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Fenril

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Forward: Expect this first post to change a lot over time.

From the creator of Nanocrisis and Hounds of the Blade, Inui has stopped work on Hounds of the Blade to work on a new game.
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He's simply making a new game that takes place in the same universe as Hounds of the Blade but he's passing the main character role from Aya to this new girl, Rena. Apparently, it's also called "Hounds of the Blade [Rena Side Story]" "Hounds of the Meteor" so it's a side story featuring "Rena."

After the last update, Inui said he's going to be rebuilding the game using the Unity engine but from the sound of things, it's going to be a new game entirely with cameos from HotB.

Either way, consider HotB on an indefinite hiatus and unfinished status just like Nanocrisis. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things turn up because that's how Inui rolls.

Basic overview of combat mechanics (so far):

*Note: Rewriting of this part is a WIP since Inui decided to change the entire game AGAIN.

Like his past works, HotM is a 2D action sidescroller with 3D models and will generally take place on a flat surface with no platforming, if previous works are any indication. Most action sequences generally consist of fighting your way to the right side of the screen until reaching an objective or going back-and-forth killing a certain number of enemies.

It's also part Visual Novel where there's a lot of dialogue between action sequences for the sake of advancing the plot. You're generally given the option to look around various locales and talk to people in addition to shopping buy upgrades for Rena.

H-Content is generally centered around animals, giant insects, creatures, alien humanoids, and (rarely) humans. H-content is usually access after getting knocked down or defeated and then choosing to "give up."



*OLD VERSION - The alpha that was a top-down shooter,*
Controls:
Movement: Arrow Keys or WASD
Confirm/Execute: Z
Command Menu: X
Hotkey Menu: C

The game starts out in overhead view. Simply walking into an enemy causes Rena to use a melee attack. Take note that the game does not stop while you are in menus and the enemies can take advantage of this (ATB System). All actions consume the "Active Point" bar on the top right. This recharges quickly for most actions, making it almost negligible if you're going around punching things.

Pressing C allows you to change your Z action on the fly. You can also access the commands manually from the Command Menu, but currently there is no reason to this since it is slower and does not stop the ATB System. Plus, the other options from the Command Menu are unavailable. Here's what each action currently does:

Actions:
0: Punch
1: Kick
2: Bullet (Consumes EP)
3: Heal (Consumes EP)
4: EP Restore (Consumes UP)
5-8: Empty
9: Bullet Shield (Consumes a lot of UP)

EP is used for Rena's Spells. UP, I believe, is her suit energy and can be used for certain actions, including restoring EP. Upon losing all HP, Rena is knocked down and vulnerable. Should an enemy approach, you enter the second mode of battle: Escape Mode.

Escape Mode Interface:
Bottom Left:
Heart Meter: Fills as Rena reaches climax
ExPoints: How many orgasms Rena has had.
Estrus: Essentially, how horny she is. Increases gradually over time while in Escape Mode and never seems to decrease.
Frustration: Orgasm denial. Increases if she can prevent herself from having an orgasm. Resets if she has an orgasm.

Bottom Right:
Enemy's Speed (the "Fist" icon)
Enemy's Climax Timer (the "Penis" icon)
Enemy's Control (the "Chain Link" icon)

Note that HP, EP, UP, and Action Timer carry over from Overhead View and are still on screen.

Likewise, Escape Mode has its own menus:

1) Struggle 1
2) Struggle 2
3) Escape 1
4) Escape 2
5) ???

Menu 2 (Appears when Rena's Heart Meter is full)
1) Deny Orgasm
2) Do Not Deny Orgasm

While in Escape Mode, Rena's Estrus is constantly increasing over time. I believe there is no way to decrease this and I also believe that the higher this value is, the faster her Heart Meter increases. Upon having an orgasm, her ExPoints increase (while I believe currently serve no purpose aside from being an orgasm counter). Whenever Rena's Heart Meter fills, you get two options: Deny Orgasm or Do Not Deny Orgasm. If you do not deny, you simply have an orgasm. If you do deny, you have to mash Z in order to successfully deny it. Fail, and you have the orgasm regardless. If you successfully deny the orgasm, your frustration increases. I believe the higher this is, the harder it is to either subsequently deny the next orgasm or succeed in future quick time events.

