Arizona in Bellum Edition

Hey there, folks. Been a while, but we're still here. However, we have made a few changes to AiB that we think you should be aware of. You see, over the past several months we have grown bored with the trite and cliched setting of Amare in Bellum. It's something that's been done a million times before, and will surely be done a million more times. So after much discussion, we have taken it upon ourselves to... Tweak AiB.

We here at EDT are proud to present the new AiB—Arizona in Bellum!




That's right! We've gone ahead and changed the entire landscape of AiB! No longer does it take place in a dusty old refugee town. Oh no, it now takes place in the good ol' Copper State during the times of the Wild West!

Of course, because the setting has changed, the characters have to change to. They're keeping their names and their designs, but their occupations will be different. Let's take a look at some of their changes, shall we?

Amelia - Having grown up somewhere in the desert of Arizona, Amelia left her tribe to go the frontier town of Marin. Since her arrival, she has become a well-loved Deputy and is known to catch every crime in action with her big and bulky camera.

Sybil (The Aloof Arsonist) - Wanted for multiple counts of arson, The Aloof Arsonist is shrouded in mystery. With reports of a mysterious standing around in the burnt areas moments before it was engulfed by flames, the fiend always leaves without a trace. Except for scattered cigarette butts that is.

Julia - Julia is the daughter of the town prospector. Looking down on all inhabitants of the frontier town, Julia gets everything her cold black heart desires because her "pappy" is the richest man in town.

Vyra - There are only three certainties in the town of Marin: The heat, death, and the local bartender's cleanliness. Always washing the dishes and cups at the saloon, the bartender, Vyra, hates anything dirty. Unfortunately for her, she lives in the desert and lives in a place where showers are considered a luxury. Because of this, she tries her best to keep everything clean and tidy.

Sasha - Having lived in Marin her entire life, Sasha runs the ranch on the outskirts of town with her mother and sister. Spending her days, herding cows and taming horses, Sasha is a cowgirl through and through.

Vincent - Vincent is the main character of our story. He traveled to the town of Marin to find fame and glory as a gunslinger. How will he do that? By getting the bounty on the Aloof Arsonist's head. Things won't be easy, though, as he now has to deal with a new environment and the quirky inhabitants of the town.


Well, that just about does her. We'll have more info on this soon, but for now just hang tight and wait for more updates

Love,
EDT

Status Report Edition

We should elaborate on our upcoming preview, which we've dubbed "meet the girls," something our team has been building on the side for the last month or so. The title speaks for itself; it's a short sequence in visual novel format where you can get a glimpse of the girl's personality first hand.

The storyline is unrelated to the main game, following a man named Shiv Raker who is exploring Marin and gathering stories and experiences from the refugees, giving the reader an impression of the heroines. However, our programmer is having a bit of fun with it himself and is sneaking one or two easter eggs here and there for you to look for.

It's a bit of an experiment for us as well; we're planning to follow a new direction with the artstyle for the project and this allows us to see how it would work in motion and hear your feedback on it before we begin serious work on the main game's assets. The current sprites are only a placeholder for what we intend to have in the final piece, but will present a general feel for the direction we hope to take. We're looking forward to any comments or pointers you'll have on it.

As for the main story, our writers have also been collaborating on a definite script for act 1 and deciding which order and flow best fits for introducing the player, and Vincent, to the city of Marin. We've also fleshed out a few scenes within act 1 and gotten some foundation laid with regards to both interaction between characters and with their environment.

We're still continuing to work the many kinks out of our creative process, and we hope you look forward to meeting your moeblob soon.

Update Edition 3: Return of the Update

Evening readers,

I'll cut right to it. Work on our preview/demo "Meet the Girls" build is proceeding steadily, if slowly; our newest writer has pulled out all the stops and caught up with the rest of the writers in record time. Our resident artist Dubs Kiwi is also continuing to pump out concept art and sprites at an astonishing rate, but unfortunately for us there's only one of her, so please understand and bear with us as we try to create something that we can be proud of and which you'll hopefully enjoy reading.

As for the game itself, we're well into the pre-alpha stage, and things like side characters, locations, communal events, and story arcs are rapidly approaching a finalized state. With this framework in place we should be able to jump straight into the nitty-gritty of writing thousands of words of dialogue and monologue, once Meet the Girls is released to our satisfaction.

Finally, to prove that at least somebody around here does some work, here's some more concept art of Amelia. Enjoy.

-Ed

The Winds of Change Edition

Some serious changes have taken place in the Edition Development Team and the development of Amare in Bellum in the past few days. Some of these changes have been tough to make, but we feel like they will benefit the project in the long run.

Firstly, we would like to announce that Kiwi is giving up her position as the writer of Vyra’s route and instead focusing solely on the art of AiB. Taking her place as the writer of Vyra’s route will be longtime associate and support editor of EDT’s, Raithfyre.

