16th volume of “Developer’s Backyard”(1/26 Release)

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Happy New Year!
This is Miyauchi, the producer, and Katano, the director.

Thanks to all of your support, in 2023 we announced the new game mode currently under development, Team of 3, in addition to the release of Bedman?, Asuka R♯, Johnny, and Elphelt as well as new battle mechanics and special moves.
We’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of you once again.

In the upcoming year, our development team will continue our efforts to provide new and surprising experiences for the players. We appreciate you sticking with us.

In this volume, we’ll cover the previously mentioned Elphelt who was released in December as well as future updates. Be sure to read to the end.

●　Introducing Elphelt Valentine
●　Introducing Team of 3
●　Season 3 Update Schedule
●　Player Questions (Q&A)
●　Tournament and Event Information

Elphelt Valentine Joins the Fray!

■Name: Elphelt Valentine
■Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
■Weight: Dreamy
■Blood Type: Unknown
■Date of Birth: December 25
■Origin: Backyard
■Hobbies: Romantic discussions, pretending to be a bush dog, impromptu singing
■Values: Smiles, her bush dog shaped coin bank, anything sweet
■Dislikes: Creepy insects, killing, loneliness

Elphelt is one of the Valentines created by the Universal Will.
She loves animals and nature and can't bear to see anyone alone.
She will charge into any problem head-first, shielded by impenetrable optimism.

After the battle with the Universal Will, she takes on a position within Illyria Castle, but isn't able to keep up well with the work.

Although no one blames her for making mistakes, this very fact weighs on Elphelt, and she runs off.
What can she do to bring smiles to people's faces? Elphelt finds the answer to her quandary in the form of a microphone.

Her band Speothos Venaticus is active on the scene to this day.

●Character Design
Elphelt first appeared in Xrd: Sign wearing a wedding dress, with her design then changing along with story developments in Revelator. As described in her profile above, in Strive she’s started a band called Speothos Venaticus, and she now sports her stage outfit: a skirt reminiscent of a bouquet and a rock, metal, death-inspired jacket.



By the way, her mid-match growls were recorded by a Japanese singer, separate from the voice actress who provides her spoken lines.
The vocals for her character theme “Extras” were performed by the actress and singer Molly Daisy Scarpine

“Extras” is available streaming on various music services now, so be sure to give it a listen!

●Battle Design
Elphelt is easy to pick up, and capable of powerful rush-down with her variety of mix-up options branching off of Chain Lollipop. With 5 stars, she ranks in the highest class of usability amongst the cast, with a move in her arsenal for any given situation.

In the prior titles, Elphelt was a stance-based character, with the player choosing between several weapons for her to wield.
Bringing out her full potential required quickly changing between her stances. While many players expressed interest in her, the high technical difficulty became a barrier for playing her.

For Strive, we wanted more players to have the chance to use her, so we adjusted her playstyle to use more intuitive controls to perform a variety of actions using many weapons.
Her concept means players will be able to dive right into matches versus others, so we’d especially like to recommend her to anyone who hasn’t played much multi-player before.

●Voicework
Elphelt’s Taunt voice lines surpass the rest of the cast in variety.
The lines vary depending on the opponent character, reflecting her vision of the rest of the cast. Listen for yourself in Training Mode!
A lot of effort went into her character, including small details such as changes to her Taunt animation to match the different voice lines.

Announcing the New Game Mode, Team of 3!



Along with Elphelt, we announced the currently under development online versus mode, Team of 3, scheduled for release in 2024.
Although we can’t reveal too much in detail regarding this mode yet, it will pit teams of 3 players each against one another in online matches. We’ve heard a lot of buzz about the new mode, and the development team is excited for everyone to have the chance to play it.
Be on the lookout for more information!

Season 3 Update Schedule (Updated)

I’m sure many of you are curious about what’s coming up next after the previous Season 3 updates. In this volume, we’ll provide some news about the updates on the way.

The Season 3 updates coming in 2024 are as follows:



●Additional Characters
The next character updates are planned for March-April and May of 2024, respectively. The additional stages included in the Season Pass will be released one at a time along with each character.

Continuing the addition of new special moves for the 15 characters of the initial roster in Season 3, the next update will add a special move for one character.
We aim to get the new special moves out as soon as possible with this gradual implementation method. Thank you for your patience as we work on the remaining characters’ new moves.

Regarding the [Ver.1.33] Known Issues After Recent Update (Dec. 12, 2023), we released a patch to Ver. 1.34 with fixes on January 11. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our players.

