Kickstarter Update 29: (August) PAX, Surveys, and Samurai

Link to the Update

August Update: PAX, Surveys, and Samurai

The strange thing about Kickstarter campaigns is that they usually end right as things get interesting—when the game goes into development and the fans start building elaborate theories based on what they know about the story.

There's a reason for that, of course; the end of the Kickstarter campaign is the signal for IGA and the developers to well and truly bury themselves in work, and for those of us on the campaign side it means it's time to get the merchandise designed and produced—not to mention to mentally prepare ourselves for shipping thousands of packages.

But it's still weird. So it's been great to see all the continued activity on the Bloodstained Forums. The devs are excited about making Bloodstained, and we're excited about playing it, and we're glad you are, too.

Here's a little of what we've got planned to keep things moving on our end:



If you just happened to be making plans to be in Seattle later this month, I have some good news: We'll be running a PAX Prime panel Saturday, August 29 at the Hydra Theater. Koji Igarashi, Takuya Aizu of Inti Creates, Ben Judd, and Dan Moore of Fangamer (wait, that's me) will sit down to talk about Bloodstained, Kickstarter, the fans (wait, that's you), and more.

We'll also be turning the tables on Ben and making him and IGA unlock a series of achievements to earn a bonus for you—but I've already said too much.

If you're not going to be at PAX, you'll be able to watch the panel live online. (Address to follow.) You'll also be able to ask questions in this forum topic—we'll pick some for IGA to answer during the panel.



We've been working overtime to get the survey—and with it the slacker backer campaign—ready to go, and it's getting close. Look for your surveys to begin arriving on September 15.

Fangamer has been running surveys for a while, now, but for Bloodstained we've rebuilt our system from the ground up to make it more useful for existing backers who'd like to upgrade or add on while also making it more attractive for people who still haven't enlisted in the Army of the Night. (The Kickstarter campaign may be over, but we want to keep building the Bloodstained fanbase all the way to launch day.)




Submitted by @doktorspooky


Submitted by Anders




斬月 — Zangetsu — 42 — Male

Coming from a small country far away in the East, Zangetsu specializes in fighting demons. He makes his way to England when the demons first show up 10 years before the main story of Bloodstained begins.

He uses a dual katana fighting style along with Japanese “ofuda” paper incantations to destroy his demonic foes.

During his long battle to keep the demons at bay he loses his left eye and right arm. Using a special Ofuda spell he is able to animate a wooden prosthetic arm to nearly the same level of mobility as his original arm. The Ofuda that covers his missing left eye grants him the ability to see both auras of both the living and dead.

He lost a great deal of friends during his 10 years of fighting, creating an absolute hatred for not only the creatures themselves but also the Alchemists that brought them to the Earth.

More from IGA:

Zangetsu is a character I came up with when trying to answer this question: What happened in the lost time between the appearance of the demons on earth and Miriam's awakening 10 years later?

In all my games I’ve never had a Samurai character appear, much less a character from Japan, so I’m using the opportunity of working in this new universe to try something new.

The character is an interesting blend—he wears a Western coat, reminiscent of the era, but has it half open, which is a very Japanese style. I wanted to show off a bit of his wild nature with the design. We are still working out the Ofuda concept, so please bear with us.

It’s kind of ironic—I was able to come up with Miriam, Johannes, and Gebel’s name rather easily, but landing on a good Japanese name ended up taking a long time.

- IGA