Escape Mode also has its own ATB system, also driven by the "Active Point" meter on the top of the screen. When the bar fills, you can perform one of five commands to escape from the sex scene you're currently in. Options 1 and 2 do the same thing with a different quick time action, and options 3 and 4 also doing the same thing with a different quick time action.

If you pick either of the first two options, you are attempting to decrease the enemy's Control as a tradeoff to increase his Speed. Option 1 involves button mashing while Option 2 involves precise timing. The higher his speed, the faster his Climax Timer increases. The higher his Control, the harder it is to escape using Options 3 and 4. In other words, if you're having a hard time escaping the grab, use the first two options to increase your chances of escaping.

If you pick either of the second two options, you are attempting to escape. Option 3 involves button mashing while Option 4 involves precise timing. The higher his Control, the more difficult the actions are to perform. If his Control is full, the button mashing becomes impossible and the marker for the timing bar will be on the far right (you need to time it so the bar is to the right side of the marker).

I am currently unsure of what Option 5 does or the conditions to make it appear, but selecting it changes the meters in some way. I believe if you select Option 5. however, it takes a very long time for the Active Point meter to fill, for what it's worth. Perhaps this is an "endure" option to wait out the enemy's Climax Meter? Oh, and speaking of which, if the enemy climaxes, you'll be sent back to Overhead View.
 
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gavincreeper

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

According to the blog, rough translation but parts was in English, the game's title (at least as of now) seems to be Hounds of the Blade: Rena Side Story.

So I guess we can assume the new heroine's name is Rena.
 

Anonimo2932

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

So he had stop to make a game... to make his rebout?
 

Mewdles

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

Porting a game from one engine to another engine isn't always the most easy of transitions as different quirks of either engine can hamper the development process. Rather than porting it would be easier to use the original title as a foundation and build a new game around it.

Looking forward to seeing what they can do with Unity as it's a far more powerful platform.
 

kittenmittens

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

On the one hand, dude is dropping an established game people enjoyed once again to start from scratch.

On the other hand, doing it on Unity will probably make for a much better end product, so I'm looking forward to that. Unity is pretty easy to work with, too, so hopefully the transition won't be that rocky.
 
OP
Fenril

Fenril

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

Considering how many Windows 8 users had problems with the old engine, I'm not surprised he's ditching it for something new. And these days a lot of devs are using Unity for 3D projects so I'm not surprised he's using it.
 

Jesus

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

If I'm not mistaken, HOTB was 3D sprites rendered in 2D, with Unity it'll probably be easier to have it full-3D which would be cool. I got to say though, I don't like the new MC's design, Aya was just right imo
 

mayaktheunholy

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

If I'm not mistaken, HOTB was 3D sprites rendered in 2D, with Unity it'll probably be easier to have it full-3D which would be cool.
It was.

As I said in the earlier thread, I have seen no evidence that he is going to go full 3D with this one. If he does, there will be a lot more of a learning curve. Not saying he won't go that route, I've just not seen any indication of it so far.
 

Harleyquin13

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

According to the blog, rough translation but parts was in English, the game's title (at least as of now) seems to be Hounds of the Blade: Rena Side Story.

So I guess we can assume the new heroine's name is Rena.
タイトルも「Hounds of the Blade」のまま。「1」でも「2」でもなく「Rena side Story」として進めます。

=

(The new game) Title will remain unchanged from "Hounds of the Blade". Not "1" nor "2" but game development will continue as "Rena side story".

Up to the OP whether this blog comment warrants a change to information in the first post.
 

XSI

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

Now I'm seeing a picture of it, I'm going to say I agree that the new protagonist looks to be less interesting than the last one.

I like catgirls, the outfit is fine, the hairstyle and colour is fine, but something about that combination just makes me feel like it doesn't fit.
She looks more like she belongs on the stage of a stripclub or some other club than out fighting things, I suppose
 

Ecroose

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

Here's hoping he's doing this to learn unity, then at some point in the future continues with Aya. Chances are low, but I can hope.
 

anonya

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

Neat. Gamemaker was restricting the range of animation during gameplay and h-scenes. Hopefully there are some fully 3D h-scenes as opposed to rendered videos.
 

