Long time no posting an announcement for y'all to read. That changes today, with the exciting news that many of you may have already known: Highway Blossoms: Next Exit is coming soon, and available to wishlist right now.
HB:NE is a new story set shortly after the original game. It sees the main cast return to Las Vegas to celebrate Tess' birthday, at an alien-themed convention at the Stratosphere. There's tension, humor, crying, etc. You guys know the drill, right? Most importantly, Cassi, the candy shop girl, is back. Somehow, she ended up being a fan favorite character, which was really cool, because she had my favorite design in the game. This whole DLC may or may not have been an excuse to write about her more.
Anyway, the game. It's written by Syon and I again, and is a collaboration between Studio Élan and Studio Coattails. All of the original voice actors will be back, and we're also getting new music from each of the composers. The character art in the DLC is by moekki and Kamifish, both of whom previously worked on Katawa Shoujo.
The DLC will require the base game to install (as DLC's tend to do). It should run a little under half the length of the original game, yet features just about the same number of CGs. Full voice acting will be available on launch. There will also be certain points in the story where you can choose to read from Amber or Marina's perspective.
We're still working on finishing up the DLC, but we're in the scripting and voice acting stage, which means we're pretty close to the end. While it's still too early to name an exact release date, we're hoping to have it out near the end of Summer.
Finally, to end things with, please check out these gorgeous character cards that the Studio Élan designer adirosa put together. They're meant to be a little update about the characters since the end of the original game.
We know it's been a while since the original game came out, so thanks to all of y'all still sticking with us here. We hope you're excited!
Josh
New VN Released - National Park Girls
Hey everyone, Syon here. I'm one of the co-creators of Highway Blossoms and founder of Studio Coattails. Just wanted to let you guys know we released a new project. It's called National Park Girls, and in a lot of ways, it's a bit of a spiritual successor to Highway Blossoms, with its focus on Americana, rustic music, and also having a cutely cynical protagonist. Here's the rundown if you're interested:
All Eve ever wanted was to protect and preserve the land, but after five years of being a ranger in Yosemite National Park, she’s just about ready to throw in the towel. The people are careless, her co-workers are annoying, and thanks to an increasingly tight budget she can hardly do her job. Fed up and burned out, Eve lashes out, but after being transferred to a remote cabin post in return, she only finds herself more uncertain of the value of being a ranger. Soon after arriving, three strange girls corner her in the cabin. Not only do they claim to live there, but they also say they’re the manifestations of Zion, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks! Are these girls really who they say they are? Why is Yosemite so obsessed with her research? And why does one of them have a volcano on their head? Follow Eve as she gets closer with these spritely cuties that put the “natural” in “supernatural,” and maybe even discovers a new kind of love for the parks.
Both me and Josh are working on this (just like Highway Blossoms), so you can expect a familiar tone and atmosphere. Hope you decide to check it out!
Change In Developer For HB
Attention: This establishment is now under new management. Sort of.
Starting today (technically a couple days ago), Highway Blossoms is no longer going to be under the Alienworks name. From here on out, it'll be jointly listed under Studio Coattails and Studio Élan, the two groups that Syon and I formed back in 2017. So what does this mean for HB? In the short-term, not a whole lot. The recent update to the game just changes the logos and credits (and also changes one joke from goofball mode so that we won't get sued). Long term, it means that you can look forward to HB merchandise from both studios, as well as extra content on the Studio Élan Patreon. Anything in the future that we do that uses the Highway Blossoms IP will be under the same two names, as well.
While this is a great time to replay HB (since, let's face it, any time is a great time to replay HB), if you're looking for something new, both Studio Coattails and Studio Élan have some recent releases. At Studio Élan, we just released Heart of the Woods about a month ago. It's another yuri game, this time in the fantasy genre. It's about a duo who run a paranormal investigation blog, and travel to a remote mountain village to investigate rumors of... Well, the paranormal. Spoilers: they find it.
Not into yuri? First of all, why are you on this page? But aside from that, on March 14, Studio Coattails is releasing Episode 1 of National Park Girls. Just like the title implies, it's a story about US national parks. As anime girls. Just like HB, it's got full English voice acting, including some familiar faces. Well, voices. While it's fully a Studio Coattails project, it's one that Syon and I are writing together. Episode 1 is all Syon, while I'll be writing episodes 2 and 3, and then Syon's writing 4 and 5. As mentioned, this one isn't a romance title, although there are still some... Shall we say, romantic undertones? But they're not at the forefront of the story.
Anyway, that's it for now. It's so heartwarming to see people discovering and enjoying HB still, even a couple years after release. We hope that you'll stick with us for our new projects and enjoy those too. Until next time!
Cheers,
Josh
New Yuri VN - Heart of the Woods
Hey everyone,
Josh here. I just wanted to let you know that I just released a new yuri VN called "Heart of the Woods" with my team Studio Élan. It's got ghosts, it's got girls, it's got gmagic. It's also got a 10% launch discount for a week!
Anyway, if you liked Highway Blossoms, then hopefully you'll like HotW too. I directed and co-wrote it, and all of the character art was done by Rosuuri (who did the cover art and a couple CG's for HB). It's got a different tone and style than HB does, but I think you'll still enjoy it.
Also, stay tuned for more news on National Park Girls, a VN series that Syon and I are working on together. The character art for that one is being done by Satchel, the artist behind Doki Doki Literature Club. More on that coming really soon!
Thanks for checking out HotW (assuming that you do, and don't just close this tab without clicking this really fun link right here which will take you to the game).
This is the exact same as the 18+ patch that we host on our website, so if you've gotten it from there, you don't need to change anything. There's no content in the Steam DLC version that isn't available in the old patch. You can continue to use that version if you'd like, or you can switch to using the official release.
