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)

With a staff of only 3 people (1 character designer, 1 animator and 1 music composer), the doujin circle Kinema Kan is planning to bring the world of Touhou to life, with no less than an animated film on DVD. Feel the power of an independent circle. Here’s the magnificient trailer:

Everything looks absolutely polished, in a very mainstream anime way rather than the usual indepedent artsy type. The song is great and very Touhou-like, and even the background art is vivid and lively. Epic!

The DVD will be out on the March 14th Reitaisai, a super big event dedicated solely to the Touhou universe. One guy creates a game world of his own, and people follow through with animation and exclusive events. Powerful is a game creator today.

The power of fans fueled his work to a tremendous amount of doujin fan videos and illustrations that are aplenty on the Internet. Some fans created a PV called Bad Apple, which became a big hit in NicoNicoDouga and YouTube. I even made a post about it.

It was the number one most viewed video in YouTube for weeks upon its release. Then someone got nuts and printed the whole thing to make a stop-motion video. That video became popular too.

And very recently CNN picked up on it.

I know I told you many times, but I’m gonna say it again: Never underestimate the power of fans!

The stop motion video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=240Vq6tIxio. The camera angles follow the video to the tee, amazing! Someone sure had a lot of time in his hands.

What do you get when you cross motion graphics and otaku culture? That’s right, another MAD!

Just using manga material, promotional images and *extremely few* anime scenes, a few NicoNico users were brought together to create this third installment of the Hidamari Sketch motion graphic extravaganza. Needless to say, apart from the official Hidamari Sketch materials, everything is self-made, from the sprite movements all the way to the 3D modeling and effects.

5 days since its upload on NicoNicoDouga, it has gathered almost 115k hits and 12k+ mylist bookmarks (or favourites, in  YouTube-speak). I’m one of them of course, considering how much I love the show.

Here are the other two, in case you wanna see them: 1st collabo and 2nd collabo.

The third one came out just in time for Christmas and for the new 3rd season of Hidamari Sketch which is coming out next month. Can’t wait! We need to welcome the two new cute Hidamari Sou tenants with open arms.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Was busy compiling my portfolio, went to the gym and had dinner in Matsuya… alone. Yet another ronery Christmas for me.

The other thing I did in the past week was surfing Pixiv, YouTube and NicoNicoDouga, so I compiled all the awesome Christmas stuff I found from Japan and put them in this post. I am Santa and you’ve been a good kid.

The picture above was taken in Shinjuku station day before yesterday. If you’re a romance anime buff like me, I fully recommend Kimi ni Todoke from past autumn. It’s such a sweet warm anime that you can snuggle up to it on cold winter nights. Moreover, it’s animated by Production I.G and has Noto Mamiko’s voice. Ahhh, Sawako in that hoodie…

Let’s start first with some Pixiv fanart that I deem the best of the 2009 collection.

A nice warm scene drawn by BoniiFuto ボニー太.

When you can’t get a reindeer of your own. Nice colouring by Fuuta フータ.

Starry sky on a holy night. Created by Guma ぐま.

Haruhi is up to no good again. Won’t be receiving any presents this year either. By 9tori ９鳥.

The colour combo look great, somehow this gives me an idea to create my own rendition of such kind. Created by 87 (yea that’s his pixiv name).

Should I be overjoyed and greet him, or follow my instinct and chase him? Drawn by hrt.

Awwww, look at what Chibi-Miku got for Christmas. Created by luu.

Wish a Godzillion wonderful moments happen to you too, Miya (the artist).

Poor Miku, I guess that’s the problem with having green hair. Drawn by Saku さく.

A nice sinister rendition of Santa by TREIZE.

See, I told you to buy a house with a chimney. Drawn by Takefuto 岳太.

Random and childlike, very nice! Click here to see it in original size. Drawn by Uryu うりゅ.

Now we move on to the videos!

Ah, Ranma 1/2. My first true anime love. This is the ending of the second OVA christmas special. Used to download Quicktime movies of all the openings, endings and DoCo music videos back in 1997. Do you have any idea how long each download took at that time? Nothing can stop a Ranma fan!

