Company is going to specialize in the shooter/platformer side of the doujin game world but that's not such a bad thing. Got some running around to do today but I'll definitely be picking up that first title. Gundemonium looks like some cross between DeathSmiles and Parodius.They announced their existence long ago. I don’t really see how they have anything to do with eroge though. Just because they’re also Japanese niche games doesn’t put them in the same category… Though I think they said they were considering translating some VNs.
They had somewhere else, but it’s just nice to see that they’ve got things up and running.
Gundemonium is actually one of my less favourite Murasame/Platine Dispostif titles (together with the spinoff Gundeadligne and the very odd Royal Edoma Engine) I admit. I guess for me the top three would be:
- Hitogata Happa
I have never enjoyed a shmup as much as this game. Never. The Touhou series have nothing on this insanely difficult bullet hell resource conservation shooter - great game requiring a huge mix of strategies to beat, but it is incredibly satisfying when you do.
- Engage to Jabberwock
Top-down bullet-hell dungeon exploring fun - the full version of this game is also available as a free download, so go play the thing. You don’t need to know Japanese to do it.
- Chelsea and the 7 Devils
Not quite as fun as the other two, but very well polished and with great level design. Sidescroller/platform game.
He said in my interview that he might be interested in visual novels, but RPGs would be a higher priority. Furthermore, he says he’s looking to stay away from titles that are “too adult.”
I get my hopes up with that first part and then dashed with the second part. (Well unless it’s a quality RPG or an rpg based on an anime i like).
Well remember, these are fan games so direct anime games likely would be a no go in the states. But there are so many VN options with insani no longer active. Is there much in the way of doujin RPGs that aren’t blatant DQ or PS rips? I can’t imagine those would be an easy to bring over either.
Which is why I didn’t use the term eroge when I said they might be doing VNs. I would imagine stuff closer to the DS and other console stuff being released nowadays.
It depends upon how closely related they are. Trademark laws do allow for parodies. It would be how close to the original it was.
He also stated in the interview that the reason he’s doing this is that he’s noticing a developing trend in the creation of quality original games. I figure he’s going to stay away from anything that involves copyrighted materials of a different company. I’m sure there’s a number of doujin RPGs out there that would be fine, what with programs like RPG maker out there.
Fine and quality are not the same. I have yet to see a really quality game made from RPG maker. I’ll admit some have some interesting battle mechanics, but that’s it; and unless your wanting a dungeon crawl, battle mechanics is not the main focus of an RPG.
To get a quality RPG you need quality writing, gameplay and decent graphics. Graphics are generally the thing you can slide on, but only so much. The other problem is these games tend to be even more linear with less wit and sophistication than commercial RPGs (not that every commerical RPG out there is a paragon of virtue), mostly because they tend to focus on the battles and long boring where nothing much happens. Sidequests and character development, and narrative sections where a lot happen gets put to the side. Furthermore to compete in today’s market, you need lots of high quality artwork for cutscenes, some ability to customize character development and a not completely linear gameplay (there is a subtle difference between strongly nudging a player in a direction and holding his hand firmly), character development for the entire party, and some type of multiple ending or a very cool long (and expensive) ending. That’s not including stuff like voice acting which people will whine if it’s missing or crappy, game balancing, fmvs, of which at least an intro, ending and major events are generally considered staple for having, being in 3D, etc.
Ero-rpgs and anime-based rpgs can ingore some of that stuff because they have something else working for them. Orginal concept RPGs do not have those luxuries.
Hrm… I don’t really look around for doujin RPGs to play, so I decided to head on over to Freem and take a look at their free for download RPGs. Apparently there’s a series of short 1-2 hour RPGs someone made and there’s a total of 50 in the series @_@ But in any case, I don’t think an RPG has to be some ridiculous thing that can compete with blockbusters for Rockin Android to be interested. Considering that there’s a few hundred free-for-download RPGs on Freem, it means that there must be a sizeable number of original doujin RPGs that are not free-for-download and surely there must be a few gems among those.
Given an infinite amount of product, eventually you’ll come across the holy grail, so yes, you’re right, even though the product is finite, the difficulty of finding it isn’t as high either. However there is tons of trash to wade through.
Also the rpg audiance hasn’t really changed much outside expanding gender role and becoming more demanding on graphics, story, gameplay and balance. There is somewhat of a split more recently between those who favor more online-style (specifically wow-style) single-player gameplay, but most of those tend to be more action-gamers to begin with.
There are a number of profitable commercial RPG Maker games in English, you can find a few of them here:
http://www.hanakogames.com/rpgs.shtml
They’re usually not quite my style, but to the best of my knowledge they sell quite well. If someone translated a bunch of Japanese ones and pitched to the right audience they’d probably be quite successful… until the market flooded and everyone gave up. 