January 2023 Update
We have entered into 2023 and have a lot of great updates ready for you throughout the year!
Campaign Updates:
Surveys:
Surveys are done and will be going out to your Kickstarter registered E-mail over the weekend. PLEASE check your spam filter to make sure the survey did not end up there. If you did not get a survey and are sure your account was charged please send us an E-mail at pr@yukikaze.ltd with the header “CANNOT FIND SURVEY” and include your registered E-mail and backer number.
If you do not have a Discord account and don’t want to receive your backer discord role, feel free to leave that survey question blank. If you do want your role make sure to include your Discord Username and the “# and 4 digits for your Discord ID. It’s below your Discord name usually in the lower left-hand corner and looks like “JoeAverage#1234” for those not familiar with Discord.
Backerkit Store:
We are proud to announce the Backerkit Store is open here:
Armed Fantasia Backerkit Pre-order Store
https://double-kickstarter.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
As mentioned before, pre-existing backers will be able to purchase additional add-ons from the campaign. New backers will be able to buy things a la carte but at an increased price. If you feel you have a friend that loves JRPGs and would enjoy being a backer, please let them know. Word of mouth is the most important component of a Kickstarter campaign even during the Backerkit phase.
As this is our first time using backerkit there may be some bugs here and there so please feel free to let us know what needs to be fixed.
Development Updates:
This month, we’ve got another project progress update from Kaneko-san.
Armed Fantasia Monthly Report – January 2023
Overall
We talked about the “First Playable Build” back in November’s update. It has been completed. It serves as an overview and blueprint of the game.
Publishers wanting to take care of my precious project are also interested in this. So I’m hoping to use the First Playable Build to allow us to get better conditions in our contract in the future.
I’m sorry to digress from the main topic, but the videos seen during the campaign had enemies and allies lined up in a row. In our most recent build, we have a more active and dynamic system in place giving the battles more impact.
Once we’ve finalized things and have a publisher, we will work on getting our advertising policies finished. Once we do, we have something to share with you all, so keep your eyes peeled.
Battle
As mentioned above, we’re working on having the battles have more camera movement and motion. So we’re going to have to re-work how things like strategic things like skills and such will work under this new system.
Field
Last month, we decided the final total for the number of Gadgets in the game. We’re currently going over that with a fine-toothed comb.
Right now, our game is like an absolute dream-like state. But it is currently nothing but a blossom. I would like to make sure that we have enough variations in effects and how things are used without any overlap.
We’ve also added one new dungeon, one new town, and a large white box field for where the prologue will take place.
User Interface
We’re working out the specs on the overall atmosphere and direction for the menus and such.
We currently have a pretty stylish and cool design at the moment. But I’m currently going through it looking for things like places where I’d like the letters to be bigger and such.
Occasionally, I say “I want this to be the Faxanadu of the modern era!”, but what I mean by that might not be clear. (Though I plan on having letters as large as they were in the Japanese version of Faxanadu.)
World Feel
We’re having a difficult time with things like the scenario and number of maps. Because in order to understand how much of those things are necessary, the plot needs to be finished.
And of course, here I am adding more details to the plot. Like new subcharacters. Like a character during ○○’s childhood who needs to have ×× designed for a conversation that takes place about the past.
As far as character designs go, first drafts for everyone related to the Order of the Sacred Key are finished. I have given my thoughts and requests for changes to the designer. Setting images for all currently introduced characters are being worked on.
Each Anamoly is currently being designed and modeled.
Bonus Story
I was having a meal with the Assistant Director for Symphogear Mitsuda-san and Character Designer/Animation Director Fujimoto-san. During the meal, they gave me tons of compliments on the windmill we revealed in the November update. I didn’t make it, but I was quite happy. (Make sure you buy the game when it’s complete, you two~)
Speaking of food. The other day, I had dinner with Machida-san from Penny Blood as he made a trip up to Tokyo. We talked about goings-on with our work, and we wound up understanding that both of our schedules currently keep us quite busy. But we both swore that we would do our best to put our all into these projects until they’re finished. I figured I would tell you all that.
Last month, we revealed an image of the main characters in Christmas costumes. Without telling me. I completely forgot that we even revealed it, and only just remembered it. I’ll get a look at it when I’ve got time.