkit.com/
The security for the role dispersal bot has created some headaches so the fastest way for us to supply your role is to have you go in and re-complete your survey. We apologize for this extra step but it will be the last time we need to make this request.
Discord Renewal For Penny Blood
In order to incorporate new backers into the community, we are taking a page out of other major Japanese Kickstarters to implement new content for the discord:
・New Penny Blood Hellbound Channels:
・Penny-blood-hellbound-chat
・Penny-blood-hellbound-fanart
・Penny-blood-hellbound-beta-feedback
・New emojis based on the main characters in Penny Blood Hellbound (coming next Friday)
・A fan-vote channel to replace the old character-vote channel
・Achievements
・Leveling-up
・Giveaways
・Contests
Penny Blood Hellbound FAQ
Q1) Why create a companion game?
A1) We talked with Natsume Atari who were fans of the IP. Other Kickstarters have released companion games so that backers have a title to play while they are waiting for the main game, and we thought it was a great idea.
Q2) Why did you wait until now to announce this title?
A2) We wanted to give Natsume Atari the chance to develop the core of the game and allow backers the chance to play the game sooner rather than waiting an extended period of time after announcing it.
Q3) Why isn’t this a JRPG?
A3) RPGs are asset heavy and quite expensive to produce. Besides, the main game is a JRPG, so why do the same thing twice? Natsume Atari excels at action games, so being able to present a different gameplay experience with the same IP of Penny Blood made more sense. Hopefully it will bring in new fans into the series too!
Q4) Are funds from the Kickstarter being used to develop this title?
A4) No. All funds from the original Kickstarter are being used on the main game: Penny Blood. This game, Penny Blood: Hellbound, is largely being developed through the sweat equity of Natsume Atari with directorial oversight by Yukikaze/Studio Wild Rose. This is only possible through indies helping indies.
Q5) Who is the publisher on this?
A5) It will be Natsume Atari. It’s great to work with another developer because the terms are fair. As we continue to talk with other publishers about Penny Blood, we have been told this game and hopefully its success will be seen as another reason why Penny Blood is a viable title.
Q6) Do I get any benefit for being a backer?
A6) Penny Blood Hellbound is its own game. Since it still costs money to develop we need to ask backers to purchase it via the backer store for a discounted price. Any backer who purchases this via Backerkit will get a code to participate in the closed Backer Beta starting from December 14th.
Q7) When do non backers get a chance to play the game?
A7) Upon receiving feedback from backers playing the closed Backer Beta, we will adjust the game and plan to release it into Early Access. Many roguelikes have highly benefited from this kind of a release structure since it allows the developers to get initial feedback from the core fans and then get more feedback from non-fans as well to improve the game where possible. As we want to give all backers a value-add, the Early Access price will be slightly higher.
Backerkit Questions:
Q8) I purchased a premium reward but didn’t get asked for my name/pet/parting line/etc. When will that happen?
A8) We’ll reaching out to each E-mail individually some time in Feb-Mar 2024 to work with you on the contents of the premium reward.
Q9) When the title switches over to Early Access or PC Full Release will I have to buy it again?
A9) No, you will continue to be able to play the game as it continues through its development phases.
Q10) Will this be on consoles?
A10) We currently have no announcement about a console version.
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Development Updates
ARMED FANTASIA
All of a sudden, the days have gotten shorter, and we can feel the temperature difference with our bodies more and more as time goes on. We hope you’re all in good health.
A main staff member will be bringing you this month’s report instead of Kaneko.
ARMED FANTASIA November 2023 Project Diary
Hello, everyone. I’m Ishii, the chief director of Armed Fantasia. We’re working hard to reach our monthly development goes, but since the people sitting diagonally to the right of me and directly in front of me are very busy working to complete the goals that are due by the end of this year, and I “look less busy by comparison,” I’m going to write this month’s report.
Field-related
-Towns and dungeons
We’re working on brushing up Lostave, the town where Ingram’s childhood home is, while aiming to complete our end-of-the-year goals. More and more work is being done on the landscapes, so the resolution of the world is increasing with every new day.
Regarding Lostave… It’s a place where people who excavate massive ruins ended up gathering and turned into a sort of settlement at some point, making it a town that embodies the westernpunk characteristics of Armed Fantasia. The combination of the Western-style buildings and giant mining machines make it unique.
