Welcome to the Penny Blood: Hellbound pre-order store! You can pre-order Penny Blood: Hellbound as well as some premium rewards here. Everyone who pre-orders or purchases via the Backerkit store receives the limited edition Closed Beta Backer Emblem. If you have purchased something from the Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood Kickstarter or Backerkit Pre-order store you are eligible for a discount so please choose the “Backer Discount” version. If this is your first time purchasing anything related to Armed Fantasia or Penny Blood, please choose the “New backer” option or you can visit the original Double Kickstarter Backerkit Pre-order store here.
https://double-kickstarter.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
If you back a game there you are eligible for the Pre-exisitng Backer discount. Please visit the Closed Beta Google Form in-game to provide feedback and help us make the best game possible.
Penny Blood: Hellbound 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
...
ようこそ、「PENNY BLOOD: HELLBOUND」予約ストアへ！ここでは、「PENNY BLOOD: HELLBOUND」と、プレミアムリワードの予約ができます。バッカーキットから予約、または購入された皆様には、バッカー向けベータ版の限定エンブレムをプレゼントいたします。また、すでに「ARMED FANTASIA」と「PENNY BLOOD」のダブルキックスターターやバッカーキット予約ストアにて購入済みのものがある方には、割引特典が適用されますので、予約時に「Backer Discount」版の選択をお願いいたします。今回が「ARMED FANTASIA」または「PENNY BLOOD」関連で初めてのお買い物の皆様は、「New backer」を選んでいただきますようお願いいたします。また、ダブルキックスターターのバッカーキット予約ストアでどちらかのタイトルをご購入されましたら、割引が適用されます。是非、限定ベータ版Google Formにてフィードバックをご提供いただき、ベストなゲームを作れるよう力を貸していただけると幸いです。
ダブルキックスターターバッカーキットストア：https://double-kickstarter.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
PENNY BLOOD: HELLBOUNDの要素
・『PENNY BLOOD』でマシューとその仲間たちの行く手を阻もうとする敵の悪党集団、ヘルハウンダーズとしてプレイ。
・最終決戦に向けて前進するたびに、解放要素、パワーアップ、新しいスキルの数々が手に入るローグライクゲーム。
・血を流せば流すほど、アンロックのための通貨が増える「マリスシステム」。
・勢いをつけた強力な攻撃やスキルのアップグレードを可能にする「ブラッドサーフィン」で機動性のアップも、血を流すことで可能。
・リアルタイムで入れ替え可能な6人のヘルハウンダーズから、最適なペアを選択し、お好きな戦略で出陣。
・作曲は弘田佳孝、ゲストコンポーザーとして『LUNAR ザ・シルバースター』や『グランディア』で有名な岩垂徳行も参加。
Latest Updates from Our Project:
October 2024 Update
14 days ago
– Fri, Oct 04, 2024 at 06:45:18 AM
Hello JRPG Fans!
We are heading into colder months but continue to work hard behind the scenes.
Development Update
We’re down to the last quarter of the year. Looking back, time sure went fast. How are you all enjoying your long autumn evenings?
This month’s project update comes to you from Ishii.
ARMED FANTASIA October 2024 Project News
It's October, and I’m Chief Director Ishii.
The seasons are changing now, so I’m trying to take care of my health. Fortunately, no one on the development team has gotten so sick that they've had to stay in bed all day, but we can't be too careful.
Speaking of which, do epidemics exist in Londenium? Kaneko’s sitting right over there, so let’s ask him.
“Yes, they have everything.”
This month's report will focus on battle effects.
Battle Effect Production Process
Battle effects can be a highlight of any RPG. They can enhance how good attacks feel and how spectacular the battle screen looks by one or two levels depending on their quality. They’re also important in a different sense from the effects of games where players control the action themselves, since with turn-based battle systems, you’re often staring at the screen as you think about what tactics to use on your next turn.
Here’s how we go about creating the actual effects. First, we talk to the planner about any points that are unclear to us, based on the specifications they’ve given us. If we don’t take our time and do this step properly, we could end up with something like a fireball that flies up into the air when they actually needed a pillar of fire rising up from the ground. With things like breath, we need to make sure that matches up with the model’s motions. Also, when it comes to something big like special move cutscenes, we often get orders to handle everything on the effects side, including the ground breaking up, countless swords sticking up, universe, planets, etc.
Since effect work is downstream in the production process, we really hate it when we get orders like that in the middle of an already tight schedule. However, I think that some of you have seen cutscenes similar to what I described above in the Wild Arms series… Well, I’m the one who created those. I owe a great deal to the effects team I worked with. I think we all did a great job.
It's been a while since '2', '3', and 'F' came out, so it's okay to talk about this, right?
Actual Production
Once we’ve heard all their requirements, the next step is to figure out how to put all these effects together. These days, I think most effects are created using particle bases, but depending on the processing power of the hardware, people choose other methods such as model bases in order to prevent processing lag. In terms of the expression, we need on what’s right for the atmosphere of the game. Should it be magic-based, chemical-based…should we go for a more realistic style, or anime style, etc.
This is where the person in charge’s sense of style really comes into play. More than anything, it requires a wide range of knowledge. Effect artists often collect videos of lightning strikes, explosions, and tornadoes for times like these. They aren’t just collecting those things for fun.
Incidentally, Kaneko also collects the above videos, but I think he’s just doing it for fun. I saw him giggling at a video showing how snake fireworks work…
In any case, this is how we’re going about creating the effects. Now, I’d like to do something unusual and show you some videos of WIP effects that will be used in Armed Fantasia. It’s very rare for the public to be able to see videos like this.
Light Invocation (Temporary Name)
The first one is Light Invocation, an elemental self-destruct move. Since it’s a self-destruct move, it does a lot of damage….or at least, it should, but since it’s rather smooth at the end, it might look softer than you expect. From that point on, I’d like to add a more pleasing effect when all the energy escapes outward. It needs a little more color, too.
In action games where moves are performed in succession, effects often overlap on top of one another, so it’s important to keep them divided up by color. But in my opinion as the chief director, I think one or two additional colors should be added to effects for command-based RPGs.
I think the distortion of space when it explodes and the way the power’s charged up have really good flavor to them. It’s also nice how even though the same distortion is continuing, there’s still some variety to be found there.
Incidentally, the anomaly that uses this technique is Ignis Fatuus, one that we’ve never revealed before.
I heard that they’re troublesome creatures who possess different elemental affinities depending on their habitats. Let’s ask Kaneko, who once again happens to be right next to me, what kind of anomaly the Ignis Fatuus is.
“It’s a light-elemental insect monster based on a firefly…so how did it turn out like this?”
…A lot happens over the course of a game’s production.
Invincible (Temporary Name)
The second video is “Invincible,” a defense technique. It makes the user harder.
I think the raised shield is the center of the effect, but when viewed from the front, I thought it may look better if the center was a bit lower. It’s interesting how that ceases to really matter once you’re looking down on it from above during the second half.
