Bokeh Game Studio Inc., the two year old Japanese based video game developer, has released gameplay footage of its debut title, Slitterhead. This comes in the form of “Dev Diary: User Tests”, which the game company uploaded to YouTube on July 6th. The video illustrates the team’s early work on the project since its’ announcement at The Game Awards, in 2021.
The “Dev Diary” is narrated by Konno, one of the employees at Bokeh Game Studio, who “works to build user tests, create surveys,” ultimately “analyze test results, and share the reports and feedback to development.” He talks about managing cutscenes and building the user test team that continuously plays Slitterhead while in development.
The players provide feedback in the form of surveys which help guide production. Once Konno has real opinions from users, he integrates the data into a roadmap for the company. He further explains how he believes some stress in the development environment can actually be good when trying to create content. Every employee has goals that need to be achieved and negative responses can positively impact the game.
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The actual gameplay footage of Slitterhead is somewhat limited, but viewers can get an idea of the direction this title will go from the video. There are clips of what appears to be a main character, examples of the user interface, fight sequences against various creatures, and even what appears to be a playable dog character.
While this is all very exciting, it is still clearly in development and lacks many of the finishing touches the studio is sure to add before the game is complete. Konno expresses that the team has received positive feedback on features that are unique to the Slitterhead game and sees more time being focused on more general mechanics as development continues.
What Can Fans Expect From Slitterhead Based on What We Know So Far?
Keiichiro Toyama, the founder of Bokeh Game Studio, was formerly employed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. He is most well-known for being the creator of Silent Hill, which he also directed and wrote. Toyama announced the game studio in 2020 and brought with him colleagues Sato Kazunobu, as COO/Producer, and Junya Okura, as Game Director/CTO. It isn’t surprising based on their involvement with the Silent Hill franchise that Slitterhead will have horror themes.
Although it appears action-adventure will be at the forefront of Slitterhead, players can expect to see elements of horror. Sato has gone on record saying there will be difficult decisions, which can can lead to negative outcomes in the game depending on what you do. It also appears the main enemy in Slitterhead will be a variety of monsters, some more human than others. Unfortunately, since the footage is still in somewhat early development, there is no way to know exactly what the finished product will look like.
What do you think of the Bokeh Game Studio Inc. Slitterhead title? Are gamers in for the next big action horror game when it releases? Drop a comment and let us know what you think.
Source: Bokeh Game Studio YouTube
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