Remember Love Hina, the show that defined harem anime in general? Its christmas special had one of the sweetest anisong I heard, Winter Wish. No PVs available, so you gotta settle for this equally beautiful guitar transition. You can listen to the original song here.

When I think of Christmas and games combined, the first thing that comes to mind is Christmas NiGHTs for the Sega Saturn. Back to when Sonic Team was good *sigh*. Just fly around and collect stuff; such simple gameplay yet the whole thing has a strong concept, at least for me. Skip to 3:50 if you wanna see the gameplay.

Speaking of Sega, they released this Christmas promotional video for their latest game, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. All was fine until the part the lady sang “Aaaannnddd a heeedgeehooog caaalled Sooooooniiiiiic”. So lame =_=;;

AND speaking of games, this was Sony’s greeting card to their business partners this year. Wish it snowed PS3 here. People might die but at least I’ll get a PS3 for free.

A beautiful short animation created by Mitsukawa Maboro. This guy does animation works (mainly in Flash) about a girl who’s very lonely. I dunno what the details are, but the video is definitely enough to stir up my emotions. Comes with Chopin’s beautiful music rendition too.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is one heck of a musician. He has made a name for himself by winning an Academy Award, a Golden Globe award and a Grammy award. Talk about being greedy lol. His most popular piece has gotta be this one, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. Needless to say, it’s beautiful. In YouTube and NicoNicoDouga you can find many fan-made remixes and renditions of the song, shows how influential this dude really is.

For you people who like a more youthful vibe (read: handsome young men), then you can listen to this one, Exile’s Holy Night. The A Capella version is nice too.

Hey look it’s Gackt *hears many girls screaming*. Alright then, this song needs no introduction, it’s simply one of his greatest hits, December Love Song.

Rewind back to the mid-80s where we had Yamashita Tatsuro sing “Christmas Eve”, which became an instant hit. To an average Japanese, this song is considered to be the standard Christmas song. JR used the song to advertise their Christmas CMs as well. I’m sure some of you have heard the English version, but this is the original one. You decide which one’s better!

Or if you think that’s too much of an oldie (how old are you anyway?!), then you can go for the rap version. Eh, not really my type, but at least it’s by Kick the Can Crew. Like their songs when I was first introduced to them in my previous office.

Another beautiful Christmas song, this time by B’z. Even if you’re not their fan, I’m sure you’ve heard it some time or another. Don’t you just love that husky singing voice?

Bump of Chicken don’t only sing One Piece songs ok! This is a new down-to-earth Christmas song by them this year. Very soothing. The original MTV had its embedding disabled *grumble* but if you wanna watch it, click here.

Ok enough of guys man, sheez! An energetic hip rendition of Last Christmas by Foxxi misQ. So which one do you wanna see under your christmas tree tonight? ;)

Komaneko is a little kid’s show for Cartoon Network Japan, and they had this seasonal ending theme up, sang by Solita. There’s just something about the French language that triples the romance of a song, don’t you agree?

Wanna kick it up a notch with the “mengada” (roughly translated to English, “ARGH”) factor? I present to you little boys group singing Winter Wonderland!

Watch all the stupidity and humour that is the Japanese commercial in this compilation, all for this year’s Christmas. Look out for Nodame and Tommy Lee Jones!

How about a cute computer-rendered voice singing Silent Night? You know I can’t escape Miku’s charms rite? :D The PVs well made too.

And to end the post, we have Osaka sing Jingle Bells. Or should I say arranged to make it *look* like she’s singing Jingle Bells. Tomo (who doesn’t believe in reindeers) and Chiyo-chan joins in the fun as well. Esukareta~ Erebeta~ Sataaa Andagiii~

Have a Merry Christmas! Hope you’re not all alone and writing a blog post on this merry day.

There are MAD videos, and there are GODLY hand-drawn MAD videos. Click on the jump to see my favourites.

Never underestimate an anime fan. They go through great lengths to create a video dedicated to their favourite animes. No donations, no money, nothing, just out of pure love. There are those who sing, dance, edit video, etc but to me, the ones who need to be praised the most are those who hand-draw their vids. Traced or otherwise, it takes a great deal of effort to animate frame-by-frame.

