Hey there heroes! We’re already wrapping up month two of the new year and have a lot of fun things to share, so let’s just jump into it! Murayama's Monthly Development Report：DLC3 Content The poll DLC3 that we mentioned in the last update has closed and its content has been decided! DLC3 will focus on the story of the Skeleton King Markus and a mysterious young girl named Milana who somehow share a history with an old, once prosperous kingdom. Markus was actually a character selected by backers during the Kickstarter campaign, which is probably why so many felt such a strong connection to him. We honestly had no idea which direction the vote would go, as some of the proposed concepts included characters that have already appeared in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, such as Iugo and Mellore. Not only that, but each option had something of a theme to it. Story 1: Tales of the Yokai Hunt has a focus on the Far East, with Japanese-centric elements such as samurai and ninja. Story 2: Conquest of the Sands is a desert-themed, hard-boiled tale with Middle Eastern-inspired characters and Sharkmen. Story 3: Elden Magicks was the winning selection and tells a tale of a kingdom long abandoned that may hold clues to the secrets of the rune-lenses. Story 4: Kings of the Neighborhood would dive into a story all about overcoming adversity through mini-game-esque competitions and such, giving the townsfolk and store-owners their chance to be in the spotlight. Story 5: Magical Girls, Assemble! would have brought together classical magical-girl and super sentai archetypes like those seen in Sailor Moon and Power Rangers. In terms of story, I thought Kings of the Neighborhood would have been interesting, but the characters were a little weak. That being said, I would have used Frida from Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising as the main character. I always like to participate in the #hundred-heroes-chat on the Hundred Heroes Discord channel (https://discord.com/invite/eiyuden) on the weekend following that month's Kickstarter update! I was really happy to see everyone chatting about their concerns and feelings surrounding each proposed story. I'm often asked if we'll make any of the proposed stories that weren't selected. Hmmm, I wonder (lol). A Word from the Team　 J-diary vol.8 Hello. Murakami J here. Good news! I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in my endless pixel art creation journey. Congrats to me! I've been making games for a long time, but I've never had to create pixel art for so many neverending days before. Despite us now living in an age where pixel art creators are a dying species, the staff members all never lost their nerve despite all the redo orders and worked extremely hard. Thank you. Of course, I've been doing other thing aside from pixel art... But due to how neverending it seemed, the pixel art definitely proved to be the scariest part of it all. At first I thought "What were we thinking, starting a project like this? The amount of work we have to do is unreal..." Feelings of regret and unease made me feel like I was going to slip over to the dark side several times, but now I feel peaceful and happy that I was able to complete things in this style. It's all thanks to everyone being here with us and giving us your support. Thank you. Ohh, thank you... END ...No, wait, I still have a lot of work left to do!! (LOL) The momentary feeling of relief made me unconsciously slip into a trance. Sorry. Time for a serious update. I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the pixel art, but I still can't let my guard down yet. Currently, I'm working on the remaining basic character resources as well as special resources for events and stage-related things... My days of fighting aren't over yet. I'm also reaching the finish line when it comes to the background resources, so I'm currently preparing to get together the composition for each scene. The basics for the event scenes and other various elements have all been completed. Director Komuta and the voice recording staff members have also been preparing for the recordings for days and seem very busy. We've also entered the production phase for Kickstarter backer rewards. (We've been receiving replies from everyone - thank you so much! But we still have yet to receive a reply from everyone, so if you still have yet to reply, please check out this link!) There are a lot of things to prepare for this as well, so things will still be crazy for a while. Our production phase is heading toward its peak, and we're getting busier day by day. Everyone is harrowed by their own deadlines every day, and we want to make sure we don't panic, give up, or compromise so that all the effort we've put into this so far doesn't go to waste. Oh, that reminds me. Since we're nearing the end of our pixel art production, I decided to release a character video in this update. It'll be coming to you together with an explanation from Director Komuta. It still doesn't have voices yet, but I hope we can continue to show you in-game content now and then that doesn't spoil anything up to the time when the game is finally released. I hope you're all excited! MURAKAMI J Komuta D's Sneak Peak Komunichi-wa, komuban-wa, Director Komuta here! Remember the glimpse section I mentioned in last month's member comments? We’re calling it "Komuta D's Sneak Peak" (J's idea) In this month's issue, we'll show you a glimpse of a fresh out of the oven, full-length skill attack, as Producer J mentioned earlier. [previewyoutube=FvSXVPAQ3xU;full][/previewyoutube] So, what do you think? A variety of actions that make the most of the characters' personalities like this will greatly enliven the battles! Hm? Are we okay showing off these characters? Eh, why not? And who's the beautiful lady with the blond hair?! Moving on!! We plan to keep giving sneak peaks of the game while it's in development, so please stay tuned. (Finally... FINALLY, we're getting around to showing some stuff). See you next time!