Welcome to the third in our series of development and localization blogs. Last time , we discovered one of Rayfa’s early designs, heard about how the team arrived at the look of the Kingdom of Khura’in, and how the Khura’inese language was Romanized for the English version. This time, we’ll be continuing our tour of all things graphical with a look at the UI and the game’s many visual effects.

But before we do, just a quick reminder that the demo for Spirit of Justice is out RIGHT NOW on the Nintendo eShop! Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already!

Now, for those of you who have played the demo, you saw for yourselves how there are many aspects of the user interface, or “UI,” that are different from what we’re used to, aren’t there? I’ll let Ms. Nakano share with us why that is. Take it away, Ms. Nakano!

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  Of Lettering and Fonts

Hello! I’m UI designer Reiko Nakano. As a UI designer, it is my job to create the layout and look of anything that conveys information about the gameplay to you, the player. This includes the title screen you see at the very beginning when you start the game, to the menus, Court Record, and dialogue text windows that you use and see all throughout the game, and even to the game’s credits at the very end.

But it’s not all about how pleasing everything looks – my work requires that I work closely with the game designers and the director to figure out how the different screens will transition into one another, and what kind of layout (like where should what kind of button go for ease of playability, etc.) would be best suited to the gameplay experience we want to achieve.

UI design is directly connected to how a game plays and how easy it is to navigate, so it’s a suuuuper important aspect of any game, but I fear this entry will get quite boring if I go into too much detail about it So instead, let’s talk about what I hope will be a bit more fun of a topic: this game’s font design.

Compared to Dual Destinies, Spirit of Justice uses a ton more fonts. There are two main reasons for this.

The first is because there are two courtrooms, one in each country.

Director Yamazaki and Art Director Fuse: “We reeeally want each court to have its own Guilty and Not Guilty designs.”

Nakano: (*ﾟ▽ﾟ) “Okay!!!”

Yamazaki and Fuse: “Ooh, and let’s have different designs for the Witness Testimony and Cross-Examination bits, too.”

Nakano: ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) “Okay!”

Yamazaki and Fuse: “And wouldn’t it be great to have different opening sequences for each country’s trials, too?”

Nakano: ( ﾟvﾟ) “Okay.”

Yamazaki and Fuse: “And of course, we have to have different life bars!”

Nakano: ( ﾟ-ﾟ) “O-Okay…”

That may or may not have been exactly how it really went, but the important thing is that we ended up needing two different UI designs for the trial sections.

Well, what do you think of the two different Witness Testimony designs? There’s the usual no-frills version on the left and the mysterious and exotic Asian version on the right. They both suit the atmosphere of each country’s courtroom pretty well, don’t you think?

By the way, the font that’s used for the Khura’in trial section is an original font created by our team’s UI designers.

So you see, even the fonts we use are a window into the world of Ace Attorney.

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The second reason why we had to use a lot more fonts this time around is because of the new Divination Séance gameplay system.

I know there are probably a lot of you who have played the demo for yourselves, but this new, mildly spine-tingling gameplay system shows the sensations a person experienced during the final moments of their life through video and text.

“Huh?! Show different sensations through text…? You mean like “hot,” “loud,” “delicious” – those kinds of sensations – through text…?” I asked.

Game Designer Mr. Daigo: “You got it!!”

…What a tall order that turned out to be.

The gameplay system presents what the victim experienced with all five senses as a video to the player, who then uses it to unravel the mystery. This meant that other than sight, all of the other senses would have to somehow be represented through text. This necessitated that the kanji characters themselves convey and conjure up the specific feelings and nuances associated with each sensation.

Let’s take a look at this picture for a concrete example of what I mean.

The characters on the left for “pain” (ç—›ã„) are what are actually used in the game. Because this word is supposed to represent the sharp pain the victim felt just before they died, it had to look super painful as well in order to convey that sensation to the player.

The characters on the right are… how should I describe them…? It looks like the sort of lettering that would be used to represent the victim bumping into a new transfer student who’s munching on a piece of breakfast toast as they round a street corner. The font has a sort of pop, sweet-and-sour feel to it.

I picked two very different fonts so it would be easier to see the difference, but you can see how even though they both say “pain,” the font on the left conveys the true severity of the pain much better than the font on the right.

And that’s how it came to be that we used a bunch of different fonts to convey a variety of feelings and sensations through the kanji characters in the Divination Séances. In creating these characters and deciding which font to use to convey what, I relied on my personal judgment and biases… No, actually, I made myself feel what each victim must’ve felt.

For those of you who are really into fonts, it might be fun to try to guess them all after you’ve finished playing the game.

Speaking of being really into fonts, during the latter half of the game’s development, there was this one person who had an objection to one of the fonts I’d picked for the Divination Séance.

Fukuda: “Um… The font for this sensation… It’s not exactly what I had in mind, so do you think you can fix that for me?”

It was the uncompromising Mr. Fukuda of the writing team! I guess I should’ve expected as much from the one who came up with that scene in the first place.

And so you see, there’s a lot of careful thought and consideration (and blood and tears…) that’s hiding there right in front of you – it’s even in the letters and characters we normally take for granted. Nothing would make me happier than if you could feel the work we put into this game coming from each pixel of the screen!

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Thank you, Ms. Nakano! There were definitely a lot of different fonts this time around, and I’ll get into how we localized all of those sensations in the Divination Séance in a little bit (It was no small task, let me tell you!). For now, I want to share with you how we created a second set of UI for the Khura’inese court in the localized version with two examples.

First, let’s take a look at the Witness Testimony intro.

Before we arrived at the final English version on the right, Ms. Nakano put together a few different rough ideas like these.

Among the options we considered were a variation on the wooden panels look (1), a more traditional AA look colored in the Khura’inese court version’s style (2), a completely traditional AA look, including the usual blue and white colors (3), and a subtitled look (4).