We created this effect using red, which expresses the “powering up” aspect, and “blue,” which expresses the “hardening” aspect. It’s interesting, but the color blending is a little off, so it still needs to be adjusted. The end of the effect doesn’t look very hard – which is a pretty risky move, so I like it.
―――――
I gathered all the WIP footage I could for this update, so there’s a high possibility that things will change a lot, especially concerning the technique names and effects.
Hmm?
And I hear that the scenario is also being revised with a lot of new details added?
Apparently, the first draft written by Kaneko is being revised by Sekiya, the scenario director, from a third-party perspective, so the already rich characters are being refined even further.
Some characters were named random things like “Villager A” since Kaneko wanted to emphasize the momentum of his writing at the start, but they’re all getting proper names now.
Hmm, I need to get going on the storyboards…
Well, that's all for this time.
See you next month.
◆2024.10.04
Penny Blood Project Diary
Dear everyone, how are you enjoying your long autumn nights? We’re in the season now where the voices of insects sound pleasing to the ears. This month, as Director Machida announced last update, Kato will be telling us the story of how Baby Cthulhu came to be.
First, I received an order to design a mascot character, then had a light meeting with Director Machida. In terms of animals, we already have Luka (?), so we needed to think of something from a different perspective. After some considerations, we settled on designing the child of an evil god from the Cthulhu mythos.
As for how the design would be used… -It’ll eventually become a plushie. -It won’t just be used in the main game for Penny Blood, but other contents as well. -It’ll be a simple design that’ll be easy to sketch. -It should be about as big as a rugby ball, making it easy for Matthew to grab with all his strength.
…And so on and so forth. I kept all these requests in mind as I proceeded with my work.
(The child of an evil god from the Cthulhu mythos that could also work as a mascot…) Feeling as if I was preparing to try and hit a thousand home runs, I started working on the rough design. At this stage, I was still trying to come up with ideas, so I gathered materials on evil gods from the Cthulhu mythos in order to try and decide which one to base it on, then did some rough sketches. As I started drawing, I tried to aim for a level of cuteness that I believed would be most fitting for a mascot character. Although I knew I had to try and keep it from getting too animalistic, I ended up drawing a Cthylla that kind of looks like a cat, as well as a Nyogtha that kind of looks like an amoeba…
Then, Director Machida’s voice echoed out. “You should make it Cthulhu.” And so, I created a rough draft based on that sudden first hint: “Cthulhu.” It’s small, but it still looks pretty menacing.
From behind me, Director Machida said: “Make it really cute,” which caused my hands to freeze. Is the “cute” I’m thinking of really the same as the “cute” he’s envisioning?
I had him check my rough drafts in order to sync up our visions. Director Machida stared at the menacing rough draft. “I kind of want its form to look just like a baby’s.”
“Okay.” (Ahh, so I got it wrong…)
“Do you know of the character ‘Mogutan?’”
“Oh, that pink thing?” (Mogutan… Does he mean the Mogutan from Manga Hajimete Monogatari, that old kids’ show from the Showa Era?)
“Yeah, I want it to look pudgy and kind of like a baby, like that thing. Then, just make it look like the sort of Cthulhu that everyone knows. Oh, and I want it to be able to fly, too.”
And so, my ultimate goal became Mogutan + Cthulhu. After dunking all the rough drafts I’d done so far into the trash, I started drawing a ton of Mogutan-esque Cthulhus. From this point on I no longer faltered, and once I adjusted the size of its head and number of tentacles, I proceeded to the color rough draft stage.
The image was already solidified in my head at this point, so I finished the color rough draft in no time at all, then shared it with the other development members at a meeting and got their opinions. After that, I adjusted the size of its eyes and the thickness of its arms and legs in order to make it even more cute, and the design was finally completed.
This is how Baby Cthulhu, the mascot for Penny Blood, was created. In the main game it will exist as a helpful character, but it’ll also unveil its cuteness in many other places, so I hope you’ll all give it the love it deserves. That concludes the story of how Baby Cthulhu came to be. Thank you for reading.
Lastly, I drew an illustration (Halloween-themed) for the two-year anniversary of Penny Blood, so I hope you’ll all check it out. As you can see, although they still aren’t fully assembled yet, the number of characters has increased quite a bit…
Message from Hirota-san
Good evening, everyone.
The summer, which was way too hot, is finally coming to an end, and it seems like autumn has finally arrived…but yesterday the temperature was still over 30 degrees, making it feel like a hot summer. Please take care of your health during this change of seasons.
For this month’s update, I would like to focus on extending my gratitude and discussing the performances I did last month.
On September 16th, 17th, and 18th, I performed a concert titled -Self Portrait of Noise-, in which I performed special arranged versions of songs from Penny Blood, Penny Blood: Hellbound, and the Shadow Hearts series. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who attended them in Kyoto and Tokyo or who viewed the livestreams. Three full days of being able to perform with my amazing friends and share it with everyone made me deeply happy, and the time we spent together are as precious as gemstones to me. I would also like to thank Benyamin Nuss (Piano) and Shauno Isomura (Violin) from the bottom of my heart for understanding my songs from the core and lifting them up to even greater heights.
For a while after it was over, I felt a sense of fulfillment, yet the exhaustion also left me drained. I'm gradually recovering now.
Furukawa-san, the development director of Penny Blood: Hellbound, attended my Kyoto concert. I felt a little bad asking him to do so, but he was kind enough to give a speech during the performance. During that speech, it became clear that even though I thought I’d finished all the sound production work a week before the concert…there’s apparently still some work left to be done. Now that the performance is over and I’ve calmed down, I’d like to have a meeting with him and get going on fishing things off.
The tickets for the Tokyo performance sold out a few days before the show, so I was happy that a lot of other people were able to watch the livestream. I was also grateful to see all the messages that came along with the mail reservations and comments attached to the ticket purchases.
I will take to heart all the love and expectations you share for the three works.
The sound development for Penny Blood: Hellbound that got left over will soon be complete. After that, I’ll start making plans for the sound development for the main game.
You can see clip from the performances and people’s comments on them using hashtags here on X:
September 2024 Update!
about 1 month ago
– Fri, Sep 06, 2024 at 05:57:55 AM
Hello there JRPG fans!
Here's our September update for you! Now that we are finally in September things are slowly starting to cool off although the large number of typhoons can certainly be challenging.
Development Update
The moon-viewing season is here.
With less moisture in the air than in mid-summer, the sky is clearer and more suitable for moon-viewing. When you get tired of playing games, try taking a look up at the sky.
This month's monthly report is from Sekiya.
ARMED FANTASIA September 2024 Project Report
Director Sekiya here.
Just walking under this year’s hot summer sun makes me feel like I’m going to melt, like the people who drank that wine in “Street Trash.” And it seems like the temperature will continue to be hot in September.
