{"id":48066,"date":"2025-05-16T16:40:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T07:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48066"},"modified":"2025-05-22T14:42:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T05:42:46","slug":"this-tps-is-brutally-difficult-because-its-sexy-clothes-damage-system-cant-work-if-players-dont-get-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/this-tps-is-brutally-difficult-because-its-sexy-clothes-damage-system-cant-work-if-players-dont-get-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"This TPS is brutally difficult because its sexy clothes damage system can&#8217;t work if players don&#8217;t get hit\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Neptunia developer Compile Hearts\u2019 new singleplayer TPS <strong>Scar-Lead Salvation<\/strong> will launch on May for the PC (Steam), PS4 and PS5. With its attractive female lead and fanservice, the title is very characteristic of Compile Hearts, but at the same time, it&#8217;s a hardcore, die-and-retry shooter \u2013 something the developer has never done before. We recently caught up with Hiroshi Aoki, Scar-Lead Salvation\u2019s producer, and found out about the game\u2019s rather wild origin story.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Scar-Lead Salvation | Gameplay Trailer | PS4\u00ae, PS5\u00ae, Steam\u00ae\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/82ijZ9fGM2Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In Scar-Lead Salvation, you play as protagonist Willow Martin, who suddenly awakens in a deserted military facility. With no memories of who she is and why she\u2019s there, Willow follows the advice of an AI companion to unravel the truth about her identity and the mysterious facility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a third-person shooter, Scar-Lead Salvation offers a variety of weapons that differ in parameters like power, shooting range and firing rate. Certain weapons come with special abilities like\u00a0delivering wide-area explosions or stunning enemies. As the effectiveness of each weapon depends on the enemy you\u2019re up against, strategic weapon selection is a core part of Scar-Lead Salvation&#8217;s gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1272\" height=\"715\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1272px) 100vw, 1272px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-002.jpg\" alt=\"Scar-Lead Salvation\" class=\"wp-image-48068\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-002.jpg 1272w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-002-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-002-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Another key feature of the game is its clothes damage system \u2013 Willow&#8217;s armor visibly breaks down as she gets hit by enemy attacks, leaving her gradually more exposed. While her armor is still intact, Willow won\u2019t take damage, but once exposed, she\u2019ll start taking damage with each hit. This fanservice-y side of Scar-Lead Salvation is quite typical of Compile Hearts, but its hardcore gameplay and punishing difficulty are a huge departure from the studio\u2019s usual fare.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surprisingly, producer Hiroshi Aoki reveals that Scar-Lead Salvation wasn&#8217;t originally planned as a TPS. Instead, the whole project was born from the noble desire to build a game around a clothes damage gimmick. &#8220;There have already been games where characters&#8217; outfits become disheveled or progressively torn as they take damage, and this was basically what we took as our initial concept. I know it may sound unbelievable, but it\u2019s true. Our idea was, <em>No one\u2019s done realistic physics-based clothes destruction before, right?<\/em>&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1276\" height=\"714\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1276px) 100vw, 1276px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-header.jpg\" alt=\"Scar-Lead Salvation\" class=\"wp-image-48069\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-header.jpg 1276w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-header-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-header-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this sense, making Scar-Lead Salvation a TPS was something of an afterthought. Why then, did it end up being such a hardcore shooter? It turns out, the punishing &#8220;die and retry\u201d game design was also in service of letting the clothes damage system do its magic. Aoki offers a convincing explanation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWell, if you don\u2019t get hit, nothing\u2019s going to come off, is it? If we made it too easy to dodge bullets, the whole clothes damage mechanic wouldn&#8217;t get to shine. So, we decided that it had to be a game that\u2019s out to kill the player. Thus, we arrived at a die-and-retry format.\u201d No matter how much it may sound like a joke, Aoki assures us that yes, Scar-Lead Salvation\u2019s game design was built around getting the protagonist to undress.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1274\" height=\"717\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1274px) 100vw, 1274px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-004.jpg\" alt=\"Scar-Lead Salvation\" class=\"wp-image-48070\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-004.jpg 1274w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-004-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-004-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The funny part is, Compile Hearts focused on designing&nbsp;robust TPS gameplay for Scar-Lead Salvation so much that&nbsp;its hardcore side started stealing the spotlight, making the game more serious than originally intended. Aoki points out that, ironically, players won\u2019t have time to get caught up in Willow\u2019s&nbsp;sexy disheveled state because they\u2019ll be too busy trying not to die.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scar-Lead Salvation is scheduled to launch on May 29 for the PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3226460\/ScarLead_Salvation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>), PS5 and PS4.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scar-Lead Salvation producer Hiroshi Aoki tells us about the wild origin story of Compile Hearts&#8217; new hardcore TPS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-interviews","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>This TPS is brutally difficult because its sexy clothes damage system can&#039;t work if players don&#039;t get hit\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scar-Lead Salvation producer Hiroshi Aoki tells us about the wild origin story of Compile Hearts&#039; new hardcore TPS.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/this-tps-is-brutally-difficult-because-its-sexy-clothes-damage-system-cant-work-if-players-dont-get-hit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This TPS is brutally difficult because its sexy clothes damage system can&#039;t work if players don&#039;t get hit\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scar-Lead Salvation producer Hiroshi Aoki tells us about the wild origin story of Compile Hearts&#039; new hardcore TPS.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/this-tps-is-brutally-difficult-because-its-sexy-clothes-damage-system-cant-work-if-players-dont-get-hit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-16T07:40:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-22T05:42:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250515-48066-003.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1272\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"718\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This TPS is brutally difficult because its sexy clothes damage system can't work if players don't get hit\u00a0 - 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