Glyce

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

I hope he doesn't try to do pregnancy content. Nothing against it, but it was the last thing in Nanocrisis and HotB before they got shelved...

Third time's the charm?
 

XSI

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

Probably more to do with fatigue setting in than with the type of content.
He got it done after all
 

thswherizat

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

While I agree with everyone sad that he's benching HotB for a new project, I gotta say that the amount of content in Hounds already dwarfs many H games, and it's among the best in terms of content quality - all for free.

I understand his interest in switching to Unity after he's been working with Gamemaker for so long, and this really is a hobby thing for him. He even said in his last update that it was a hobby for him and he just wants to keep making stuff that appeals to him in that regard. It's a shame for those that don't like the look of the new MC though. I liked Aya's design a bunch as well. I wonder if it had to do with the difficulty of adding weapons into the animations? Just like in Nanocrisis, any animation in Hounds had to explain how she still had her sword in hand while not being able to use it whatsoever. Kinda limits a lot of options.

It looks like the new girl uses magic or something? But empty handed, so he won't have to deal with that design hurdle anymore.
 

Harleyquin13

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

From the blog post:

また、いままでフリーゲームとして活動を続けてきましたが、次回からはFantiaやPatreonなどでご支援を頂きながら開発を進めたいと思います。
私の作るゲームは、どうにも大風呂敷を広げがちというか、大作指向かつ拘りの強いゲームになりがちです。
そのため、開発には少なからぬお金と膨大な時間が必要になります。
その点ご理解いただきまして、なにとぞ今後ともご理解とご協力を賜れば幸いです。

=

For his upcoming Unity project, he's planning on signing up to Fantia and Patreon since he's usually ambitious on game scale and design but that comes at a cost to money and time.

This isn't great news to users here, since if he does decide to go down the crowdfunding route for his Unity game there's going to be less to talk about compared to the predecessor games which were free demos with no restrictions on sharing and commentary. Some idiot on this thread actually posted on his twitter feed regarding the existence of this thread, which is a REALLY good idea if one wants to kill discussion of this game on this forum once a Patreon subscription model is in place since inufactory has every right to complain here or on his BBS board about ingrate English speakers stealing his work when they don't sign up to his crowdfunding plan.
 
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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

From the blog post:

また、いままでフリーゲームとして活動を続けてきましたが、次回からはFantiaやPatreonなどでご支援を頂きながら開発を進めたいと思います。
私の作るゲームは、どうにも大風呂敷を広げがちというか、大作指向かつ拘りの強いゲームになりがちです。
そのため、開発には少なからぬお金と膨大な時間が必要になります。
その点ご理解いただきまして、なにとぞ今後ともご理解とご協力を賜れば幸いです。

=

For his upcoming Unity project, he's planning on signing up to Fantia and Patreon since he's usually ambitious on game scale and design but that comes at a cost to money and time.

This isn't great news to users here, since if he does decide to go down the crowdfunding route for his Unity game there's going to be less to talk about compared to the predecessor games which were free demos with no restrictions on sharing and commentary. Some idiot on this thread actually posted on his twitter feed regarding the existence of this thread, which is a REALLY good idea if one wants to kill discussion of this game on this forum once a Patreon subscription model is in place since inufactory has every right to complain here or on his BBS board about ingrate English speakers stealing his work when they don't sign up to his crowdfunding plan.
I was that idiot, so sorry about your hurt feelings.
 

Harleyquin13

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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

It's not my feelings that matter. Something to think about:

1. Inufactory chooses Patreon and gives up his practice of releasing demos for free.
2. This thread here gets clogged up with users begging for demo links which only Patreon subscribers get access to.
3. Thanks to the thread link on inufactory's twitter page, he knows this thread exists and about what happens in point 2.
4. The thread is either filled with Patreon subscribers to stay legitimate as a place of discussion or is dropped because inufactory cancels access to all of the users here who leaked demo access (or worse decides to give up game development entirely because of what happens on this thread).
 
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Re: Hounds of the Blade REBUILT

I linked it because he wanted a better connection with international fans and if he sees his fans are primarily leeching grubbers well, better from him to find out now then down the road.
 
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