Oct 31

Happy Halloween!

This time around, I decided to finally go for an idea I’ve been wanting to draw for literal years now. Taiko didn’t wear a Halloween costume in the actual game, so I thought it’d be fun to think about what he would have dressed up as if he had decided to go in a costume after all, so here he his… the legendary phantom thief Taiko Kid!

As always, the image has been added to our gallery and if you’re a patron, you can also download a hi-res version, as well as a version of only Taiko, without any background or text, right over here!

Now, the only other thing left to say is: Happy Halloween, everyone! We hope you’re gonna have a spookily fun time today! ~°w°~

Oct 29

Weekly Update #429: Console Anniversary

That’s right! Today, exactly one year ago, the console version of SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair was finally released!

As always, it’s pretty hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it’s already been that long. [Insert usual rant about how time flies.]
It’s still a pretty awesome achievement to me, however, and something I am very proud of! Even one year later, I just can’t help but grin in satisfaction whenever I see our little VN in my console libraries, its entry in the trophy/achievement lists or its icons popping up in any of the console online stores!

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Oct 25

Halloween Sale 2022

This year, Steam has switched things up a little bit, which is why there is no “traditional” Halloween sale, but instead the so called Scream Fest. Not only has the event itself changed, however, even the participation method has and, as such, we unfortunately aren’t officially part of it, as we were not included by Valve. Therefore, we have opted to simply run our own little custom Halloween Sale for the same duration as the Scream Fest. In other words, this time around, our little murder mystery SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair will be on sale for a whole week instead of the usual four days!

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Oct 22

Weekly Update #428: More Writing Progress & Halloween Preparations

Once again, most of my week has been dedicated to writing, this time focusing on Shinketsu‘s second chapter four route.

Since the body has been thoroughly examined by now and there isn’t really anything more he can do in regards to it (at least not at the scene), he decides to contribute to the investigation in a rather different manner. I don’t want to spoil it just yet, but, as mentioned in last week’s blog post, it involves a new interactive gameplay mechanic and, despite his route being rather short overall, there is still a lot to write for all the potential things the player might decide to do here. As such, it’s still not entirely finished yet, but I hope to get there within the next few days and then move on to Himatsu.

Since we’re getting closer to Halloween, though, work on the Halloween illustration has also climbed up the ladder of priorities a little and I have spent most of today working on that and will get back to it right after posting this.

There isn’t really much else to report. I’ve been very busy with some private life matters, which also contributed to progress being a little slower again, as well as dealing with some other things relating to Halloween, such as setting up the annual sale (which, for some reason, Steam decided to hold in a very different manner this year, causing quite a bit of a problem for us) “orz

On that note, the PS4/PS5 versions of SHINRAI are currently on sale, so you can grab them for 50% off over on the PSN store!

Anyway, as always, please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, have a spooky time and take care :3

Oct 15

Weekly Update #427: Writing Progress

This week, I’ve made some pretty good progress on the script for GENBA no Kizuna‘s forth chapter! Both Keiichi‘s and Rei‘s next investigation routes are fully written now! Although they are still in need of some more polish, you can at least read through both of them from beginning to end now. Together, they add another ~8,000 words worth of content to the game!

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Oct 08

Weekly Update #426: 3rd Social Phase Progress

As the title suggests, I’m currently working on the script for the third social phase of GENBA no Kizuna, which takes place in its penultimate chapter and, quite honestly, poses the most difficult part to write in the entire game thus far.

Outside of the usual difficulties, such as finding the right flow and structure for the conversations Keiichi is having with his teammates, there is also a lot of research involved in regards to a particular subject affecting one of our investigators. I obviously don’t want to go into much detail here, due to spoilers, but it’s a delicate issue and I want to do its portrayal justice.

Therefore, progress is a bit slow and it will probably take me a lot of revision passes to get satisfied with this.

This entire social phase is actually going to be the most crucial one, as Keiichi, for the first time, really needs to act like a leader and help the others overcome some of their difficulties in order to move the investigation forward.

To me, this is one of the key moments in the game and one of the aspects that really emphasizes the “kizuna” in its title, so I really want to get this right. Maybe that’s way my perfectionism is operating at maximum capacity again, haha.

In any case, the current goal is to get a “serviceable” version of this done first. Then, as I continue to work on the rest of the script, I will go back to this part every once in a while to polish it up until I’m happy with it. Because, knowing myself, I’ll probably not get anything else done for a while if I obsess over getting it perfect right away, ahahah…

I have actually already begun writing the next set of investigation phases following this and will probably shift more of my focus towards them this coming week. Also gotta get the Halloween artwork done, though, which I think I’m gonna get back to now!

So, as I do that, I hope that you’ll enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a spooky time!
Until next Saturday, take care °w°v

Oct 01

Weekly Update #425: Plans For October

The spooky month is finally here and, naturally, I have a lot of plans for it. Before we get into those, however, let’s take a quick look at how exactly September has ended!

This past week, I’ve really buried myself in work again and, literally just yesterday, compiled the zip file with all the necessary assets to code the first set of investigation routes for GENBA no Kizuna‘s fourth chapter! I’ve already sent everything to Natsu as well, so the rest is in her hands now! All in all, this’ll be another ~10,000 words added to the game!

I have also just finished my work on a couple new assets that will be needed for the next part and will send those over to Natsu as well later today. And while she is going to take care of all those things, I will naturally dedicate myself to finishing up the script for the third social phase. My plan for this month is to finish it along with the second set of investigation routes that follows after. Definitely a lot of work, but certainly doable.

Aside from that, we’re also going to celebrate the one year anniversary of SHINRAI‘s console release later this month, so, in celebration of that (and given the fact that SHINRAI‘s story itself takes place on Halloween, of course), I’d also like to whip up an artwork again of one of its characters customized. One who didn’t get to wear a costume in the actual game!

So yeah, that’s the plan (along with hopefully finding time to play some spooky games, of course w).

Now, with all of that said, I guess I’m gonna get right back to work and wish you a very spooky start into October!
Until next Saturday, take care ~°w°~

Sep 24

Weekly Update #424: More Chapter IV Writing Progress

As the title unveils and as I’ve been mentioning in previous blog posts, right now, the script for GENBA no Kizuna‘s fourth chapter is at the top of my to-do list, so this week as well, I’ve dedicated most of my time to it. At the moment, it’s ~37,000 words in length.

I can’t yet say how long it will be when all’s written and done, but it will very likely be of similar length as the second chapter, which ended up being around 58,000 words, if not even a little longer than that.

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Sep 17

Weekly Update #423: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse

A little while ago, the MegaMan Battle Network Legacy Collection was announced and, in celebration of that, I dedicated a blog post to the franchise in order to talk about what a huge impact it had on my life, how both SHINRAI and GENBA no Kizuna might not even exist without it, and where you can find its influences in our projects.

Although the Fatal Frame (aka Project Zero in Europe) series didn’t have quite as much of an impact on my life, it was another huge inspiration and you can find a lot of its influence in my projects as well. In fact, without it, SHINRAI would definitely have turned out quite a bit different. So, with the fourth installment of the series recently announced to officially come to the West at last, I thought that, today, I’ll talk a little bit about Project Zero IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse!

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Sep 10

Weekly Update #421: Chapter IV Writing Progress

With SHINRAI’s anniversary and GENBA’s chapter III demo release lying behind us, it’s time to fully dedicate ourselves to chapter IV!
As such, I’ve been getting back into writing and have spent most of my time working on the script over the course of this past week.
Right now, I’m simultaneously working on the third Social Phase, as well as the next part of the second Investigation Phase.

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