Highway with a row of Gingko Biloba trees near Yoyogi Park.

Since Doujin refers to an independent person or group of people pursuing a hobby of creating works of art, let’s not forget their western counterparts as well. No, it’s hard to even ignore them. We can clearly see a huge evolution of gameplay in the western side of things as of late.

Braid: The game I wish I created. Gameplay, level design and in-depth storytelling makes this game an indie gem.

The way I see it, both sides of the doujin world have their pros and cons. In the west gameplay is key, but the games tend to be a one-off thing. The universe is only exclusive to that game itself. You had a good time, but you won’t be seeing a Wiki about its game universe nor will you be joining a fan club of the characters in Facebook anytime soon.

But because the game designer hops from one game to the next, you see an evolution of game design techniques and experimentation. From Cloud to Flow to Flower, Jenova Chen of thatgamecompany continues to impress me and many others with every single game he comes up with. You can even see his innovative thought process in GDC 2010, where he came up with the concept of Heavenville. Every game is like a breath of fresh air.

Those who own a PS3, do yourself a favour and download Flower now. It’s cheap and it’s worth every single penny in your credit card bill.

Touhou: A shmup game series created by one guy, Zun, with its own expanded universe and extensive wiki pages. Plushies, a few indie animation shorts and thousands of Youtube videos were passionately created by his fans.

In Japan, however, they focus more on the game world. No doubt the games are fun, but being absorbed into the world and being able to mingle with the characters is a huge plus point for a Japanese. To an average Japanese doujin gamer, the Touhou universe (created by only one man) is similar to the Star Wars universe; the characters and world view are consistent throughout the series. Fans of the universe are everywhere throughout the world, in fact they have a fan convention for the Touhou universe itself few times a year.

You may check out Touhou’s extensive wiki database here, which includes pages of comprehensive info on the game’s 26 locations, 30 bestiary entries and 120 characters.

Touhou is not the only one that deserves this credit: Melty Blood, Fate/Stay Night, Naku Koro ni series and many more. So much so that a lot of demands made some of these series become commercialized. This phenomenon is something very rare in the western doujin world, though more common in western commercial works.

However, focusing on the universe also means that the game designer tends to stay on the safe side. The next game in the series will expand your view of the universe, not necessarily expand your fun. Maybe some slight changes in game mechanics, but rarely a major overhaul. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say.

As a game designer, I value both. I believe that a good game immerses you in two ways: a believable universe (story, characters, graphics) and good gameplay. This post is more about the latter, though the games don’t falter in the former either.

Comiket, a huge convention for any Japanese to open their own booth and sell their independent products; and the Independent Games Festival, a major target for indie game developers worldwide. Both pave way for superb talent.

In Japan, being able to express your skills by opening your own booth in conventions is the major motivation behind creating a doujin work. In the western world it’s all about contests, baby! Either way is great, as long as it opens paths for new-comers to show off their works. And impressive works, they are!

Let’s start with the recent 2010 Independent Games Festival. Some of the awesome winners:

Monaco, won Seamus McNally Grand Prize + Excellence in Design. Brings me back to the old days of my Atari computer, but the major keypoint here is the multiplayer feature. Looks fun!

Limbo, won Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence. It’s like Another World but with a darker touch.

Closure, won Excellence in Audio. I dunno why it just won in audio, I’d say the gameplay deserves an award for its outstanding innovation! Try it for yourself: click here.

Continuity, won Student Showcase Winner. Oooooh you should try this one. The level and puzzle design are amazing! This is my personal recommendation for those who haven’t tried it yet. You’ll regret not clicking here to play the game!

For a year plus, Epic Games has held the “Make Something Unreal” contest by letting participants use the Unreal engine to create something… uh, unreal. The results were finally announced recently, and they are amazing! Gotta love ‘em mods.

Grand Prize Winner: The Haunted.

2nd Prize: The Ball. My personal fave of the three.

3rd Prize: Angels Fall First.

As you can see, the doujin works in the West continue to impress us with their gameplay, and their universe design is far from stale. Way far. Long live the independent spirit of the world!

(Special thanks to Yuz of Simply Games! blog for the constant update on the scene)