The Human Reignition Project - An English Visual Novel

October 18 Update
over 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 10:45:33 PM

Heyo,

We're back again with another quick update.

Writing progress is still cruising along steadily, and at least one, maybe two of the routes should be finished by the end of the year at this rate. As mentioned before, Senri's route is the furthest along, with Hitomi next in line. Shout out to Auric and Jaspirian, the Senri and Hitomi writers, respectively, for the amazing progress they've been putting in.

Our lead artist, Myuto, will be using his upcoming break from classes to work on a couple of the few remaining art assets he has left. There are two or three more side characters who need sprites and designs (we have well over a dozen important side characters across the whole game), and he'll also be working on remaking the CG from the first HRP meeting, since we need to modernize it with the new outfits. You can see some of the recently finished sprites just below!

We're pushing back the music preview a little bit, but will have that for you guys in our update around Christmas-time. As always, thanks for your patience and support!

July 2018 Update
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 12:26:43 AM

Hey everyone,

For this month’s update we wanted to show you a quick preview of one of the coolest spots in the game, a club that’s pretty important in Setsuna’s route. Rather than tell you about it, we’ve put together a short video to show you. In addition to the lighting and animated elements in the background, the music itself is dynamic. While you’re in the club, the game will randomly pull different tracks (although the titles won’t actually be shown like they are in the video of course). Truly, the future of electronic music.

 Aside from that, Myuto’s been working on sprites and character designs once again. We recently realized that Kyou needed some more expressive poses and, well, expressions. So, we spent a while looking for references that best showed what we were looking for. Here are the fruits of those labors.

Progress on everything else is plodding along, with Hitomi’s route looking like it’ll be the next one to have the script finished after Senri’s. For our next update, we’ll include some of the new music from the game. Until then, take care!

May (Technically) 2018 Update
almost 6 years ago – Wed, May 30, 2018 at 04:37:44 PM

Hey everyone,

Sorry this update's coming late. This is more or less a repeat of the last ones, just saying "we're working on stuff, and will show more when we can." That said, here's the progress report for everything:

Writing

Senri's route is currently being edited, Hitomi's route is nearly finished drafting, and the others are all past the halfway point - those two just happen to be the furthest along. The final word count per route will probably end up being somewhere in the 50-75k range, as we've cut out a lot of fluff and filler from most of the routes, in the interest of keeping the pacing engaging and exciting.

Art

Nearly all of the backgrounds are done, and the last batch or two is currently in-progress. There are a few side characters who still need to be designed/sprited, which Myuto will be returning to soon. Most of the custom backer reward images were completed last year or the year before, and the Kickstarter reward prints are in-progress. Here's a preview of Aya's.

Music

Tim and Mondo are still working on the soundtrack. In a previous update, we mentioned how the tracks from the demo were sorted into the Keep/Replace/Discard piles. Roughly a third or so of the songs from the demo will be making it into the full game, and everything else will be new. While the jazzy sound from the demo will still be very present (it's our musicians' specialty, after all) we're adding in a lot more electronic music too. We'll post a sampler later in the year that covers the whole spectrum.

That's about it for now. Like always, thanks for your patience and support. See you again next update!

February 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 12:07:58 AM

Hi everyone!

First update of the new year. Gonna be a short one this time around. We've got a quick video of the new and improved version of our first scene, which we think is a much more cinematic and exciting experience now. Hopefully you'll agree!

 In terms of progress, lately Mondo and Tim have been going through the soundtrack and figuring out which songs from the old stuff are still good to be used, which need some tune-ups and modernizations, and which ones just need to be scrapped and replaced. Check out a draft of "Do or Die," a new track from Mondo for high-tension situations.

Everything else art and writing-wise is going well. As always, we'll keep you guys updated on release estimates for the demo and then the full game as soon as we have something to report. We're super grateful for your patience.

Thanks!

Winter 2017 Update
over 6 years ago – Mon, Dec 25, 2017 at 10:09:13 PM

Hey everyone,

We here at Alienworks wish you all a safe and happy holiday season! Our end of the year update is a little bit shorter than usual, but not without content!

The main question I assume people are wondering about is the new demo. We're still working on it (I know, we've been saying that for several updates now), we just underestimated how long it would take us to finish. As we've mentioned before, full-time jobs and other obligations take up a hefty chunk of everyone's time. The good news, though, is that the assets being used in the demo are mainly assets that will be reused in the rest of the game - primarily sprites and backgrounds - which means that once this initial hurdle is over with, there will be fewer unique assets that need to be completed for the rest of the game. Writing for the routes is still going on well, and the soundtrack rework is in-progress. In fact, you can check out a new draft of one of the character themes, which was actually completed while I was writing this update! Can you guess which character it's for?

We're not really gonna give another specific estimate for when we think the demo will be done, since that's backfired on us more than once now, but we mean it when we say it shouldn't be too much longer. Nearly all of the assets for the demo are done, and it's mostly a matter of some final editing, and then implementing everything into the engine. We appreciate your patience!

To go along with today's update, we have a cute new art piece from Myuto. It's another one of Kaede, Yukino's sister, this time in a fashionable Winter outfit.

Next, we have one more version of our opening theme, "REIGNITE," which will be sent out to backers later today. It's a version of the track with English vocals, performed by the immensely talented Jubyphonic. Be sure to check out her Twitter and Youtube channel! You can download the track via Backerkit, same as the other versions. Additionally, both the original song and the James Landino remix are playable in the mobile rhythm game NeonFM, so give it a play on there if you're into the game!

That about wraps things up for this year. We've also posted this update on our blog, and that version includes a few special messages from some of the team, so please give that a look. Otherwise, thanks for all your support and patience this year, and we look forward to seeing you guys in 2018.

PS: If you were wondering about Highway Blossoms: Remastered, we've got some relatively good news. While that won't be out by the end of this year, it WILL be out early next year. Voice acting is almost finished being recorded, with only one or two sessions left. Syon's been working really hard with our voice director John, as well as the actors themselves, and have done a stellar job. The voicing adds a lot of life to the game, and we think you're gonna love it. Plus, we're also improving the rest of the game, with touch-ups to the music, art, and even some of the sprite directing. If you haven't picked up Highway Blossoms yet, now is a great time to do so, since it's 75% off on Steam for the sale.