Human Tanks Infiltrate Steam

12/12/2013 / Jakke Elonen / Leave a comment

Again, happy news (well, not really super news at this point, if you’ve been keeping up). Yakiniku Banzai’s awesome Strategy/advanture game ‘War of the Human Tanks’, our first release has finally been greenlit! It already made it to rank #27 before the entire top 100 of Greenlight games was let in, which just goes to say… Human Tanks are awesome, or something.

We’ve been hard at work on the game’s Steam release since the news came to us, and are hoping to be able to publish the game sometime soon.

The glorious, Human Tank themed (surprise?) steam trading cards are already ready and raring to go, but we’re having some unanticipated difficulty with implementing our planned achievements to the game.

The base issue is that the engine doesn’t support using non-C code, which creates problems when trying to handle Steam’s class-using callbacks… if that says anything to anyone.

If you have any ideas, let us know. We’ll keep on trying different things for a while longer, in any case.

Here, have a Cookie.

On the other hand, our third release, 100% Orange Juice, the goal-oriented board game played by Orange Juice’s all-star cast is currently 86% of the way to the top 100 of Greenlight. We are hoping to see it greenlit soon.

Peace out… and let the war begin!

99 Spirits on Steam

27/11/2013 / Jakke Elonen / Leave a comment

It’s been a hectic few weeks. To sum them up:

99 Spirits is now available on Steam, with full Steam functionality.

We’ve added 49 Achievements to the game, as well as Stats, Cloud Saves and Leaderboards – and of course, Steam Trading Cards.

We’re already really happy to see lots of activity in the 99 Spirits Community Hub.

A brief explanation of 99 Spirits setup on Steam:

99 Spirits is available in two editions – regular game, and Steam Special Edition, which comes with 76 page digital Artbook, as well as the Music Collection.
Purchasing either edition also gives you Tsukumogami, the original Japanese version of the game. Tsukumogami is added as a separate item to your Steam library. Work is currently ongoing to add Steam achievements to Tsukumogami as well.
The Artbook & Music Collection is also available as a separate DLC – if you’ve gotten your Steam key from another source, this is a great way to upgrade your game to the Steam Special Edition.

Moreover…

Steam Winter Sale just started!

While the sale lasts, you can get 99 Spirits for -15%, the Artbook & Music Collection DLC for -20%, or the Steam Special Edition for -25%! Don’t miss out!

Progress Report 2.0

05/11/201305/11/2013 / Jakke Elonen / 2 Comments

RE: 99 Spirits

We are busily preparing for 99 Spirits‘ much awaited Steam release. As it’s our first game there, most of the features and their use are new to us, but the transition has gone surprisingly smoothly (thanks to the efforts of Tony, our resident walrus).

Right now, we have finished implementing Steam Trading Cards and Cloud Saves to 99 Spirits.

What’s taking most of our time is adding Achievements to the game, since they require a fair bit of testing and we want them to be well prepared and meaningful, rather than a compulsory chore. They’re great fun to work on, though!

If all goes well, you will see 99 Spirits appear on Steam quite soon.

RE: 100% Orange Juice

In answer to a popular request, we have finished another major undertaking for 100% Orange Juice, and can now present you with a comprehensive 52-page User Guide for the game!

Learn everything about the game’s underlying mechanics and pick up tips and tricks!

The guide is based on the original Japanese design by Orange_Juice, and updated with up-to-date information for our English release of the game. We hope it will help everyone struggling with any aspect of the game.

This user guide comes included in 100% Orange Juice 1.2 patch, also out today, which fixes a bug with ‘Tragedy in the Dead of Night’ card in multiplayer, as well as synchronizes players’ speed. You can also download it directly from our homepage.

100% Orange Juice is now 67% of the way toward top 100 on Steam Greenlight.

RE: War of the Human Tanks

War of the Human Tanks currently enjoys rank 57 of 1429 games on Steam Greenlight! We hope to see it join 99 Spirits among the Greenlit titles soon. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about this series.