Tegaki 手書き in Japanese means “drawn by hand”. A very useful term for your NicoNico needs!

Here are some of the best ones imo. I have included the link to the original sequence at the end of each vid in case you don’t get it :P

(Please leave some comments if you have the least bit of interest in the following. I’m considering to stop anime-related posts if I’m the only one who’s really into it, as seen from my other similar posts. I might as well write a diary rather than a blog :P)

FFVII <- Tales of the Abyss OP. Superb attention to detail, e.g. clothes, background etc. It’s smart that the creator used the balloons to indicate that they’re dating atop the Golden Saucer. You can see that the FFVII characters remain intact, though now Cloud has a ponytail and Cait Sith got a little too thin. Small matter :P [Tales of the Abyss OP]

Yotsubato <- Azumanga OP. A classic MAD. Unlike other Azumanga parodies, this one didn’t completely follow the original too much and had some little touches that made it unique. Which begs the question, where’s my Yotsubato anime huh? HUH?! [Azumanga OP]

Metal Gear <- Lupin III OP. Wooo animated GIF style, sure adds more class compared to vector-type graphics. And it’s Metal Gear to boot! Ocelot got his arm chopped a little too easily there lol. Still have yet to play MGS4. Wuwuwuwu sucks to be me. [Lupin III OP]

Higurashi <- Azuki-chan OP. Wanna see Higurashi as a ’90s wholesome family comedy? This is one of the most polished MADs I’ve seen, with the characters still looking like the original after it’s been hand-drawn. Enjoy the fuzziness while it still lasts, until Rena’s blood-rage jealousy takes over. [Azuki-chan OP]

Ico <- Yawara! OP. Well well, what do we have here… a GIF-style Ico MAD! And it’s a great one to boot! You don’t see that everyday. Don’t think you see that every year either. Yorda is sooo puh-reetty… lucky viking helmet-wearing bastard. [Yawara! OP]

Lucky Star <- Haruhi OP. Combine these two and you’ll have instant hit success on NicoNico. Moreso when it’s superbly done, just look at the part when the chorus kicks in! That’s nuts, man! Nuts! A famous phrase in NicoNico when you see something like this: Ah nothing special, it’s only God(’s creation). 「なんだ、ただの神か。」 [Haruhi Season 1 OP]

Gurren Lagann <- Tenjou Tenge OP. Woo, show me your moves! The Gurren Lagann cast hipping and hopping. The song rocks and so does the animation. Beware of Simon’s man-boobs. Not sure why the creator chose the last boss dancing at the end though lol. Every time I start launching this video, I end up watching this more times that I originally wanted to, always :P [Tenjou Tenge OP]

Vocaloid <- K-On OP. This made quite a big hoo-ha on the interwebs earlier this year. Not surprising at all, considering the content (double combo meal set) and how well-polished this gem is. Having Miku singing it is a very nice touch. It even has Rin and Len riding a steamroller, what’s there not to like? [K-On OP]

Ranma <- K-On ED. How about having an old cast of characters in a new anime? I have to admit, I’m a little biased on this, after all Ranma was my first love (as in the series ok!). Still, it’s pretty fluid, well-drawn and has Ukyou playing with the Spatula. That’s good enough for me! [K-On ED]

Vocaloid <- Tales of Phantasia OP. I dunno, but I’m the sort of guy who would buy an RPG with Miku riding a leek and Kaito riding a Haagen-Daz ice-cream cup. To each their own I guess. [Tales of Phantasia OP]

Toradora <- Haruhi 2 ED. Another MAD that graced our interwebs this year. If there’s anything that can soothe my pain of watching the same thing eight times in a row, it’s Toradora. And Minorin is the main character too, she can heal my soul any day. [Haruhi 2 ED]

Slayers <- Ranma OP. How about one classic anime going into another? Chikyuu Orchestra is one of my fave Ranma OPs, and having Lina Inverse and gang gracing it just brings a smile to my face. The characters are adequately animated too, too bad the fuzzy tv behind is not, otherwise it’ll be greater than great. [Ranma OP]

