Brooktown High

Visual Novel Community Anime/Otaku Discussions
#1

LOL… bet you never thought this failure would ever be brought up again on this forum, did ya? :stuck_out_tongue:

I happened to get my hands on a lucrative piece of history from the game’s development (that’s not me in the pic), and it gave enough motivation to put what I knew of it on TV Tropes (because Wikipedia asks for too much third-party reference):

Brooktown High

Feel free to add more bitches and complaints. :stuck_out_tongue:

Also found the Brooktown High soundtrack months back, which is pretty good to be honest, some development artwork, and the instruction manual master copy.

On a side note, I vandalized the shit outta the TokiMemo4 page:

Tokimeki Memorial 4

Anyone who was curious about the game, but couldn’t read Japanese, now can be spoiled. :wink:

#2

Heh… I’m probably talking to the wall, but this was something that I found interesting. Just throwing it here as food for thought. Maybe it’s because I love examining game development more than playing a game. :stuck_out_tongue:

Here’s a screenshot of the final Brooktown product with Asia. This was in 2007:

Here’s a screenshot of Asia (named Vanessa then) shown in 2006 during E3:

The character model quality was drastically reduced. Why? We’ll never know. Here’s two more examples of a random observation of a fucked up game. First two are from the final 2007 product, and the second two are from the 2006 E3 beta version:



#3

Oh I remember hearing about this game; I can only wonder what Konami was thinking…

#4

Hmmm, Brooktown High definitely need work. My boner is shrinking. I’d rather play artifical academy and be frustrated at how short it is.

#5

It all seems to make sense in retrospec. Remember back in 2005, the PSP was brand new, and there was all this overhype how it was gonna destroy the Nintendo DS in the handheld market. So then we had Backbone Entertainment develop Death Jr., which was an even more overhyped title for an overhyped system. We were supposed to have run out and buy the PSP to just play that game. Konami was funding Backbone Entertainment back then.

So basically, Konami had these supposed ubermen programmers on their payroll. So in 2005, the first year the PSP was out in America, Konami approaches the “super game makers” in Backbone, and ask them to create an American Tokimemo. They had two years to do it. Makes sense… Tokimemo was gonna celebrate it’s 15th anniversary in 2009, and with the overhyped Backbone doing it, Konami was planning to rock Japan [u]and[/u] the US with a dating sim.

Konami flew a least two Backbone Entertainment developers to Japan, and actually translated Tokimemo for one of them. Now I’ve no idea when LovePlus or TokiMemo4 actually began production, but they might have even seen the very earliest development plans for them as well. As you can see in that 2006 Famitsu article (and E3), Backbone had a pretty clear indication of what they wanted to do with Brooktown High back then: it was out of the conceptual phase. All evidence points that shit fell apart in 2006 after E3 and that Famitsu interview. The game was released in 2007 incomplete and unready. I have never been able to find information on what happened, and no interviews post-2007 ever asked why production fell apart (only why Brooktown High failed).

In any case, even if Brooktown High did not choke and was released in the higher res version, it would have failed. Their game concept, gameplay planning, and target market was completely wrong. Maybe that’s why it fell part. After seeing the original in Japan, Backbone realized they fucked up everything and got themselves into something they didn’t really understand (or sell to the right demographic).

Well… whatever…

And of course, as Tokimemo4 showed, Konami was very devoted to the PSP being a success. The only reason why Tokimemo4 did not sell the minimum 250,000 copies, is because it was released on PSP. LovePlus was not expected to be more successful, but lo and behold it was… because that was made for DS. PSP was a recipe for failure from the start.

