Status Update

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since our last post where we talk about the status of our various projects. Since we have an extraordinary amount of games in the works at the moment, I figured it’d be good to give a bit of an update on them all.
So if that interests you, buckle up and read on.

100% Orange Juice
100orange
I’ll start with a game that’s not coming out any time soon. In fact, it’s been out for 3 years now. Still, it’s our best-selling title, and we’re constantly working to keep improving it, so it feels natural to talk about it first.

We employ a full-time programmer, and most of his time goes to developing 100% Orange Juice, it being the most technically demanding of our games. Over the months and years we’ve kept improving the infrastructure of the game to the point that if you watch the Steam trailer for it now, you’d be hard pressed to find a single detail that hasn’t changed in some way since making the trailer (and yes, we have a new trailer in the works!).

The latest major undertaking was changing the rendering of the game so that almost every text in the game is now stored as plain text instead of graphics, allowing us to support multiple languages in a rapidly changing game. It was the wish of Orange Juice to add support for Japanese, and with the most recent update, we can now also support any number of custom languages. It’s cool to see many people working to translate 100% Orange Juice into their native language!

On our recent trip to Japan, we sat down for a good chat with Orange Juice about the game’s current development, and the things we’d like to do with it in the future. It was heartening how they were completely on board with all of them, so we have a ton of exciting news in store for 100% Orange Juice in the coming winter. A keen observer may have observed some spoilers for some of them on the Internet already, but we also have some ideas that we’re confident will surprise everyone.
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Moving onto our upcoming releases…

ENIGMA:
enigma
Although our background in the industry comes strongly from visual novel translation, Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish was the first pure visual novel we released as a company (putting aside the two 99 Spirits fan disc stories). However, it won’t be the only one. With all likelihood the next one will be Uzumeya’s mysterious fantasy ENIGMA:, which has an interesting narration style and tons of endings.

The translation, courtesy of Conjueror, is now at 100%, and the game is moving into editing. The project’s slated for release this winter, either late this year or early next year.

Lionheart
lionheart
This cool new RPG comes from Shiisanmei, and is packed full of cute character art and tongue-in-cheek humor. As a fairly massive RPG, there’s a lot to QA in Lionheart, and I can foresee that process taking a while.

Translation itself is at 95%, and same for editing. What remains is mostly combat data. Although it’s possible we’ll be able to release the game this year, it’s more likely to happen early next year, since playtesting is expected to take some time.

Miniature Garden
miniature-garden
Translation is now beginning on Muzintou’s dark mystery visual novel Miniature Garden. Not much else to say about it yet, but look forward to the finished game! The production values (including Korie Riko‘s art and the top of the line anime voice actors) are pretty amazing. We’re aiming for a release around Spring 2017.

Dungeon Girl
dungeon-girl
Inu to Neko is a hard-line developer who’s been making gameplay-heavy games for well over ten years, a major feat in itself. Dungeon Girl is our first release from them, and we’re looking forward to bringing many new fans to the game universe. Did you know that all Inu to Neko games share the same world and many characters? Working on Dungeon Girl has been fun so far, and there’s a ton of depth to the gameplay mechanics.

Translation of Dungeon Girl is currently at 78%, and editing at 72%.

Acceleration of SUGURI 2
aos2
We had a slightly unusual reveal for Acceleration of SUGURI 2 this summer, and one that was a ton of fun for us. Since then, we’ve received countless requests for status updates. Well, I’m happy to say that the translation and editing of AoS2 is 100% complete. However, the biggest challenge we’re tackling for its release is programming, since we want to handle its multiplayer right. As with 100% Orange Juice and 200% Mixed Juice, we plan to support Steam lobbies and possibly add some extra multiplayer features.

We will start the Steam programming shortly, but it will likely take several months, so I can almost guarantee it’s not coming out in 2016.

Seven Days
seven-days
While not really an ongoing project on our part, those who follow our social media, or visited our booth at Tokyo Game Show, saw us promoting LIFE0‘s upcoming visual novel, Seven Days, and made the correct assumption that we have the rights to an English release.

Seven Days is currently raising funding on CAMPFIRE, a Japanese crowdfunding platform, and has so far raised a hefty 4.2 million yen out of its 2 million goal. There’s still a few days left if you want to support it, though please note that CAMPFIRE is for Japanese users only. We are also co-funding the game’s production, so naturally our expectations are high.

Seven Days is coming out in late 2017 and we’ll have more updates and an official reveal closer to that time.

