Mechanics Mondays #4
Our final Mechanics Monday.
You’ve seen core systems, mini-games, customizations… A JRPG fan’s dream.
But even though this is our last Monday of the campaign, we have a big, big week planned for you.
As we’ve stated throughout the campaign, this is ultimately a big test of whether people still want JRPGs these days.
The more this campaign raises, the more content we can create – the better the game.
Nothing left on the cutting room floor.
To that end, we are introducing a few vanity items as options.
These are largely for people who can support us with one last push.
As always, we want you to crowdfund responsibly, so only pledge as much as you feel comfortable.
Campaign Updates
Stretch Goals
We are on the last leg of the campaign so we are previewing an additional stretch goal so you can see further ahead!
Some amazing things are coming up, so hopefully our last push will be a strong one!
- Treasure Map System(CLEARED!)
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We will implement a mini-game where players gain maps with hints to hidden treasures all across the world.
The harder the treasure is to find, the better the items will be. Some will even help you on your adventure. - Battle Arena(CLEARED!)
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This unlocks a Battle Arena where even the strongest of characters will be put to their test against monsters more fearsome than those in the original game, or battles under strict special conditions.
You can also challenge bosses from the main story you’ve beaten before. - Achievement System(CLEARED!)
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With this system, you can check how much of the World Map you’ve explored, how many treasure chests you’ve found, and how many items you’ve collected.
Depending on the percentage of each of those categories, you can get special rewards and unlock battles against strong enemies. - Three New ARM Types(165,000,000 yen)/[Approx. $1,145,000]
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We will add three new ARM types (Gunblades, Whips, and Chainsaws) on top of the six ARM types already in the game.
This means three more Roles that would be added, as well as skills for those ARMs.
This will make the battle system that much more in-depth and strategic than ever before.
And of course, by equipping these new ARMs, each character would get new poses and animations as well. - Survival Battles(180,000,000 yen)/[Approx. $1,250,000]
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We will add another mini-game to the Battle Arena where players fight monsters back to back with no breaks in-between battles.
They would compete with other players online to see who can beat the most battles in a row.
The more battles you win, the better your rewards become.
But you might also find monsters you’ve never seen before, or unlock story events as well. - Prologue Chapters(190,000,000 yen)/[Approx. $1,320,000]
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The three main characters meet up coincidentally at the beginning of the game.
But as can be expected of a game by Akifumi Kaneko, there are special introductory scenes from each characters point of view.
These scenes would be told not solely by text, but would have their own dungeons, battles, and such.
It would lengthen the play time of the game by a decent amount. - HINT: Musical Mayhem(????yen)
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Until we find out what it is, guess what the upgrade will be.
- HINT: Japanese export(????yen)
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Until we find out what it is, guess what the upgrade will be.
- Challenge Dungeon(220,000,000 yen)/[Approx. $1,528,000]
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This is a high-level dungeon with a difficulty level that surpasses even that of the story’s finale.
Here, your finger speed, trap smarts, and character strength will be put to the test. This is the biggest challenge the game has to offer.
Completing this dungeon will net you a peak at the story that takes place many years before the main game, something that is connected to the main story.
COMBO GOALS
It was a great couple of days which allowed us to SMASH the Combo goal and unlock card games with ornate card backs using the same “High Noon, Full Moon” design shown all over the Kickstarter page and used in the key chain.
Now let’s talk about the next goal!
Finally some juicy cross-overs!
Completing the 300,000,000 yen goal will allow for an Armed Fantasia weapon to be used in Penny Blood and Penny Blood costumes to be used in Armed Fantasia!
The amount and how this will work is still to be determined but now we are really mixing these games up!
The hint for our next Combo Goal is “Friends R Us” and it’s one we are particularly excited for.
We may not get there but we can certainly dream.
It’s set at the 350,000,000 yen mark.
Community Game
We were unable to defeat the monsters last week and lost out on some merchandise upgrades.
Still though it was impressive to see the community work together and come so close.
This week will be even more challenging.
We’ll need to clear all four of the initial attack goals to defeat the monster.
Hopefully an influx of last minute backers can help! We’ve slid in a Twitter follower goal for the indie Roadout campaign we did a call-out for last week.