Eventually, we chose to use option 4 as a starting point for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it allows the player to see the witness’s face. We completed the design by turning the Japanese into Khura’inese letters (these are localized version exclusives!), picking a more suitable font for “Witness Testimony” to go with the Khura’inese letters, and making the scroll into more of a tasseled banner so it would fit in with the ribbons and tasseled decorations motif of the Khura’inese courtroom better.

As for what happens when you get a game over…

This time, we also started out with a few options, including these below.

As you can see, because of the letter “y”, the one giant panel version (1) wasn’t exactly very pretty, and standard font #107 with normal AA style coloring (2) was kind of plain, too, but Khura’inese-flavored custom font (3) hit all the right notes. As we were iterating on the font, we also realized that in order to lend the word “Guilty” any weight visually, it would have to be bigger and the letters would have to be thicker, so sadly, the final design ended up covering the poor judge’s face. But the tweaks we made definitely makes the word look more foreboding than in the original concept design, doesn’t it?

Now, as I promised, I will get into how we localized the UI text for the Divination Séances, but before that, there’s something else you should know – how the visual effects for the Pool of Souls were created. Luckily, I have just the person to tell us about that! Ms. Akizuki, the floor is all yours!

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On Creating Visual Effects

Hi, I’m Chieko Akizuki, and I’m the lead effects artist for Spirit of Justice. Nice to meet you.

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “visual effects” in the context of games? Do you think of magic and explosions? Roaring flames, columns of water, or even lightning bolts?

Well, my work on Spirit of Justice consisted of… gathering fruits and vegetables from the mountains near my house and giving them to those younger team members who were living all alone – or to those who just didn’t get enough vegetables in their diet – and keeping the snacks table stocked each and every week with a mountain of delights. The most popular snacks on the team are sweet manju [red bean cakes/buns] and savory senbei [Japanese rice crackers]!

Just kidding.

(But not really.)

…Anyway!

The basic gist of my job is to design the look of something in motion, regardless if the visual effect representing that movement is actually visible or invisible to the naked eye.

Have you tried the demo yet? If you have, then you’ve seen that one of the features of this game is the Kingdom of Khura’in – a country where even the average person’s daily life is closely tied to the art of spirit channeling. Trials in Khura’in are conducted via a special rite called the Divination Séance, whereby the royal priestess performs the Dance of Devotion and channels the last memories of the dead into the Pool of Souls. As an example of what I do, I’d like to talk a little more in depth today about the visual effects for this Divination Séance.

There were a bunch of different ideas floating around before we settled on the idea of having the victim’s memories appear in a pool of water. Having the victim’s spirit possess a puppet, and even using the smoke from giant incense burners to reenacting the crimes through shadow plays were just two of the ideas we had, but the rest of them were all equally as supernaturally eerie and unsettling.

However, more than anything else, the Divination Séance had to be a solid gameplay system. So, naturally, anything that wasn’t fun to play and interact with didn’t make the cut. Once we had settled on using a pool of water, that’s when the real work started for me.

The task before me was to design the visual effects for a mystical pool with a touch of the occult in the form of spirit channeling that would fit into the world of Ace Attorney. I had to consider that, as an interactive gameplay element, the Séance vision was going to be shown as appearing in a pool of water that also acts as a mirror. At the same time, words representing the other four sensations were going to come and go in the water as the story dictated, so there was a need to make sure they would be reasonably legible. I looked at so many pictures and watched so many videos of the sea, swimming pools, ponds, and lakes, and tried to apply the Ace Attorney style to my designs. After many, many failed attempts, this is what I finally came up with.

Were you able to catch a glimpse of the pool in the video? (It’s at around the 0:42 mark.)

Here’s a special look at the Pool of Souls from another angle. Ordinarily, the pool looks all calm like the picture on the left, but when it’s been charged up with spiritual power (and visual effects), it looks like the picture on the right!

So, what do you think? This is how I make the invisible, yet wondrous and mysterious powers that exist in the world the director and the art director envisioned, visible. In fact…

… there are a ton of other scenes where my visual effects were used to add a punch to what’s going on in the scene. And I’m not sure if it’s because this is Ace Attorney, but… I bet you’ll be surprised to know that while there are some scenes I made look good through visual effects, there are others that you’d expect to have been, but weren’t. But I’m afraid I’ll have to tell you more about them some other time…

And that about does it for the visual effects of Spirit of Justice. It would make me really happy if you took note of them as you played. On that note, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of these blogs.

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Thank you, Ms. Akizuki! The world of Ace Attorney would certainly be a lot less magical without your special effects! Having seen some of those other scenes without the visual effects layered on top, it really goes to show how important these extra touches are to completing the atmosphere of any given scene.

As for the Divination Séance, localizing it involved a lot of teamwork between me and Ms. Kobayashi, the lead UI designer for the localized version, but Ms. Nakano and Ms. Akizuki’s work on the Japanese version were surprisingly big factors in how we adapted the fonts, and even the translations themselves!

As Ms. Nakano explained, the first step was to make sure that the look of the fonts used to express each sensation matched with the feeling they were supposed to invoke. But in the case of English, this meant that Ms. Kobayashi had to not only choose a good font, but also figure out the layout of the letters. Take the words “pain” and “incense” as an example.

The individual letters of the word “pain” could’ve been lined up in an infinite number of ways, but this arrangement where each letter is off-center and doing its own thing is perfectly suited to the disorienting feeling of intense pain. Compare that with the word “incense” where the uniform spacing between the letters and the overall curved shape of the word forms an image of the scent of sandalwood wafting to the victim’s nose on a breeze.

Another thing you may notice is that the length of the words is rather short, and even whole words have been dropped, like “the smell of incense” (ãŠé¦’ã®åŒ‚ã„) becoming just “incense.” This is for two reasons.

1)   The English had to fit within the same space as the Japanese graphic. This is so that crucial parts of the video would not accidentally be covered up, rendering the puzzle unsolvable.

2)   The pool’s rippling effect gets stronger the further out towards the edge you go, so the words become increasingly blurrier and harder to read. Try to cram in too many letters and each letter has to be smaller, rendering all of them an illegible mess if we were not careful.

