Video Game

99 Spirits on Steam

/ 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.

Steam Trading Cards for 99 Spirits

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!

99 Spirits has been Greenlit!

/ Jakke Elonen / Leave a comment

99 Spirits Greenlit

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!

#94 Spirits

/ Jakke Elonen / 1 Comment

It’s here!

99 Spirits has finally broken the elusive roof on Steam Greenlight and listed in the top 100 game entries.

99 Spirits rank #94 on Steam Greenlight

Currently ranked #94, the Puzzle RPG 99 Spirits has been rising strongly over the past weeks, and we look forward to climbing even higher.

In related news, Rice Digital is running a great promotion where you can help us on Greenlight and get free games in the process! Check it out at http://www.ricedigital.co.uk/free-games-from-fruitbat-factory/

Many thanks to the good folks at Rice Digital!

Our other two Greenlight entries are climbing nicely as well, War of the Human Tanks is currently 90% of the way to top 100, so not far behind, and the new contestant 100% Orange Juice is already 51% of the way up.

It’s truly a joy to look at these numbers, and they’re all thanks to everyone’s continuous support.

100% Orange Juice

/ 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!

/ Ozhan Sen / Leave a comment

Untitled-1

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

/ 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

/ 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/

Indie Game Magazine

“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/

The Otaku's Study

“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/

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“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/

Moonlit Asteria

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

/ 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!

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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.

Printing Spirits

/ Ozhan Sen / 1 Comment

We are reaching the last stages in the preparation of the pledge rewards for the 99 Spirits IndieGoGo campaign. After working on their design with TORaIKI for quite a while, we finally have most of the goods printed. Behold:

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Did you spot my cat? She’s not included.  There are still some finishing touches that need applying like flattening the artbooks and applying the stickers where due, but we are almost there.

Note that there are only a few days left to tell us which t-shirt size and pillow covers you want if you have pledged for those. Please contact us at support@fruitbatfactory.com. Those that haven’t told us which one they want will receive a Large-sized t-shirt and Hanabusa pillow cover. Check our forum for more info.

Preorders for 99 Spirits are still active, and with the release date of May 31th looming closer you might want to take advantage of the 25% pre-order discount for the Deluxe edition. As a reminder, the Deluxe Edition contains the game and original soundtrack for 99 Spirits, as well as the original Japanese version at a reduced price. With the pre-order discount it’s twice the bargain.

99 Spirits Pre-orders Open

/ Fruitbat Factory / Leave a comment

Fruitbat Factory is proud to announce our new project, ‘99 Spirits’ is now available for pre-order! You can read the full press release after the trailer:

99 Spirits revolves around the popular Japanese folklore of Tsukumogami, everyday objects coming alive on their 100th birthday, and features an original battle system where players puzzle out the true identity of the enemy before defeating them.

Features:

  • Work out the true identity of your enemies in a unique battle system
  • Capture enemies, master their skills for battle and use them to solve puzzles on the field
  • Interact with over 40 unique characters and battle over 100 monsters
  • Beautifully detailed art and an atmospheric original soundtrack bring feudal Japan alive
  • Discover multiple unique endings that change based on the player’s actions
  • Dual audio: Toggle between English and Japanese voice

“We’ve tried to make the release the best it can be and listened to feedback from all channels, including Steam Greenlight and IndieGoGo. This has resulted in a number of fine additions such as the option to toggle freely between English and Japanese combat voices.” says Project Lead Jakke Elonen.

99 Spirits will be priced at $14.99.
Its soundtrack will be released simultaneously for $6.99.

Additionally, a Deluxe edition will be available that contains the game’s soundtrack and the original Japanese version bundled in, priced at $19.99.

As a special pre-order bonus, everyone who pre-orders the game will receive the Deluxe edition for the price of the regular edition.

“The Deluxe edition of our previous release War of the Human Tanks turned out far more popular than we anticipated, and we’ve had many people asking whether 99 Spirits will have one available as well, so there was never a question about it. We’ve tried to make the Deluxe edition even more appealing to collectors this time around while providing great value to all players”, explains Ozhan Sen, Marketing Lead.

99 Spirits is now available for pre-order from our homepage, and will soon be following on most major distributors including GamersGate, Desura, Amazon and Green Man Gaming.

99 Spirits is planned to be released on PC (Windows) on May 31st. An official trailer has been released to celebrate this (above). For more information visit the game’s website: http://fruitbatfactory.com/99spirits/ or visit our Twitter, Youtube or Facebook Page.

About us

Fruitbat Factory is an independent localization company focusing on bringing interesting Japanese indie games to English-speaking audiences. We previously released Yakiniku Banzai’s critically acclaimed strategy game War of the Human Tanks in Fall 2012. For more information, visit our homepage at http://www.fruitbatfactory.com/

TORaIKI is an independent Japanese game circle that aims to produce Windows PC titles suitable for gamers of all ages. 99 Spirits is TORaIKI’s first release, published in Japan in August 2012. For more information, visit the developers’ homepage at http://www.toraiki.com/