Hearing the news that there’s unusual weather happening all over the world makes me feel like the Earth might be in a serious crisis here, but all we can do is keep working to make Londenium fall into a crisis. (And of course, the people who have to deal with that crisis are you)
The job of creating RPGs is kind of like the act of stirring up trouble for profit in the real world, since we need to first make the world fall into a calamity, then present steps on how to solve the problems.
In any case, we talked about anomalies for the past two months, so this time we’ll be changing gears and talking about the vehicles you’ll use to travel around the world and its waters.
Dock Design Art
First, Bee Tribe created this. This is a design drawing of the dock set up in a town known as Base Port Mozzelen. The scaffolding and steel cages look great.
Mozzelen has a large port in it, and the town is Londenium's trade center, always bustling with lots of sailors.
Standing on the watch deck, Ingram looks out over the water to the player's ship, which can travel freely across the open sea.
This design drawing depicts the ship undergoing maintenance. When the ship's ready to leave port, the dock will be filled with water and push the ship out to sea.
Of course, whether or not we actually add that much detail to the game will depend on the overall tempo as well as cost-related things.
But how will Ingram and his friends, who are just starting out as Pathfinders, get their hands on such a magnificent ship? I hope you’re excited to find out.
Ship Design Art
And here is a diagram of the player's ship setup.
The ships used in Londenium are basically paddle ships that use sails while turning the outer wheels with alchemical engines.
Paddle ships were not originally designed to sail on the open sea, but Kaneko-san loves ship with outer wheels, so they've been part of the design since the beginning.
As many of you may know, the “Sweet Candy” ship that appeared in “Wild Arms” also had outer wheels.
In fact, he likes them so much that I think I even remember him saying he wanted them to be able to use the wheels on land as well, like a certain biker who decided to launch a global cleanup mission.
The name of the player's ship is Stella Coretzel. The female figurehead riding the sea beast and pointing at the stars was designed by bee tribe to match the name of the ship.
Other paddle ships and different types of ships will also appear in the game, and their hull sizes, coloring and figureheads will all differ from this one.
Ship Exploration
After acquiring a ship, you can move around the world map's oceans at will and explore the seas of the world map.
Getting on and off the ship is possible at docks scattered throughout the world. By piecing together the little information you obtain, you can set out into uncharted waters, gradually exploring the world. Through this, we aim to provide the excitement that the RPGs of yesteryear once boasted.
While navigating the seas, you may suddenly come across a strange island or discover treasure at an unexpected exploration point.
Incidentally, a flying machine will also appear as an exploration vehicle, but the terrain will limit where you can land and takeoff, and some places will only be accessible by boat.
Battles on the Ship
There will be encounter judgments even while you're traveling on the water by boat. When you enter a battle, the deck will act as the battlefield.
In fact, the size of the player's ship was actually calculated backwards from the space needed for battles on the ship.
There are fewer RPGs where battles take place on boats these days, (and there may not be very many games where you travel by boat in the first place) so we really wanted to make the battlefield as large as possible.
In the early days of the project, we simply thought of the ocean as another terrain that players would be able to move through, but we want to make sure there are anomalies that you can only fight in the sea.
I think this is also an inevitable result of the fact that so many kaiju lovers have gathered here.
Mr. Kaneko was also very enthusiastic in creating specific anomalies for the ocean. Seems like the strongest anomalies may only be available in the sea?
The Ghost Ship Sir Ashland
Let's touch on the ghost ship piloted by Kimiquis Mycalmel, one of the Iconocluster officers.
Kimiquis is a pirate - an enemy of the Order of the Sacred Key who attacks merchant ships that belong to the Order. She leads a fleet of armed ships, and her flagship is the ghost ship Sir Ashland.
This is just a silhouette, but you should still able to tell that it looks rather unusual for a ship, and there are no masts or rudders present.
This eerie appearance is part of the reason why it's called a ghost ship. The hull is more than twice the size of other ships, and its strange and majestic appearance have led sailors to fear it.
That's all I have to say about the ship this time. There are probably some areas of it that are still being adjusted, and some details may change from this point onward, so I hope you're looking forward to seeing the final product in-game.
What? You want to know if there's going to be a fake wedding event? I dunno...
By the way... Question: What number are we on?
See you next month.
◆2024.09.06
Penny Blood Project Diary
Good evening, everyone.
The Japanese archipelago suffered a tough month of relentless heat and fervent attacks from typhoons, so I hope those of you living in western Japan are all doing well. When looking at all the flooding on the news and SNS sources, I always feel like I'm looking at a completely different world compared to the Japanese summers I remember experiencing as a child.
Now then, it's time for our monthly Penny Blood project report.
This month, I corresponded with several different potential publishers. Out of all the people who contacted me, there were some who I reunited with for the first time in two decades. I was deeply moved by the fact that we've all been working hard in this industry the entire time. I intend to continue talks with potential publishers, although I know things won't be moving too quickly.
...And so, that concludes this month's update. It's too short to end things here, though, so this time I'd like to dive a bit into some detailed setting information regarding Penny Blood.
The other day, there was a major earthquake in the Kanto region. One hundred years ago, during the era of Penny Blood, a huge earthquake that later became known as the “Great Kanto Earthquake” hit a wide area from Tokyo to close to Yokohama.
One of the causes of the enormous damage were fires that broke out after the quake. Since most houses at the time were made of wood, Tokyo was literally turned into a sea of fire and many historic buildings were destroyed. The Kanto Earthquake was the catalyst for the establishment of fire-resistant urban development, which transformed the city of Tokyo into the city we see today.
The beautiful Tokyo of the late Meiji and Taisho eras, with its blend of Japanese and Western styles, was a breath of Taisho romanticism.
I have a strong yearning for Tokyo as it existed before the Great Kanto Earthquake, and wanted to create a stage for it in Penny Blood.
Even today, there are several historic and famous sites that still retain vestiges of the original Tokyo. Some places can even be entered, such as the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, the former Iwasaki Residence, the former Maeda Marquis Residence, the Akasaka Rikyu State Guest House, and the former Asakura Family Residence. If you ever get tired of Tokyo's newest tourist spots, try exploring the world from a hundred years ago. Some of these spots may even appear in the game.
Finally, we have received another illustration from Mr. Hanya this month, so I'll post it here.
It's a snapshot of Luca and Roxane's daily life backstage at the Apricot Club.
Message from Hirota-san
Hello, everyone.
On September 1st, I successfully celebrated another birthday. I'm grateful that I can continue to make music as I always have. Although my days are slammed with development deadlines and concert preparations, since my birthday was on a Sunday, I decided to relax a little and went to the jiu-jitsu gym in the morning to work out, cleaned the house, and watched a movie in the evening, which let me refresh myself for the first time in a while. I finally got to see the movie “Session” (English title: Whiplash), which won many movie awards 10 years ago.
