Website Structure
- Brand New Official Website Launched
- Comprehensive redesign and foundational restructuring to ensure scalability for the next decade;
- Responsive design for perfect compatibility across all display types, tablets, and mobile devices;
- Added Simplified Chinese (China) and Japanese language support;
- Implemented full ALT description support for images and complete ARIA semantic tag coverage for accessibility by screen readers;
- Redesigned the character introduction pages:
- Character voice lines are now available for preview on the website;
- Anonymous message feature available for selected characters;
- Integrated Wiki and Help Center seamlessly into the website structure;
- Mastodon Instance
- Updated Mastodon to version 4.0;
- Added ALT functionality for image descriptions to support visually impaired users, and implemented complete ARIA semantic tag coverage to ensure full screen reader compatibility;
- Removed the manual verification requirement for BILIBILI nickname;
- Discord Community
- Added support for Discord community for international audiences;
General / Infrastructure
- hitorino has officially started releasing videos on YouTube;
- hitorino is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, NetEase Cloud Music, and Tencent Music platforms;
- hitorino has established an independent music scoring system, bringing in several Netflix composers, with cinematic orchestration as the primary style;
- hitorino has built an independent motion capture system using industry-standard ROKOKO equipment and COLI PRO-based inertial motion tracking (COLI PRO tracking limited to single-player campaigns);
- hitorino 3D Lab officially established and now active on both the Chinese and international versions of Bambu Lab MakerWorld
- Based on its scale and long-term development needs, hitorino is focusing on 3D printing technologies, applying them to the production of fan merchandise and the development of motion capture hardware, lowering the entry barrier for fans while also reducing production and testing costs for hitorino;
- Network storage has migrated to Dropbox
- As an international group with staff and volunteers across continents, Dropbox ensures all assets and presets are synced across devices and regions for seamless cross-platform access;
- Cross-platform software workflows are now unified
- The new workflows allow for consistent professional software management across iPadOS, Windows, and macOS, covering the full production pipeline from 2D and 3D to music composition, including all presets, assets, hotkeys, fonts, and libraries;
Singleplayer Campaign
Given that hitorino interactive's current development level surpasses typical indie game standards, the "Valhalla Project" is positioned between indie games and small-scale AA titles. Thanks to our unique production system, hitorino has achieved significant creative freedom even without external investment or crowdfunding. We are exploring a unique artistic direction that blends ACG aesthetics with the narrative depth of European art films—an innovation designed to appeal to a broader, more mature audience beyond traditional ACG fans, including lovers of art and storytelling.
- Introducing the Red Campaign, featuring Eva and Rey's story arc, players can experience the other side of the narrative.
- Language Support
- Added Korean support;
- Improved Japanese translation;
- Technical Upgrades
- Cutscene engine migrated to Unreal Engine 5;
- Dynamic portrait system migrated from Unity Animated 2D to Live2D;
- Integrated hitorino Canvas Shader;
- Full 3D model support — high-poly models for the main characters are complete, and work on the remaining characters is still ongoing.
- Music Production
- Planned production of 2 to 3 original soundtracks:
- Blue Side (Raven Industries): music aligned with visual novel aesthetics, with beautiful melodies reflecting a tragic sisterly love, featuring Eastern instruments to highlight the oriental backdrop of Black Raven Isle;
- Red Side (Requiem Kingdom): grand and solemn orchestral compositions;
- General themes: emphasize central motifs using Viking musical styles, incorporating horsehair fiddles, rebecs, lyres, Viking horns, and male/female chanting vocals;
- Some Original soundtracks to be recorded live:
- Some instrumental parts will be recorded live for rich and authentic sound;
- Key tracks will be recorded live;
- Live recording enhances emotional depth and impact of the score;
- The Meridian Under the Heaven: Valhalla Original Soundtrack Prelude has been released on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and other major music streaming platforms worldwide
- Campaign demo is scheduled to launch later this year;
Let hitorino take you on an adventure through the world of music.
The Prelude Soundtrack, featuring some of our earlier compositions, is now available — and new demo soundtracks are coming soon.
Multiplayer (Virtual Idol Segment)
- Technical Upgrades
- Dynamic portrait system migrated from Unity Animated 2D to Live2D;
- Full 3D model support — all characters now have completed standard-poly models;
- Upcoming release of hitorino-III (Third Generation, Mainstream Focus), featuring Akakushi Fuyu, the first English-only virtual idol;
- Brand new dynamic Weather System Exclusive to hitorino-III for a Limited Time
- Volumetric Clouds
- Supports international standard “BRF” format for 6-dot Braille encoding:
- For international versions, supporting standard English Braille;
- For Chinese regions, supporting phonetic and non-phonetic Braille;
- Next-gen User Interface
- Brand new UI design;
- Dialogue boxes centered at the eye-sweet spot near the bottom of the screen for optimal viewing experience;
- Language Support
- Added Japanese interface and subtitle support;
- Improved 3D Audio
- Supports Angle
- Personnel Changes
- Hikari Sunnvei (1st Gen) graduated due to personal work commitments, succeeded by Hikari Sunnvei (2nd Gen);
- Voice quality has been significantly enhanced to professional standards
- Rania Runys (1st Gen) graduated due to a career change, succeeded by Rania Runys (2nd Gen);
hitorino Canvas Unified Art Pipeline
To meet hitorino’s ever-expanding needs, we’ve unified our 3D art tech stack:
- hitorino Canvas Shader
- A renderer tailored for The Meridian Under the Heaven: Valhalla, focusing on heavy ACG storytelling;
- Distinct from mainstream Unity-based toon shaders;
- Features:
- Proprietary cross-platform, cross-engine rendering system;
- Consistent visual style across Unreal Engine and Unity;
- Superior performance in dim and low-light environments for next-gen visual quality;
- Supports manual frame-by-frame highlight and shadow map drawing, similar to Clip Studio Paint EX’s animation system;