Granted, I’m no expert on game code, but from what I understand, the basic structure of the games Peach Princess and similar companies promote is a LOT simpler than, say, the engine for Baldur’s gate II or any of the American RPGs…and although I LOVE the artwork, it isn’t THAT complex…surely there are enough artists on this side of the ocean good enough (and inexpensive enough) to be reasonable. There wouldn’t be delays in negotiation for rights to the game, or in translating radically different languages…stories are even easier to come up with than artwork…I’m not trying to critisize anyone, I’m just asking straight out…how hard is it?
There are tools out there that can be used to generate such bishoujo games. Just like how tools like TADS are popular among those who aspire to write text-adventures in the west, there are similar tools in Japan that people can use to produce their own games. A program like NScripter is powerful enough to code industry-standard games, and even AliceSoft has put their System3.9 development kit up for downloading. Also, magazines like GameCreators are very much geared towards how-to in game development. Fact is, there is a wealth of tools out there that has helped fans in Japan come up with doujin games.
To answer Martin’s question, no, it isn’t really THAT difficult to produce a bishoujo graphic novel (from scratch)–all you need is the artwork, the right script, and the right software that are tailor-made for these sort of games. the problem is how many programmers outside Japan have actually heard of these tools?
Porting a Japanese title to English is another matter, though, as Kumiko has pointed out.
[This message has been edited by yyoshi (edited 02-28-2002).]
The difficulty depends on how agressive and rigorous you want your product to be. Obviously if you want to go fully commercial, then yes you will have to go through the trouble kumiko mentioned. However, life is much easier of course for doujin-level projects because you have less things and responsibilities to worry about that a company like PP would have to otherwise.
yyoshi, I actually have heard of all these SDKs, and have tried them, especially on an extensive basis for alicesoft’s system3.x. I believe that I may very well be the only person outside Japan who actually is stupid enough to waste time on these SDKs, among other things. I won’t go into this any deeper because it may alienate other people here but you can ask orochi about this yourself…and just so you know, I am not a programmer, not a “true” one at least
Again, it differs depending on what you are trying to make out of it, the purpose of it, how rigorous or “perfect” you want the game to be, and if you are doing it at a commercial level or a doujin level. The higher the quality and level of these criteria, the more complex and time-consuming things become.
Well, that answers a few questions…
I AM a bit surprised to hear that Peach Princess was banend from E3…guess the promoters were afraid of getting flak fro Congress or some nonsense. A shame, that.
I understand the difficulties in importing…(it also explains why so many of the games releaced over here were 1/4 to 1/2 the size of any domestic game but are STILL of equal price)and I GUESS I can understand thee not being a large enough niche in the market to try to come out with these sort of games domesticly…still, it would be interesting to see someone try Hmm…maybe someone should throw a contest…
Just for the info… I’m in a group who are doing just this - developing a bishoujo game outside of Japan. We have around 30 people in the group, needless to say though, most of them don’t actually seem to do anything as this is more of a hobby project than anything. We do have scripts written, some characters drawn, some scenery is being worked on and we have a few MIDI tunes made (I write and create the MIDI files for this game), the programmers don’t seem up to much (There are a few programs, but they crash my computer at least), but I believe I could take on the role of programmer as well as musician if they’ve disappeared. The only real drawback to the game is that we don’t plan on having an voice acting in the game. Sound effects are a possibility though. The game will be released as either free, or very cheap - a small Internet download version with compressed images and MIDI music, or a large CD version with bitmap images and MP3 versions of the MIDI songs, using SBLive and EAX effects. Of course, a CD version would mean that the person wanting it would need to cover the cost of us sending out the CD to them.
Anyway, I’ll be sure to post here if we make a demo, or if we ever release the full game.
[This message has been edited by TurricaN (edited 02-28-2002).]
Kumiko said awhile ago in a different thread how Win XP is supposed to help bridge the gap between different Win systems (e.g., American Windows and Win Japan). Does this mean that in the future it will be easier to translate bishoujo games to English since, I’m assuming, Win XP will be able to understand the Japanese version of Windows and a game’s engine won’t have to be rewritten or tweaked for an American OS?
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Originally posted by Sharpe:
Kumiko said awhile ago in a different thread how Win XP is supposed to help bridge the gap between different Win systems (e.g., American Windows and Win Japan). Does this mean that in the future it will be easier to translate bishoujo games to English since, I'm assuming, Win XP will be able to understand the Japanese version of Windows and a game's engine won't have to be rewritten or tweaked for an American OS?
The code will still have to be tweaked for the reasons Kumiko stated (Specfically for the Language variations) and most people who use English Windows XP wouldn't have east asian fonts installed or their Non-unicode programs set to Japanese like I do.
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E3's promoters did not ban us. E3 is owned by the IDSA - they established the policy. In other words, the domestic game companies who are members of IDSA have established a censorship policy on the games that middlemen can be offered at the main trade show event for such a purpose[/B]
Just to note that the Koreans WERE at E3 promoting "Tomak". For those who don't know what that is, it's a training-sim (much like Princess Maker) whereby players get to cultivate--of all things--a lady's head in a flower pot! (^^ [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]. It was one of the weirdest titles at the last E3, but it was there nonetheless. More importantly, it wasn't an ecchi-game. In any case some media in the U.S. picked that story up, even if the koreans couldn't find a distributor. in any case, the game's coming out on the DC in Japan soon.
What Peapri needs is a title or two that isn't hentai, so as to reach out to the more mainstream (if there is one) market. After all my experience with bishoujo games (even h-ones) didn't begin with an h-game. It began with Power Dolls, actually. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
I’d also think that Critical Point would have the best chance of crossing into the mainstream anime audience given its ties to Macross and Gundam. That association could perhaps be the game’s biggest selling point, especially considering the rabid fans those series have.
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Originally posted by Sharpe:
I'd also think that Critical Point would have the best chance of crossing into the mainstream anime audience given its ties to Macross and Gundam. That association could perhaps be the game's biggest selling point, especially considering the rabid fans those series have.
That's what I been thinking. Have someone that was a writer for some of the major sci-fi anime out there certainly is a plus. While I don't think it will sell in the millions (since most of the newer Gundam fan are younger than Critical Point's intened audience) it should have some healthy sales.
Well, not the mention the Ayanami Rei Project that Gainax is trying to milk every single yen from its fans with. The Chinese version of the game’s already out in Asia, and it’s heading to the Sega Dreamcast as well.
That’s one bishoujo title which I’m sure shouldn’t been unfamilar to anime fans in the U.S.–and also one that wouldn’t get left out of any gaming/anime conventions for moral reasons.