So thanks to Ms. Akizuki’s nifty water effect, Ms. Kobayashi and I had to tweak and re-tweak these words a number of times to make sure they were all reasonably legible on a Nintendo 3DS screen. But thanks to Ms. Nakano color-coding each type of sensation and also making that info appear when you cursor over a word, at least I could cut redundant words like “smell” from the translation. In the end, I hope you’ll agree that we managed to adapt the Divination Séance’s lettering to the English language well.

All right, that’s enough out of me for one week. Join me next Friday for some more tales from the trenches, courtesy of game designer Mr. Daigo, and even some Spirit of Justice character design and English version world building trivia!

Until then!

Catch up on previous blog entries here!

Your summons has arrived, and it’s time to step into the Hall of Justice in the Kingdom of Khura’in. The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice demo is available today! Featuring a slice of the courtroom gameplay that the Ace Attorney series is known for, step into the blue suit of Phoenix Wright as he takes up the defense of Ahlbi Ur’gaid, a young monk-in-training who also works as a tour guide.

Not all is well in the Kingdom of Khura’in, as Phoenix soon finds out that the country has no lawyers! Even Ahlbi, charged with both the crime of murder and the theft of a national treasure, seems hesitant to have a lawyer represent him in court. Making things worse is the Defense Culpability Act, a local law that states that anyone who takes up the defense of the accused is deemed just as guilty. In this demo it’s up to you, playing as Phoenix Wright, to press statements for more information, present evidence, and turn things around to find the truth!

Also featured in the demo is the Divination Séance, a new mechanic to the series and a crucial part of the Séance Trials that take place in Khura’in. Through the guidance of Royal Priestess Rayfa Padma Khura’in, the Divination Séance shows the last moments of the victim’s life and any sensations the victim experienced in those moments including sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell. All of this will come to life and reflect in the Pool of Souls at the center of the courtroom. With these insights provided by the Royal Priestess, the Divination Séance is regarded as the absolute truth, with little room to argue otherwise. It’ll be up to Phoenix to find the facts in the victim’s final moments and knock out Rayfa’s insights to prove what really happened.

We’ve also just released a fully animated and English voiced 8-minute prologue that shows the events leading up to the story of Spirit of Justice. Be sure to check it out while you head over to the Nintendo 3DS eShop to grab the demo and experience a Séance Trial for yourself! Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice launches on September 8th, 2016 for $29.99 (USD) as a digital download through the Nintendo 3DS eShop. See you in court!

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Dead Rising franchise , and the release of Dead Rising , Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record on PS4, Xbox one and Steam we are taking a look at some of the characters who play a major role in the early games in the Dead Rising series with “Frank’s Files”.

This week we look at Dead Rising 2 ‘s hero Chuck Greene.

• Name: Chuck Greene
• Job: Former Motorcross Champion
• First Appearance: Dead Rising 2  (2010)
• Appears In: Dead Rising 2  (2010), Dead Rising 2: Case West (2010), Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (2010), Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (2011), Dead Rising 3 (2013)
• Abilities: As a former motorcross champion Chuck Greene is an expert on a motorbike. Having to keep his ride working on his own he’s also mechanically inclined, using duct tape and ingenuity to keep his bike competition ready. It’s this skill with tools that allows him to create Combo Weapons, powerful new zombie slaying tools crafted from everyday items. As an athlete he is also in good physical shape. His devotion to keeping his daughter Katey safe provides him with the determination to face any challenege.

Greene’s backstory is the most tragic of all the Dead Rising heroes. Bringing his wife and their daughter Katey to Las Vegas for a motorcross race despite reports of a nearby zombie outbreak, Greene’s family was torn apart. The Las Vegas outbreak was horrific, and Greene lost his wife and barely managed to escape the horde with Katey. Now bitten Katey requires a regular dosage of Zombrex to stay alive.

To secure that Zombrex Chuck Greene has entered the Terror Is Reality contest in Fortune City, hoping to win enough prize money to keep his daugther supplied with the drug for years. However despite his skill on a bike Chuck may have more to worry about than just winning.

[Edited By Moderator]

We’re up to our fourth edition in the Ace Attorney character profile series already? That means today we’ll have covered eight different characters that appear in the upcoming Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice by the end of this article! Today we’re talking about the newest member of the Wright Anything Agency, Athena Cykes, and a TV producer, Roger Retinz. Maybe they’re not the perfect pairing, but hey – that’s showbiz!

Athena Cykes is the Wright Anything Agency’s newest attorney, and also the most eager to prove herself. A well of never-ending energy and curiosity, Athena is constantly on the move, challenging Apollo to races, diving head-first into investigations, or just running for the sake of running. Always excited to learn, she’s even been known to join Apollo in his “Chords of Steel” voice exercises – though one has to wonder just how much the neighbors enjoy it.

Never miss a chance to show off (or talk about) your badge.
(From Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice )

Athena’s been with the Wright Anything agency for a year, but she previously studied law overseas in Europe. Studying abroad helped Athena develop a better understanding of international court systems and provides her with a unique perspective on both America’s court system and law in general. There’s another reason she was hired on to the Wright Anything Agency, though; Athena also has the ability to listen to people’s hearts.

Thanks to her ultra-sensitive hearing, Athena can both hear voices that others can’t (for example, voices that are far away or people who are whispering), and also pick up on lies or confusion in a witnesses’ testimony based on discord in their voice. With help from her companion robot, Widget, Athena is able to use a special program called the Mood Matrix to pinpoint emotions that don’t match with what the witness is saying. Is someone happy in a scary situation? Maybe they’re surprised by something they should already know? Athena can hear it all, and use her skills to draw out new testimony!

Athena first made her appearance in Dual Destinies , where her Mood Matrix was an invaluable tool.
(From Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies )

With her natural deduction skills and the ability to run therapy sessions via the Mood Matrix, Athena is more than capable of finding the truth from uncooperative or traumatized witnesses. She and Apollo will need it with some of the colorful characters they’ll run into in Spirit of Justice, and it will certainly come in handy when Trucy’s stage show goes wrong, with a death on stage during the performance! It’s up to the Wright Anything Agency to prove Trucy had nothing to do with it, but making matters worse is a particularly stubborn producer standing in their way.

