Hironobu Sakaguchi and FF programmers' try to rival DQ [Game Designers in their'early' days] - Keiichi Tanaka

(from Denfaminicogamer by Keiichi Tanaka - July 21th, 2017)

The 1980s and 1990s was the “adolescence” of the game industry. Wanting to find out more about the passionate, young, overeaching past of the game designers that struggled during that time, this report manga was created. The first guest is Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of “Final Fantasy”!

Via Denfaminicogamer

Keiichi Tanaka explores the history behind Nintendo's now-legendary “EarthBound” - [denfaminicogamer]

(from Denfaminicogamer by Keiichi Tanaka - January 9th, 2018)

It was 1987. On the train back to Kyoto, Shigesato Itoi was weeping. "It wasn't because I felt sad It was because I felt powerless. Granted, I felt that way several more times later on in life. But I never felt quite as depressed as I did then… It was two years before 'MOTHER" (Earthbound Beginnings) was born.'

Via Denfaminicogamer

Stop Hating on 'RPG Maker,' the Easy-Bake Game Development Tool - [MOTHERBOARD]

(from MOTHERBOARD by David Jagneaux - May 24th 2018)

"...If you browse the RPG Maker forums or the various digital indie game storefronts like itch.io or Steam Greenlight, you can see why. They're filled with shoddy efforts that appear to have been created in an afternoon using nothing but stock art assets that come with the program. Broken english, bad level design, poorly written stories, boilerplate interaction, and inconsistent pacing are just some of the problems that often plague these games.

To the Moon’s promotional art work. Image: Freebird Games.

...The most important thing a developer can do to protect the vision of their game is creating unique content that goes beyond this base level of production," said Justin Amirkhani, creative director at Vagabond Dog. "With the proper application of fresh art and uniquely developed mechanics, it can be difficult to discern if a game was even made using RPG Maker. Developers who take the time and effort to make their product their own need not fear any stigma, regardless of what engine they create with."

Via MOTHERBOARD

Arc Symphony imagines not a faux-JRPG, but the community that surrounds it. Fan fiction, passive aggression, and all - [USGAMER]

(from USGAMER by Caty McCarthy - April 24th, 2017)

"There comes a point in nearly every online community when drama tears it apart. Naturally, in all the fan communities I’ve seen rise, I’ve watched them fall; whether over pettiness, fights, people leaving and newbies shaking up the community’s dynamic, moderators going power hungry, and so on. But I'll never forget the friends I've made across them. And even today, I still stay in contact with a select few friends I've made over the early years of rabid fandoms. The inevitable drama that unfolds in Arc Symphony’s fan community ends up feeling personal, not just because we've witnessed something like it before, but because so many of us have reinvented ourselves in one way or another online. We create the ideal self, and sometimes, we see that be rejected."

Via USGamer
Via Itch.io Arc Symphony

(This is a really old post - I was gonna post this sooner but other things sort of got in the way. It was an interesting sort of text adventure that delved into the nature surrounding online internet communities. The game is no longer free, but it's 2.69USD. It's still worth checking out.)

Copy & Paste & Play: Amateur Games as Appropriation Art - [Amplab.ca]

(from Amplab.ca by Saeed Afzal - Noevember 8th, 2016)

"...Marcus Boon, in his book “In Praise of Copying”, writes of the putting together of a mixtape or iTunes playlist in a way that I think reflects the philosophy of these RPG Maker amalgamations: he notes that the process of making a mixtape is “intimate” and “emotionally charged”, and that “the mixtape maker has available in accessing the variety that is essential to copia, and straight out of a classical rhetoric manual: inventio (the selection of tunes to be played),dispositio (the ordering or sequencing of them), and elocutio(the cuts and edits made, but also the loving care put into the handwritten cover, the decoration of the cassette), all deployed in order to charm the recipient of the tape” (Boon 55). Just like the mixtape-maker, the RPG Maker game designer carefully selects the assets they’re going to copy, rearranges and reorders them in new configurations, and also omits, edits, and personalizes these resources to make a product that is uniquely theirs.

RPG Maker game Final Fantasy Black Moon Prophecy, a fangame of the Final Fantasy series, makes use of assets from Final Fantasy IV, released 25 years ago as of the writing of this probe. The fangame uses a tileset from the game’s town maps, safe zones for the player to recover their strength and restock on items. Black Moon Prophecy, however, edits the tileset and then uses it to map one of the game’s dungeons, Niflheim (Left), a decaying town in which monsters abound. This is another instance of familiar iconography being reconfigured and given new meaning – note the re-use of graphics between Niflheim (Left) and Final Fantasy IV’s town of Baron (Right)"

Via Amplab.ca (webarchive)

The secret history of underdog game engine RPG Maker and how it got its bad reputation - [PC Gamer]

(from PC Gamer by Giada Zavarise - October 11, 2017)

"...The release of RPG Maker VX Ace coincided with the birth of Steam Greenlight. RPG Maker users started to consider themselves real game developers, and realized they could actually try to sell their games. The result? An explosion of RPG Maker games on Steam Greenlight, often made by teenagers with big dreams but limited skills. And all those games looked the same.