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…And more?
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That’s the end of this status update. You should take any release estimates with a grain of salt, as you may note that we don’t list an actual release date for any of them yet. There’s always a chance that some aspect of a game takes longer than expected, or that we run into an unforeseen issue somewhere along the way. Or conversely, we may finish our work on a game a month earlier than initially estimated. That’s why we avoid committing to any dates until a game is virtually ready to release, and the estimates you see here are just that, rough estimates.

Tokyo Game Show 2016 Guest Schedule

Hello everyone!
With Tokyo Game Show 2016 (September 15-18.) rapidly approaching, we’re happy to announce the final list of guest appearances at our booth. The full list of guests includes Yakiniku Banzai, Orange Juice, LIFE0, Tazigen Clock, Inu to Neko, Muzintou and Shiisanmei!

timetable

You can meet representatives of the circles at our booth, 7-N01 at the above times. Our star guest, Poppo, will also be giving signatures whenever she’s not out and about.

Poppo_TGS

We also have some super limited badges from various games available at our booth, for those quick enough to visit us each day.

TGS Badges

Hope to see you there!

Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish Release Date Announced!

Independent game publisher Fruitbat Factory is proud to announce that POMERA Studios’ mystery visual novel Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish will be released on Steam on March 30.

Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish is a thrilling mystery story revolving around a series of unfathomable incidents in a town, brought to life with gorgeous artwork.

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Synopsis
In the middle of the night on a certain day of April 201X, the right arm of the owner of a general store is chopped off in the backyard of his own store. Even though he claims that the perpetrator is a ‘doll’ that was kept in the store, his words carry little weight due to the lack of other witnesses.

The doll and the detached arm are gone from the scene of crime.

“Like a light too strong may burn out one’s retinas, so too can supernatural entities be toxic to humans. Even should they take on the invisible form of one’s emotions.”

Features

  • Gorgeous illustrations by a skilled, experienced illustrator
  • Story painted in vivid colors by talented voice actors/actresses and musicians
  • Map-based scene selection
  • A reasoning system that unlocks bonus content upon successful answers

The Steam release of Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish will be priced at $14.99. The game will include Steam Trading Cards, Achievements, and Cloud support. The game’s opening and screenshots can be viewed on the Steam page.

Working on Magical Eyes, we could feel the passion POMERA Studios has poured into the game over the several years it took to create, and we’ve wanted to reciprocate that and meet the fans’ expectations. That’s why we’ve put special effort into fine tuning the visual look of the game, to give it all the polish we can.” says Jakke Elonen, Project Lead.

Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish is available for pre-order with a 10% discount from the official Fruitbat Factory store.

For more information, business enquiries  and to be included in the press release and review mailing lists, contact Fruitbat Factory at info@fruitbatfactory.com.

Fruitbat Factory announces Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish!

September 10, 2015– Independent game publisher Fruitbat Factory is proud to announce POMERA Studios’ mystery visual novel Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish. The game will be released on Steam for Windows PC this winter.

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Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish is a thrilling mystery story revolving around a series of unfathomable incidents in a town, brought to life with gorgeous artwork.

“I was in love the moment I saw the artwork, even before seeing the opening animation. I had to play this game and after reading more about it, we couldn’t resist bringing it to worldwide audiences.” says Ozhan Sen, Art Lead.

Synopsis

In the middle of the night on a certain day of April 201X, the right arm of the owner of a general store is chopped off in the backyard of his own store. Even though he claims that the perpetrator is a ‘doll’ that was kept in the store, his words carry little weight due to the lack of other witnesses.

The doll and the detached arm are gone from the scene of crime.

“Like a light too strong may burn out one’s retinas, so too can supernatural entities be toxic to humans.

Even should they take on the invisible form of one’s emotions.”

This is a mystery story about bizarre incidents unfolding around a town, intermingled with a complicated mixture of human intentions.

Steam Release Information

The Steam release of Magical Eyes – Red is for Anguish will include Steam Trading Cards, Achievements, Cloud support and other Steam features. The game’s opening and first screenshots can be viewed on the Steam page.

I’m excited that we have a chance to bring Red is for Anguish onto Steam. So much love has gone into making this amazing game, and it really shows. Fans of mystery won’t be disappointed!adds Jakke Elonen, Project Lead.

For more information, business enquiries  and to be included in the press release and review mailing lists, contact Fruitbat Factory at info@fruitbatfactory.com.

About POMERA Studios

Developer of original Japanese version (Homepage)

POMERA Studios is an independent Japanese game developer. They create games with the policy of leaving players smiling.

Download Press Kit with screenshots here