02 Feb February 2024 Update
You may have seen some individuals getting their discord roles. We apologize this took so long but security was important. If you input your discord name incorrectly or are still using the old naming system, the bot won’t be able to correctly identify you. We’ll be running the bot script once a week so if you need support on getting your role assigned, send us an E-mail at pr@yukikaze.ltd with your backer number and discord name and we’ll get you set up.
We’ve mentioned this on the various social media accounts but we have now ended the Closed Beta for Hellbound. We have a ton of useful feedback and are parsing through all the data received via the Googleforms and Discord comments. The goal will be to fix any major bugs, adjust some of the core gameplay and metaloop and add in a couple of new systems we’ve been thinking about. The goal is to release early access during the last week of February. It will feature the following:
・Area 3 added with new enemies, a new boss, and new music from Yoshitaka Hirota
・Axeman as a playable character
・New Dungeon NPCs that battle with you during your run
・2 new systems: emblems and organ grinding
・50 achievements
・1 new shops and upgraded versions of old shops
・Voices no longer linked to your text language (play the English version with Japanese voices and vice versa)
・Updated tutorials and tool tips
・Metaloop and timing adjustments based on Closed Beta Feedback
・Bug Fixes
As mentioned before, those who purchased the game during the Closed Beta period will be able to play the Early Access build once it’s available on February 26th.
Congratulations to Mattremy and ArctheLadder who won the giveaway and fastest run contest respectively. We’ll be reaching out to both of you in the new future to confirm your shipping information for the signature boards!
Everyone, be sure to keep the oni out and let the good fortune in!
It felt like New Year’s was only yesterday, yet setsubun is already here. This year, I’d like to put on some sort of demon (oni) mask and run around my house. February also has Valentine’s Day, so it’s truly a season in which we can all experience youthful romance. (staring off into the distance)
Now, for this month’s Penny Blood project report.
Thanks to everyone’s support, Penny Blood: Hellbound’s closed beta test ended on 1/31. We’re really grateful to everyone who took the time to play the game. We’ve been going through all the feedback you sent to us, and the development team is working hard to power up the content of the game. All of that along with brand new content will be released in the Early Access version, so we hope you’re looking forward to it.
This month, I’m also proud to release some new art from the main game.
First, we have the Twoheaded Pig (temporary name). While the closed beta test for the companion game Penny Blood: Hellbound was running, and I was working long and hard on the structure for the main game, I wanted a normal monster that’d be easy to use in various places, so I had Hanya-san design this monster. It’s been designed in a way that’ll make it easy to recolor it and modify its model a bit. The story behind this monster is that it was a livestock pig artificially modified due to the food shortages that ensued after the end of World War I. Among the other gross, horror-style monsters in the game, I want to make it a cute-grotesque monster that goes ‘oiiiink, oiiiink’ and does charming motions.
The other image is the Altar of Kalingsum. Out of all the dungeons that Matthew visits in Penny Blood, this will be the most important and most dangerous one. When Watanabe-san was drawing this, I had him include special elements such as the gravestones, otherworldly sky, and the large mirror floating in the air.
Depending on what angle you look at the mirrors from, they will depict truth and lies, Matthew himself and his enemies, the past and the present, hope and despair…there will be much to see in all of them. Up until now, I have always depicted my main characters’ mental struggles alongside the stories in my games, and the same will be true for Penny Blood. I’m going to work hard from here on out to make them as dramatic as possible.
…That concludes this month’s update. This is the coldest season out of the year, so please take care of yourselves and stay in good health.
See you all next month.
Matsuzo Machida
Good evening, everyone. I feel like January 1st was just yesterday, but it’s already February now, isn’t it?
I want to thank everyone who participated in the Penny Blood: Hellbound closed beta test. There were a lot of sound-related things that I wasn’t able to finish or implement in time, but I’m working my hardest to get things prepared for the Early Access release.
For a while now, I’ve been working on the boss themes for the different areas. I’m planning on playing a lot of different instruments for the recordings. Original stringed instruments, basses, guitars, cellos, flutes, percussion instruments, etc.
Bass is an instrument that I especially love and have played a lot throughout my life, so it’s the most helpful in terms of breathing vitality into my music. During recordings, I always play it with the same amount of energy that I release during my live performances.
Penny Blood: Hellbound doesn’t have as much dramatic sound direction as RPGs do, so I feel like that means we need to put a lot of dramatic elements into the battle music. With the battle theme for the first area, I focused on using it as a way to draw people into the world of Penny Blood: Hellbound, putting emphasis on the initial coloring and the image that I wanted people to first get into their heads. The songs for further areas will have a lot of transitions within them and are currently turning into even more interesting pieces.
Up to this point, I had to do a lot of managerial things and ‘top-down’ work such as sound direction, but from this point on, I’ll be able to lose myself simply in composing for a while. I feel like after looking at the entire thing from a telescope and sketching, I’ve switched over to a magnifying glass now.
In any case, I’m now at the point where I can truly shine as a composer, so I’m going to do my best to keep creating great songs.
I’m looking forward to talking with you all whenever I do another composing broadcast. Please stay warm and make sure you don’t catch a cold.