Players began to associate RPG Maker's RTPs with mediocre, "lazy" games. The engine got a bad reputation. In a 2016 Reddit thread about why people had begun to hate games made with RPG Maker a community manager who worked for Degica said, "I really wish people who weren't ready for the big time would stop submitting to greenlight. It would make my job easier. Because the perception of RM is already bad enough without people trying to throw their 10 minute effort game on greenlight."

On forums and in Steam user reviews the same comments about RPG Maker games recur over and over. They're "low effort and low quality," "look more or less identical," use the same "stock resources." It's enough to put you off using the engine entirely..."

Via PC Gamer

The Real Story Behind Xenogears' 'Unfinished' Disc 2 - [Kotaku]

(from Kotaku by Jason Schreier - June 15th, 2017)

Xenogears, widely considered one of the greatest role-playing games ever made, has long felt to fans like an unfinished product thanks to its controversial, seemingly unfinished second disc. Although western gamers have assumed that the team simply ran out of money, the real story—as revealed by director Tetsuya Takahashi to Kotaku today—is a little more nuanced.

Whereas the first disc of Xenogears is a sprawling role-playing game, full of towns and dungeons and beautiful cut-scenes, the second disc takes a different approach. Disc 2 of Xenogears chooses to tell rather than show the game’s epic finale, putting main characters Fei and Elly in a dark room and having them narrate the game’s climactic events while a slideshow plays on a screen in front of them. It’s an unusual and jarring change of pace.

Conventional wisdom has long been this: Square ran out of money and rushed the team, forcing Tetsuya Takahashi to put Xenogears’ second half together with duct tape. Fans have always believed that Takahashi had more ambitious plans but was forced to ditch them because of budget and time issues.

As far as I can tell, however, there’s been no official explanation since Xenogearswas released 19 years ago. So while interviewing Takahashi during E3 in Los Angeles today about his new game, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (more on that soon), I had to slip in a question about that urban legend. Xenogears is one of my favorite games, I said, but what happened to that second disc?

“Honestly speaking, what had happened is Xenogears as a project was staffed pretty much entirely out of new staff members, young staff members,” said Takahashi, speaking through a translator. “Back then, we had the direction of, ‘All projects take two years and that’s when we need to get it done.’ So on top of developing the game, we had to nurture and teach and grow these younger employees. Things like 3D were extremely new, which led to some delays in the schedule. It just wasn’t possible to get everything done.”

As it became clear that Takahashi and team weren’t going to hit their deadlines, Square’s higher-ups suggested that they just end the game after the first disc, when Fei and his team escape from Solaris.

“It was a rough way to end it, and I felt like if we do that, then the players will not be satisfied,” Takahashi told me. “So we had a proposal—I proposed that if we do disc 2 in this way that it turned out to be, we can finish the game with the current number of staff and the current time allotted for the schedule and the remaining budget we have.”

So they turned disc 2 of Xenogears into the montage that shipped with today’s game. Instead of playing through events like the world’s mutation and the search for Fei, you just have to watch them. And it was Takahashi’s decision—so he could finish the story he wanted to tell rather than cutting it off after the first half.

“I do think my decision was the right one to make,” said Takahashi. “Because if we had just ended at Disc 1 it would have been bad.”

Via Kotaku

(Note:Really bad cold this month, will update more once things are more normal)

What makes Oddworld tick - [Polygon]

(from Polygon by Richard Moss - April 24th, 2017)

One of the minds behind the Oddworld universe shares his storytelling philosophies and inspirations as he works on the Abe's Exoddus reimagining Soulstorm.

"...Lanning believes that the best stories are rooted in allegory. "It adds depth that resonates with us [and] gives us a stronger connection to it," he says. "And I think maybe partially makes us feel not as lonely in the world." Not only that, he sees allegorical storytelling as a tool to help us to understand the world. That is Oddworld's purpose; Abe's Odyssey and its successors were made to inspire, to enlighten, "to peel off some of the layers of this world of bullshit that we're saturated in."

Now, as he revisits the original material, Lanning has plenty of frustration with the failings of politics and big-money business. "I think never has the modern world been more disillusioned with its matrix as today," he says. "They see all types of corruption and hijinks around them and the average person just feels that they can't do anything about it. Which is a bad place for us all to be. So for me I feel like I really don't have a choice [on whether to create games with deeper meaning]..."