Lastly… from what I can understand about Sony of America being so anti-2D galge, even if Brooktown High was an uber success, there was no guarantee that Tokimemo4 would have been released in the US. It’s very clear that Backbone Entertainment would have been given another two years to create a Brooktown College and 3DS port (I manged to get my hand on a copy of the contract once; it had the legalese concerning sequel deals) in that scenario. When I was doing that failed letter campaign, I got the very strong impression from a marketing director, that Tokimemo was for Japan only and Brooktown was for America only. In fact, though I’m loath to admit it, if that letter campaign did succeed, Konami might have just tried rebooting Brooktown High with another American studio. :frowning:

There seems to be a MAJOR disconnect, or outright ignorance, that American galge fans even exist. Though judging from the kind of responses I got with trying a letter campaign, the number of fans is much lower than I initially imagined and very self-defeatist. I spent far more time arguing why people should have sent a letter, with people who were supposed hardcore galge fans, than getting positive feedback or suggestions.

Here’s a fun tip I learned from someone at Konami… if Working Designs asked to port one of the Saturn Tokimeki back in the late 90’s, they would have allowed it. In fact, Konami had setup an English page for Tokimemo back then, hoping to court an interested porter. No one took the bait. However the same person indicated their license fee was NOT cheap either. So maybe the expensive price tag scared 'em away… clearly Working Designs was not a multi-million dollar enterprise back then. However Working Designs did consider the original Sakura Taisen back then (which was in the height of it’s popularity), so maybe they could have worked something out. Well… it doesn’t matter I suppose… Bernie Stolar would killed a theoretical deal anyways… anti-2D asshole that one was. Helped kill SEGA. Worst video game CEO ever.

#6

and now we’ll never see Second Novel localised. Although that would probably still be the case even if TM4 was licensed. =P

#7

If the data on VGChartz is accurate, then just short of 70000 copies of Brooktown High have been sold since it was first released five years ago. I was one of apparently only a few thousand people who bought it right after its release. I didn’t find it especially appealing, since the writing seemed to be trying to impress people with its alleged coolness, and its gameplay seemed like a rehash of The Urbz.

I didn’t play many other Backbone Entertainment games, but the company developed and ported a good number of respectable video games. It closed shop in 2009.

Since 2007, there have been a fair number of western romance games released by companies for iOS and Android devices. In the indie game world, 2007 was the year in which Hanako Games released Fatal Hearts. The next year brought Summer Session (the first BxG indie game written in English) from fellow indie group Tycoon Games.

As recently as early 2010, having a Tokimeki Memorial game translated into English still seemed like a distant dream. I don’t think the translation that Nargrakhan alluded to was ever leaked to the public. But thanks to a group of fans, TMGS1 for DS got a full English patch later that year. At least a few of the same people worked on now-finished translations of TMGS2, the original version of LovePlus, and Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo (based on the Korean version).

As for recent Japanese games localized for consoles with romance options… it was disappointing to hear that only a few fellow fans bought the English version of Sakura Wars 5. I don’t know if Hakuouki has lived up to Aksys Games’ expectations (niche product on the PSP, which isn’t currently considered viable outside of Japan). Atlus apparently had success selling the various versions of Persona 3, and slightly less with P4, but you could just consider those games to be eastern RPGs that just happen to have some BxG pairings.

#8

I asked about that once. Less than 2000 copies of Brooktown was sold during Week 1. Konami reported less than 5000 by the end of the year, in their profit/loss statements. I got two different answers about that 70,000 figure:

#1: It’s flat wrong.

#2: It’s the wholesale surplus sale to discount and/or dollar stores (in my region we call them BigLots! and Ollies.

I’m leaning that it’s towards #2, because I’ve seen Brooktown High (an entire bin of 'em) for $5 at a local BigLots! (I bought two extra copies, just to have as an unopened keepsake).

To think that Konami requested the pressing of [u]at least 70,000[/u] UMD’s is… quite eye opening, to say the least. This is a cost burden the game company carries, not Sony (they charge at cost for the production)… and I’m thinking more than 70,000 were printed. One can easily see why there were so pissed if this is the case. Would also explain it’s $5 (or less!) cheapness brand new across Amazon, Ebay, Gamestop, etc. still to this day… eventually you’d think they sell out. So many damn copies are sitting in warehouses out there.