Roger Retinz, the Ratings Rajah, seems like a pretty relaxed guy at first. As a producer for Take-2 TV, he’s always on the lookout for something new to put in his programs. You’ll often see him pulling out a camcorder at the drop of a hat to record reactions the moment he sees them, or looking for any opportunity to talk up his own personality and selection of TV shows. He even looks the part with a cup of coffee in his hand and an… inspired sense of fashion. Plus, he has a condescending tone of voice that says “I’m just plain better than you.” What’s not to like about him?

(From Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice )

In his never-ending search to bring people the best (or at least, highest-rated) programming on Take-2 TV, Roger has worked to bring Trucy’s stage show, “Trucy in Gramarye-Land,” (based off of the magic Trucy inherited from her biological grandfather, Magnifi Gramarye) to televisions and living rooms across the nation. Thanks to Roger’s help, Trucy is sure to finally realize her life-long dream and restore the Gramarye name. But when the show goes awry and The Great Mr. Reus, Trucy’s co-performer, is found dead on-stage, Roger certainly isn’t happy about it. In fact, he immediately refuses to take any responsibility, and blames Trucy for the disaster!

That’s all for today! Next time we’ll be talking about the magical girl herself, Trucy Wright, and her adorable bunny assistant, Bonny de Famme! And don’t forget, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice will be available on September 8th as a digital download via the Nintendo 3DS eShop!

We’re back with a brand new Humble Bundle – but this time, we’re bringing something completely new to the table. We’re teaming up with PlayStation to bring you the Humble Capcom PlayStation Bundle (in NA PSN regions)! The bundle runs from now through September 6th at 11am PT, so head over to the Humble Bundle page, or read on for more details about what you’ll find in the bundle!

As with all Humble Bundles, a portion of the proceeds will go to charity – in this case, to Save the Children, American Red Cross, and Rettsyndrome.org. It’s a win-win for everyone! Now, on to the games:

In the pay what you want tier:

• Strider (PS4 / PS3)
• Final Fight: Double Impact (PS3)
• Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (PS3)
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3)
• 45% off Street Fighter V PlayStation Store Coupon (PS4) (Valid until 09/30/16)

In the beat the average tier:

• Resident Evil (PS4 / PS3)
• Mega Man 9 & 10 (PS3)
• Okami HD (PS3)
• Remember Me (PS3)
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3)
• Lost Planet 3 (PS3)

And if you pay $15 or more:

• Resident Evil 0 (PS4 / PS3)
• Devil May Cry HD Collection (PS3)
• 40% off Mega Man Legacy Collection PlayStation Store Coupon (PS4) (Valid until 09/30/16)

Remember, this bundle is only available through September 6th at 11am PT, so make sure you get in early!

As a reminder, this bundle is only available for PSN’s North America regions: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Honduras, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Nicaragua.

Today marks the third in our series of character profiles of the cast of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice! First up is the lawyer left in charge of the Wright Anything Agency while Phoenix is away, Apollo Justice. Right after that, we’ll have information on series newcomer, Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, the globetrotting international prosecutor and devout Khura’inist monk. Watch out, here comes Justice!

Now with two years of experience under his belt, Apollo Justice has matured quite a bit since his early days of panicking at the defense bench. It may come as no surprise that Apollo’s debut trial was during the aptly named Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. For his first trial as a lead defense attorney, Apollo was thrown into the deep end, tasked with defending the legendary lawyer himself, Phoenix Wright! Few knew what Phoenix was up to during that time after a particular incident caused him to withdraw from practicing law. With Phoenix suddenly thrust back into the limelight of the courtroom as a defendant, Apollo quickly learned that his client was accused of murdering a patron of the Borscht Bowl Club during a shady back-room poker game.

I know, Apollo. I was shocked too.
(From Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)

Defending Phoenix under the watchful eye of his boss and mentor, Kristoph Gavin, Apollo’s first case took a series of unexpected twists and turns that resulted in Phoenix joining Apollo behind the defense bench. Thanks to Phoenix’s help, Apollo was able to identify the true killer and pin the crime on the real culprit. While Apollo was able to prove Phoenix innocent, it also wound up leaving him without a job. With nowhere else to turn, he soon joined what was then known as the Wright Talent Agency (run by Phoenix’s adopted teenage daughter, Trucy), and began to take on defense cases as the agency’s sole lawyer. Apollo took on a number of cases during this time, including the defense of mobster Wocky Kitaki and a memorable case involving the world-famous Borginian songstress, Lamiroir, whose songs touch Apollo’s heart in a way that he can’t quite put into words.

Much like Phoenix, Apollo has an unbreakable spirit and a relentless need to find the truth of every case, with an unwavering belief in his client. He’s also been known to psyche himself up with his “Chords of Steel” vocal exercises to make his objections that much louder, and is often seen (and heard) pacing around the defendant’s lobby repeating “I’M FINE!” to calm his nerves. Throughout his career so far, Apollo has had to use his determination and wit to make it through a variety of strange and unusual trials and investigations. Plus, he also has an ace up his rolled-up sleeves, in the form of his unique bracelet.

(From Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice)

When Apollo’s bracelet contracts around his wrist, it’s a signal for him to focus intently on what a particular person or witness is saying. Focusing allows Apollo to detect subtle “tics” in people’s actions when they’re lying or don’t believe in what they’re saying, such as nervously looking around, scratching the back of the neck, and more. Apollo’s perception allows him to pry the truth out of people that may not be willing to tell it otherwise, and is instrumental to finding out the facts of the many cases he takes on.

When we catch up with Apollo in Spirit of Justice, he’s back and louder than ever! While Phoenix is out traveling in the Kingdom of Khura’in, Apollo has been tasked with holding down the fort at the Agency. However, his first case without Phoenix around in Spirit of Justice hits a little too close to home, as Trucy is accused of murder at a magic show gone wrong!