Questions from the Players

Q.I’m curious about the brand logo-style writing on the characters’ clothing and accessories (aside from the weapons). What does it say, and what led to the names here?

Our designers come up with ideas for the brand logos for apparel and accessories within the GG world. For example, on Sin’s clothing from the brand Hello, it says “Ding Dong Ditch” on the logo. The idea here was to convey that this brand is aimed at people with a bit of a mischievous side.
We came up with the brand message at the same time: “We can go anywhere. We can do anything. Nothing is impossible.” This phrase can also be seen in places on his clothing.



Some of the clothing is designed like this with the idea that the characters bought it from brands in the GG world, while others we envision as made by the characters themselves.

For example, the lettering on Chaos’s sunglasses isn’t from an existing alphabet but rather uses an original design.
There might be a pronunciation or meaning behind it only Chaos knows. On the other hand, there might be no meaning at all.

Q.It feels like as of Season 3, there have been more and more updates making the game more complex, adding new mechanics and new moves. I understand the updates are to keep players interested in the matches, but is the plan to keep making the game more complex going forward?

While each update has a multitude of intentions behind it, one that carries over for all updates is that we aim to make the game fun and compelling. The development team checks for feedback from various sources after each update, and we constantly reevaluate and aim for updates that make the game increasingly fun and engaging.
For future updates in 2024, we intend to address what makes players feel the game is too complex and improve the user experience as well as add content a wide audience of players can enjoy.

Tournament and Event Information

Finally, we have some updates on the AWT tournaments and events.

FIGHTERS SPIRIT

FIGHTERS SPIRIT, held in South Korea from November 18 to 19, featured some of the strongest players around Asia. FLY|TempestNYC from the USA secured first place with his Leo!
He faced the winner of ARCREVO 2021 JAPAN&KOREA, ONi|TY, in the winners finals. TY fought his way back up from losers and managed to pull off a reset in grand finals, however in the end TemptestNYC’s fearsome offense won him a second AWT2023 qualifier after his victory at CEOtaku!

Japanese Stream

Battle Coliseum

From November 24 to 26, Battle Coliseum in Brazil saw the powerful contender from Canada PepperySplash, after his 4th placement in CEOtaku 2024, make his way to grand finals in the winners bracket with his Johnny and Zato. His formidable opponent DM|Dany from Mexico managed to reset the bracket in grand finals, but PepperySplash pulled off the victory with impressive perseverance!

Stream 　

Ultimate Fighting Arena

(November 24 to 26)
At the same time in France, Solo|Verix from Senegal, who placed 5th in EVO 2023, and his Nagoriyuki lost in Ultimate Fighting Arena’s winners finals to ONi|Tiger_Pop’s Happy Chaos, a familiar face with impressive placements across many AWT qualifiers. He recovered from the loss to win in losers finals and end in first place!

Stream

Here are the plans for the upcoming qualifier event and finals:

Frosty Faustings

(Jan. 25 to 28, 2024 local time)
The final ARC WORLD TOUR 2023 qualifier for Guilty Gear -Strive- will take place in Lombard, Illinois in the USA.
As of January 22, more than 700 players have registered!
Don’t miss the fierce competition for the last ticket to the Finals awaiting after the qualifiers.

Stream

The current status of the leaderboards for the 3 tour point-based finals slots are as follows:

ARC WORLD TOUR FINALS 2023

(March 21 to 23 local time)
ARC WORLD TOUR 2023 started back in June 2023.
The last battle will take place over three days starting March 21, 2024 (local time) in Long Beach, California, USA: ARC WORLD TOUR FINALS 2023!
In addition to Guilty Gear -Strive-, the event will feature the last chance qualifier and finals tournament for the other tour title Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, as well as a side tournament for UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes.



Spectator tickets for ARC WORLD TOUR FINALS 2023 are currently on sale. There will be a lot to enjoy at the venue in addition to the tournaments. Experience the excitement of the finals for yourself on-site!



The VIP tickets for Day 3 come with special bonus items. Don’t miss out!

Ticket sales

ARC WORLD TOUR 2023 special site

That’s all for Volume 16 of Developer’s Backyard.
Thank you for sticking around until the end.

We’re currently accepting submissions for topics you’d like us to discuss in a future Developer’s Backyard, as well as questions and comments via the form below.

Check out the official GGST X for the latest info!
https://twitter.com/GUILTYGEAR_PR

For English tweets follow https://twitter.com/ArcSystemWorksU

Developer’s Backyard Submission Form

Click Here!

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