Secondly, the character of Myria is no more. Due to certain circumstances, Myria has been scrapped. This was a difficult decision to make, but is necessary for reasons I will not go into now. Instead, Myria has been replaced by a new character. It is my pleasure to introduce Amare in Bellum’s newest heroine, Sasha! 

Here’s some concept art of her drawn by Kiwi.

We’ll give you more details about her on a later date.

We aren't done, though. Sasha’s route will be written by a replacement writer, the newest member of EDT, who will go by the name ‘Gargamel‘ for the time being. We‘re very happy to have such a talented writer working with us, and warmly welcome him onto the team.

Well, that’s it for now. Keep checking this space for new updates.

WE DOT COM NOW Edition

Hey guys, Syon again. We have a couple of announcements we'd like to make.

Firstly, if you haven't noticed, we're dot com now. We registered a domain name, so instead of dealing with the ".blogspot" portion of the address you can just type in "editiondevteam.com" and you should arrive at our blog. Don't worry, we're not just using this for the blog. We are actively working on a website that will also use the domain name. If all goes according to plan, that should be up and running soon.

Exposition Edition

Since this is my first blog post, I’d better introduce myself. I’m Ed, and I’m responsible for creating, editing, and maintaining the wiki for Amare in Bellum. We envisage this to be the repository for lore, backstory, and character profiles, and something that players can consult if they wish to know more about the girls, or any of the locations mentioned in the game. Right now this is still a work in progress and not ready for public consumption, but the production of articles is proceeding apace. This means that I can share some of the details of the countries involved in the wider setting of Amare in Bellum, and their relevance to the storyline. I’m sorry it’s a lot of WORDSWORDSWORDS and no pictures, but our artists have better things to be doing at the minute as we finalize our preparations for Act 1.



Rhen-Palait is the home country of the main character Vincent, as well as the girls Vyra, Sybil, and Amelia. Formed by the merger of the separate countries Rhen and Palait almost three hundred years ago, Rhen-Palait’s history is mainly characterized by violence and war, and as such it has grown into a totalitarian dictatorship headed by the oppressive political party known as the People’s Unification Front (PUF). Whilst powerful both economically and militarily due to its vast reserves of natural resources and high population, it suffers from chronic underdevelopment; the majority of its citizens still work as manual labourers and tradesmen in fields such as farming, mining, and factory production lines. It is currently at war with Baharistan, and it is this war which prompted Vincent’s conscription into the Rhelvian army. Their armed forces outnumber those of any other civilised nation by a considerable degree, but tend to be poorly equipped and trained.

Baharistan is Julia’s home country, and is the “enemy” in the ongoing war with Rhen-Palait. Smaller than Rhen-Palait and considerably less well-endowed with natural resources, its economy is almost entirely focused on service provision and highly-skilled professions. It is a world leader in almost all fields of scientific research and technological advancement, and its citizens enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world. The Bahari government is a technocratic democracy – a relevant and accredited professional qualification is a prerequisite for serving in a cabinet role in the government, and numerous committees and advisory bodies have entrenched themselves into the legislative process. This sometimes leads to bureaucratic red tape delaying important decisions, but does ensure that they are always taken with the greatest care and consideration for their impact. The Bahari armed forces are relatively limited in numbers, but are well trained and equipped with the latest in battlefield innovations. They specialise in guerrilla and covert operations, but can be relied upon to give an excellent account of themselves in any combat situation.

Rhenish Braque is the nation in which most of Amare in Bellum is set – it is the country in which Marin, the setting of the game and the administrative headquarters of the government taskforce handling the influx of refugees, is located. The region of Braque declared independence from Rhen at the same time the two countries formally merged, and it retained the old governmental structure of Rhen including its monarchy. A small but proud nation steeped in tradition, it houses many areas of historical and natural interest, and tourism forms a major part of its economy. Its government is a constitutional elective monarchy, in which all citizens are given de facto freedom to choose the next monarch after the death or abdication of the previous one. Despite its historical ties to Rhen-Palait, Rhenish Braque is neutral – its safety is ensured through membership of the League of Non-Aligned Nations, an influential confederacy of nations across the world who are committed to non-interference in the affairs of other nations, and to offering mutual military aid to any member who might come under attack by a hostile aggressor. As part of its commitment to this agreement, Rhenish Braque maintains a small standing army of well-trained soldiers, but the war has caused a calamitous downturn in the Braquian economy, meaning that their army is nowhere near as well-equipped as it could be.

EDition

Today Edition Development Team has an announcement to make.

We would like to welcome Edward Malus to the team!

He'll be helping us by organizing the lore, story, characters and the VN's info into helpful articles. We are working on them as we speak and we hope to release a wikipedia of sorts in the near future.

Welcome Edward Malus!