February 2024 Update
Hey, JRPG Fans!
Hopefully only one last month of cold before we can get ready for our favorite season – cherry blossoms in late March.
Campaign Information
Discord roles finally rolling out!
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.
Development Updates
Today’s report is coming to you from Sekiya. Starting this year, the timing of these reports has shifted a bit, and we’ll be surprising you at the beginning of each month from now on.
Today (or after today, on the 3rd) is the “setsubun” event in Japan. It’s a traditional event that has existed since long ago where people spread beans around to cast out evil and invite in good fortune, but I’m not sure how many people actually still practice it to this day. For me, it’s just become a day where I buy beans at the convenience store and eat a number equal to my current age. We might be in trouble if the demons decide to get serious.
Oh yeah, and is the 14th Valentine’s Day? I forgot that was a thing. If you aren’t careful with how you celebrate, the murderer Harry Warden will come back, right? And beans don’t work against that demon…
Armed Fantasia February 2024 Project News
Due to effects from the end of the year holiday, we don’t have any outstanding reports to make in any section this month. The content of our project updates is starting to look very similar as a result, so from this point on when we don’t have any big topic to emphasize, we’re going to pick some sort of theme to focus on instead.
And so, since we just got balance models turned in from the modeling team for Soleil and her pet (?) Strisch, we’d like to introduce them this time around. We’re also going to reveal information on Soleil that’s safe to reveal at this stage.
Soleil Balance Model
The first step in creating a 3D character that can be mobile in-game is creating balance models based on the character design. It may seem simple, since details such as eyes haven’t been added yet, but we use this stage to check and examine the overall balance, the form of the parts, and the consistency when the model actually moves.
As textures and shaders are applied, we modify and brush up the model, so the finished product ends up looking completely different.
Due to Soleil’s long hair and bulky, complicated jacket, several of the parts interfered with each other when she was turned into a model, so the design apparently became rather challenging.
Since player characters can change ARMs in ARMED FANTASIA, their models are being created under more delicate constraints than you may be imagining.
Strisch’s Balance Model
These are the balance models for Strisch, who is always with Soleil. As mentioned earlier, Strisch is also Soleil’s first gadget, but Strisch also assists her in battle as well.
Strisch will be just as active as the player characters themselves when it comes to the event scenes, field exploration, and battles in the game, so Strisch also requires just as much attention as Soleil, albeit in a different way.
Image text translation: He’s wearing a jacket, and the bottom right shows the size difference between the two.
About Soleil
We’ve released some fragmentary information on her so far, but Soleil is a character with a ninja motif. However, this is solely a motif. In ARMED FANTASIA, Soleil comes from a clan of kaiju extermination specialists known as ‘tomashi.’
The need for kaiju exterminators has declined due to the spread of ARMs across Londenium, so they’ve become obsolete. Midst this, Soleil continues to travel as a Pathfinder and meets up with Ingram and his gang, but we’ll keep the details of their story secret for now.
Her initial ARM is a fist-type, and she excels in close combat and physical skills, but can also use tomashi-specific skills as well. At 14 years old, Soleil is the youngest and shortest in the party, but should be quite useful in battle.
She isn’t very talkative, and may come off as introverted, but is actually pretty tough.
When she finds it difficult to describe something, she often uses Strisch like a ventriloquist’s puppet to speak for her, and can be pretty harsh at times…especially toward Euclid.
She carries sweets with her as rations, and has a pretty big appetite as she’s still growing.
About Strisch
Strisch is a small animal (least weasel, or Mustela nivalis) that Soleil keeps with her. Strisch is a rare breed of animal for Londenium, and cannot communicate with humans like a certain wind mouse can, but Strisch is still pretty intelligent. Strisch can also dexterously use tools and pull off combo attacks with Soleil in battle.
Strisch’s fluffy, cute appearance earns curious glances from Euclid, an animal lover, but apparently Strisch isn’t very fond of Euclid.
Incidentally, when Soleil translates what Strisch is saying, she uses “Ore” in Japanese, a traditionally male pronoun. In other words, Strisch is a boy!
That concludes this month’s report.
It’s still cold out there, so please take care of yourselves.