As for Penny Blood: Hellbound development news, I've finally finished the sound effect work as well as the ending-related music. I have two songs left to create, but everything should be finished up in a few more days.
I think it's turned out really great, so I hope you're excited for the full release.
While I think I was able to do some great sound work, I also discovered a lot of places where I could make the workflow more efficient and thus make things even better. I hope to make use of all I've learned for the main Penny Blood game.
As for my concerts in Kyoto and Tokyo on 9/16, 9/17 and 9/18, the other performers will be arriving in Japan soon, and we'll start rehearsing.
These sessions should greatly stimulate my composition work for Penny Blood. I'm also happy that I'll be able to perform some brand new songs from Penny Blood: Hellbound for you all. Of course, it's also deeply moving to be able to look back on Shadow Hearts songs for the first time after 20 years.
There was a piece that I arranged for solo cello, and since the size of the original piece was a bit short, I composed a new expanded section. It felt like I was having a session with my old self as I worked on it.
You can reserve tickets and check out the event information here. I also added an English version of the flyer and performance videos. Both of the performers look wonderful.
The Kyoto concert will be a one-night-only performance with no streaming, but the Tokyo concert will be a TwitCasting premium stream. The Tokyo performance will be available for viewing up to two weeks after the performance, but due to the agreement with the concert venue, we would like to ask you to "purchase access by the day of the concert." Purchasing from outside of Japan is also possible.
Stream Ticket Purchase URL (it's in Japanese, but people overseas can purchase here as well)
August 2024 Update
3 months ago
– Fri, Aug 02, 2024 at 05:59:35 AM
Hello Everyone!
August is extremely hot and humid in Japan, but we are doing our best to stay cool with some new updates! August is also "obon vacation" here, where many of us go back to our hometowns to visit family and pay respects to the departed. How do you guys spend your summer months?
Penny Blood: Hellbound - Early Access Update #2
We are approaching the full release of Penny Blood: Hellbound but there is one more mid-release still to go. The Early Access Update #2 build will land on August 8th and include the following additions:
Penny Blood: Hellbound’s schedule has slipped a bit as we try to take on everyone’s feedback, so we are now aiming for the full release sometime in early Fall.
We apologize for the delay, and thank you all for your continued support in helping to share the world of Penny Blood!
Development Update
The Paris Olympics have begun. But perhaps to JRPG fans, the San Diego Comic Con at the end of July was the bigger news?
This month’s ARMED FANTASIA report is coming to you from Ishii.
ARMED FANTASIA August 2024 Project Report
Chief Director Ishii here. It’s August now. How are you all faring midst the constant heat?
Ingram and the other characters are having fun playing in the ocean in the illustration, but anomaly attacks apparently happen quite a lot near bodies of water in Londenium. This means you can’t even let your guard down when you’re on a boat…
In last month’s report, Kaneko-san went over the flow of how an anomaly goes from an idea to an in-game model from the perspective of the planner/person making the order. This time, I’d like to describe how creating an anomaly goes about from the designer’s POV.
In that regard, I hope you’ll read last month’s report before reading this one. Some of you may be disappointed that the images are the same as last month’s, but that’s just to make the explanations easier to understand. We’re not actually sitting here thinking how great it is cost performance-wise to be able to use the same images twice…
Listening
A designer’s job first begins once they receive a series of strange messages from Kaneko, as if he’s Nostradamus releasing some new quatrains. Luckily, the person who wrote these messages is right in front of the designer, so the designer can wait for the busy-looking old guy to get some time and ask questions.
“Ndendecki is a UMA that looks like a big soft-shelled turtle.” “It’s a resilient enemy. It should have four legs.” “It has long hair growing out of the rear part of its shell.” Little by little, the designer pulls out more information.
After that the designer thinks: soft-shelled turtles aren’t very resilient, and a flat design might not look very good for a creature on the ground, so they start the design work based on the “four-legged turtle” image.
Since it has four legs, the silhouette of that famous turtle kaiju doesn’t really serve as a reference. Common four-legged turtles in Japan include the soft-shelled turtle, the Reeves’ turtle, and the Red-eared slider - all turtles with flat shells. When thinking about how to make it look good on screen, there might need to be a course correction.
Trying out a Sketch
In other places of the world, there exist turtles with high shells such as the tortoise and the Asian box turtle, but since we’re designing an anomaly here, I decided to use the alligator snapping turtle as the motif to make it easier to understand.
But even though the alligator snapping turtle is big, it also has a rather flat shell. I feel that it’s important that the monster looks opposing when facing off with the characters and that it has a large silhouette when looking at it from the front, so I decided to make more use of the spikiness of its shell and bring up its torso as much as possible while keeping it on four legs so that it’s sort of puffing its chest out.
Naturally, this means it’ll be looking down on the characters, so I then extended its neck and made it have a small face in order to emphasize its giant size.
By putting the knees of its back legs on the ground, I can also make it look heavier and more stabilized. Then, by adjusting the design of the spikes so they aren’t hidden by the raised-up part of its shell, I can make its front silhouette more interesting.
Here’s the design that features thick, large scales visible from the front with long hair growing out from the back of its shell.
Hmm… Something’s missing.
Listen to your Heart
My heart was telling me that something was missing, so I gazed upon the design and began to think. Then, I unconsciously let my brush wander while I continued to think, but I still couldn’t figure out what was missing. This happens a lot, and in the end, it was only when I was taking a bath that I realized the monster didn’t look resilient enough.
I could have been fine if I just turned in the original design and said “It’s really resilient,” but it would obviously be better if I could add something to the monster that makes it feel more resilient, so I used the inspiration I got in the bath to add shields to its front legs.
Now it definitely looks like a formidable anomaly.
Since the lines that make up the base of its neck reminded me of a lotus/lotus seat, I used those lines to create the form you see now. Incidentally, it’ll also make use of these shields through a gimmick in battle.
Once I finish my trial and error and become happy with the design, I have Kaneko check it.
Have the old guy check it
Once I have Kaneko do the final check and get his OK, my design work is done for now. This is actually a pretty hard step, though. The important thing to consider here is the basis that Kaneko uses to do his anomaly checks.
Most people may think he simply checks anomaly (monster) designs based on whether they look “cool” or “scary.” Kaneko is someone who laughs when he runs into something surprising, so if he doesn’t laugh at an anomaly design the first time he sees it, it doesn’t pass.
In other words, the design needs to have something that takes Kaneko by surprise, whether it’s the silhouette or a gimmick with the monster. In the past, someone failed to realize this, and things took a turn for the worse, and he started sending orders to someone else.
When I showed him Ndendecki’s design, he said: “Yeah, turtles these days are all about their shields, not their shells. I had the same feeling! Let’s go with this! By the way, I thought up the name “floral egg turtle”...what do you think?
Definitely a weird conversation to have, but he was smiling as he spoke to me. While I felt relieved inside, I didn’t let it show in my face and just said “Yeah, I agree,” naturally shifting topics with a response that didn’t really do much to continue the conversation.