Apollo certainly has his work cut out for him. It goes without saying that he believes in Trucy to the bitter end, but he’s up against Nahyuta Sahdmadhi. While Apollo has squared off against local prosecutors in the past, Nahyuta hails from the Kingdom of Khura’in, and holds a license to practice law internationally. Called in to crack some of the toughest cases, Nahyuta arrives in Los Angeles to prosecute Trucy’s case.

As a devout monk, Nahyuta earned his title as the “Last Rites Prosecutor” from the way he handles trials in adherence with Khura’inese traditions. To Nahyuta, a trial is not only for proving the guilt of the suspect, but also serves to lay the soul of the victim to rest. He also claims to see the karmic flow of a trial, guiding the courtroom towards its predestined conclusion. He’s quite fond of reciting mantras in court, such as “satorha,” a mantra meant to awaken those lost in the depths of their day dreams, and often recites prayers for the victim or speaks of Khura’inist teachings related to the current case. While Nahyuta is quite pleasant and kind to most people, his language and attitude towards lawyers could best be described as “severe.” Perhaps it’s not that surprising with what we know about the Kingdom of Khura’in and its attitude towards lawyers.

(From Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice)

As a citizen of the Kingdom of Khura’in, Nahyuta will be facing Phoenix in Khura’in’s courts, as well. Pitted against the Wright Anything Agency in two separate countries, Nahyuta has quite a bit of work-related globetrotting in his future.   Having faith in one’s client versus following one’s national traditions – it’s a test of each side’s convictions in this battle of beliefs!

Next time we’ll take a look at the third and newest member of the Wright Anything Agency, the spunky Athena Cykes, and the egocentric producer from Take-2 TV, Roger Retinz! See you then and stay tuned for the upcoming release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice coming September 8 for Nintendo 3DS!

Additional character profiles:

Phoenix Wright and Rayfa Padma Khura’in

Maya Fey and Ahlbi Ur’gaid

Hallo, hallo! This is Janet Hsu, localization director of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, back with another behind-the-scenes entry! Join me as the dev team and I journey towards finding the look and feel of the Kingdom of Khura’in. Are you ready? Because here we go!

When last time we met, Mr. Yamazaki and Mr. Fukuda talked about how they slowly made their way towards the game’s overall theme and plot. But they weren’t writing the game in a bubble of their own! No, sir! They had to work with all types of artists to figure out what this new, fictional country would look like and what kinds of people would inhabit it.

Picking up from Kellen’s excellent write-up of Rayfa, I’m happy to say that the art director and co-director of Spirit of Justice, Mr. Fuse, was kind enough to tell us a little about her rough-and-tumble, and very humble beginnings.

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 Rayfa’s Beginnings

Hello, I’m Takuro Fuse, art director of Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. I’m sad to say that I’ve been rather busy working on some art after the release of the Japanese version of the game, so I haven’t had the time to write much. However, I’d like to share a little with you today about how I went about designing Rayfa Padma Khura’in during the game’s development.

Around the time it was decided that there would be a sixth mainline game, but before we had decided on the theme of “courtroom revolution,” or even that the game would be set in a country called the Kingdom of Khura’in, we knew we wanted to include a teenage girl as a key character in this game. This is one of Rayfa’s initial designs back when we were toying with the idea of setting the game in an underground court – one that would deal with cases no normal court would dare take on because they involved the seedy underbelly of society.

Because the only thing we knew about her at the time was that she was going to be an Asian girl, there was nothing especially special or unique about her design. But we were thinking that we wanted her to be a shady character who liked to meddle in various affairs.

This initial design is something I pulled out of my drawer of ideas, so I feel like it’s rather easy to see my design aesthetics through it. The final version of Rayfa doesn’t really resemble this initial Rayfa… Although, now that I really think about it, I guess maybe she did serve as the model for Rayfa’s final design.

In time, once we decided to go with the theme of “courtroom revolution” and set the game in the Kingdom of Khura’in (a deeply religious country where the core tenants of its beliefs are rooted in spirit channeling), Rayfa’s character changed into that of a spiritually powerful priestess who was to dance a sacred dance during a special rite. Her design went through a number of drafts and revisions, and we tried out all sorts of different looks for her, but unfortunately, I’m going to have to leave it here for today…

Until we meet again, everyone!

———————————————-

Wait, that’s it?! *gasp!* Oh, don’t you worry, Mr. Fuse. I know where you sit. I will chase you down for more juicy stories later, you can be sure of that! Mwahahaha!

…*ahem*

I mean, thank you for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule! I won’t be by again later to ask you more about character designs on the sly…

In the meantime, I’ll go and see what lead background artist Mr. Ishikawa is up to.

———————————————-

 Far and Away in the Kingdom of Khura’in

Hi, everyone, I’m Takanori Ishikawa. On the heels of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, I’m back once again as the lead background artist on Spirit of Justice .

When I first heard we were making this game, a number of thoughts ran through my mind: “All I have to do is do what I did for Dual Destinies! With my experience and the in-game assets I created last time, this is going to be a cinch!” But just as I was thinking these things…

“Wait, what?! This game’s going to take place in a foreign country?! A spirit channeling-based country call the Kingdom of Khura’in …?!”

It would seem that Spirit of Justice was to take place in a foreign land, and it would seem that the many, many months of work it would take to create the look of such a mysterious country from scratch were waiting right there, just for me!

This new country is said to lie on the western edge of the Far East – a far, far, faraway land. And yet, the name “Khura’in” made me think of something really familiar. That’s right, it reminded me of everyone’s beloved Kurain Village. It would seem that Khura’in is connected to our Maya’s hometown of Kurain Village somehow.

So, exactly what kind of country is it, I wondered. Little by little, the team came to a consensus on a few key aspects of the kingdom.

• A scenic landscape featuring a chain of tall mountains and blue, clear skies
• A country with a unique culture that was developed as a result of how secluded they were due to the lay of the land
• A land where the art of spirit channeling still thrives today, to the point where they’re even using it to conduct trials in court
• And a place where a cute priestess performs a sacred dance

It sounded like a truly mystical country… I wondered if I could draw such a locale.