99 Spirits has been Greenlit!

30/10/2013 / Jakke Elonen / Leave a comment

Yesterday 29.10.2013 Valve announced a larger than usual batch of new Greenlit games, and to our great joy, included was our first game to make it onto Steam – TORaIKI’s brilliant puzzle RPG ’99 Spirits’!

In the coming days and weeks we’ll be focusing on publishing the game on Steam, and exploring all our options in the system – of course, we’ll be adding Steam Trading Cards for it too!

This is all thanks to everyone’s continuous support, and we couldn’t be happier for it. As we’ve previously announced, our loyal IndieGoGo backers, as well as those who purchased the game through our Fruitbat Factory store, or from Indie Royale, will also receive a Steam key for the game once released.

Thanks to TORaIKI’s Hoshino Tomo for the celebratory illustration!

110% Orange Juice

02/10/201302/10/2013 / Jakke Elonen / 1 Comment

Without further ado, patch 1.1 has been released for 100% Orange Juice.

You can get it on the homepage.

Patch notes:

Fixed a crash issue when counterattacked by monsters in Free Play
Improved multiplayer stability
Fixed descriptions for Blue Crow the Second and Marie Poppo
Added 100orange_debug.exe – players encountering repeated issues may use this .exe to run the game and upon a problem post debug.log on Fruitbat Factory forums for assistance

We also added a chatroom link on the 100% Orange Juice homepage for easier multiplayer arrangement.

Hope everyone’s enjoying their pudding-filled adventures!

Also here’s a much requested update on Steam Greenlight:

99 Spirits is currently 89% towards top 100.

War of the Human Tanks is currently 81% towards top 100.

100% Orange Juice is currently 39% towards top 100.

All of the games are on their way up, though of course 100% Orange Juice has further to climb as it’s the latest addition. We are focusing our efforts into bringing all our games into top 100, where they may have a chance of getting Greenlit.

Poppo!

100% Orange Juice

10/09/201310/09/2013 / Jakke Elonen / 5 Comments

I realize that we’ve kept pretty quiet after our previous release. It’s the holiday season and all, you know?

That doesn’t mean we haven’t been doing anything though. In fact, it’s time we revealed our next localization project.

And it’s coming out… today. In fact, it’s already out.

…

But don’t tell anyone.

…

We’ve had a pretty furious go at this one, the project was so fun we ended up putting the less essential things like social media, sunlight and our mortal coils aside for a while.

Ozhan‘s trying to tell me the reason for our silence was that it’s an exclusive release, top-secret hush-hush, but I’m somehow not convinced.

Anyway, the game. I’m sure you want to hear about the game!

100% Orange Juice is developed by Orange_Juice, whom you may be familiar with from games like Acceleration of Suguri and Flying Red Barrel: Diary of a Little Aviator. It’s an all-stars board game featuring characters from Orange_Juice‘s other games (including the aforementioned). Oh, and beautiful cards to collect.

100% Orange Juice contains 4 single-player campaigns, and I clocked over 40 hours playing through them (though it might just say something about my board game skills.)

The game is totally hilarious and we had a blast with the story.

It also includes multiplayer support for up to 4 players, which is a rather rare and delightful feature to come across. We’ve actually spent most of the past week improving the Netplay code to make it easier for people to enjoy the game with their friends. You can find an in-depth guide explaining the multiplayer system here. Big shout out to our coder Tony for all the work put into the code.

I could write a fair bit about the gameplay, but why not just watch the gameplay trailer instead.

Oh right, did I say the game is out today?

That’s right, you can get it exclusively through Indie Royale super cheap, so be sure to show some support for Orange_Juice‘s funky games. Available as long as the bundle lasts (for the time being).

Make sure to drop a comment on Steam Greenlight (where we launched simultaneously) too! All games purchased through Indie Royale will get a Steam key when 100% Orange Juice is Greenlit!

Let the party begin!

Let’s build a Doujin bundle!