But these conversations sometimes become the driving force behind coming up with new ideas and can make requests come in from different angles, so I can’t let my guard down until the very end. It’s fun work as long as the schedule doesn’t get crazy, though.
Passing it Along
After that, I pass on the finished design art to bee tribe and have them add what’s necessary in order to make it gel with their production environment.
Last month in Kaneko’s report, he mentioned how meticulous he is about his checks, and the truth is, I’m always excited about what sort of adjustments get made during this supplementary art/model production period.
It’s always very fun to watch new things get created from adjustments made during the work in the studio, when your own work passes into someone else’s hands. Of course, I go into detail about points that I don’t really want them to change, but I feel that this work is the same as designing a kaiju suit for a monster movie in that you need to rely on other people to get the job done. (And if you feel like your own design is perfect and don’t want anyone to modify it, then you need to finish it on your own.)
Transforming it into a model
During the model check step, the checker will often take a good look at the overall parts balance and its face, or whatever part can be construed as its face. With Ndendecki, both the modified art and model we got from bee tribe had hardly any changes made to it aside from brightening the color of the slit parts.
The adjustments they made were amazing, and it looks way more alive now. Now I really can’t wait to see it in motion.
In Conclusion
This is how much love we put into every one of the anomalies you may run past while you’re playing the game. What’s that? There’s no way that anomalies drenched in Kaneko’s unique particularities wouldn’t leave an impression on you? True… But we’ll still keep doing our best to make sure all the different things we create leave an impression on your hearts.
That concludes this month’s report. See you next month.
◆2024.08.02
PENNY BLOOD Project Diary
Hello, everyone.
Days of 40 degree Celsius weather continue, and just when we think it’s going to get cool at night, we get merciless guerilla rainstorms. 2024’s summer has truly become a harsh one.
Now for this month’s Penny Blood project report.
I mentioned last time that there haven’t been any developments for the main game, but the truth is that over the past month, I got contacted by several different publishers. Up until now, the producer of the campaign team served as the spokesperson who dealt with publishers, but currently we at Studio Wild Rose are dealing with them directly.
We have explained our current situation to the publishers and plan on taking our time and discussing the future of this project without hurrying things. We’re still unsure what will happen, but I will be sure to update you all whenever there are any developments, so I hope you’ll keep cheering us on.
Now, I’d like to reveal the first new Penny Blood illustration in a while.
Hanya-san drew this illustration. I asked him to draw Candy and Goliath in action, and a few rough sketches eventually turned into this final version.
This is a scene of Candy, a beautiful young girl (?) who is also an activist and her guardian, Goliath vanquishing some evil. Maybe they’re taking out some gangsters, Cthulhu-esque monsters, or perhaps even some evil politicians. I can’t wait to use this illustration as fuel to expand my imagination and do more scenario work.
…That concludes this month’s update. The other day, I got covid and suffered a great deal. It seems like it’s still spreading around now, so please watch out for it alongside heatstroke.
See you all next month.
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Hello, everyone. The development goalpoint for Penny Blood: Hellbound is visible now. In most game dev cycles, sound development always comes in at the very end. The scenario, graphics, movies, programmings…once all that is done, the sound work begins. I always feel a lot of pressure when I get to this point and have to start making music for important spots such as the last boss battle and ending even though we don’t have much time left.
Some projects create a list of necessary sounds before we reach this last stage. I’m not sure if you can say one approach is better than the other, but if you create a sound list ahead of time, it becomes hard to create more than what you’re imagining. On the other hand, trying to create the best sounds for the completed story in a limited amount of time often results in last-minute strokes of genius and explosions of creativity.
Either way, the only thing I can do is work my hardest at finishing the tracks in front of me and make Penny Blood: Hellbound as good as it can possibly be. I also intend to gather up as much knowledge as possible to help me out with the main Penny Blood game as well. I’ll be doing my best to deliver good sounds to you all, so please keep cheering me on.
Now, about the concerts I’ll be doing in September in Kyoto and Tokyo for my birthday. I’ve gotten a lot of reservations, but there are still some seats left. I feel like this is really a one-of-a-kind event, so I hope that as many people as possible can come and listen to us perform live.
The concert will focus on songs I wrote for Penny Blood, songs that have been implemented in Penny Blood: Hellbound, and songs from the Shadow Hearts series (I acquired permission from Universal Entertainment). The concert will feature performances from Benyamin Nuss, a pianist from Germany, Shauno Isomura, a violinist from New Zealand, and I’ll be playing the cello and electronic instruments in order to recreate the world of Hirota music for you all in a variety of different styles: classic, jazz, rock, electronic, modern music, folk music, etc…
I hope you can all make a reservation and look forward to seeing you there.
July 2024 Update
3 months ago
– Fri, Jul 05, 2024 at 06:31:05 AM
Development Update
It’s July, meaning we’re in the second half of 2024 now. It’s almost Tanabata… What’s your wish? Time for the monthly project report you’ve all been waiting for – this time brought to you by Kaneko!
ARMED FANTASIA July 2024 Project Diary
Long time no see. Kaneko, the total game designer here.
By the way, last month, I’m the one who told a certain staff member who was feeling under the weather to “eat meat!” Films taught me that eating a ton when you’re feeling sick makes you better. Logic has nothing to do with it.
Now then, sorry to start off with something that has nothing to do with Armed Fantasia, but…
Recently, a lot of my work has been getting revealed, so I’ve been worried as to whether or not people have been getting worried. “Is he working too much?” “Is someone blackmailing him into working a ton?” “Don’t tell me Akifumi Kaneko actually runs on a system like “Saburo **tte” and “Hajime **tate?”, etc.
(I actually got an email from Naruke-san checking on my health)
“I get a little depressed sometimes, but I’m fine.” (voiced by the Witch)
…In any case, I started working on both Princession Orchestra and CLASSIC★STARS after Symphogear XV was already finished, so the really hard parts of the work I took on took place several years ago.
Therefore, it’s not like I’m reaching the culmination of all my work at the exact same time in some crazy rush of work, so don’t worry. The truth is simply that certain circumstances forced the announcement timings to overlap with each other.
In any case, I hope you’ll cheer on these new anime alongside Armed Fantasia. (PR)
I’m not just throwing everything I personally want into this
Since it’s been a while since I handled an update, I’d like to talk about some behind-the-scenes things as well as how I go about creating anomalies (kaiju).
Before I start on the individual settings of each anomaly, I work on the overall “fittings.” Londenium, the stage where the story takes place, is a world that boasted advanced alchemy techniques, where nature and technology coexisted on a high level.
But at some point in Londenium, the environment violently changed, and the natural laws of the world became distorted. This affected the world’s nature creatures as well, introducing beings from outside of the natural balance that had existed thus far.
These are anomalies.