It’s sad that we can only show it to you through text rather than images at this moment, but I think the visuals we’re working on are going to be pretty exciting, so I hope you’re all looking forward to it.
Battle-related
-Battle screen UI
Battles in Armed Fantasia have a ton of elements to them, so we’ve been doing a lot of trial and error regarding the UI and what to keep vs. what to exclude. Thanks to all our hard work, we’re finally seeing the light in the tunnel.
In addition to that, Kaneko’s sense of aesthetics says that the text info should be as large as possible, which has caused our UI people to work very hard.
Scenario-related
-Main Scenario
As I mentioned earlier, the two people in charge of this are very busy. Sometimes I hear them saying inappropriate things, such as “it’s a battle so big it’ll change the entire landscape,” which makes me fear for what’s yet to come. They aren’t thinking about the future at all.
As far as work status goes, things are still being written. But the progress is going well, and Kaneko has started working on scenes for the last dungeon.
-Storyboards
That isn’t enough text to make for a proper update, however, so this time I’d like to try and explain how I go about creating storyboards.
First I thoroughly read the scenario, then pick up several points based on the images that surfaced in my head. Then, based on that, I stare intently at the background documents, thinking of cuts that will tie everything together and create the scenes.
As for the actual work, the length can be adjusted, but no detailed editing work needs to be done, so the composition mostly gets decided based on the storyboard alone.
If you want information on various direction techniques, it might be better to read technical books on the subject, but I think that as long as I prioritize my focus on what the scene is supposed to convey to the player, everything more or less comes to me.
Game event storyboards are more lenient when it comes to length compared to anime or movie storyboards, but there are a lot of things that can’t be created easily due to asset problems, so having a bit of knowledge regarding game production can help there.
The real difficulty regarding transforming Kaneko’s scenarios into storyboards is that every scene has a lot of content to them. All of the elements are interesting of course…they’re just very dense, I suppose would be the right word. Whenever I try to put everything together, I get lots of images in my head, but they sometimes end up being too costly, and so on and so forth. I spend a lot of time racking my brains trying to figure out what to cut and what to keep in order to turn it into an amount of work that the designers can actually handle.
When things get to be too much, I go to Kaneko and ask him something like “What do you think about…(cutting a specific piece of content)?”
In most cases, he either says “Hmm… But it’s entertaining, isn’t it?” or “It’s good, though,” and I end up having to go back to my seat and stare up at the ceiling.
Just the other day, we had a conversation like that regarding a certain scene in the prologue. If you try to think about what it was like before the scene was finally created or how it was originally written as you play the game, my hard work may yet be rewarded.
Incidentally, whenever Kaneko’s name is credited for scenario writing, he properly checks every element of the art related to the scenario outside of the storyboards as well.
Design-related
-ARMs
We’ve finished all the designs for the weapons used by both enemies and allies.
In this game, excluding the incredible energy source known as the Lacrima Drive, the weapons all have rather secure constructions to them, which makes us want exact scale props.
-Kaiju (Anomalies)
This month, we’re revealing the elephant to you. Its name is Grootslang.
Cute, isn’t it? Children love it.
Honestly, it actually took us quite a bit of effort to hone in on the right image for Grootslang. With elephants, the form alone makes it look like an elephant, so I remember only ending up with nothing but an elephant and cradling my head in my hands in front of the order for a while. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you actually run into this kaiju in-game.
↑Grootslang from the front
↑Grootslang from the back
That concludes this month’s report.
There’s only one month left of this year, but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for continuing to cheer Armed Fantasia on for the rest of 2023.
PENNY BLOOD
◆2023.12.01
Penny Blood Project Diary
Good evening, everyone. Machida here, who just spilled cola on his keyboard. Despite quickly wiping it away, the liquid used its dark power to invade the insides of the mechanism, so now my keystrokes all feel really sticky. At this point, it’s a battle of whether or not I can finish writing this comment before the stickiness prevents them from moving at all.
Now then, time to get back on topic and report on this month’s Penny Blood project news. We’re still negotiating things with publishers. We made a very big announcement tonight, and several publishers have told us that they’re “interested in seeing how the Penny Blood IP (Hellbound) is received,” so we believe that the quality of the companion game will greatly influence how easy it is for us to move on to the next step.
