[h3]Penny Blood: Hellbound Demo Available[/h3] Hey Hellhounders! We've released a demo for Penny Blood: Hellbound on Steam that includes a taste of the new Online Multiplayer. It's still very much in its early stages but if you are curious about the game or if you want to play it with your friends, go download it for free now. As always, it's still a work in progress so please provide any constructive feedback for the online gameplay. It really helps us make the best game possible! [h3]Message from Machida-san[/h3] In this month's update, we'd like to dive deeper into the development environment of Penny Blood: Hellbound. Hellbound is an action game with a lot of replayability that becomes more fun the more you play. It also features a roguelike system, and the story is deeply connected to the story of Penny Blood itself. The development cycle is now reaching its climax, and all the development staff members are charging into a death zone filled with agonizing death cries, covered in their own blood, sweat and tears. Okay, maybe that was a little exaggerated, but I think it's mostly accurate. Today, I'd like to introduce three men who have been fighting hard within that death zone. To start us off, we have Furukawa-san, the development director - the one who's been keeping the PBH flag held high as he leads on the rest of the development team. Aside from being brave enough to take command, he also possesses a deep respect not just for Penny Blood but the Shadow Hearts series as well, and has been racking his brains day and night about how to give everyone who plays the game - including fans - the most enjoyable experience possible. If we were to talk about him in DQ3 terms, he would be the Hero. [i]"Good evening, everyone! Furukawa, development director of Penny Blood: Hellbound here. It's hard to believe that already two months have passed since we began Early Access, and I'm extremely grateful that so many people have given the game a try! We've been building the game in a way that will allow players to enjoy the world of Penny Blood to their hearts' contents, so I hope you're excited for what's yet to come! We're planning to add a lot of new features in future updates, but I'd like to introduce one of them here. The image you see below showcases a new weapon for Saltykova: the Serrated Fans."[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44772353/42ee3d13b1e73b158dfbca3e2b287b4ce0c1e1c0.jpg[/img] Next up we have Kihara-san, the main programmer. In terms of game development, programmers are powerful individuals who support others from the shadows, but they are also 'mages' who can shrewdly decipher specification documents filled with unreasonable requests and make the impossible possible. They fulfill the most important role in terms of increasing the overall quality of the game from the ground up, including everything from spectacular special effects to making sure the gameplay gives players as little stress as possible. [i]"Thank you for the introduction! I'm Kihara, the main programmer. I'm grateful that I got the chance to work on developing Penny Blood: Hellbound, but the truth is…this is actually the first time this 'mage' has ever developed an action game...so I've had a lot to learn, and I've been fighting very hard every day while making sure I don't cause any trouble for my party members. [/i] [i]I'll continue to work very hard to make sure everyone who plays Penny Blood: Hellbound has a good time, so I hope you'll keep cheering us on! *The screenshot you see below is just something I made for fun, and has nothing to do with the game."[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44772353/ab896d0d74f337e04ae7fc8445c488969015682e.jpg[/img] Last but not least, we have our producer, Suzuki-san, AKA "Our Suzuki P." His job is to tend to the wounded soldiers among the development staff who are fighting hard within the death zone mentioned above, as well as manage the schedule and even deliver beef rice bowls in the middle of the night...which makes him the 'priest' of the party, the one who takes care of every last problem, no matter how big or small it may be. When I (Machida) played Dragon Quest 3, the priest (the one who could use Kazing, the guaranteed revive spell) would often die first, causing me to experience many tragedies, but thankfully our Suzuki P is a tough one and boasts as much HP as our Hero! [i]"I'm Suzuki, the one in charge of buffing and healing the dev staff!! With this game, action gameplay where you cover the floor in a ton of blood and then ornately surf across it was born from Machida-san's super crazy (I'm complimenting him here) image of "cute X covered in blood." Based on that, our super crazy (literally this time) development team elevated it into an ecstasy action game that retains its fun no matter how many times you play it. We've still got a couple game-changing updates left to reveal, so we hope you're excited!!"[/i] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44772353/c9ed449fb9e069917a41515fbfdf45cdd5dc6636.jpg[/img] …Well, what did you think of the comments from the passionate men who’ve been working on Penny Blood: Hellbound? Reading through them while you listen to Miyuki Nakajima’s Project X theme songs in the background or other theme songs meant to represent how professionals get the job done may help to boost your immersion. [b]Matsuzo Machida[/b] [h3]Message from Hirota-san[/h3] Good evening, everyone. For a while we were getting sun like it was early summer, but there have also been some cold days as well. Every day it’s really hard to decide what to wear. Please take good care of yourselves! The development of Penny Blood: Hellbound is reaching its climax, and I’m working hard every day as well. Currently with the sound development, I’m in the phase where I’m just creating everything that the game still requires. I’m also desperately working on composing the remaining songs that are required. Our guest composer, Iwadare-san, is also composing some amazing music for us. He event wrote some comments for everyone: [i]"Fans of Penny Blood, it’s very nice to meet you all. I’m Noriyuki Iwadare. I’ve been participating in this project as a composer. I started working on this project after Hirota-kun asked me this wild question: “It’s dark, and there’s lot of blood in it… You sure you’re okay with this, Iwadare-san?” But I felt that this would be an opportunity to pull out a new side of myself, so my heart has been pumping with excitement as I continue to enjoy the atmosphere. Hirota-kun’s songs are really addicting – they’re cool, of course, but they are also filled with new elements you can discover the more and more you listen to them! So I’m doing my best to add my own elements to the world of Penny Blood: Hellbound in equal measure. I hope you’re all excited for the remaining tracks!"[/i] Please be sure to send Iwadare-san your own passionate cheers as well. The entire staff is working as hard as they can to deliver you the best sound possible in all areas – the music, the sound effects, the voice lines… We hope you’re looking forward to the finished product. Penny Blood: Hellbound is really serving as a great place to experiment on things in preparation for Penny Blood itself. For example, having the music change when your Malice Gauge gets maxed out is an experiment that will connect to Penny Blood’s Madness system. I’ve been able to perform a lot of trial and error and discover things here, such as the fact that we’ll need sound effects in addition to the music to send the information to the players. The quality of the tracks and sound materials is important, but this was a good reminder on how important specifications can also be. I truly feel that completing Penny Blood: Hellbound has given me the ability to make the sound for Penny Blood even better, so I hope you’re all looking forward to seeing the final version of Penny Blood: Hellbound as well. Lastly, I’d like to talk about a concert I’m planning to do in September, which is also the month I was born in. I’m planning on performing songs from Penny Blood: Hellbound, Penny Blood, and Shadow Hearts as well, if possible. The music will be performed on piano, violin, and the cello (which I’ll be playing). I’m thinking of scheduling it on a day between 9/15 and 9/18 in Tokyo or maybe Kyoto. I hope you can all make it. I’ll let you know the details later…so keep your calendars open! [b]Yoshitaka Hirota[/b] That concludes this month’s update. We’ll be sharing more voices from Hellbound’s development staff with you next month. We hope you look forward to it.