A new indie game publisher, the destination of gravity game allries. In search of new IP and business
A new company in Japan is taking a step as an indie game publisher. It is a gravity game aloud, released in February, Milkmaid of the Milky Way, a story of a girl and the universe and Eric's Mysterious Bracelet EMBRACELET in May. By the way, for a little older PC/online gamer, the gravity was the developer of Ragnarok Online ( * 1). Is the gravity game allocation an affiliate of that gravity? Also, indie games are no longer unusual, but why are they trying to publish them newly? This time, I had a little opportunity and questioned the gravity game aloud, so let's deliver the contents.
- 1: Ragnarok Online. MMORPG is handled by Korean development company gravity and is operated by GungHo Online Entertainment in Japan. In 2002 at the time of the release, in the dawn of the online game, the characters of cute dot paintings were combined, and the world was dominant in Japan.
Create new IPs and business
─── Please tell us about the gravity game allrice.
Masakazu Kobayashi: (hereinafter Kobayashi) I'm Kobayashi. I am a gravity game aloud, an indie game publishing producer. Gravity game aloud is a company established in 2019. As for the activities so far, the operated titles for mobile, such as the publishing of the mobile version of the MMORPG Tera mobile version of Terachrassic, and NBA Rise To Stardom and Sadako M Unsuzable Case Detective Office as a development title. I came. However, I am not involved in these titles, and another producer is in charge.
Two years ago, I joined a gravity game aloud in March 2020, developing and developing hypercajuing games. I have been developing services overseas than in Japan, but I had the opportunity to think about future policies because the hyper-casual business itself was sluggish. So, when I thought about what I wanted to do and what I wanted to do as a business, I wondered what about indie games. The indie game business itself has started from a small place around June 2021. Currently, we have released two titles of Eric's Mysterious Bracelet EMBRACELET and Girl and Speaking Milkmaid of the Milky Way, and is about to release about 6 titles.
──── When you hear gravity, as a PC gamer, Ragnarok Online always goes well. Could you tell me the relationship with gravity?
Mr. Kobayashi: Gravity game aloud is a gravity Japanese branch office. The Gravity Group is a masterpiece of Ragnarok Online, but in the gravity game aloud, one of the purposes of expanding new IPs and new business opportunities, and launched the indie game business.
In terms of relationship with gravity, our strengths in Asia's publishing are inherited from gravity. That's why Eric Grandpa's Mysterious Bracelet EMBRACELET and the Milkmaid The Milky Way, a girl and the story of the universe, started with publishing in Asia.
────It's part of Kobayashi's intention rather than a company?
Mr. Kobayashi: The first proposal was from me. The starting point was to the company in the indie game, I have such a title, why don't you try publishing?
──── Then, another team from the team that has run online games is in the indie game business.
Mr. Kobayashi: The publishing department that operates Terra Classic and the company's development department, such as the NBA Rise To Stardom, mainly mobile. In my department, I want to create a new nucleus, focusing on this indie game business.
Difficulty of localization
──── Please introduce the indie titles that are currently on sale from gravity game aloud.
Mr. Kobayashi: Regarding Eric's Mysterious Bracelet EMBRACELET and Girl and the Story of the Milkmaid of the Milky Way, both are the titles developed by the same Norwegian developer MachineBoy (Mattis Forkestad). The first opportunity was that MachineBoy was looking for a publisher in the Asian region and was introduced to my acquaintance.
Milkmaid of the Milky Way is a nostalgic dot-painted visual, the genre is ADV, but when you actually play it, the hero girl and the beef friendship story of beef that grew up with her. I decided to publish a gentle world view, and this was interesting. Eric Grandpa's Mysterious Bracelet EMBRACELET is a summer growth tan, but we feel nostalgic air that we want to return to that summer from our forties, so we decided to publish this. Did. Both works are a nostalgic genre of point & click ADV, and it is a very good story, so I think that we can enjoy a wide range of people in their forties to young people.
──── Both works were released in Japan in May, but how was sales and response? Please tell us about the release.
Mr. Kobayashi: Both of them had long had no Japanese version, so before the release, users in Japan and Asian countries had a positive response to being looking forward to it. After the release, some of the localization of Japanese did not work well, so there was a fairly severe impression, but the reaction was about half and half. Also, in the mobile version and the Nintendo Switch version, the response from the Nintendo Switch users was very high. I wonder if it was a title that stabbed the console user rather than mobile.
──── Is there anything you are thinking after receiving the reaction after the release?
Mr. Kobayashi:
I felt the difficulty of localization. I would like to take more time and look closely in Japanese, both Milkmaid of the Milky Way, a story of a girl and the story of the universe, Eric's Mysterious Bracelet EMBRACELET and future titles.
─── By the way, it is promoted as a gentle trilogy, including the two released works and the Polatopia. However, Polatopia has no connection with the previous two-part work, right?
Mr. Kobayashi: One of our concepts is to find interesting things from around the world, use group global networks, and convey them widely. Under such circumstances, I feel that the curation color of the team is reflected in the first three world view. It was natural to the work group that gently snuggled up to those who had more opportunities to reconsider themselves due to the division and stagnation by Corona.
Base is retro
───What kind of publisher is gravity game aloud ?
Mr. Kobayashi: As an indie game publishing of gravity game aloud, I would like to deliver a wide range of users a nostalgic and somewhere new game in the base part. Currently, there are many indie games, including our company, but in such a situation, you can say, There is no doubt if you are from a gravity game. I want to be one of the public in indie games.
────Is there any criteria for title pickups, philosophy in pubrishing as a gravity game aloud?
Mr. Kobayashi: The criterion for choosing a title is something nostalgic. It's a personal story, but I'm a person who has been in real time since the NES era, with a retro game, and has grown with console games. So, indie games that have the fun of retro games that I have experienced are one of the major selection criteria.