Phoenix Wright <- Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OP In the courtroom, Phoenix Wright is always in despair isn’t he? Then this OP suits him best! The colours used in the drawing matches nicely with the overall art direction, and kissing Mia on the legs is always a plus. No objections! Getting Maya pregnant though is a little…errr… oh wait, that’s just a bag. Tch. [Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OP]

FFVII <- Ouran OP. You can see that the creator tried to cover up for the lack of frames by delaying a few parts here and there, but it’s still not enough to belittle the effort taken in animation. Especially the one where the characters circle around before the chorus, love that part. Mainly coz I love that part in the original OP too :) I miss Ouran, one of the best comedies of 2006. And FF7, one of my fave RPGs. Gah, see what this MAD has done to me! [Ouran OP]

Bakemonogatari Alternative ED. So what happens when you see an ending sequence that you don’t like? Create a new one! Looks like one of my favourite animes this year has another ED! I swear, it looked like Senjougahara was traced from Mio in the K-On ED. With a little polish here and there, it would pass off as a real ED. As it is, it’ll be able to fool some on YouTube already :) Good job, Mr. Creator! [Original ED]

One Piece <- Smoooooooooch PV. Konami is smart to make this original PV for Beatmania, it’s entertaining yet simple enough for other people to create their own version. My favourite is this One Piece ver., I will never look at these 3 guys the same way again… BIG BUTT LUFFY! Phew, glad I got that out of my chest. [Smoooooooooch PV]

Jojo <- Russ-K ad. Jojo is already filled with great-looking effeminate guys (Looking strangely at you now, Daim), so why not have them sell some nice Russ-K clothes? The original has invited so many anime fans to draw their favourite characters dancing in such fashion, but in the end this Jojo one is my top due to its detail. You might wanna check out my other biased favourite One Piece ver. or the challenging-to-draw-female-hair Higurashi ver. [Nanikeidemonai ad]

A little omake:

Hatsune Miku <- Powerpuff Girls. Looks like the three girls weren’t the only ones who received the power rings. Kaito and Meiko received theirs as well. Kaito… in a skirt…. oh gawd… I’m too scared to put that video here. Check it out at your own risk, don’t say I didn’t warn ya. [Powerpuff Girls transformation scenes]

Man, that was pretty satisfying. Wear cat ears somemore la.

Japanator had a call for contribution for inserting your own caption/editing a manga page. The results were pretty awesome. Including this strange but amusing panel:

I knew it. It matches the narration, the music and even the sound effects of the original! The pirates look very rich though. I like how Battler is struggling with the boat, so uncool lol.

大海賊時代より、大家族時代じゃんｗｗｗ

Even if you have no idea what Touhou is, watch it for the visuals. This has gotta be the most stylized and tastefully designed Touhou-related video I have ever seen. Features most of the popular characters in the Touhou universe.

Again, the power of doujin culture shines with bewildering creativity. Thanks, Zun.

I’m sure this video is gonna be removed soon :P People paid for those 90 seconds on DVD!

Whatever, it’s puh-reeeeetttyyyyy.

After a long wait, fans finally get to see the PV of Black Rock Shooter Pilot Edition. It’s a darker counterpart of Miku created by Haku for the BRS music video, finished a year ago. It’s no surprise that it’s popular in Nico Nico Douga due to its catchy tune and beautiful art direction.

Thankfully, Yamakan and Studio Ordet translated the beauty well into anime. He’s known for his Haruhi ED dance choreography (back to when it was legendary and DIDN’T have the Endless Eight) and director of Kannagi (best brand of humour found in modern anime), so you can trust the guy. Looking forward to the series, out next year.

From the vid, the show would be more about two best friends, who eventually became enemies. I’m sure it would be a visual representation of the song’s lyrics, with what we have seen so far.

It’s all thanks to Huke’s creative direction.

From a software box cover to fan-made music and video, then to a whole anime series. Doujin influence just amazes me to no end.

(In before Sankaku Complex and Japanator! Heh heh my Youtube browsing rox)