In last week’s blog post, I mentioned how we are going to focus more on Withering Without Hope again this month. Since it takes place on December 23, I’m currently in the perfect mood for it (and I really just wanted to work on it again after spending the past couple of months solely on GENBA no Kizuna).
That said, we still got a few things done in regards to GENBA over this past week. Our new composer has finished the third and final track needed for our demo (which patrons can already listen to here) and he’s going to work with me on the sound effects next. I also finished a couple more sprite variations for Keiichi and Nobuhiko, so all that’s left is for Natsu to properly color them. There really isn’t much else missing in regards to assets now.
As for WWH, I’ve been very busy writing, which is quite a lot of fun. Since GENBA is mostly told through dialogue and the inner monologue is rather restrained, it’s been a somewhat liberating feeling to get back to actual novel style after so long.
I honestly have to say that I prefer it quite a bit more.
I’ve also continued working on the sprites for WWH, starting with another recurring character who I won’t give away just yet. If you’ve seen some of our posts earlier this year, you should already know that Raiko, Nobara and Henjin are back, although that probably isn’t much of a surprise. SHINRAI is Raiko’s and Nobara’s story, after all.
Nevertheless, you will get to see a few more familiar faces returning from Broken Beyond Despair. I’m not going to reveal who just yet, but I’m sure you can already imagine the most likely candidates.
Speaking of characters though, I thought that today might be a good day to talk a little more about SHINRAI’s connection to GENBA. After all, it’s the ideal transition topic before I go into more detail about WWH next week. And the characters are the biggest connection these projects share.
If you’ve paid attention, you probably already know that one of the four main characters in GENBA shares the same family name as one of our ten party guests in BBD. And of course that’s no coincidence. Dr. Shinketsu Kikai is Taiko’s father, which will be relevant to his sub plot.
There’s actually one more character in GENBA who is related to someone you know from SHINRAI, but I’ll keep that to myself for a little longer (although patrons can already find out by checking out the first two parts of the script).
That’s not all, however. I’ve mentioned before that WWH will have a different feel to it. That’s because, this time, the story doesn’t take place in a secluded location, cut-off from the outside world, meaning that the police will be heavily involved in the investigation. And the police investigators you will meet in WWH are none other than the ones you will play as in GENBA.
(Fun fact: Keiichi and Himatsu were even among the police officers who arrived at the Miyamoto Mountain Resort and questioned Raiko and the others about the incident.)
There were two major reasons as to why I wanted to create GENBA. First of all, I wanted to try something different. A somewhat shorter, faster paced VN with a little less focus on narration and a lot more interactivity. Something that throws you right into “the action”. In SHINRAI, the crime and its mysteries unfold right before your eyes. In GENBA, you arrive at the crime scene after the crime has been committed and you are tasked with reconstructing everything that happened rather than witnessing most of it for yourself.
The second reason is that I wanted to take the opportunity to give a little more back story to these characters you will eventually meet in WWH. You won’t need to play GENBA (or even BBD for that matter) in order to understand and fully enjoy WWH. However, if you do, you will get a lot more out of it, because you will have this extra knowledge of who these police investigators actually are.
Originally, I was planning to provide some back story for them in WWH itself, but that proved to be rather difficult. They do not have a personal connection to the case, after all. They simply appear to do their jobs. It is Raiko and her friends who the case will revolve around, with a special spotlight shining on Nobara. And I didn’t really want to take away from that, either.
But since I enjoy giving back stories to my characters, giving them an identity, a history… I decided to simply use GENBA as a means to tell you more about Keiichi and the others. So even if you play WWH first and get curious about them, you could then check out GENBA and learn who these investigators are by witnessing how they solved their first murder case together.
So there you have it. There will be a few other connections I won’t spoil and I really hope you will enjoy them. Even though it may be titled differently, GENBA no Kizuna is still very much a part of SHINRAI (although you could call it more of a spin-off I guess).
All three stories are set in the same year (2010) by the way. And chronologically, GENBA (September) takes place before BBD (October) and WWH (December). So by the time the events of WWH take place, Keiichi and the others have already become a well-working team.
But that’s about all I’m going to say about this. I hope this gives you a better idea as to what you can expect and why our focus lies on releasing GENBA no Kizuna first.
Next week, I will share a bit more info on WWH, so until then, take care! And as always, please enjoy the rest of your weekend! :3