In other words, the mutated, degenerated, and modified versions of the native creatures of Londenium serve as the base for the anomaly designs. The first rule I set here is to make them as far from “humanoid” as possible.
Why? Because in these story-driven RPGs, humans are always the ones who lead the story – so if the anomalies were humanoid as well, they would start to resemble the silhouettes of our cast.
As usual, the main characters of Armed Fantasia are also humans, and the same goes for the people involved with the Order of the Sacred Key as well as the Iconocluster.
These factions will clash with each other for various reasons over the course of the story, and my philosophy (self-satisfaction) is that I want to entertain players’ eyes by at least maximizing the diversity of the different kinds of silhouettes they encounter in battle when they’re fighting things other than the enemy factions.
It’s unique precisely because it isn’t “trendy”
Next, I think about all the gameplay-related elements. This is my second rule.
Through discussing things with the person in charge of the battles, I can pick up elements that are related to the gameplay such as “We want a fast anomaly,” “we want a fire-elemental anomaly,” “we want a bonus monster that makes leveling up easier.”
Then, I start outlining the necessary specifications for sending orders out to the designers – an anomaly encyclopedia. The gameplay-related elements included here aren’t simply things like the parameter-based differences outlined above. For example, a type of anomaly that’s even more off-limits in AF than a humanoid type would be…
“A creature that could be (generally) called realistic!”
It should be easy to imagine that the type of creatures described above would mostly have to be either black, brown, or grey in order to look realistic (and not look ridiculous). In other words, it would be difficult to do color variations in order to increase the overall volume.
Of course, for an extravagant game made in an extravagant way, not having to create any color variations at all would be ideal, and there’s also the option of designing things in a way that doesn’t take color variations into account, if you’re working on a game where you don’t really need a lot of different enemies.
But Armed Fantasia is an RPG with a decent amount of volume, so we’ll need enough anomalies to make sure things don’t get boring while players are working through that volume. Therefore, anomaly color variations are essential “gameplay-related elements” and an important rule that needs to be set before the actual designing happens.
“Diverse silhouettes and possible color variations”
These two rules serve as the visible, yet invisible roots behind the anomaly designs.
Understanding the settings, then upholding them, crumbling them, and adding things on
Next, we finally get to the setting/image design of each individual anomaly…
The Ndendecki, which I’ll be introducing this time, is an anomaly whose name is based on a famous traditional UMA from the Congo region of Africa.
Tracing the actual lore, the Ndendecki’s shell is actually supposed to be soft, but after giving it some versatility so we could create color variations as well as hearing “we want a resilient anomaly” from the person in charge of battles, I had them give it a hard/resilient/heavy design.
The cool-looking shield-type shells on its front legs stick out a lot - this was an idea from Ishii, one of our designers. He took the ‘resilient’ gameplay-related idea from the person in charge of battles and upgraded it into something cool.
Its unique point is the smooth hair sticking out from the back of its shell. This is what’s known as “turtle hair,” hair created from algae that grows on turtles. You may have seen this thing before if you’ve looked at any scrolls or picture books featuring Urashima Taro.
Looking back… there are a lot of turtle motif monsters in the world, but I was surprised that I didn’t really see many that have actual hair, so I tried adding that to the specifications when I made the order. (If there are some that do exist, sorry)
At this point, most of the design becomes set in stone, and it is transferred from my hands to Ishii and the rest of the designers of bee tribe.
The Colour Out of Space
And just like that, the designers at bee tribe add a bunch of details to the art! It looks completely different now that it’s been all dolled up. Aside from adding color, they’ve also added textures as well, enhancing the anomaly’s presence.
If you’ll allow me this tangent, one of my particularities is that I always set the possibilities for the design during the sketch check, before the details are added.
Of course, this is because fixes after the details are added and ‘rewinds’ of work can become very problematic…but rather than simply because I’m prioritizing the studio’s schedule, it’s more because I don’t want to allow any “coolness in atmosphere only” that can slip through due to colors and touch-ups. Anomalies (kaiju) always need to be able to stand on their own without any bells and whistles. So it only passes inspection if it can make people smile at the sketch stage.
Terrifying Cosmic Rays
Once the design and detailing is complete, we finally move on to modeling. (bee tribe handles this as well) Even though they’ve been provided with art to base the modeling off of, they need to make sure it looks cool from every angle, and since it’s in 3D now, this sometimes necessitates fixing non-integrated parts that weren’t noticed during the 2D design phase.
How much of the original image can they retain while transforming it into 3D? This is where Ishii’s checking (determination) really shines.
I’m always happy to see modifications being added here and there to make it look even cooler. This is one of the things I love about bee tribe’s modelers.
Incidentally, at this point in my work I start to lose vocabulary and just end up murmuring words of wonder like “Wow” and “Amazing” over and over again. In the end, I devolve from a game developer into just another old man who loves kaiju.
From this point on, they add textures and handle the light/shadow processing until the work is finally completed…
As to what the completed version of Ndendecki looks like…I hope you’ll all search for it on the field and encounter it yourselves. (And then please kill it or let it kill you)
Humorous Confessional
In conclusion…
I intended to make this as brief as possible, but it ended up becoming a very long explanation about how creating anomalies works. Sorry about that, and thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end.
In the beginning, I planned to handle anomaly designing in a pretty wild fashion, similar to how Professor Utonium just tosses in Chemical X with a bunch of different things and bam, all done! But in the end, I actually approached it in a much more serious fashion than I thought I would…and I regret it a great deal.
I can’t comprehend how much I have to really say about this – it just keeps flowing out. My heart is quite the chatterbox… Someone said that line a long time ago, and it’s true.
In conclusion, for real this time.
I can’t imagine how difficult/troublesome it must have been for the translator to translate all of this into English. I imagine that not even Japanese people can understand every last bit of this laundry list of words. Sorry about that!
◆2024.07.05
Penny Blood Project Diary
Hello, everyone. We aren’t out of the rainy season yet, but this year’s sweltering heat has already returned. Mandai is already past 30 degrees Celsius, and I heard that Tokyo’s been seeing nothing but 35 degree days?! Yeesh!!
I’m not sure what will happen when we get into the full swing of summer, but things may be a bit more comfortable here in Niigata.
Now, time for the monthly Penny Blood project report. This month, Studio Wild Rose continued supervising the work on Hellbound. There has been no new movement for the main game, but our motto is “We’re still going to live on,” so we have not given up on development, and have started to work on a new attempt.
Obviously, this will be another attempt to try and increase the value of the Penny Blood IP. The new attempts that we’re capable of will sometimes bring excitement, sometimes bring confusion, and sometimes make people’s eyes roll back into their heads, but we’re working hard at things every day. Not everything we try will be a success, but all we can do as staff members is unite our hearts and slam into the opposition.
You may be curious as to what this new attempt is, and I promise to announce it when the time comes, so I hope you’re excited.
...That concludes this month’s update. Please be careful not to get heatstroke. Don’t push yourselves and be sure to turn your air conditioners on.
