Ciconia When They Cry
Ciconia When They Cry is a visual novel video game in development by 07th Expansion. It is the fifth entry in the When They Cry series, following the Higurashi and Umineko games, and follows people trying to prevent the outbreak of World War IV. It is released episodically for Microsoft Windows and macOS, by 07th Expansion in Japan and by MangaGamer internationally, and is planned to be four episodes long. The first, "Phase 1: For You, the Replaceable Ones", was released on October 4, 2019, and the second is planned for release in 2020.
The game is written by Ryukishi07 and produced by Nakao Bōshi, and features art by Ryukishi07 and Remotaro, and music by several returning series composers. It was designed to be different from Higurashi and Umineko, with a larger world compared to their isolated settings, and with the intent that the player can choose to just enjoy the story or optionally try to solve the mysteries themselves, a change influenced by the 1995 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The story's set-up was also designed to be more condensed, with episode 1 roughly corresponding to the first half of Umineko in terms of plot progression.
Overview
Ciconia When They Cry is a visual novel set after the end of World War III. It follows Gauntlet Knights – young people trained to use a new military technology called the Gauntlet, which allows its user to fly, fight, and repel attacks – who have become friends and aim to prevent the outbreak of a fourth world war.Development
Ciconia When They Cry is developed by 07th Expansion, with a scenario, original character designs and illustrations by Ryukishi07. The game is produced by Nakao Bōshi, and features graphics and coloring by Remotaro. The music is composed by returning When They Cry series staff, including Dai, Luck Ganriki, Xaki, and Akiyama Uni; and the opening theme is performed by Maria Sawada. The game is developed and released episodically, and is planned to be four episodes long. The game's title – "ciconia", a genus of birds in the stork family – comes from how the game focuses on child characters. While at a convention outside Japan, Ryukishi07 asked recurring 07th Expansion composer Gin Kreuz how to localize the title in Japanese to make it sound more appealing. Kreuz responded with "ciconia" as opposed to "chikonia". The latter, as Ryukishi07 claims, sounded similar to how a Japanese person would pronounce it. Convinced by how natural Kreuz's pronunciation sounded, Ryukishi07 opted for "ciconia", owing to its sound and how well he thought it fit the game's science fiction setting.Writing
Production of the game began in November 2017, while Ryukishi07 was working on the audio drama Haworthia, which was used to test Ciconia's concepts. It was announced the following year in July 2018 with an illustration of its protagonist, under the working title ●● no Naku Koro ni, along with the expanded Umineko compilation Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku, both of which were planned for release in Q4 2018. In October 2018, both were delayed until Q2/Q3 2019, due to inaccurate scheduling based on what Ryukishi07 had been physically capable of when he worked on Higurashi and Umineko about ten years prior, as well as due to the longer script compared to Higurashi and Umineko first episodes.series Neon Genesis Evangelion.|alt=The Evangelion logo, consisting of white text against a black background.
Ryukishi07 intended for Ciconia to stand out from previous When They Cry games, and wanted change up some elements that had been recurring up until that point: he had for example specifically intended for the player to actively try to figure out the mysteries in Higurashi and Umineko, but changed this for Ciconia to also let the player simply enjoy the story. This decision was influenced by the 1995 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which both lets the viewer just enjoy the story, and optionally lets them try to figure out and speculate about the mysteries of its world from the little information it gives out. Another change was the scope of the game's setting: the series had featured increasingly smaller settings, going from Higurashi isolated village to Umineko small island cut off from the outside world, so Ryukishi07 decided to create a When They Cry game set in a large world. To show gratitude to international fans of the series, he also specifically wrote the script to feature characters from around the world.
Ciconia story was condensed compared to those in Higurashi and Umineko: both of them were split into four "question arcs" and four "answer arcs", where their mysteries are set up and solved, with an initial episode mainly serving to introduce the characters and setting. Meanwhile, Ciconia was constructed to span four episodes, with its equivalents of the "question arcs" condensed to give more room for its "answer arcs", with Ryukishi07 describing the end of Ciconia first episode as equivalent to Umineko third or fourth episode in terms of plot progression. This was in part done due to time, as the series' release schedule had meant that it had taken two years for just Umineko "answer arcs" to come out.
Music and visuals
The music tracks in the game were specifically composed to begin quickly, and give the listener a feeling for the song's mood within the first few seconds, as the developers wanted to avoid a situation where a scene ends before the player has gotten past a long prelude. As Ryukishi07 did not have the musical knowledge to describe what kind of music he wanted in the game, he would listen to a lot of music and send tracks that fit his vision to Dai, who would in turn write instructions based on those tracks for himself and the other composers.The game's character sprites were created in a collaboration between Ryukishi07 and Remotaro: Ryukishi07 would draw sketches of each sprite, and Remotaro would then draw the line art and paint the sprites. She would specifically try to preserve the style and charm of Ryukishi07's artwork, as she knew that there were fans of Higurashi and Umineko who were attached to Ryukishi's art, while still adding more details and trying to make the art shine with focus on texture, light and shadow.
Release
At Sakura-Con 2019, Ryukishi07 and video game publisher MangaGamer announced that they would release the game simultaneously in English and Japanese, coinciding with Summer Comiket 2019 on August 9, 2019. In July 2019, however, 07th Expansion announced that the game had been delayed until late September 2019; it was then delayed again, with the first episode, "Phase 1: For You, the Replaceable Ones", released on October 4, 2019 for Microsoft Windows and macOS. In Japan, it additionally got a physical release. The second episode is planned to be released at some point in 2020, following a delay from May 2020.The English localization is handled by ChronoTrig, Klashikari and other members of the translation group Witch Hunt, who previously worked on the English translations of Umineko and Rose Guns Days. They are also working on a localization of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku, but are on Ryukishi07's request prioritizing Ciconia. The English translation option was added to the Japanese physical release through a patch update in November 2019.