Nov 25

Weekly Update #486: Final Social Phase

As you can tell from the title, this week, I’ve been working on the final social phase of GENBA no Kizuna. The game may not have a dedicated epilogue chapter like SHINRAI did, but that doesn’t mean that the story just ends with the credits right after the case has been successfully solved. You will get one more chance to talk to all three of your team members to wrap up their individual arcs.

All three conversations are basically separated into two parts. First, you exchange some general words with Himatsu, Shinketsu and Rei and then, if you have gathered all the required “social points” for them, you’ll get an additional bonus scene in which they will open up a bit to Keiichi about the true nature of their struggles and motivations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 18

Weekly Update #485: CGs Done!

Last night, Natsu sent me the remaining two CGs for GENBA no Kizuna‘s final chapter fully colored, which means that her asset work is done again for now and that all the CGs are finally taken care of! That also means that, in terms of art assets in general, there isn’t really much left now. I definitely do need a few more sprite variations (primarily different facial expressions) for the end of the chapter, when things get a bit more emotional and we’ve got a couple character breakdowns, but other than that, there are only a  couple more DPA pictures missing, a few simple artworks to visually illustrate case-related things (think the depiction of a certain someone standing on a glass table in SHINRAI) and… well, something I don’t wanna really talk about yet to keep it a surprise!

But yeah, we’re slowly getting to the end in the art department. Now, as for the writing, I have continued working on the script and written the “the case is closed now” scene. I still need to do some revisions and flesh out the emotional parts mentioned above a bit more, but then I can move on to the final social phase. One more conversation with Himatsu, Rei and Shinketsu before Keiichi goes to the chief, the investigation gets officially concluded and we transition into the credits sequence!

It might not sound like much (and it really isn’t), but some of these scenes will be difficult to write for reasons I can’t really get into.
Still, I’m aiming to get all of it done by the end of the month and feel really excited to wrap things up!

Anyway, that’s about it, so while I’m gonna get back to the script now, I hope you’re having a super chill remainder of your weekend!
Until next Saturday, take care :3

Nov 11

Weekly Update #484: Writing Progress

Let’s start off with another reminder that we’ve recently adjusted our release plans for GENBA no Kizuna, which you can read all about in this post right here, so if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check it out!

With that out of the way, I’m gonna go right ahead and warn you that today will be another really quick update, since I’m extraordinarily busy at the moment, so apologies for that!

Anyway, Natsu has already finished properly coloring and shading half of the art assets I’ve sent her last week, which includes one of the new CGs and a couple of new sprite variations! Sadly, I once again can’t show any of them off, because they’re too spoilery “orz

As for me, I’ve primarily been working on the script again, trying to wrap up the final case discussion. There’s currently a lot of jumping back and forth involved, as I’m trying to figure out a better flow for it, shift some topics around and adjust or clarify things earlier on in the chapter. So, in a sense, I guess you could say I’m already polishing things up, even though the chapter isn’t fully written out yet. I am getting closer to that point, however. There are essentially only two more scenes left before I can move on to the final “social phase” and finish the entire thing at long last. And to get there ASAP, I’m gonna get right back to work now!

As always, please enjoy the remainder of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care :3

Nov 04

Weekly Update #483: CGs Almost Done!

That’s right, another asset category is almost completely taken care of! After spending the majority of October working on the remaining CGs for GENBA no Kizuna, they’re almost all done now! At least my part on them is. I’m currently busy finishing the line art for the final one (which should be done by tomorrow evening), after which it’s up to Natsu to properly color them.

That means that, starting with the new week, I will get back to script work and fully dedicate myself to wrapping up the finale already.
Which will also be my major goal for this month. Script aside, there are a couple of little illustrations missing and potentially a few more sprite variations, but all the major assets are checked on my to-do list now. So yes, we keep getting closer to the end!

Nevertheless, there’s still quite a bit of work left to be done and, at this point, I must sadly admit that we can no longer fulfill our desire of a 2023 release, which is why we pushed it off into early 2024. I’ve covered the specific reasons for that in great detail in last week’s blog post, so be sure to check that one out if you haven’t already and if you’re curious to learn more!

