Prerelease:Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei (PlayStation Portable)/DISTRUST Phase Of Development
 | Oh dear, I do believe I have the vapors. This page contains content that is not safe for work or other locations with the potential for personal embarrassment. Such as: Chopped-off heads of girls, being stabbed to death with pipes, and a more brutal execution of poor Leon getting hit with baseballs. |
This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei (PlayStation Portable).
On September 8th 2011 for the CEDEC(Computer Entertainment Developers Conference), Yoshinori Terasawa and Kazutaka Kodaka revealed several pieces of extremely early concept art to show the development process for Danganronpa and the challenges to get the game made. This concept art reveals that the game was originally more ambitious with its gameplay mechanics and that the game went for a more gruesome, "psycho shock" tone than the "psychopop" setting the final game has. This isn't very surprising, considering the game was inspired heavily by the original SAW film, according to Yoshinori Terasawa.
Many of these ideas were soon eventually scrapped, due to not having enough budget as it was a new IP, Spike commenting that it was physiologically unacceptable, and Kazutaka Kodaka himself mentioning that "the target audience was too small to pursue that or that it wasn't interesting enough." Whether Kodaka was ultimately right in the end is purely up to you.
CEDEC 2011 Photos
Three photos of the same realistic abandoned classroom throughout the day. It's believed these photos were taken from a site known as 123RF Stock Photos, as shown with a watermark for the site found in Danganronpa 2. The translation reads as follows:
A Closed school! There's no exit. Escape is impossible. Gymnasium, Science room, library, Killing rooms. Every time someone dies, a room is unlocked.
This concept was brought over to the final game, but the idea of a killing room was scrapped, although unused text mentioning it remains.
This photo shows the earliest designs for the protagonist and the rest of the students. There's also a very weird thing in the white square that's believed to be the face of the mastermind telling the viewer to hush, given the big black eyes and the single finger over the mouth. The translation reads as follows:
Characters, 15 highschool students. 15 students participating in the killing game. At first they seem like strangers to each other... And every time the story continues, it becomes clearer... Protag: 2nd year in highschool, male. Can adapt fast and hates standing out. Suddenly loses consciousness while on his way home, when he comes to his senses he's in this setting in the killing school. (Right Side) Examiner Speaks to the students through the speakers of the school, he seems like the person who's hosting this killing game. What is his goal?
The idea of the students slowly realizing they're actually connected in some form was brought over for the final game. However, the backstory of the protagonist entering the main setting is different, as in the final game he falls unconscious when entering the school rather on his way home. Secondly, the protagonist is a second-year student, while in the final game, the protagonist is a first-year student.
Possibly the most gruesome photo, this features what seems to be early designs of Toko, Kyoko, Leon, and Yasuhiro exploring around a rusted basement that has a box filled with blood spilling out onto the floor, with some blood also splattered against a pillar. The next features a bloody severed head of a girl that is looking at the viewer as blood is spewing from their mouth, placed on box that has the number 15. There's also a bloody severed hand that's still gripping what seems to be a portable mirror. This is possibly the character being sliced into pieces Kazutaka Kodaka mentioned in a interview. The words doubt and caution can be also seen in the image with a scanner code.
Gameplay flow Introduction > First part > 2nd part > 3rd part > Multiple endings (changing depending on who survived and who killed) Flow of first part : "Blackened gets chosen" (People get suspicious of each other, who's getting murdered? That kind of thrill) A murder happens > Look for the blackened (investigation): You don't know who's your ally, so you'll have to figure it probing everyone. You might end up giving the killer information... and make allies who you can trust. Trials: Everyone has to participate in this vote. Not only will you have to solve this mystery, but you'll have to listen to everyone's opinion while controlling the number of votes. Trials results
The whole idea of multiple endings was scrapped completely from the final game, which goes for a heavily linear experience. It also seems that the game was also only in 3 parts (or 3-4 chapters), and the concept of making allies or accidentally giving the killer information as some sort of punishment mechanic was also scrapped.