These are two of the initial pieces of concept art I drew.

Everything was so ginormous! I daresay these were more on the scale of something an ancient civilization would’ve built. But, while it may have looked cool, it apparently didn’t match up with what we had all agreed on. Honestly, though, I think it would’ve been fun if we could’ve had a big adventure in a place like this. Phoenix could’ve climbed up that giant stone statue, slipped past some traps in the ruins, fought with some people over the same ancient treasure… by which point, I guess this game would’ve become something out of a totally different genre.

I even created this wonderfully gigantic statue, but…

…sadly, it has been lost to the sands of time.

Aaaargh! It was so hard! Try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what kind of country the Kingdom of Khura’in should be. I kept on drawing and drawing, but the answer wouldn’t come to me.

“I don’t know… I really just don’t know…! Where the heck is this ‘Kingdom of Khura’in’ we’re looking for?!” I yelled inside my head.

And then, for some reason, I drew a courtroom that sits atop a pyramid-like structure… and then I drew yet another giant statue… You can tell just how lost I was by this point. But if you take a look at that white thing in the bottom right corner of that picture, you’ll see the beginnings of a “ magatah’man ” or “soul bun,” which appears in this game! Yup, it was around this time that the idea for those buns Ahlbi carries around with him was born.

As I was drawing this “soul bun,” I began to wonder, “Does this thing even taste good? What kind of people would make these? What kind of people would eat these? And what kind of face would they make when they do?” That’s when I realized I had forgotten to consider something important: the citizens of Khura’in!

I was so caught up in coming up with all these designs for this country that I’d completely lost sight of the most important thing of all – that of course I can’t create anything without knowing who was going to inhabit this landscape first. The truth had finally dawned on me.

It’s not me who creates the Kingdom of Khura’in; it’s the people of Khura’in who will create their own country.

A few months pass… and finally, the Hall of Justice is complete.

This is the courtroom that the Khura’inese people built.

In its solemn splendor, it looks more like a temple than a courtroom. Those intricate ornaments, the vibrant colors, all that incense-laden smoke, and there behind the judge’s bench is the sacred symbol of Khura’inism (the religion that is practiced throughout Khura’in), the mark of a butterfly that carries the souls of the dead to the Twilight Realm. It was a struggle to get to this point, but I think I managed to create a courtroom with a completely different feel from the one back home.

Even though this courtroom does have the usual benches and witness stand, I also created a space here for the Royal Priestess to perform her duties. That’s right, I’m talking about the Pool of Souls in the middle of the room. As the Royal Priestess, Rayfa usually stands in front of the pool during a trial, and as she performs the Divination Séance, she projects the final memories of the dead into it.

By the way, if you look really closely at the detailed ornamentation, you’ll see that a number of them feature flame-like shapes called “ magatama ” and Khura’inese butterflies. I hope you’ll look for these motifs throughout the game.

Just what kind of hard battles will be fought in this unusual courtroom? And what sort of truths will be revealed?! Sadly, I can’t tell you here, so you’ll just have to play to find out!

———————————————-

Thank you, Mr. Ishikawa! It really does sound like it was a lot of hard work! After all, you can’t conduct investigations in a new country without locales to visit, and that courtroom looks spectacular.

Actually, if you’ve never seen the inside of a Buddhist temple, they do look an awful lot like that Khura’inese courtroom in certain regards. Different sects across different Asian countries have slightly different looks, but there are definitely some common traits they all share, which make this courtroom feel new and unique, yet strangely familiar to someone like me.

Speaking of someone like me, I guess now would be a good time for me to share just how the look of the Khura’inese language came about in the English version.

 ———————————————-

 Khura’in vs. Kurain: Bringing the Khura’inese Language to Life

Much like everyone else on the team, my first thought upon hearing that the game was going to take place in a foreign country was, “Uh… So I have to come up with how to represent this new country’s language in Roman letters???” But I quickly got over my shock as it dawned on me that my language nerd skills were finally going to be of some use! Because, you see, there’s a whole discipline in the field of linguistics devoted to how to Romanize languages that don’t use Roman script (or what we English speakers call the alphabet) in a process called Romanization .

But why was I all nervous in the first place, you may ask. Why didn’t I just simply Romanize the Japanese source text and call it a day? Well, if I did that, then the Khura’inese language would really be little more than a Romanization of the Japanese language, and I couldn’t do that! Just as the designers had created a visual look for each letter of the Khura’inese alphabet and even some single-character words like Prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi’s interjection “ Satorha! ”, I knew that Khura’inese had to have a distinct linguistic look and identity of its own.

Is the mean ol’ prosecutor picking on you again with a word you don’t know?
Welcome to Phoenix’s world.

The dev team drew their inspiration from a number of Asian cultures in designing the look and culture of Khura’in, which is exactly what my team and I did as well in designing the look of Romanized Khura’inese. Being a Taiwanese-American with 2.5 languages under my belt (Mandarin Chinese listening and reading = passable at best, my kindergartener-level speaking and writing skills = brings nothing but great shame on my ancestors) and a medium level of familiarity with East Asian religions and culture, I had a rough idea going in of how Khura’inese might eventually look.

The Kingdom of Khura’in is situated somewhere on the western edge of the Far East. Combined with the many tall mountains you often see in the backgrounds, this effectively places the small country somewhere in the purple zone below.

It’s a little like playing “Where in the World is Khura’in?”

In our real world, there are hundreds of languages and dialects in that purple region alone, but narrowing it down to the most prominent languages and dialects, including Tibetan , Nepali , Hindi , Pashto , and Urdu , reveals commonalities in how the writing systems of that region are Romanized.