Now then, see you all next month.
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Hello, everyone. We’re already into the second half of the year. I’ll keep moving ahead day by day at full speed so that I have no regrets.
I’m now into the second half of the sound design work for Penny Blood: Hellbound. While creating new sound materials, I’m also performing detailed adjustments on the parts I already created. I also asked Iwadare-san, our guest composer, for help, and he created a wonderful song that will play from the opening onwards for a bit as the story unfolds. I still have a bit more adjustment to do on the files so that they can be implemented, but once that’s done I think it will fit very nicely.
In June, I made a lot of progress on the interactive music for battles. Making it so that the music changes depending on how full your Malice Gauge makes my work increase exponentially, but I’m finishing it up little by little.
In some cases, I can use music to express the changes in scene and situation, but in other situations, I feel like it’s better to use sound effects. It’s hard to make the decision sometimes, but I intend to utilize this experience for the main Penny Blood game.
The other day, I announced information on my concert in September.
Benyamin Nuss, a German pianist, and Shauno Isomura, a violinist from New Zealand will be joining me to make up a trio where I’ll be playing the cello. They’re both fans of Shadow Hearts music, and Shauno took part in the violin recording for the following songs I created for Penny Blood:
Fhathast beò (Penny Blood Main Theme -First Edition)
Vicious 1923 (Normal Battle01 -Proto Ver.)
Matthew Farrell (Theme of Matthew -First Edition)
You can listen to these on the Penny Blood website, so be sure to check them out.
June 2024 Update
4 months ago
– Fri, Jun 07, 2024 at 03:59:35 AM
Hello JRPG fans! Here's the May 2024 Update.
Development Update
Armed Fantasia
It’s June, and the rainy season will soon begin in Tokyo. We’ve been experiencing days of high humidity and low atmospheric pressure, but let’s all try and get through it with cheerful spirits.
Today’s update will be brought to you by Sekiya.
ARMED FANTASIA June 2024 Project Update
Director Sekiya here.
Sorry to start things off with something personal, but I became under the weather for the first time in a while in early May, and since it was Golden Week, I ended up spending about a week holed up in my house eating nothing but rice gruel and water. As a result, after recovering, I experienced a loss of energy unlike anything I’d ever felt before. The bag I always carried as well as my footsteps themselves felt so heavy, and I could barely make it to my office.
At that time, one of my colleagues said “Meat! Eat some meat!”, but I didn’t really believe them. I replied: “Meat, right after recovering from an illness? Are you serious? Shouldn’t I eat something a little better for my digestion?” But after taking their advice and forcing myself to consume some animal protein, I immediately regained my stamina, and even my bag returned to its original weight! Incredible!
The point of all this isn’t to try and remind you all to take care of your health… It’s meant to be a report on how the phenomenon of characters instantly regaining health from eating meat in games from all around the world isn’t completely fiction.
Or maybe it was because it’s been imprinted in me from so many games that the meat was able to restore my health. Games always give us a glimpse of the truth of the world. Thank you, games! (Especially Capcom’s belt-scroll action games.)
ARM Shops
This time around, we’ll explain how ARM shops and early ARM customization works. ARM shops are operated by the Church of the Sacred Key and are literally facilities meant for ARM maintenance. Players will frequent ARM Shops to strengthen their ARMs, the lifeline of every pathfinder.
Please don’t forget that this information is based on the specifications currently under development, and may be subject to change based on future adjustments.
Gothic spires and statues of the emblem of the Church of the Sacred Key displayed at the main entrance mark all ARM stores.
What are ARMs?
ARMs are the general names for mechanical devices widely distributed in Londenium. Their official names are “Aether Reaction Maximizers,” and ARM is an acronym. While ARMs are weapons that operate based on their forms, they are also equipped with functions that dramatically increase their wielders’ physical capabilities by amplifying aether (a magical element possessed by living organisms).
ARMs are categorized into six basic types: gun, spear, staff, gun, sword and fist, with three additional types: bayonet, whip, and saw, for a total of nine. Each type has a different role in battle. For example, if you equip a “gun” type ARM, you will become a damage dealer with superior speed, and if you equip a “spear” type ARM, you will become a tank with superior defense.
At the start, each player character can only equip their default weapon type, and you’ll need to level them up in order to increase the amount of types they can equip.
ARM Structures
ARMs consist of the basic frames, extension components, and skill modules. The frames influence the player character’s basic ability values, while TP (tuning points) can be consumed to set skill modules.
Each skill module contains one skill, such as attack skills, defense skills, support skills, buff skills, and status ailment resistance skills, which can be used when the module is set in a frame.
The amount of TP needed to set a skill module differs depending on its type, and skill modules that exceed a frame’s maximum TP cannot be used. Lastly, there are two types of skill modules: those that can only be set in specific weapon types, and those that can be set in any type of weapon.
ARM Customization through Modules
The basic purpose of ARM customization is to change skill modules and edit skills in order to create a skill composition that best fits your tastes.
For example, in a dungeon filled with anomalies who use poison, you can set a ‘poison resistance’ skill module in order to deal with that. Or, you could add ‘speed up’ and ‘attack up’ skill modules in order to kill them before they can poison you. There will be many different ways to deal with problems depending on the player’s creativity and ingenuity.
Only one of each type of skill module can be set in a frame, but there exist various levels of the same skill, so you can enhance the effects of a skill by replacing it with one of a higher level.
ARM Shop System
In ARM Shops, frames and skill modules can be purchased for galla (money). Initially, there won’t be many different skill modules to choose from in the shops, but if you sell the “battle data” you gain from defeating anomalies to ARM Shops, they’ll develop and sell new skill modules based on that data.
For example, the battle data gained from defeating several anomalies with hard shells can be used to develop a skill module that makes a weapon especially effective against hard enemies. Also, if you sell battle data gained from a huge anomaly, such as a boss, shops may develop things other than skill modules, such as advanced rank frames.
As you can see, through selling battle data to ARM shops, you’ll be able to increase their line up of new frames and skill modules as well as widen the options you have for strengthening your ARMs.
Regarding Advanced Rank Frames
When you purchase an advanced rank frame, it will come with a new skill module that was developed at the same time. Not only will these boost your stats far more than lower rank frames, but they will also give you new skills, meaning that getting ARM shops to stock will give you a chance to instantly power yourself up.
A view of the inside of an ARM Shop. The store counter can be seen in the back.
Pathfinders and church members may stop by, meaning shops may be useful as sources of intel as well.
The Relationship Between Pathfinder Guilds and ARM Shops
Along with ARM Shops, many towns also have Pathfinder Guilds operated by the Church of the Sacred Key. These facilities are mainly responsible for coordinating quest-related things.
However, Pathfinder Guilds sometimes receive requests from ARM Shops to retrieve special battle data, and fulfilling these requests may earn you rare frames and skill modules.