Still, we’ve reached the limit of the budget that would allow us to maintain our current production cycle, so in order to keep from giving up on Penny Blood, Studio Wild Rose is thinking about trying some other things. Some of you may be thinking “What, you’re still hiding some aces up your sleeve?!” But I intend to use the time at the end of this year to carefully plot some strategies.
Now, I’d like to get into the meat of this month’s update and talk about the new art. First, we have a new monster drawn by Hanya-san: Ainsel. A cute little girl and her monstrous mother who hides behind her in the shadows. This monster appears in multiple folktales around Europe, so I had him arrange a Penny Blood version of it. Also, while he was in the middle of drawing this, he also posted art of Gepetto & Cornelia from Shadow Hearts II, which confirms that Hanya-san’s either a full-fledged lolicon or moncon. (What the heck is a moncon?)
Next, you may help yourself to a new image board drawn by Watanabe-san: The castle of Schwarzes Rosen. It’s a castle somewhere in Germany that’s partly gone to ruin. Creepy yet beautiful, Matthew and his companions visit this castle after receiving intel that an equally beautiful songstress vampire has recently begun to inhabit it.
That concludes the art that we have for the main game. Lastly, we’ll be doing a special reveal of a hidden character that Kato-san drew.
Her name is Clara. She is the main character of Penny Blood: Hellbound, and a member of the Hellhounders. She’s a braver and more chivalrous warrior than any man, and she’s also got a wild, flashy sense of style. She uses the magic power she was born with to manipulate malice and crush all the monsters who dare to stand in her way. According to Kato-san, she designed Clara as a character too crazy to include in the main game.
While the production of Penny Blood will be slowed for a bit, we intend to keep moving forward with unwavering hope and love, so I hope you’ll all watch over us with the same amount of warmth as always. Once there’s a new development in the production of the main game, we’ll be sure to inform you all. Until then, we intend to provide you with more news on Penny Blood: Hellbound from the next update onwards.
See you all next month!
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Good evening, everyone.
All of a sudden, winter’s here! It felt like summer was a lot longer this year, so I’d been wearing light clothes the whole time…but I’m definitely cold now! Until yesterday, I had to keep the AC on to cut down on the machine heat in my studio, but now I can finally feel comfortable with it turned off. Please be careful that you don’t catch a cold.
This month’s update contains a very important announcement.
After developing the Walkthrough version, and struggling with the difficulties that come with having to make ends meet despite the game not immediately finding a publisher, we were approached with the idea to create a game featuring the villains of Penny Blood.
The story of this game exists in the same timeline as Penny Blood. So in terms of matching up the music to the gameplay, since it possesses a similar atmosphere, it can serve as a place to test out the type of sound I’m aiming to achieve in Penny Blood.
I’m trying a lot of new things with the sound mechanics for Penny Blood, so I knew it would involve a lot of trial and error either way. This may sound strange, but honestly when I first heard about this game, I was just happy that I might be able to use it as a way to experiment.
Penny Blood: Hellbound focuses on what the villains were up to before Penny Blood, and composing songs for it actually greatly changed my image for the main game.
After thoroughly reading through the design documents, I thought of someone who would be perfect as a guest composer for Penny Blood: Hellbound - Noriyuki Iwadare, and reached out to him.
When you think of the games he’s worked on thus far, you may think of adventure-centric games with more “juvenile” atmospheres aimed at young people, but I felt that the speedy nature of his music as well as his own desire to try something new really stand out among the crowd.
Looking back, I’ve actually known Noriyuki Iwadare since the time when I was working on Shadow Hearts. It all started when he introduced my soundtrack in a column in a game magazine that he was in charge of, despite never having met me. At the time, Shadow Hearts had just come out and wasn’t very well-known, so I remember being really happy since it was the first title I was able to work on as a main composer.
After that, we worked together on an album for an artist named Haruka Shimotsuki, and were even able to go on stage together during a concert at the historic Nippon Seinenkan, before it was moved. He’s been a very good friend to me both in business and private areas in many other ways as well. Recently, we haven’t been in touch that often, but thankfully he agreed to participate in this project, so I’m very happy to be working with him again.