Aye. Bought out by Namco-Bandai I believe. Which is very interesting in it’s own right. First off, it would explain why Konami does not cite Brooktown High and removed the hosted site off their server (other than extreme disappointment). Secondly, it means that Namco owns the IP to the “American Tokimeki”, as the game was called that by Konami itself, which would be a funny legal thing if Namco-Bandai wanted to use that term for a sequel… since Konami owns the term Tokimeki. But no fear… I seriously doubt Namco-Bandai would screw around with that property… unless they wanted to make an “American iDOLM@STER”. :stuck_out_tongue:

Whatever form or detail the official Konami translation took, only that Mike from Backbone Entertainment got to have it (or known to). I’m sure there are galge fans all over the world, who’d relentlessly hack his PC if a copy was on there.

Sakura Wars 5 bombed. It sealed the fate of more from that series being ported over. Seriously… Western galge fans should understand what “take one for the team” means. Not saying that 50,000 copies of Brooktown and Sakura Wars 5 being sold would have resulted in nothing but good things (as mentioned before, we would have gotten a Brooktown College with the same terrible style), but it would have OPENED doors for more galge chances, than the result of slamming it shut for them. Especially on the Sony SCEA approval front.

I agree with my old Konami contact… the chance for galge to seriously make an impact on the US gaming culture was in the late 90’s. If a Sakura Taisen or Tokimeki Memorial was ported on the Sega Saturn or Sony PS1… it would have had a better chance to make it’s impact (since they were graphically and technically modern at that time). If nothing else, it would have created a nostalgia demographic (see the Lunar series for example; generally low sales, but lots of word-of-mouth). No one took the bait, so the opportunity is gone now… pity.

Who’s got some gold bars and a time machine handy? I promise I won’t change anything else in history. If there’s a sudden increase in the amount of twincest and yandere in the new timeline, I swear it’s only coincidence. :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

#9

Take one for the team? All i see is people that make me angry by just looking at them, their faces be cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Too bad, I ain’t buying it. Plus, popularity of brooktown would mean more of brooktown. They won’t just bring over other galges they would make more brooktown.

And if anything, gaming companies have proven to be untrustworthy too. Sega and valkyria chronicles dear god, they messed up big. I’m still waiting for VC2 to show up on my PS3 instead of PSP.

Tokimeki4 whatever that may be, looks bazillion times better than brooktown. If I don’t understand taking one for the team, so be it. Its konami who decided I like brooktown not me.

While, Lunar series, damn that was awesome. So many hours spent.

#10

True enough. Then what’s the galge community’s excuse for letting Sakura Taisen 5 fail? That was like our second chance to prove they could work in the US.

It bombed too. Not as bad as Brooktown, but it still failed.

Had that succeeded and sold lots of copies, maybe, Konami would have seen that a “real” Japanese galge could work. Maybe.

Moot point anyways… it failed, so there’s no worry about that.

Two results on that: It bombed in Japan, but almost broke even in the US. That’s why no Lunar 3 or a Lunar 2 remake on PSP.

Last I heard, Kei Shigema (the original scenario writer) and one of the lead artists (forget the name right now) were fundraising for a Lunar Zero, but couldn’t find a Western company to provide $$$. In Japan, Lunar is considered an “dead horse” series that’s long past it’s prime, so he couldn’t find any backers there.

He posted lots of high hopes on that in his blog, but it’s been inactive for over a year now. Guess he gave up or ran into more important issues.

EDIT: Found that artist’s blog… still updates on a regular basis, but nothing new about Lunar in over two years (gotta paste the URL in your browser, this forum hates those brackets):

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/akari2710/searchdiary?word=*[LUNAR]]

#11

Yeah, no. If you buy a shitty eroge you only encourage more of the same. It’s a losing game to buy something you don’t want in the hope that it will encourage the production or licensing of something you do want.

#12

And again, I won’t argue against that, because it’s a valid concern.