Additional Notes: Pathfinder Guilds and Pathfinders
Londenium contains guild-affiliated Pathfinders who venture out of their own free will, those who agree with the significance hoisted by the Church of the Holy Key and those who wish to benefit from the Church’s assistance.
In other words, there are many Pathfinders who do not belong to any guilds and some who belong to the Iconocluster, those who oppose the Church. There is no way for anyone to tell whether a Pathfinder standing in front of you belongs to a Guild or not… The only proof of identity a Pathfinder has is the registration card issued to them from their guild.
Additional Notes: Pathfinders and Church Knights
Pathfinders travel through the wilderness, bring back resources from ruins, and exterminate dangerous anomalies. The roles of Pathfinders who belong to Guilds are similar to those of Church Knights.
But if the Church already has an army of knights to do their bidding, then why bother establishing Pathfinder Guilds? To put it in different terms, Church Knights are employees while Pathfinders are freelancers.
Supplies are already scarce as it is in Londenium, so it’s not cost-effective to mobilize Knights to solve every little problem. Therefore, it’s advantageous for the Church to have Pathfinders who will take on requests in exchange for rewards that are only paid out upon success. The difficult reality of the Church is that they have no choice but to rely on Pathfinders for things like exploration missions, where there’s no telling when such missions might actually be completed.
Lastly
Somehow, whenever I’m in charge of a monthly update, it always ends up being full of information on the Church. I am by no means a Church spokesman…
Oh, by the way, when I revealed the information on the Church of the Sacred Key in April, I received responses from those of you who have already glimpsed the truth of the world in various games saying “they’re probably just an organization full of jerks claiming to be the key to the future of mankind.”
Seeing that, Kaneko-san said “They really are doing their best for the sake of the world, though…” His words left an impression on me, so I’d like to add them to this report.
See you all next month.
Penny Blood
Good afternoon, everyone.
Along the Shinano River, where the breeze from the sea softens the strong sunlight laced with the feeling of early summer, there sits a small, stylish café. As I gaze at the water shimmering just outside the window, ice clinks within my glass, shrouded with a robe of condensation... Machida here, writing this graceful text while imagining that I've gone to such a place.
But as I come to my senses and look around, I find myself facing the Mac screen in my workroom, just like usual, with Monaka-chan meowing loudly behind me, saying "It's dinner time, hurry up and feed me, meow meow!" Yes, I'm definitely back in reality right now. And didn't I just feed you a churu?
Now, it's time for this month's Penny Blood project report.
Continuing from last time, we'll continue delivering comments from the Penny Blood: Hellbound development team.
The development team has gotten used to working in the death zone over the past month, and while Monaka-chan is here biting me for real, they're steadily working fixing the many bugs that attack them and the highly difficult work that's required for improving the game.
The first staff member I would like to introduce is the art director, Matsumoto-san.
At my request, Penny Blood has been built around a unique worldview and graphics that defy the groundswell of politically correct giants that have swept the world in recent years, and of course Hellbound is no exception. This game is dark, grotesque, creepy, and yet it's still kinda cute somehow. Matsumoto-san has been working on the visuals for the game, which are filled to the brim with those sorts of aspects.
–
I’m Matsumoto, the art director. For this game, in the beginning, I worked with the entire team to take the world, settings, keywords that Director Machida created as well as the amazing character designs that Kato-san created and turn them into various visuals and animations for this game - and I’m still working very hard on them. The images below are a sample of the background production work I’ve done. Within the limited space of Mictlan, the lovable, cute characters will cry, laugh and go wild while covered in blood, so don’t miss it!! As it connects to the main game of Penny Blood, I hope you will continue to enjoy the game we’ve created.
–
Lastly, we have Ari Lee, who has been working on the scenario for Hellbound.
Adhering to my original concept and supervision, Ari wrote original stories featuring Roxane and the Hellhounders for the official Penny Blood site, and has written most of the text for Hellbound. Brimming with the desire to please the users, he's carried out his work with a deluge of passion, including everything from researching various elements to writing flavor text that may elicit a chuckle or two.
–
Nice to meet you, I’m Ari Lee. Like trying to squeeze out blood from a stone, I have thrown tens of millions of mad punches at a massive boulder (my keyboard) in order to complete both the English and Japanese versions of the text for the game. Together with Director Machida, who thankfully always guides me and supervises my work, I have been pouring out every last ounce of my vitality and creativity in the hopes of contributing even just a little bit to the Penny Blood project.
Hellbound is a story about pain, hypocrisy, sacrifice and despair: a record of the mortal battle fought by the main characters, who refuse to change their beliefs and push forward in their escape from hell, no matter how much blood they cough up or how much they’re hated by those around them… but there is also laughter, friendship, familial love and salvation hidden throughout the tale as well, and I hope everyone finds something to enjoy about it.
*Below are storyboards that Matsumoto-san created based on the scenario.
–
Well, what did you think of this two-part interview with the development staff of Penny Blood: Hellbound? I didn't introduce them as Dragon Quest 3 classes this time around simply because I couldn't think of a good way to compare the art director and scenario writer to the Warrior and Fighter classes.
...That concludes this month's update. See you all next month.
Matsuzo Machida
Message from Hirota-san
Good afternoon, everyone.
At the end of last month in Kyoto, I took part in a concert with a band that I play bass in. I was born and raised in Kyoto, and went to Tokyo when I turned 18 in order to pursue a career in music. I was only in Kyoto for 18 years, but the memories and friends I made there are treasures to me. The concert was awesome. I hope I can play more music not just in Kyoto, but all sorts of different towns as well.
Now, as for my May sound progress for Penny Blood: Hellbound, I’ve been adding in a ton of sound effects for different scenes, and the footsteps in the hideout now change depending on the kind of floor you’re walking on. All of the adjustments and processing for the voice lines are also finished and implemented. I am thankful from the bottom of my heart to all the voice talents who gave us such amazing performances.
After repeated communication and image sharing with Iwadare-san, our guest composer, he finally finished all of his composing work the other day as well. The music he’s created is both very Iwadare-esque as well as pretty surprising, so it adds some wonderful color to the game. I hope you’re excited to hear it all! From this point on I’m going to do the necessary editing on his wave files and implement them all.
I intend to finish all my sound direction as best I can, but I still have some of my own composing work left to finish. I’ll do my best in this last spurt to deliver some great tracks!
Lastly, I’d like to inform everyone of the concerts I’ll be putting on in September. On Sept. 16 (Monday) I’ll be doing a concert in Kyoto, on Sept. 17 (Tuesday) I’ll be putting on what I call “Tour Around Fushimi, Kyoto with Hirota + Mini-Concert and Talk Show”, and on Sept. 18 (Wednesday) I’ll do another concert in Tokyo. I also plan to stream it on Twitter for all the people who can’t actually make it. (There may be some songs I can’t stream, though…) I’ll give you more details about it this month, so please feel free to invite your friends and family and join in.