Via Polygon

A Look at the Japanese Game Preservation Society - [HG101]

"A look at the Japanese Game Preservation Society's laboratory in Tokyo, as guided by Joseph Redon. This organization works to preserve Japan's software, which, like software from all over the globe, was initially distributed on rather fragile medium."

This is an excerpt from John Szczepaniak's DVD "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers"

In 2014, HG101, launched a kickstarter that would attempt to tackle the untold history of japanese game developers. As John put it:

"Fly to Japan in September, hire the best Japanese/English interpreters money can find, and then - using my extensive list of contacts - make stuff happen. Interview as many developers as possible in less than three months, with a focus on undocumented information and developers who have never been interviewed before. Transcribe the English interpretation, then edit, design and create the most extensive, most comprehensive, most ambitious book about video games ever envisioned. This epic tome will contain trivia and stories of Japanese video game history never documented anywhere else in English."

...While the endeavour turned out to be a bit of disaster with a particular associate, the end result is an incredibly rare and unique look at the game industry overseas. 

If you grew up, playing any of the famous 16-bit jrpgs of the 90s, this is definitely worth a look.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/books.htm

(Spotted) Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Reveal Trailer

(from Polygon by Allegra Frank - Jun 02, 2016)

"Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is now in development from developer Lizardcube and publisher DotEmu. The adventure game is a current-gen spin on the classic Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap, originally released for Sega Master System in 1989.

While Sega and original developer Westone isn't involved in the remake, Lizardcube said that it's working closely with the Wonder Boy series' creators on the project. The French studio's take on The Dragon's Trap features a decidedly different look from its 27-year-old predecessor, as seen in the teaser above. The graphics are hand-drawn, and the soundtrack has also been reimagined, the developer said.

Like the original, though, players will spend the Metroidvania-esque action-platformer as the shape-shifting Lizard-Man, who changes between six different forms, from a mouse to a piranha. There's no release date yet for Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, but Lizardcube is planning to bring it to Windows PC and consoles."

The Final Fantasist: A Conversation With Yoshitaka Amano - [USGAMER]

Amano's rendition of FFVI's world revealed a far grander and more fantastic vista than the humble Super NES was capable of rendering.

COVER STORY: The artist who has given life to so many Final Fantasy games speaks about his inspirations, the difference between fine and commercial art, and his current projects.

"The first time I saw — or rather, noticed — Yoshitaka Amano's work was when I stumbled across the Nintendo-published U.S. strategy guide for Final Fantasy VI, back when we in America thought it was actually the third Final Fantasy..."

"... It stood out from shelves by avoiding the hypertrophic musclemen and garish explosions typical to 16-bit American game packaging. In their place instead appeared a delicate, almost impressionistic rendition of a young woman with flowing hair reclining in the cockpit of a gnarled, angular machine. Despite the cover illustration being largely obscured by a huge red block from which the book's title screamed in shiny gold letters, I recognized the subject of the painting immediately: This was Terra perched atop a Magitek Armor, an artistic take on Final Fantasy VI's stunning introduction in which we meet the story's central character as a brainwashed servant storming through a mining town atop powerful armor in service of an imperial army. "

Via USGAMER

Interview with Rom Hack Translator Bobby Vandiver (Red Comet) - [HG101]

(Really cool interview on Rom Hack Translator Bobby Vandiver (Red Comet) posted on HG101 by Andrew Quemere)

The Interview itself is not all that interesting, but what makes it worth reading is how he briefly touches upon the hostility of early online internet communities - which is not all that unsimilar to what rpgmaker communities went through seven years ago...)

(from HG101 Article by Andrew Quemere - April 26, 2016)

"...Finally, the biggest factor is the amount of time that the people involved with a translation are able to commit. Most of the really prolific people in the scene are at least in their late 20s or older and have many other real-life responsibilities to worry about. I've had the translated script for Spider-Man: Lethal Foes since December of 2006, and I still haven't released the patch. I began making headway a few years ago with the more invasive hacks I wanted to implement but got sidetracked by real life.

I was wondering what you can tell me about the ROM hacking community in general. When did fans first start to hack video game ROM images? What do you know about different hacking communities, especially older, defunct ones that might not be very well documented? What do you consider to be the community's major milestones?

I joined the scene just after the end of what some might call the golden era of ROM hacking, so I don’t know much about the older, defunct groups as some of the older guys in the scene might.

As I recall, the MSX translations released by Oasis were some of the earliest translations created and released. A few years later came the Final Fantasy wars where multiple groups sprang up, each competing to be the first to release a translation for the Japan-only Final Fantasy games. From what I’ve heard, this period had a really hostile, juvenile atmosphere which has fortunately gone away after everyone involved got older and/or left the scene.

