05 Jan January 2024 Update
Happy New Year, everyone.
There was no update at the end of 2023, so I posted a look back at 2023 on our Studio Wild Rose home page, and was surprised to see that this update would be happening right at the start of this year.
First off, I want to thank you all once again for all your concern regarding the effects of the earthquake that happened on New Year’s Day. Niigata Prefecture, where Studio Wild Rose is located, experienced severe quakes, but those were still light compared to what the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture suffered. As someone who lives in the same area, I can’t stop wishing from the bottom of my heart that those affected can receive peace and relief in both body and soul as soon as possible.
Now then, it’s time for this month’s Penny Blood project report…or at least, that’s how these things always go, but nothing much has changed from what I posted on our home page in December, so if you’re curious about that, please check out the Studio Wild Rose blog.
We’ll keep passionately bringing you news on both Penny Blood and Penny Blood: Hellbound this year, so please keep cheering us on. Now then, everyone, I’ll see you all again next month (or perhaps at the end of this month?)
Matsuzo Machida
Happy new year!
Thank you all so much for all the support and hope you all showed us last year. I’m going to do my very best again this year to deliver the best sound possible to you all, so I hope you’ll all keep cheering us on with just as much passion.
Last year was a very busy year. We developed the Penny Blood Walkthrough version, announced the production of Penny Blood: Hellbound, and now my sound work for Penny Blood: Hellbound is nearing its culmination.
Interactive music is planned to be implemented in the 1/10 update. In short, interactive music is music that changes in conjunction with the player’s actions and the situation within the game.
Back in the Shadow Hearts series, we made it so that the battle music would switch from the normal battle music to berserk battle music when your character went berserk. Due to memory limitations at the time, we implemented a system that used the instrument waveforms as-is and replaced only the sheet music data.
After that, thanks to developments in hardware and sound middleware, we are now able to do even more interesting things with the music. In Penny Blood: Hellbound, I’m pretty sure you can already hear part of this with the music in the hideout. Through player actions, the normal music will change into a different remixed version where part of the instruments that play in the hideout music during normal times disappear and different instruments start to play while synchronizing themselves in rhythm only.
In the 1/10 update, you’ll be able to hear even more variations in the hideout. I’ve also prepared interactive music for the battles as well: one of the changes will happen based on how full your Ecstasy Gauge is.
Throughout the rest of the development period, I’m going to work my hardest to use sound to make the game as entertaining as possible.
Before the update drops, I plan to do a stream about Penny Blood: Hellbound’s music and interactive music on 1/7, so I hope to see you all there.
Composition work for PENNY BLOOD(: HELLBOUND) vol.4
2024 Jan.7(sun.) JST 3PM-4:30PM
https://youtube.com/live/PRmnENjToWc
Please keep cheering us on this year as well!!