If you weren't aware of the adult patch, well, as its store page says, it adds two uncensored sex scenes towards the end of the game. The illustrations are by Weee/Raemz.
Want to know if you've already passed where the scenes would've occurred? Both take place After the Las Vegas section of the game. One is right after visiting the World's Tallest Thermometer, one is after Amber and Marina make up from their argument, right before they go to the music festival.
It probably goes without saying, but you need to be 18 years or older to download and play the adult patch.
Have fun!
Achievements Fixed
Hey everyone,
We think we've identified the issue that we've been having with achievements, and have uploaded a new build to fix it. Please let us know in the comments if this solves the issue. We apologize for the trouble.
Highway Blossoms 2.10: Chinese translation error fixes
This update addresses some minor Chinese translation errors that have been found by fans, and should not impact any English players.
Highway Blossoms Remastered Released!
After many months of hard work, Highway Blossoms Remastered is now available to all current owners for free. Here are the major updates:
-Full English voiceover has been added for all spoken lines
-Simplified Chinese language option has been added.
-Soundtrack has been remastered and three new additional tracks have been added(applies to DLC as well)
-RV and Canyon de Chelly CG's have been remade
-New menu options and accessibility features added to make reading a little easier
-Extra sound effects
-Additional Steam achievements
-Sprite animations improved
-Various typos fixed
Additionally, we have a few other surprises added in for you to discover as you play through again. We hope you enjoy discovering them.
Announcing Some New Games From Some Of Us
I tried like four different titles for this post and none of them sounded good, so you're stuck with that one. I'm not happy about it either.
Before getting to the new announcement stuff, a quick update on HB: Remastered, to technically make this post relevant: voice acting is progressing pretty nicely, and will hopefully continue to do so. We've got one of the fixed up CG's from Weee, and she's currently working on a new CG that wasn't present in the original game. Smoke Thief (formerly Anna Logue) has touched up the mastering on his music, so it sounds way better - both the in-game versions and the ones from the soundtrack DLC. We're still hoping to have HB:R out by December, just in time for everyone to buy it for your friends for the holidays to make it a nice holiday present to you all =3 We'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Also, because a few people asked on the last update: Syon's still plugging away at "Dusty Trails," the HB spin-off light novel that he's been working on for the past [indeterminate amount of time]. He's gotten a pretty good chunk of the first volume written, and while it's too early for a release date, it's coming along nicely.
Now for the good stuff. While we collectively as Alienworks are still hard at work on HRP, Syon - the director and other writer for HB - and myself have both started our own new VN studios on the side, for making other games.
Syon just started Coattails Studio, a group for exploring all kinds of weird and unique stories - and not just visual novels. Right now, they're working on a game called "Same As It Ever Was," which is a Lovecraftian, surreal game. The character designs and art are being done by Shiyun, who was also the lead artist here on HB, so you know it's gonna look good. Give 'em a follow over on ze Twitters if you'd like.
Additionally, I started Studio Élan, which is a really pain to type, lemme tell ya, because of that É. With Studio Élan, I want to make more yuri games in a similar vein as HB: tasteful and cute, rather than super lewd. Just last weekend, we announced our first two games: "Heart of the Woods," which is a mystical story involving a ghost girl in a magic forest, and "The Waters Above," which is about a sea nymph who's in charge of taking care of the stars. The artist for HotW is Rosuuri, who did some CG's for HB like the kiss scenes and Marina in Vegas, and the artist for TWA is Namie, who hasn't worked on a visual novel before. You can stalk us in the Twitterverse as well.
There are also Discord servers for both groups, which you can find on our respective Twitter pages.
Anyway, that's about it for this time. Pls look forward to our upcoming games. The new HRP demo will hopefully be out by the end of this year, but considering our previous luck with announcing release windows and then flying right past 'em, we're not gonna commit to that.
Thanks for reading this stuff. It really does mean a lot to me/us.
Cheers!
Highway Blossoms: Remastered Coming "Soon"
Sup friends,
We have things and stuff to tell you! If you attended the Sekai Project panel at Anime Expo this year, or if you follow our Twitter (hint hint twitter.com/alienworksdev) you might have seen us announce HB: Remastered. If you didn't, well, there's a reason I'm writing this update.
The Remastered version will have a few new things. The most significant of these is full English voice acting! And yes, I mean full ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) We just posted a preview trailer on Youtube, so mosey on over there and check it out. We'll wait.
Back? Okay, good. As the girls explain, in addition to the voicing, there will be a remastered soundtrack including a couple new songs from Smoke Thief (formerly credited as Anna Logue), and with other tracks getting a few touch ups. We'll also be fixing some of the art, including the RV background that's currently kind of a void into the nether, as well as adding in one or two new CG's. There will be lots of other changes, too, including but not limited to some new language options.
Once the update's out, we'll be printing those physical copies we talked about like half a year ago. We announced those a little too early, because we're really good at planning (and because we hadn't settled on doing VA at that point, but of course once we did we chose to postpone the physicals until after the patch is out). So, if you love us enough to buy the game a second time and get a DVD copy, you'll be able to do that! We're gonna try to include a bonus item with 'em too, but nothing's settled there.
The patch itself will be delivered as a free update to everybody who already owns the game, and we're hooooooping to have it out by the end of this year. Which probably means sometime early next year. However! Although the patch will be free, we're probably going to be raising the base price of the game a couple bucks to compensate. So, if you don't already own Highway Blossoms, then... Well, first off, how are you reading this??? But also you should totally get the game now while it's cheaper rather than wait for the price increase. That is, of course, unless you feel like giving us more money. We're cool with that too.
