Dear Project Phoenix backers,
I apologise again for the late update. Since our programmer Daniel has joined, there has been many changes and work with our company. I am here today to shed some insight and transparency into other things we do to help fund and run Project Phoenix and also give you an update on it.
Our last update was at the end of March, here is what we have worked on Project Phoenix. It mostly delves on getting the team used to working in UE4 environment and having Daniel get used to our team here in Japan.
Programming
Game Design workflow
Over the past year we have worked upon our game design workflow with experienced Japanese game planners. Planners who made the games I grew up with. Planners who have used every design methodology under the sun. These are the people who are currently bringing their experience and expertise to Project Phoenix. We have merged western technology, a pursuit of planner centric tooling with Japanese expertise. (Daniel's words!)
Art workflow
Working with the art team in implementing art assets and experimenting with art and graphics within the Unreal Engine.
Tooling
Worked on Random Number Generators and refined the (textual) live data tool. The live data tool that Daniel has worked on has been highly praised by many large game developers in Japan, and will possibly be showcasing this tool in the future at conferences.
UI framework
Worked on UI framework for Mouse, Keyboard and Controller inputs.
Daniel had felt that although the work we've done is very important to the smooth running of the project and the team, it feels insubstantial to show on our updates as we don't have new assets or something visually exciting to show, hence our late update.
Story
Yoko and I have been working on a slightly revised version of the story of Project Phoenix to streamline the contents.
Also, as a token of our apology, myself and Yoko has worked on a prequel story to Project Phoenix. I have given final approval to the Japanese version of the story, we will soon be translating them to English and will be distributing them to all our backers via PDF in the future (schedule TBD)
Yoko at our office today
Yoko at our office today
New Staff
We'd like to welcome our new Project Manager, Rie Tanaka to our team. She will be co-ordinating all efforts between different departments and staff, scheduling and asset management.
Rie is a very happy bubbly charactered young lady, and she does tend to keep the "balance" in our team, trying very hard to keep us with the light side of the force... but sometimes force gripping people who have gone past deadlines!
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
In other news...
We have moved!
From August, we have moved office to a new location. We are now located very close to Akihabara, the centre of Otaku culture in Japan. Any PHOENIX level backers are welcome at our studio anytime to give a personal tour and an explanation to what's been happening with the project. Give us a shout if you're nearby!
Daniel and Rie hard at work!
Daniel and Rie hard at work!
Other projects
Creative Intelligence Arts, Inc. has been working on the following projects
All audio aspects of the game "I am Setsuna" by Tokyo RPG Factory / Square Enix
Unannounced mobile game for a publisher (almost done)
Unannounced game for a publisher (almost done)
These projects help us fund and run Project Phoenix in our free time.
Tomoki's work on "I am Setsuna"
We are all very proud to announce Tomoki's work on "I am Setsuna". The game has been reviewed favourable in general and a lot of people seem to like the music... (trying to be modest like all Japanese ppl...)
The music for Project Phoenix will be at the same quality or better (since it's later, Tomoki will gather more XP and level up naturally!) so if you listen to the soundtrack, one can kind of tell at what kind of quality we will be offering the music.
If you're interested in his music, here are some links where you can buy his music. Later on, he will be releasing a Limited Edition of the soundtrack which includes a full piano score.
Winter's End (I Am Setsuna) [Original Soundtrack Collection]
Downloadable music files
Bandcamp >>
iTunes (US) >> (available on iTunes in many countries)
Ending notes...
As I've stated before, we want to release what we can be proud of. I understand it makes some of our backers upset that we are late on delivery, but I truly believe it is better to deliver a good game rather than a cheap game that delivers on time. As long as we're running, I can get closer to that goal, and the day jobs we take in helps us in that regards.
At one time, Stuart was very busy with his other work and family commitments and we couldn't do too many updates, but since we have Rie full time, now we've scheduled a smaller but more frequent updates.
Again, our sincerest apologies for the delay and I thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Hiroaki Yura
Director / Producer of Project Phoenix
