I tried like four different titles for this post and none of them sounded good, so you're stuck with that one. I'm not happy about it either.
Before getting to the new announcement stuff, a quick update on HB: Remastered, to technically make this post relevant: voice acting is progressing pretty nicely, and will hopefully continue to do so. We've got one of the fixed up CG's from Weee, and she's currently working on a new CG that wasn't present in the original game. Smoke Thief (formerly Anna Logue) has touched up the mastering on his music, so it sounds way better - both the in-game versions and the ones from the soundtrack DLC. We're still hoping to have HB:R out by December, just in time for everyone to buy it for your friends for the holidays to make it a nice holiday present to you all =3 We'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Also, because a few people asked on the last update: Syon's still plugging away at "Dusty Trails," the HB spin-off light novel that he's been working on for the past . He's gotten a pretty good chunk of the first volume written, and while it's too early for a release date, it's coming along nicely.
Now for the good stuff. While we collectively as Alienworks are still hard at work on HRP, Syon - the director and other writer for HB - and myself have both started our own new VN studios on the side, for making other games.
Syon just started Coattails Studio, a group for exploring all kinds of weird and unique stories - and not just visual novels. Right now, they're working on a game called "Same As It Ever Was," which is a Lovecraftian, surreal game. The character designs and art are being done by Shiyun, who was also the lead artist here on HB, so you know it's gonna look good. Give 'em a follow over on ze Twitters if you'd like.
Additionally, I started Studio Élan, which is a really pain to type, lemme tell ya, because of that É. With Studio Élan, I want to make more yuri games in a similar vein as HB: tasteful and cute, rather than super lewd. Just last weekend, we announced our first two games: "Heart of the Woods," which is a mystical story involving a ghost girl in a magic forest, and "The Waters Above," which is about a sea nymph who's in charge of taking care of the stars. The artist for HotW is Rosuuri, who did some CG's for HB like the kiss scenes and Marina in Vegas, and the artist for TWA is Namie, who hasn't worked on a visual novel before. You can stalk us in the Twitterverse as well.
There are also Discord servers for both groups, which you can find on our respective Twitter pages.
Anyway, that's about it for this time. Pls look forward to our upcoming games. The new HRP demo will hopefully be out by the end of this year, but considering our previous luck with announcing release windows and then flying right past 'em, we're not gonna commit to that.
Thanks for reading this stuff. It really does mean a lot to me/us.
Cheers!