All of a sudden, I’m nearing the culmination of my work on the soundtrack for Penny Blood: Hellbound. I’ve been learning a lot of different sound techniques at a far faster speed than when I was only working on Penny Blood, and I think I’ll be able to make use of it all in the main game as well.
I am prepared to continue working on Penny Blood with the exact same amount of passion, so I hope you’ll all continue to cheer us on.
“Still, we’ve reached the limit of the budget that would allow us to maintain our current production cycle, so in order to keep from giving up on Penny Blood, Studio Wild Rose is thinking about trying some other things.”Update di Novembre, LIVE
www.gematsu.com
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AGGIORNAMENTO #38
Penny Blood Hellbound Closed Beta has begun!
Double KickstarterCreatore
14 dicembre 2023
Hello backers!
Penny Blood Hellbound is live NOW!
This is a special update to focus on the Penny Blood: Hellbound Closed Backer Beta launch. First off, thank you to everyone who has joined us for the closed Beta. You will be able to purchase the Closed Beta up until the game launches into Early Access. When it does, anyone who purchased the Closed Beta will continue to be able to play the game so you are really just getting to participate at an earlier point in development at a cheaper price point and will receive the exclusive Closed Beta Backer emblem.
Here's the purchase link again: https://penny-blood-hellbound-store.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Dos and Don'ts when playing Penny Blood: Hellbound:
DO stream the game as much as you want. There will be some minor bugs but in general most of the core features are in the game and we feel it can only help! Feel free to stream in one of the voice channels on the official discord as well!
DON'T worry if you feel the game is hard. It's a roguelike which means you will die a lot but with each new run you will be able to buy upgrades that help you to get further and further along in the game.
DO provide any feedback that you can via the google form or discord forum. Your feedback will help us make a better game. Trying to find the perfect meta loop for when to unlock things versus when to rely on player skill is always a delicate balance and your feedback is essential.
DON'T worry if you see bugs or certain features that don't feel great. We are constantly iterating on the design to make the gameplay experience the best it can be.
DO show us your blood-surfing skills. It's a fun mechanic that can make you feel pretty cool when you nail the timing.
Tips and Tricks:
Still having a tough time with Penny Blood Hellbound? Visit the newly added "tips and tricks" section on the official Discord where the Director provides some insights into the best way to proceed through the game.
January 10th, 2024 Interim Update
As shown in the roadmap in the last update, we will have an interim update that drops January 10th. It will include:
Bug Fixes - Based on the feedback we receive from you.
Voice Acting - Check out the section below to see what cool talent is helping add personality to the quirky characters in Penny Blood Hellbound
Dynamic Music - While the December 14th version will feature a couple versions of the different music, in the January 10th update we will connect dynamic triggers that change the music based on different situations.
New Music - Composed by Noriyuki Iwadare of the Lunar and Grandia fame
Voice Acting Cast (Japan)
Clara - Kiyori Otoshiro
Sariel - Koki Hosino
Axeman - Shota Sasahara
Dr. Eugene - Fujii Gou
Saltykova - Hyosei
Vito - Hiroki Itinomiya
Ivory Warlock - Masaki Kobori
Viridian Druid - Atsuko Sakuraoka
Burt Alvord - Yuhei Iwanaga
Rhiannon Willows - Kae Oki
Samuel Mathers - Takashi Yonezawa
Karl Denke - Touma Kawahara
Patricia - Kiyori Otoshiro
Discord Giveaway and Contests:
Starting today we have started a new giveaway on the Penny Blood Discord. All you have to do is go into the giveaway channel and press "participate" to get the chance to win a signature board signed by another cast member who we will announce later. The winner will be chosen on January 31st. Please note, you must have purchased Penny Blood Hellbound to be eligible to win.
Separate from the giveaway we are providing one more signature board signed by Hyosei to whomever can send us a photo of them clearing the game the quickest. All you need to do is attach a screenshot of the clear screen which features your clear time and post it in the contest discord channel. Whomever has the fastest time by January 31st will win the prize and our respect!
Help us reach out!
Got a content creator that you think would enjoy Penny Blood: Hellbound? Reach out to us at pr@yukikaze.ltd or you can ping us in the penny-blood-reachout channel on the official discord. We are providing various support to content creators in hopes they give Penny Blood: Hellbound a sho