Without getting into too many details (oh, I’ll go into full-on Linguistics Ema mode in a few paragraphs, trust me), at a glance, it looks like there are a lot of h’s and apostrophes used in the Romanization of these languages. But just knowing what they looked like wasn’t enough for me. All those h’s and apostrophes weren’t there just to look pretty, that’s for sure; they’re tied to how those words are pronounced. So what I needed to do next was to mesh how Romanized Khura’inese would look with pronunciations provided by the original Japanese source text. This is where the distinction between the real Khura’inese pronunciation and the Japanized and Anglicized pronunciations of Khura’inese words come into play.

Wait, what “real pronunciation,” you might ask. Well, let’s consider a real-life example.

Take one Mr. Johann Sebastian Bach – classical composer of German origins. It’s pretty easy for an English speaker to pronounce his name, and for the most part, they’d come pretty close to how a native German speaker would pronounce Mr. Bach’s name because we have similar sounds in the English language (English and German being relatives of each other linguistically). But for a Japanese speaker, they will never be able to accurately replicate the sounds for “Bach” if they are using the Japanese syllabary. That’s because that final “ch” sound simply does not exist in the Japanese language. Instead, they must render the name Bach according to their rules like this:

Bach ⇒ バッハ (bahha)

Sounds more like a laugh than his actual name, doesn’t it?

Now, going in the other direction, how well can a Romanization system really represent the sounds of a language like Chinese or Japanese? In the case of Chinese, rendering the word for “small” (小) as “xiăo” doesn’t even come close to looking like its actual pronunciation. But using “shăo” wasn’t an option since there is another, very similar sound that’s already monopolizing the “sh” Romanization, making shăo (少) a totally different word that means “less”! (Ironically, that one is pronounced more like “shr”…) So yeah… Roman letters are not so great at representing a language like Chinese.

As for Japanese, it’s also kinda terrible too, in some instances. Take for example, everyone’s favorite letters, らりるれろ. Are these “ra, ri, ru, re, ro” or “la, li, lu, le, lo”? You often see words like “ramen” spelled with the letter “r,” but when you listen to a native, the sound is best described as a “dla” where it’s a strong “l” sound said with your tongue touching the top of your mouth like you’re saying “d” instead.

Romanization can also fail when it doesn’t tell the reader how to parse a word correctly. Take the name “Junichi.” Is his name really pronounced as “ju-n-i-chi” or is it “ju-ni-chi”? At least for this problem, there is a solution: we can use an apostrophe to show what the original Japanese intended. In this case, the former parsing could be Romanized as “Jun’ichi” for clarity.

I think astute linguists among you are beginning to see how all of the puzzle pieces are coming together, so let’s return to my original dilemma: How do I mesh the pronunciation of Khura’inese words as provided by the Japanese source text with the Romanized text aesthetic I’ve devised for the Khura’inese language? Let’s take the word “Khura’in” itself as an example, shall we?

Japanized spelling: クライン (Japanese Romanization: kurain, pronounced: “koo – dla – een”)

Romanized Khura’inese spelling: Khura’in (pronounced: “khoo – RA – een”)

As you can see, the apostrophe is there in order to bring out the separation of the last two syllables so that the pronunciation remains as similar as possible to the Japanese, and (hopefully) prevents them from getting mashed into one syllable that sounds like the English word “rain.” But that’s not its only function in Khura’inese – the apostrophe can also denote a glottal stop, which slightly affects the pronunciation with a small, voiceless “hiccup” as it were.

As you can see, in the case of “Khura’in” and some of the other Khura’inese words you’ll come across in this game, I did take a few liberties when adapting the Japanese into the Romanized Khura’inese. Sometimes, I imagined a longer vowel sound that doesn’t exist in Japanese to exist in the original Khura’inese, like a longer “ah” sound or a “short i” sound like in the word “kin,” which is not perfectly replicable in Japanese (it comes out sounding more like “keen” in Japanese). These adaptations are similar to the Bach example, where I’m trying to “deduce and extract” the original “real” Khura’inese pronunciation from the Japanized spelling.

But don’t worry! At least Khura’inese looks like how it sounds, unlike Tibetan…

As for words that were originally meant to be puns in the Japanese source text? Well… you’ll just have to see what sorts of puns they’ve been adapted into for yourself next week when the demo is released on August 25th!

Yes, you heard that right. The demo can be yours NEXT WEEK!

You know what else can also be yours next week? Another trip with me through the development of Spirit of Justice! Next Friday, we’ll explore the creation and localization of the user interface, or “UI,” and the magical visual effects that were used to add that extra layer of mystery to the land of spirit mediums and channeling.

Until then!

Catch up on previous blog entries here!

Update: Steam is hosting another encore weekend to celebrate the Capcom Publisher Sale ! Download and play Umbrella Corps for free on Steam, now through Sunday (August 21st) at 1 PM PT. And don’t forget, you can grab the game for 33% off on Steam through Monday, 10am PT!

Did you miss the last free weekend for Umbrella Corps? Not to worry, there’s another free demo weekend event on the way, allowing everyone to join the corps on PS4 starting at 12:00am PDT on Saturday, August 13th, through 11:59pm PDT on Saturday, August 13th (00:01 GMT Fri Aug 12th – 23:59 GMT Sat Aug 13th). Both existing owners and demo players will be able to play together during the demo period. So, if you’ve picked up the game already or are curious about what the game has to offer, hop on this weekend for some intense 3 vs. 3 online match-ups in maps that draw from different locations in the Resident Evil universe.

In addition to close-quarters matches in settings from various Resident Evil games, Umbrella Corps adds another twist that keeps you on your toes. Enemy players aren’t the only threats – zombies, infected villagers, and other menacing creatures also wander the battlefield. As long as your Zombie Jammers are intact they’ll ignore you, but if your Jammer takes damage in the crossfire, you’ll have your hands full!

This feature-rich demo offers a chance to try the online modes and maps from the game. Explore RE locations in a whole new way such as the Kijuju map from RE5, the Village from RE4, and even the original mansion from the first RE. In case you missed it, here’s more on the free Spencer Mansion DLC for Umbrella Corps: click here .