09/08/2013 / Ozhan Sen / Leave a comment

It’s time for another great offer – Groupees is hosting a Build a Bundle called Build a Doujin Bundle, which is completely doujin game themed. Based on the first day, the bundle is doing exceptionally well, nice to see so many people interested in the scene.

Participating teams are: Fruitbat Factory (that’s us, no mistake there), Nyu Media, roseVeRteX and Sakevisual. We’re happy to be part of it with War of the Human Tanks. The other games are:

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club
Ether Vapor Remaster
Yousei
Yatagarasu
Croixleur
CAFE 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~
Pester
Jisei
Kansei

Including Desura and Steam keys for the ones that are in Steam. Don’t miss this chance if you don’t have these games in your collection!

War of the Human Tanks… a best seller

21/07/2013 / Ozhan Sen / Leave a comment

While I’m writing this post, our first release War of the Human Tanks is the best selling indie game and the third best selling game on http://www.gamersgate.com.

Can’t tell you how uplifting this news is for our team.

Currently we are resting a little, recovering from the hectic period of releasing our second title 99 Spirits and its highly successful IndieGoGo campaign while also working on a couple of projects we are getting ready to announce soon. That is why our blog has been unusually silent lately, be ready to receive some announcements soon.

In the meanwhile, take advantage of the summer sales all digital distributors are running these days and stock up on games. I know I did…

The X Factor

21/06/2013 / Jakke Elonen / 1 Comment

Recent 99 Spirits reviews of note:

75/100 “Though not a flawless experience, 99 Spirits manages nonetheless to be a strangely addictive JRPG” – IdieGameMagazine

Says the 99 Spirits review of the Indie Game Magazine. If you haven’t yet, you can read it fully at: http://www.indiegamemag.com/99-spirits-review/

“Just as I am always after a unique storyline in a game, I am always searching for something unique in terms of gameplay and 99 Spirits has given that box a BIG tick.” – The Otaku’s Study

Is what the Otaku’s Study says on their review, which can be found at: http://www.otakustudy.com/2013/06/sams-quest-for-something-different-1-99-spirits-from-fruitbat-factory/

“Without a shadow of doubt, 99 Spirits is one of the most imaginative and accomplished indie games on the market.” – True PC Gaming

Is True PC Gaming’s take on the subject in their article: http://truepcgaming.com/2013/05/31/99-spirits-review/

“Mixing the puzzle and RPG genre along with some anime themed influences, 99 Spirits became an absorbing and addicting title that was nearly impossible for me to put down for too long.” – Moonlitasteria

Adds Moonlitasteria in our flury of 99 Spirits reviews, available at: http://moonlitasteria.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/indie-game-impressions-99-spirits/

After the successful launch of 99 Spirits we haven’t been idle either. We are looking forward to announcing full details soon, but at the moment we can say that our plans for this year include three new game projects, and a cool extra on top of that.

Game Project #1 – not really a secret. If you’ve followed our earlier events you should already know what it is. 2013 release planned.

Game Project #2 – an unannounced license. It’s looking quite fun so far. Planning for a 2013 release.

Game Project #3 – something most of you can guess, something a lot of you have asked for. 2013 release…? We’ll see.

The Extra – This is something we’ve had several requests towards, so why not, we figured. It’s a lot of work setting up, but will be a big thing for us if it works out.

Look forward to more news!

99 Spirits of True PC Gaming

17/05/2013 / Jakke Elonen / Leave a comment

Last weekend had the pleasure to be interviewed by Adam Ames from True PC Gaming.

It ended up a long and fruitful talk, so if you want to read more about our work on 99 Spirits, head on over to http://truepcgaming.com/2013/05/15/trial-and-error-99-spirits-interview/ and give it a read!

We have been sending review copies of 99 Spirits around for the past week or two – if you haven’t gotten one but would like to review the game, just shoot us a message.

Our current status is such that the game is fully in order and we are preparing the gold master to give to our distributors this weekend.

Almost all IndieGoGo goods have also been produced, save for the game discs for the special collector’s edition, which of course will get the release version of the game. We will ship all of them together when they’re ready.