You can find their twitter here.
https://twitter.com/roadoutgame
Also, we really need to get that special attack, please retweet out the following Twitter post!
Both Retweets to the English and Japanese post count!
Closing Stream and the GOLDEN TICKET backer concert!
This has been a long campaign.
Most typical game release cycles allow for the teams to create assets over the span of 1-2 years before announcing a game.
But a Kickstarter takes that entire timeline and compacts it down to a few months.
It’s a lot of work in a short amount of time.
But thanks to all the backers, dreams were fulfilled, stretch goals added, and amazing collaborations have happened.
To that end, as a way of saying thanks to our backers who took a chance on us, we are holding a closing stream to celebrate.
But that’s not all.
We are also holding a backer only concert on the day after the campaign is over.
We call this the “Golden Ticket” concert as it’s something we are specially putting on for backers who have helped us along the way.
The closing stream which anyone can view will be on September 30th at 8AM EST/4AM PST.
We know, we know. The timing isn’t great for our Western backers but Kickstarter doesn’t allow you to set closing times down to a different hour other than the start point.
We started at 12:50PM EST/9:50AM PST so that’s our finish line.
The closing stream will have all of the core creators together, some amazing mini-games, Machida memes, and even new music announced by Armed Fantasia’s sound team Elements Garden.
It’s also the only time you’ll get a chance to purchase the signed “Composer’s Dream” CD. (See below for details)
The backer-exclusive GOLDEN TICKET concert taking place on October 1st at 3AM EST/6AM PST will feature live performances from Hirota-san, EBP’s Okamiya-san, and Kaida-san as well as a surprise guest Shoji Meguro-san.
There will be interviews with a few special guests who will be contributing on the Composer’s Dream CD as well as helping with Penny Blood’s soundtrack.
We’ll be announcing them on Wednesday.
We’ll even have a few pretty famous developers on other titles come join us and participate in the fun.
This golden ticket concert will be gated behind a backer-only update so that only backers can participate.
We want to celebrate the people who helped us get here first and foremost.
Merch Information
New Add-ons
It also allows us to create a couple of new rewards.
As always, let us know what kind of rewards you’d like to see and we’ll do our best to consider them!
- Special Thanks:
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We know that campaigns often include this in the base tier, which means the staff role is 20,000 names.
It’s not a great solution and not great for the staff roll either.
So we are putting this in as an add-on.
For 1500 yen, you can be in the special thanks section for AF or PB. For 2800 yen, you can get the combo that puts you in both games. - Plushies:
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Yes, both mascots are too adorable not to snatch up.
As with all limited edition merch, a lower manufacturing run means that prices will be higher than normal but how many times can you get a baby Cthulhu and Strisch!
Both plushies are 25 centimeters high and cost 10,000 yen each. - Composer’s Dream CD:
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This limited edition CD will feature songs from many of the creators attending the Golden Ticket concert or collaborating on the games.
These are special remixes or original versions that may not be in the games, but just look at that list of veteran JRPG composers and you’ll know this is something special!
We will sell 500 copies of the Composer’s Dream CD at the early bird price of 2800 yen and then it will increase to 4000 yen.
We have no current plans to release this after the campaign and it’s only an add-on, so it’s for backers only. - Signed Composer’s Dream CD:
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During the closing stream, we will be adding a single signed copy of the Composer’s Dream CD to the add-ons every 30 minutes.
Initial copies will start at 150,000 yen and increase by 50,000 yen with every new issue of the CD.
Kickstarter is often about giving cheaper options to people who commit first, so the sooner you snatch up one of these rare signed CDs, the cheaper it will be.
Nowhere else will get such an amazing roster of JRPG composer legends to sign a collector’s item quite like this.
Reissues of Premium Rewards
Apparently you REALLY like the rewards involving music and voices!
Merch Descriptions
Work on the Matthew & Demna hobby kit continues! A lovingly made sculpt by fans of Machida’s sans games whom are very excited about Penny Blood!
The hard plastic hobby kit, which requires assembly, will include both a miniature version of the models (around 75mm to the top of Demna) and a “big-iture” version of the model a (around 150mm to the top of Demna).
It will also include a download code that will add a special man-hole cover weapon you can discover in the game!