Anyway, gonna leave it at that. Pretty short update, I know, but it’s late and I gotta get back to work, so…
Please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care :3

Oct 28

Weekly Update #482: Release Plan Changes

With the Steam Scream Fest currently in full swing, and our Halloween-themed murder mystery SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair on sale, I thought it’s a good opportunity to make another little news post over on the Steam store page to provide an update on our next project GENBA no Kizuna, particularly regarding our release plans for it. Due to the event, we’re gonna have more eyes again on the SHINRAI page after all, and hopefully more people checking out the GENBA store page as well!

Now, if you haven’t read that Steam post yet, don’t fret! I’m gonna go over everything here as well and in a bit more detail even.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 26

Steam Scream Fest – The Revenge

Last year, we sadly weren’t part of Steam‘s official Halloween event and therefore had to run our own little custom sale. This time, however, they have accepted us and so our murder mystery SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair is part of their second Scream Fest! As you can see above, the event will last until November 2 and, until then, you’ll be able to grab our little visual novel, as well as its complete soundtrack, for 50% off!

Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 21

Weekly Update #481: More CG Progress

Halloween is creeping closer, which means that some spooky sales are slowly starting to pop up here and there, including on the PSN Store and the Nintendo eShop! If you’re looking for something to play that’ll send chills down your spine, now’s a great chance to grab the PlayStation 4/5 and Switch versions of our Halloween-themed murder mystery SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair!

The sales last until the first of November, so be sure to strike while the iron’s hot! Or while the body’s still warm…?

Anyway, with the promo stuff out of the way, let’s get into this week’s progress report which will once again be a rather short one.
Just like last week, there simply isn’t much I can get into detail with, since I primarily continued work on the last few spoilery CGs.
One of them is just about ready to be sent to Natsu for coloring, and another is… 50% ready? We have one splitscreen CG that shows a glimpse of a corpse on the right side and a person stumbling over said corpse and looking shocked on the left side. Said shocked person is also ready for coloring. So, considering that there are 3 CGs in total, I guess you could say that my part on half of them is done now! I hope to get the last done during the remainder of October too, but I think I’ll focus a bit more on the script again during the next few days. I really would like to finally wrap up the confession part as well.

But yeah, not much more I can say, so sorry about that! If you’re a patron, you can at least hear a bit more, however, as I’ve published another track from GENBA no Kizuna‘s OST over on Patreon, so be sure to check it out!

Now, while I’ll get back to work, I hope you’re gonna enjoy a spooky weekend! Until next Saturday, take care °w°

Oct 14

Weekly Update #480: Fuwanovel Interview & CG Progress

If you’re following us on Twitter or have joined our Discord, you may have already seen it, but a couple of days ago, the guys at Fuwanovel not only published their review of SHINRAI, but also an interview they conducted with me about it!

This is the first time I’ve ever been asked to give an interview, so it still feels a little bit surreal to me, especially since it’s another one of those things I’ve always dreamed of as a child, but never actually believed would ever happen. Well, now it did and it was definitely a fascinating and fun experience! Mishka, the interviewer, asked a wide array of questions (some of which really got me thinking), from how Natsu and I got into visual novel development and our inspirations to my opinions on indie development in general or what makes a good murder mystery. A lot of behind the scenes stuff is covered too, some of which I’ve talked about before and some which you may not yet have heard about. So if you’re curious to learn more about how SHINRAI came to be, the meaning behind the title, our decisions regarding the console ports and so much more… give it a read via the link above!

Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 07

Weekly Update #479: Soundtrack Completed

That’s right! The soundtrack for GENBA no Kizuna is fully done now! It will feature a total of 29 dinotastic tracks composed by our grand maestro Solo Acapello (30 if you count the chapter intro jingle which will naturally be included in the OST release as well):

Read the rest of this entry »

Sep 30

Weekly Update #478: Endings & Kamens

Well, at least script-wise, I have reached the branching point where we split off into different outcomes, so yeah… I can officially state now that I’m currently working on the endings for GENBA no Kizuna! Particularly the true culprit ending at the moment, as I want to get that out of the way first before I tackle any of the alternate bad outcomes!

There will be four endings in total, one for each of our suspect characters. Some are going to be slightly more elaborate, while others will be very short. As I mentioned last time, however, none of them will be quite as lengthy as some of those found in SHINRAI, which is mainly because the majority of the tricks and mysteries have already been solved by now.

Read the rest of this entry »

Older posts «

» Newer posts