Investigation Part: chasing the blackened! Collect Keywords! Investigate places that stand out... Explore the mysterious school! "This is..." Collect keywords that can become clues in preparation for the trial! You can check the others' whereabouts on with the icon on the map.
This concept was brought over completely to the final game. The photo also shows a basement with yellow pipes and a dart item, possibly used to commit murder. Both of these are nowhere to be found in the final game along with a early menu.
Trial Gameplay flow A preliminary election. You can pick pick anyone > Debate Part ! (Details next page) Last election, pick someone > Results > execution (In the debate, depending on the flow of it, you can slowly change the doubt level, influencing the number of votes someone will get)
This concept was brought over to the final game, although the idea of a top 3 ranking system and the ability to see how many votes were cast was eventually used for Danganronpa V3.
Depending on the actions and reasoning of the protagonist, you can branch the story in multiple ways! First day: Killing game starts > 2nd day : A dies or A survives B dies. 3rd day You investigate A's death or you investigate the death of B with A together. 4th day onward: And in this fashion you can branch off the story The protagonist's actions are automatically filled into the time sheet. You can go to any point of the game you've been via the time sheet.
The concept of branching story paths was completely scrapped from the final game in favor of a more linear experience, as mentioned before.
Psycho-Pop Academic Mystery Chronicle of 15-student massacre, or the 7-day survival war.
A rather early name and subtitle for the game.
High speed debate action: Execution school and Despair high school
Another suggested title for the game.
Just a slightly different version of the image above, but with more detail on the numbers.
The second incarnation of designs for the main cast, now sporting different outfits. The translation reads as follows:
15 high school students trapped in a closed environment... The start of the 7-day experiment! The 7-day reasoning murder survival experiment.
It seems at this second phase of development, the killing game is now sometimes referred as a "experiment".
The closed-off school! 15 high school students wake up in a large, strange facility. But the windows and entrances and exits are all blocked off.... In order to mess with the confused fifteen students further, a chime rings out in the facility. And then, a uncanny announcement plays. He declares himself as the "Instructor". "To everyone, 7 days from now, I will be conducting an experiment on you, But I'm not talking about a simple experiment. It's going to be a killing game experiment..."
The mastermind is now referred as the "Instructor" in addition to the seven-day concept, which was scrapped from the final game. However, the idea of amount of a set days taking place across the game story was used for Danganronpa 2.
The perpetrator gets chosen with the majority of the votes! Should you trust? Or should you be suspicious? (For the speech bubbles from the protag) "I think that... I can trust you!" "I can't trust you!" Trust Gauge reflects your opinion Control the results by leading the suspicions to the right person!
The concept of a trust/distrust system was scrapped completely, and controlling the results for voting was simplified to a linear experience in the final game.
Thrilling communication! Words can lead to disaster? (Protag) "I've found a clue that perpetrator left behind... " OR (I've found a clue that perpetrator left behind...) If you say it other guy thinks (Hifumi) "(Is he onto me? I'll have to kill him as well...)" Will you say it or keep it to yourself? It can decide between life and death! Exciting debates! Starting Niko Dou Mode (basically like the comment system on nico nico douga) Pick a appropriate statement from the all of the incoming statements.
The concept of a punishment system for giving the killer information was completely scrapped from the final game, as now the killer doesn't try to commit murders during investigations. Niko Dou Mode was eventually reworked into the "discussion" minigame segments during class trials, although the original idea wouldn't be fully realized until Danganronpa V3.
People who've been chosen as Blackened (villains) ... are killing the whites (targets)! Did one of us really... kill her....? To find out who's the blackened among you, the students are probing each other.
It seems to imply that people are chosen as the blackened to kill the whites in the story rather than becoming the blackened from killing someone. What makes this interesting is that they're referred as "villains" and "targets".
A psycho story with pop graphics! Different from the other ADV's UI's this one, you can solve deep mystery in speed! A Mysterious, thrilling scenario with lightheartedness of anime.