While I'm picking up now, the point and click ADV is Clock Tower. If it's Grid Force-Goddess Mask, Rockman Exe. For tactics, Final Fantas Tactics and Fire Emblem. There are some nostalgic elements that stick to the base mechanics in their 40s or older, but they are fun to play as a new work, match the quality of the present era and what they want, and are in their 20s and 30s. I want to pick up a moderate balance between old and newness that you can play.
──── I think it will be a hint of a title that has a good balance between old and new, but please tell us your favorite work in Indie and Retro Game.
Mr. Kobayashi: In indie games, I'm just doing metroidvania. Hollow Knight and Touhou Luna Nights were also d1. My favorite is Ori and the Blind forest. I remember crying at the opening of the trial version and bought and played as it was. In retro games, it's the heyday of STG, so I still like Gladius 2. I really like the BGM that Konami Horse Wave Club (Kukei Hakurabu) has been working on, and I still listen to it when I came to work. The first thing I found interesting was Eirem's Kiki Yancha Maru. I played at the game center and I really liked it.
───Price, the number of indie title publishers are increasing. The first two works were available for Asia, but they will be deployed in global publishing in the future. I think global publishing is more difficult than in Asia, but is there any reason why it was able to move smoothly?
Mr. Kobayashi: That's the fact that Americans and outside the company pioneering teams entered my project. That's why the global publishing and the way of selling have expanded at once. The members have a lot of knowledge about games anyway. I have been involved in the industry for a long time, so I know people in various places and connect them in various places. Thanks to this wonderful team, I feel that what I had been doing in the Asian region has led to a global at once.
───I think that global publishing requires a more solid developer backup. How is it cleared around? What is in the background?
Mr. Kobayashi: We have a solid backb1. I don't know the circumstances of other publishers, but I think that security is one of the factors, for example, because they pay revenge share or not paid in general businesses. Another thing I feel is that the above-mentioned specialized teams take care of me in detail. Until now, I was doing it alone, but I wasn't able to speak English very much or communicate very much, so it took time to support and communicate. By building a specialized team, support and communication are progressing more and more, and since we are taking care of developers with generously, we are gradually accumulating trust, so there are some parts that we want to do with them. I'm thinking.
─── about future titles. In the gravity game aloud, how do you think about the deployment platform?
Mr. Kobayashi: In the future, the title of gameplay optimized for console/PC in addition to mobile will increase. I don't have a consciousness that I have to put on my mobile, so I hope that many people can enjoy it on the console/PC.
from now on
─── Please introduce the titles to be developed in the future.
Mr. Kobayashi: Next is a slide puzzle game for white bear parents and children called Polatopia. In the story that parents go to help bear bears, when they succeed in rescue, the animation that embraces the bears is drawn in a cute illustration design. The Steam version is scheduled to be released on August 9, and the Nintendo Switch version is also preparing for release. Although it is a very simple slide puzzle, it is a very cute design game, so I think that various people can enjoy it.
The next title NECROBOY: PATH TO EVILSHIP is a puzzle action game. The protagonist, Necroboy, can revive the dead soul as a necrominon, but in this work, he gives instructions to the minion, uses the souls to solve the puzzle and proceed through the dungeon. Because it is inspired by various games, you may remember the game you played in the past from the feeling of play, but there are quite a bold puzzle, which is becoming more and more difficult as the game play progresses. increase. I was quite stuck on stage 6. In addition, this work depicts the story of the so-called middle two illness, so I think that a wide range of people, including the story, can enjoy it. This work will be released on Steam first, and will be expanded in the flow of Nintendo Switch.
Next, we will release the title Grid Force-Goddess Mask. As a genre, it is called a grid-based RPG shooter. It is a game that moves inside the square and shoots with enemies. There is also a character development, and is it characteristic that the story progresses with expressions like a manga? For those who have been playing games for about 20 years, it may be a nostalgic playfile.
The next one is scheduled to be released is the Tactical RPG called Live by the Sword: Tactics. Because it is a title that arranges classic SRPGs in a modern style, I think that it is an easy-to-enter title for those who have been familiar with the Final Fantagita Cute and Fire Emblem series. The characteristic point is that every time you play, the level of the character starts with a certain state, and you can clear difficult battles depending on the player's strategy. In addition, this work is compatible with online matches, and you can play against someone you do not know like a chess or shogi.
Next, River Tails: Stronger Together is an action adventure game for two-player co-op play. Cats and fish cooperate, and it is a work in which two people will proceed with the two cooperative play. We are aiming for a game design that can be enjoyed by friends. In this work, those who have been active as an animator in France participate in the development, and because of the high quality of character design and animation, you can enjoy it.
Finally, this is the title under development, RPG called Alterium Shift. I am asking the developers about the story from the development while developing, but it is quite expected. I played the demo version first, but it is a game reminiscent of a nostalgic JRPG. So, if you like old Square and Enix's RPG, you may be able to play with nostalgic and fresh feelings.
summary
─── Finally, please give a message to the reader. Mr. Kobayashi: We are exhibiting at Bit Summit as an indie game publisher. As a title, the indie game department will release a demonstration version and playable version of Rom for those that will be released. Polatopia is a video only, but Grid Force-Goddess's Mask, LIVE BY THE SWORD: Tactics, and NECROBOY: PATH TO EVILSHIP are installed. In addition, in the same work of the same developer as Polatopia, Forest Pia currently registered in advance, KAMIBAKO-Mythology of Cube- and Uzuzu, which are currently being developed. I am. I would be glad if you could visit our booth when you stop by the venue.
Thank you.
[Interview / edit] ayuo kawase [Sentence] Keiichi yokoyama
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