BT

Excerpts from Ryukishi’s Production Diary.

20/08/2009
It’s been a while…

Long time no see, Ryukishi 07 is here.

[…]

Right now I’m back into writing Rewrite.

All I want is some time and silence.
And someone who will read it.

Physical and mental strength. Pepsi NEX and kaki chips.
And maybe fixing my Xbox. I can’t get the screen to work.

No, rather, I’m glad it’s broken.
I haven’t played The Godfather 2 yet.

22/10/2009

On July 10 of this year.
BT passed away because of illness.

I decided to make this announcement after the popularity vote by the volunteers was over.
It was an event that BT was more passionate about than anything else.
I deeply apologize for not explaining his absence for a long time, as I thought it would be better to announce it after its successful completion…

Not only was he my best friend, but he was also my very first reader.
Both Higurashi and Umineko were written to make him surprised.

In the past several months.
I’ve forgotten the joy of writing.

But I know better than anyone that he would be saddest if I stopped writing because of him.
So I have to write.
But he won’t read it anymore.

Today is an opportunity to get my mind back to zero again.
No, it may be exactly the same as always.
I will start writing again for him to read.

What BT left behind is not only his heart and feelings.
The debugging system he has created is now essential for completing a complex production in such a short time.
And we will continue to use that system in this crunch. No, it will continue to be used forever and ever.

We will continue to work with him on our side and make more games from now on.

To all of you who interacted with BT at events and other venues. Thank you so much.
He took wonderful care of all of gifts he received and always kept them close to him.
He said that he enjoyed interacting with those people more than anything else, and no matter how busy he was, he always went to the events.

I would like to thank all of our fans from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you so much.

And thank you too, BT.
If I had not met you, I would not be here today.

So if I stop writing, it will be the same as never meeting you…
So I will grit my teeth and write.
Remembering what you taught me.

26/12/2009
Master-up

EP6 is successfully completed.
Thanks again to everyone involved for all their hard work.

The booklet will be a bonus at this year’s Comiket as well.
I was told by the staff that it’s more raunchy than the original game. I don’t know, I think it’s the other way around.
・－・－・－・－・－・－・－・－・－・－・－・
I would like to thank the staff for all their hard work.
Together we could pack EP6 with all of our various emotions of 2009.
We were able to do so thanks to our dependable friends. I am really grateful!..

To Yatazakura.
To make the script for the amazing climax of 47-49.txt in such a short time was truly astounding and genius! I think you did a great job in the limited time you had. Thanks again for all your hard work! Once again, you lived up to your name as a script artisan.

To Tokika.
Thank you so much for your hard work as the second general manager replacing BT. You did really well even towards the end, when it was the most physically demanding and had to be the most precise. Thank you so, so much for all your hard work!　As the strongest advisor who understands all aspects of our work, I hope you will continue to guide our entire staff.

To dai.
Thank you so much again for gathering and organizing so much music.
And thank you for your big help with the script as well! Also, for your help with right-click related issues. Thank you so, so, so much!　The cat’s eyes were so well done!　And also the kicking scene. Gusha! Sorry I had to cut the boat out of the game… But it was an awesome scene!

To Nekozakura.
Thanks to the fact that you were largely in charge of the facial expression direction and scripting, we could reduce the burden during the cleanup phase! This has helped me so much, and I hope you’ll continue to support us, please! Also, without your progress management, we would certainly have been a day short… Please, if you could continue to manage the 07th for me, I’d really appreciate it!

To Tsubaki Naruse.
I am so grateful for your hard work on the coloring. Sorry for the problems with the face scaling. Thank you for starting over each time. I was selfish and caused a lot of trouble. I am really sorry. You once again did a great job with the hair of the new characters! Thanks to you, I finally didn’t have to touch Photoshop for once this time. Thank you so much for all your hard work!

To Kagami.
With your tough vitality, you have survived this crunch with a smile on your face. I am really grateful! Thank you so much for all your chores, from shopping, taking out the trash, ordering delivery, preparing materials to debugging. I especially appreciate you picking up on the “gouge the head twice” typo, especially!　Please continue to support us. Thanks again for all your hard work!

To BT.
Because the Ozakura team (大桜組) works locally, the debugging system can be used not only by myself, but by everyone else as well, and the work can be divided more evenly. At the beginning of the year, I would like to hold a script workshop to explain to everyone the 07th-style direction techniques that Yatazakura and I have developed.
Without your debugging system, the current advanced direction would not be possible. Again, thank you so much.

To all the staff, thank you.
Even if it’s self-applause, I think this is the most interesting part of Umineko so far, even if you add up all of the previous chapters.
All of this is thanks to all the staff and war buddies who fought with us on the front lines until the end.
Everyone stayed healthy and fought really well.

I won’t pretend like I’ve led everyone to fight.
I believe I am here because everyone has kept me alive.

Too many things happened in 2009, and there is still a hole in my chest.
The only way to close it is to find something new to fill it with.
For what has been taken out of it will never come back.

I would like 2010 to be the year we find that something and keep recovering.

I don’t drink alcohol, so I make my head empty by shooting zombies.
For some reason, I just can’t master playing the Jockey. The Charger has completely opened my eyes since I got a SCATTERING RAM achievement on the slope at the entrance to the sugar factory!
Oh yeah, yesterday, I’ve been going through Dead Center in the single-player mode and saw two people being held up by two Smokers! They crossed from the second floor of the atrium to the first floor, looking a bit like Christmas decorations.
Huh, it’s so much easier when my head is empty. I wish someone would HS me.

If I could drink, I must be dead of alcoholism by now. Games are really healthy after all.