Ignoring the one on the bottom left, we can see bunch of characters freaking on what's to believed to be Kyoko's corpse, being stabbed by what's supposed to be pipes. Next is the main cast surrounding the main protagonist in a school warehouse at 11:02 PM. Then, finally, the next images feature a early design of Chihiro saying that he didn't do it, as well as Robo Justice. The last image features what's believed to be a early execution of Monokuma attacking Chihiro with an axe. What makes this image special is that it appears in the final game when you boot the game up.
The perpetrator gets chosen by the majority of the votes... Whether the one you chose did it or did not, execution will take place.
This concept of someone getting executed if they didn't do anything is outright scrapped from the final game, as it's an automatic game over if the killer didn't get executed. Also, judging by the image, it's very likely that Junko wasn't the killer and ended up crying because she's going to die for something she didn't do. The weird shadow people who are saying "hahahaha" are possibly other students carrying out Junko's execution as some sort of mob justice.
High Speed reasoning action 15 individual high school stundents 15 students including the protagonist... You were made to participate in ___'s killing game experiment. At first everyone seems like strangers to you... but each time you advance the story, it becomes clearer... Examiner: Via the speaker in the plushie, he speaks to you. He seems like the one who's hosting this killing game experiment but...what's his goal here?
The second incarnation of designs for the main cast. What makes this interesting is that Monokuma was originally supposed to be a mere plushie that had a speaker inside of it rather than a robot.
High Speed reasoning action When your Next gauge fills, the text automatically advances! If you are careless during a argument you'll get left behind! You will see blue words among the text, these indicate "weak points" for the player. The player's actions in response to these words will change the discussion, and take a new direction! Everything is fully voiced during class trials!
The "Next gauge" was removed outright in favor of a more simple style of gameplay.
Shoot through the weak points with the "Bullets" you picked up during investigation. L = bullet select, while holding L, you can press the directional keys to pick a bullet. R= Rebuttal trigger, pick the weak point with the directional buttons and state your argument Make your judgement during the limited time, strike at your opponent's vital points with L and R!
For this "Trial", it takes place in the basement of the warehouse on June 25th.
Destroy arguments with the Rebuttal Trigger! Because of the blackened's ulterior motives, the trials will always advance to the complete opposite of the truth! With the Rebuttal Trigger, you can change the direction of the trials by striking at the weak points of their arguments with your own opinion.
The "Ultimate students" who enrolled into the "Hope school"... What's awaiting them..... the "Ultimate Despair" and... "Ultimate execution".
At this point, the designs resemble more of their final designs now, as the third incarnation.
Nonstop, highspeed detective action. Tactics with life and death on the line will make you dizzy with its developments. Stylish intuition detective battles!
A early investigation map can be seen on the far right, with the corpse in the middle of pink blood. They were likely testing out if the pink blood stands out more overall. Also a early climax interference can be seen on the top middle.
The Blackened who can get away with murder gets to graduate this school! (speech bubble:"Is she... dead? No way... why.....") Will you life come to an end here? Will you sacrifice everyone to save yourself? The start of the killing game school life.
This seems to imply that the player could potentially be the blackened.
MTB = Machine Gun Talk Battle - Non stop one on one battle! Continuously rebuke their claims quickly! With the directional keys, pick "subject"! With the square and circle buttons, pick "predicate"! With the ? Buttons, you can combine these 2! > If your counter argument was successful, you can damage your opponent! Counter your opponent's claims and excuses with carefully-picked words!
A early version of the MTB minigame that was simplified for the final game.
Numerous High Speed debate action! Niko Dou Mode: Move your cursor to the moving target (Topic) and shoot it, this is limited to 1 time! Leadership time: You can talk to a lot of the people and collect a lot of information within the real-time counter window. (Climax Reasoning): The cornered opponent will bombard you with a lot of questions as well and you'll have to rebuke all of them!
Climax Reasoning was originally comparable to MTB before becoming something else entirely in the final game.