The demo begins at 12:00am PDT on Friday, August 12th, and runs until 11:59pm PDT on Saturday, August 13th. Get online, join the corps, and watch your back – you never know who (or what) is behind you!

UPDATE: The North America demo for Umbrella Corps will be available 12:00 AM PST 08/13 to 11:59 PM PST 08/13. The article has been updated to reflect this. Our apologies for the inconvenience!

There’s a PSN Flash Sale going on right now through August 22nd in North America, and that means you’ve got just a few days to pick up some great Capcom titles at crazy low prices! We’ve got a SSSmokin’ Sick Sale price for DMC4SE: Demon Hunter Bundle – which includes both the game and DLC – for just $14.39 , with even more great stuff on sale right after the jump!

Veterans of Resident Evil 6 will be familiar with the twisting, chaotic streets of Lanshiang, which has just been added as a new, free battleground in Umbrella Corps! This new map can be accessed in both One-Life Match and Multi-Mission Mode, and is sure to result in plenty of tense firefights. Be sure to coordinate with your team as you navigate both the streets and the creatures lurking within.

This update also brings along an additional game mode: 4 Survivors. While the different modes of Umbrella Corps have favored fast-paced, 3-on-3 team battles, 4 Survivors mode provides a unique, battle royal approach to the competitive formula with lowered lighting and a tense, survival-themed tone. In 4 Survivors, four solo players start out armed only with a handgun, knife and flashlight. A quick click of the flashlight can reveal a healing herb or a valuable weapon, but can also act as a shining beacon for other players to home in on and close in for the kill. Points are gained for every second alive, but any player who’s taken out drops all their current points on the ground for other players to pick up. Securing an ink ribbon will allow players to “cache” their current points, keeping the banked points safe from other players even upon death, but there’s only one typewriter – and every player knows where it is. A single death can change everything, so you’ll have to constantly be on your toes in this new mode.

If that’s not enough, new equipment, I.C.O.N.S., and customization items have also been added, allowing you to alter your appearance even more. Additional gameplay enhancements have been made to improve the overall experience as well. This new update is available now and is completely free, so be sure to fire up Umbrella Corps on PlayStation 4 or Steam to check out the new map, mode, and items!

For the full patch notes, click here .

It’s that time again – fire up Steam, because the Capcom Publisher Weekend is here! From now through August 22nd, save up to 80% on Capcom titles, including some great bundles! Street Fighter V Deluxe Edition , Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen , a special Dead Rising bundle (including Dead Rising 1 pre-order!) and Umbrella Corps are just a handful of the awesome deals you can find! Head to the sale page on Steam for the full list, or hit the jump for even more info!

Special Offers

• Street Fighter V – $35.99 (Regular Price: $59.99)
• Street Fighter V Deluxe Edition – $53.99 (Regular Price: $89.99)
• Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen – $17.99 (Regular Price: $29.99)
• Umbrella Corps – $20.99 (Regular Price: $39.99)
• Umbrella Corps Deluxe Edition – $26.79 (Regular Price: $29.99)
• Dead Rising 3 – $14.99 (Regular Price: $29.99)
• Dead Rising 1 Pre-order: 15% savings if purchased via Dead Rising Collector’s Pack bundle (more details below).
• Mega Man Legacy Collection: $8.99 (Regular Price: $14.99)

 Special Bundles

Dead Rising Collector’s Pack Bundle – $48.67
Save an additional 15% on top of individual sale prices!
Includes Dead Rising 1 pre-order!

2016 Capcom Collector’s Bundle – $66.30
Save an additional 61% on top of individual sale prices!
Includes Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, DmC: Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 6, DLC packs, and more!

Resident Evil Collector’s Pack Bundle – $57.86
Save an additional 37% on top of individual sale prices!
Includes Resident Evil 4, 5, 6, Revelations, Revelations 2, and DLC packs.

Resident Evil 4/5/6 Bundle – $29.64
Save an additional 14% on top of individual sale prices!
Includes Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6 .

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition “Demon Hunter Bundle” – $22.12
Save an additional 11% on top of individual sale prices!
Includes Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition and DLC packs, including additional costumes for Lady and Trish.

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition “Demon Hunter Bundle” + DmC Complete Pack – $29.56
Save an additional 18% on top of individual sale prices!
Includes Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, DmC: Devil May Cry, and DLC packs for both games!

Update:  Congratulationsto MAD III on their victory in the Umbrella Corps Gamescom Showdown!

Gamescom 2016 has begun in Cologne, Germany. Amidst all the exciting new announcements (such as this awesome new Resident Evil 7 gameplay trailer ), four teams are mentally preparing themselves to give their Umbrella Corps skills the ultimate test. On Friday, August 19, players from across the world will compete for a cash prize in fast-paced 3v3 shootouts set in the Resident Evil universe, teeming with deadly creatures.

The Umbrella Corps Gamescom Showdown, brought to you by ESL and Capcom, is a single-elimination event. For the Semi-Finals, teams will go head to head in the high-stakes One-Life Match and the team to win best of three will continue onto the Grand Finals. The Grand Finals will switch to a best-of-five showdown. The winning team will walk away with $15,000 cash and all the fuzzy memories that come along with a free trip to Gamescom 2016 ( earned by placing in the Qualifier Cup )

Be sure to tune into the Umbrella Corps Gamescom Showdown on ESL’s Twitch channel , which will be airing on August, 19 at 1:00 am PDT. Don’t worry if you can’t watch at that time; we’ll be sharing an archive of all the exciting action in the near future.

Also, Capcom-Unity is livestreaming Umbrella Corps and more Resident Evil action today (8/18) at 2:00pm PDT on our Twitch channel . We’ll also begiving away codes for Resident Evil games, so drop on by!

Time to meet the teams!

Team Tomodachis

Members: raJa ,  Kadapt ,  Deman

Team WeMainMei

Members: redMerc ,  Susy ,  HitBoxMe

Team U-Eu

Members: Syluxxx ,  bioNic  ,  Ulric Von Karsing

Team MAD III

Members: elTunisiano ,  Secretly ,  ShooTeX