This post is a free part of what was posted on the Japanese creator support site “Ci-en”. If you want to see the latest production progress on the paid part, visit Ci-en.

Summer Sale Participation: All Titles 50% Off

　Continuing with the Summer Sale, all our titles are available at a 50% discount.

■ SHINNEMIA in the Forest Invader Regular Price: 1,650 yen → Sale Price: 825 yen

■ Continent of Slaughter Regular Price: 1,760 yen → Sale Price: 880 yen

　Last time, I forgot to mention that not only DLsite but also FANZA is participating in the same sale (50% off Summer Doujin Festival), offering the same 50% discount.

■ Succubus R●pe Cruel Story Regular Price: 1,870 yen → Sale Price: 935 yen

　Succubus R●pe Cruel Story is not available on DLsite, so you can only purchase it at a discount on FANZA. As far as I remember, this is the first time Succubus R●pe Cruel Story has been available at a discount. The currently in-progress QUEEN of MASSACRE is motivated by the desire to create what couldn’t be completed in Succubus R●pe Cruel Story. In a way, Succubus R●pe Cruel Story can be considered the original work for QUEEN of MASSACRE. 　Whether you’ve been interested in it but haven’t purchased it yet, or you’ve just learned about it for the first time, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to buy it. 　I may write an introduction article about Succubus R●pe Cruel Story soon. 　The data available on FANZA is the standard version with mosaics on internal and severed parts, but you can upgrade to the complete version with a patch. Additionally, there is a slightly cheaper way to purchase if you own Succubus Journey Tales. 　Please check our homepage for details.

Production Progress Report ①

　Surprisingly, the production is not only on schedule but also progressing ahead of schedule. The progress status of the current task, the creation of enemy character images, is as follows:

　The facial expression variations for all characters are complete, and we are now working on the damage variations (grotesque images). We have already finished two damage variations and are currently working on the third one.

Production Images

Facial Expression Variations

Production Progress Report ②

Damage Variations

　In QUEEN of MASSACRE, we have a system where enemies gradually take damage to their bodies, and upon defeat, a death image is displayed. For each body, we have three facial variations, and we also provide three death images for each. However, the intermediate damage variations leading to death are shared across characters.

　Below is an animation of the production process.

　During production, we create all three death images for a single face, and then assign each to the respective faces. For some enemy characters, we also change the body color to match the facial variations, which is a somewhat laborious task, but still easier compared to creating the three death images.

Challenges of Creating Death Images

　The biggest challenge in creating death images is running out of ideas. The images need to be visually compelling and match the standing posture. Additionally, it’s important to have a variety of images to keep things interesting and avoid repetitiveness among characters. Ideas include intestines spilling out of the abdomen, decapitation, the upper body being blown off, or one side of the upper body being blown off (with different internal organs visible depending on the blow’s location). However, when creating about three variations for nearly 20 characters, the ideas inevitably start to feel repetitive. 　Expressions such as characters falling over with their organs scattered cannot be used. The damage variations are created by modifying a single image. Drawing entirely new body images would significantly lengthen the production time. 　Struggling with these challenges can be overwhelming, but I have recently started to care less about it for two reasons:

• 1:It has become more important to keep production moving, even if the quality is slightly imperfect, rather than stalling due to overthinking. This is a form of resignation, acknowledging that agonizing over ideas doesn’t always yield great results.

• 2:Conversely, I’ve realized that a lack of agonizing time doesn’t necessarily result in poor-quality work. Even if similar death scenarios, like intestines spilling out of the abdomen, are used repeatedly (this is a frequent scenario for almost all characters), the individual portrayals are different and don’t lower the overall quality. Since each base image is different and I hand-draw everything, the drawings are inherently different. Moreover, the shapes of intestines and other internal organs vary greatly, making it impossible to draw them the same way twice. Additionally, since the start of QUEEN of MASSACRE production, my drawing style has gradually evolved, inadvertently adding variety to the illustrations (though this isn’t necessarily a good thing).

　Of course, I aim to create as varied images as possible. The image introduced in this article features a quadrupedal horse-like human. This unique feature allowed for a death scenario where the back part of the body is gouged out and the internal organs spill onto the ground, which couldn’t be done with characters facing forward.

In the paid articles of Ci-en, you can view all the latest work, including other death images.