In the school trials, pick the blackened correctly, and get them executed! But in the scenario you were wrong... Everyone except the blackened gets executed!
The SAW inspiration is more noticeable here with the green, snuff-like image quality during the execution.
You cannot experience this kind of fresh experience in other games! 1. World's first "High speed debate action" genre! You can only experience the thrill and exhilaration from our "High speed instinctive reasoning" game. 2. Unique Direction never seen before (2.5D Motion Graphics) Bewitching you with graphics combining 2D and 3D, a fresh direction never seen before. 3.Execute your "Ultimate" friends with the majority of the votes...(Corrupt Democracy) Strengthen your bonds with your school mates and bring order or disorder in a nonstop fashion, raising the stakes and developing the story in a wicked way!
Nowhere does the final game allow you to cause disorder during trials.
Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion can be seen in the image.
Growth through communication! "Attendance Record system" Fill your attendance record by communicating with your friends! > Increase your popularity Skill get ! "Physical" Skill: Waiting can be implemented in the trials automatic text advancement: "?" Skill(kanji unclear): Rebutal Trigger locks on automatically. "? Skill: Can recover the distrust gauge ? Skill : Girls will like you easier ? Skill : Boys will like you easier "Raw" Skill : The comments during nico mode become slower ? skill: You can see everyone's location on the map When you increase your popularity(or likenessness) you can unlock now conversational events. You can also gather new information and that information will be in your attendance record. The more your raise your popularity, the more skills you will get!
Many of these skills are not in the final game at all, except for the "Raw" skill. A early portrait of Mondo can be seen here as well.
Daily school life guide 1. In the event of a homicide, which is a threat to communal school life, a class trial will be held to decide who is blackened. 2. Through everyone's arguments, you will decide who is the blackened. 3. When you identify the blackened correctly, they get executed, and the daily school life continues 4. In case you don't, everyone gets executed and the blackend graduates. 5. Are you going to live here forever? When you are blackened, will you sacrifice the whole class?
An early design of Monokuma is seen here, lacking the circle on his stomach.
Supplement Gameplay component! Collect the various Monokuma medals spread throughout everywhere and play gacha at the school store! You can get... - Side story for each character (Episodes about their past, with graphics) - Special events (Such as pool events, mainly after the 2nd week) - High quality App Presents - Missables (Story elements) (A stony mask that turns you into a vampire when worn, a door that leads to nowhere.) Extra mode with adhoc "calling behind the gymnasium" Exchange collected items and scenarios with adhoc! - Exchange Side stories of each character! - Exchange special events - Exchange present items! - Exchange missables (edited)
A LOT of these ideas were ultimately scrapped from the final game, including side stories or special events like the pool scene (although there is a pool photo in the final game...). Even the stony mask that's clearly a reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure didn't survive the cut either, sadly. However, there is a unused graphic for the Ad-hoc mode in the final game files.
Essentially preorders and DLC for more character side story content with a Monokuma strap toy that would either say cute things or intentionally cuss at you. How lovely...
This mentions that Eden has novel that merges despair with paradise.
Spike in-house Presentation Video
| CEDEC 2011 | French Conference |
|---|---|
Also for the CEDEC 2011 conference, they shown off a early footage of Leon execution as to demonstrate the overall theme DISTRUST was going for. This execution was reused for the final game likely due to budget issues as they already spent time making this test execution. However for some odd reason, 2017 French Conference shown off a more early version of this test execution that has some differences from the one at CEDEC 2011:
- Music being heard is nowhere to be found in the final game, as they likely haven't hired Masafumi Takada yet to compose tracks for the game. The music is also very industrial-like, which makes the SAW inspiration extremely more obvious, given that film also uses a industrial-like soundtrack.
- Different, albeit goofy SFX can be heard for the text scrolling.
- The text at the beginning uses different colors than being placed on colored boxes.
- The necklace chain on Leon body is no longer there.
- The execution is much more shorter, lacking some scenes.