New Discord Role
We continue to be amazed at how much support this campaign has garnered.
Oftentimes the premium rewards that we have issued are an incredibly important part of raising enough funding for the campaign to be successful enough to open all the stretch goal content we have.
To that end, we are creating a new Discord Role called “JRPG Savior”.
It will be assigned to any backer who has pledged more than 100,000 yen (in any combination of rewards or add-ons) and give those backers access to the JRPG Savior channel on discord.
This channel will be set up a month or so after the campaign ends.
Developers will jump in from time to time and preview some of the work that will go into future updates.
Content Updates
For our final Mechanics Monday, we have Kaneko-san go into details about ARM customization whereas that have been reached due to the stretch goals.
With that, we bid a fond farewell to the in-depth design discussions…
but there will be plenty of things to show you post-campaign in future updates.
Thanks for coming along for the ride!
ARM Customization
ARMs are a necessity for the main characters to get across the Anomaly-filled wilderness.
This time around, we’re going to talk about how to get ARMs and upgrade them.
Thanks to all of your generous support, we’ve unlocked Stretch Goals that will allow us to implement the ARM customization system just as we originally imagined it.
Once again, thank you for all of your support.
How to Get ARMs
All ARMs are controlled by the Order of the Sacred Key, and can be bought at shops run by the Order in every town.
Each Pathfinder (adventurer) or Pathfinder team is assigned a “Pathfinder Rank” by the Order.
Your Rank determines what grade of ARMs you can purchase.
Any ARM you’ve seen in an Order Shop can always be purchased later down the line.
Modules
The Command Skills, Reaction Skills, and Support Skills you gain when you equip an ARM become usable when you add an enhancement part known as a Module to an ARM.
These Modules are also sold at Order Shops.
By setting a Module in an ARM, the character using that ARM becomes able to use the associated skill in battle.
Modules for Command Skills and Support Skills are limited to a particular ARM type like Gun or Staff.
Support Skill Modules are generic and can be used with any ARM type.
ARM Upgrades
The Order of the Sacred Key collects data about Anomalies, since they need them to develop ARMs that can take down the ever-evolving Anomaly threat.
Pathfinders can take on quests to collect Anomaly parts for the Order, and by finishing those quests it will allow the Order to develop new ARMs and let them sell higher grade ARMs and Modules.
Newly developed ARMs in shops can be purchased with Modules (skills) set in them already.
You won’t be able to remove the Modules initially set in them, but you will be able to purchase those Modules separately at Order Shops.
So, if you don’t collect Anomaly parts and give them to the Order of the Sacred Key, they won’t be able to develop new ARMs and you won’t be able to get stronger ARMs as a result.
So if you use the Encounter Judgment system to avoid battles too much, you won’t be able to upgrade your ARMs.
By equipping higher grade ARMs, you’ll be able to use new skills and your base stats will increase.
So the easiest way to power up your characters is by buying higher grade ARMs from Order Shops.
Changing and Powering Up Skills
Modules have a cost called Tuneup Points (TP) associated with them.
Each ARM has a TP limit that prevents you from putting too many Modules into it.
The TP limit increases when your character levels up.
Modules with powerful skills have higher TP costs.
There will be times where you will want to swap ARM modules depending on certain circumstances, like what enemies you’re going to encounter.
Skills also have Skill Levels.
You can set multiple Modules of the same type in order to increase the skill’s effect or range.
Whether you choose to have multiple skills for general use or concentrate on making one skill strong, it’s up to you.
This feature is sure to be one of the strategic parts of the game that each player will handle differently.
How to Get Modules
As we mentioned above, Modules are an important part of ARM usage and are an indispensable tool for any Pathfinder.
You generally get Modules in the following ways.
- Buying newly developed ARMs.
- Gaining them as prizes from the Battle Arena.
- Gaining them as rewards through the Bounty System.
In particular, you should pay attention to the bounties set by the Order Shops.
For example, they might have a bounty that says “In order to develop an anti-poison skill, we need you to get some poison from a particular monster”.
By completing that bounty, a “Poison Defense” Module will show up in Order Shops.
Doing bounties isn’t necessary to complete the main story, but gaining access to more Modules will definitely be useful in more dangerous battles!