Brooktown sucked hardcore. No question of that.

But what about Sakura Taisen 5? Still not good enough to “take one for the team?”

Does that game suck hardcore too?

Let’s say I could get the money and manpower to officially translate TokiMemo4 or LovePlus (the mechanics of how is my concern as a producer; not that of the fanbase). Based on the failure of both Brooktown and Sakura Taisen 5, what incentive does Konami have to give me the license? What proof can I show to the SCEA (or Nintendo), that one of those titles will be different and worth the potential media ridicule/backlash? The SCEA is infamous for being strict on what they consider profitable; Nintendo of America currently considers LovePlus pervy.

There is none. And that’s why, even if someone gathered all the people and resources together, it won’t happen. Can’t even get “fans” to write simple letters to prove it. And the retort of, “just do a fanlation” is not valid, because some of us like to go the legal route.

On a sidenote: I’d go on the record of stating that deconstructing TokiMemo4 without the source engine would be a mind breaking pain in the ass; it’s not exactly the most efficient thing I’ve seen, and has lots of funky code – though I only spent a day or two looking through it. Anyways… that’s rather moot, as one can’t commercial license a PSP dev kit anymore, because Sony stopped offering them.

#13

How did you get the source code to look at? Or is what you looked at for a day or two MIPS disassembly? =P

Love Plus, on the other hand, I doubt would be that hard to recreate the engine of. I guess the question is why anyone would want to- it honestly seemed like a pretty horrible game. Did more to put me off in the first ten seconds after the actual adventure stuff started than most games ever manage. Tokimemo4 I could at least see myself playing to the end of (even though I hate dating sims with the passion of a small sun)

#14

Just because I can’t license or own a PSP dev kit, doesn’t mean I don’t have access to one. :wink:

I’m not a LovePlus fan either… but from a neutral stance, I’d say licensing LovePlus is impossible.

At least in Tokimemo4, you play as a high school student trying to date other high school students, each of whom has her own little drama story.

In LovePlus, the real you is dating an AI simulated underage virtual girl, creating your own “love life” with her. That will unquestionably generate a lot of negative publicity and conservative legal action. It would certainly bring up the whole virtual child porn issue again. There is no way either Konami or Nintendo, let alone both of them, would not see that as an issue.

#15

Ah… actually reading the last entry, I see why Kei Shigema stopped updating his blog… he uses Twitter now:

http://twitter.com/#!/shigema

No idea how to search the thing (don’t use Twitter). :stuck_out_tongue:

However from what I could find, he’s still recycling that PSP remake for Lunar to squeeze more cash… and there’s something about a Lunar remake for mobile phone.

So yea… he’s hitting funding walls. :expressionless:

#16

No clue. It’s Sakura Wars: So long, My Love right?

I do vaguely remember hearing about it back in the high school. And then from looking at the release date, it released in like 2010. And I didn’t even know it came out at all, its been fookin 5 years since it released in japan. I think it was like 2011 when i learned that it got released in usa after I was hitting nisa america’s site up for information on hyperdimension neptunia. And I recall going O_o sakura wars released lol what.

If i was to actually keep up to date on everything I like, It would take me hours just to stay up to date on everything. So I go to aggregate sites instead. And I still blow through few hours easily just staying up to date everyday. Sakura wars just plain have bad luck.

#17

Yup. Tried to target the specific niche market, was seriously supported by the original developers (hence the Wii version), industry watchers wanted to see it succeed and gave positive reviews, risktaking investors were watching very closely, released on PS2 and Wii for the large install base… so forth and so on…

Complete failure. Was the final nail in the coffin for console galge in the West.

When it failed, I knew the movement was a lost cause. Now I recommend gaming entrepreneurs to AVOID galge like the plauge, and instead of talking on the potential of galge markets, I explain why games that feature their elements are flukes of exception. Because it’s no exageration: I was just too blind by bias to notice when I should have in the begining. Glad I’m fluent in Japanese, so I don’t have to suffer.