I remember in my early days in the community, it felt like I had missed out on something really incredible, which is one of the reasons why I jumped at the opportunity to help [founder] Nightcrawler get ROMhacking.net off the ground.

When ROMhacking.net first launched, it was a much needed breath of fresh air for the community. For the first time since I came on the scene, there was activity in a central place with active contributors. It seemed like every week, someone released something new or a new thread popped up on the forum showing off a new project someone was working on. This lasted for a couple years and then kind of settled down to a steady flow of updates. I haven’t kept up with the scene for a few years now, but it seems like it’s still a very vibrant, active community that shows no signs of dying any time soon..."

Continued on Hardcore Gaming 101

Nintendo Game Boy ‘Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru’ DX Color ROM Hack In Development - [Retro Collect]

(from RetroCollect.com by Cauterize- April 26, 2016)

"In 1992 a Japanese exclusive adventure for the Nintendo Game Boy known as Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naruhit Japan. Although remaining an exclusive release to the Far East, many would soon experience what the game had to offer as its engine was reused to create The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. A decade later Nintendo began work on updating the title and colourising it for the Game Boy Color - only it was soon shelved in favour of the upcoming Game Boy Advance line up.

Fast forward to today and retro gamers have already begun picking up where Nintendo left off. This has seen a fan translation of the game released (with the newly translated title of For the Frog the Bell Tolls), and now ROM hackers are working on a DX version of the game in a similar vein to Nintendo’s Link’s Awakening DX.

Taking to the ROMHacking.net forums, toruzz recently revealed screenshots of his work in progress and also a quick video detailing the hack in action. Needless to say the game looks fantastic in colour and already has plenty of fans lining up to play it.

A release date is yet to be set for this DX upgrade, but until then, here’s a few quick samples of the game in action."

Via RetroCollect

Super Nintendo PlayStation SNES-CD Prototype Finally Revealed - [Retro Collect]

"Although it’s been a long wait, further details and photographs of the infamous Super Nintendo SNES-CD / PlayStation prototype hardware have finally been revealed. Having taken the unit to the Retro.HK Expo for display, its owner has not only shown off the system’s insides and inner workings, but also found time for a quick round of Street Fighter II on the console too.

The most interesting aspect of this big reveal is that the CD-Rom drive and firmware behind it appears to be intact. Upon booting up the console without a Super Nintendo cartridge inserted, you’ll be shown an equivalent to the Sega Mega CD’s ‘Please Insert Disc’ screen. That said, it has been reported that the accompanying cartridge which contains the CD-Rom BIOS is faulty. Whether this is down to a software or hardware fault is yet to be confirmed."

Via RetroCollect

Fascinating stuff!

Infinity, Beyond: A Small Japanese Studio Braces for the Future - [USGAMER]

How the developer behind 8-bit cult classic The Battle of Olympus has survived nearly 30 years of industry upheavals, and what's next for the company.

"You've probably never heard of Japanese developer Infinity. It's possible you've played some of their games—perhaps NES cult classic The Battle of Olympus?—but even then you most likely haven't touched a new Infinity creation in a couple of decades..."

Via USGAMER

(Another great Article by USGAMER's Jeremey Parish. Again, will probably transpose, but yeah, you should definitely be reading USGAMER.)

Cover Story: NES Creator Masayuki Uemura on the Birth of Nintendo's First Console - [US Gamer]

The man who designed Nintendo's revolutionary console recounts the system's birth and the challenges of building an international business.

"You wouldn't know by looking at Masayuki Uemura, mild-mannered engineer and professor, that he changed video games forever—or that his work set the standard for an industry that nearly died just as its was finding its legs.... "

Via USGamer

(Fantastic Retrospective on the birth of the NES, by Jeremy Parish. I'll probably transpose the rest of it here, later for archival purposes, but for now check it out over on USGAMER.)

GamingCX: GameCenter CX - Episode 136 - Gradius

(A word of cautious - gamingcx.com is one of the last remaining fan websites, where you can actually watch gamecentercx episodes in their entirety - Most of the content found within these episodes, such as the arcade trips and developer interviews, will never make it to the official dvd release in the west, either due to copyright or licensing issues.  So I very graciously ask you to try to not spread these links around too much, as certain segments of the show - while invaluable - are becoming more and more difficult to find.)

An episode of GameCenter CX has recently been translated into english and uploaded onto Gamingcx.com!

(picture taken from http://gamecentercx.tumblr.com/)

GamingCX: GameCenter CX - Episode 136 - Gradius: In this episode, Arino closes off Season 15, with the strict but very talented Assistant Director Takahashi by attempting to beat the rather difficult Konami Shoot-em-up, Gradius.