Where we talk about the strengths of game events for devs, issues with design, and the future of the Japanese indie game scene
An Interview with Primary Orbit, Part 2
Interview by: Douglas Schules Translation by: Douglas Schules and Hugh Wilson Nettelbeck
Daedalus Machine
Could you tell us a little more about the challenges you faced developing for Android? Primary Orbit As people started downloading my game for Android, user inquiries began flooding in. Many of the problems that users were facing were dependent on the hardware they were using, so I was unable to recreate them on my own machine. I tried searching online about known problems relative to each user’s individual hardware, but that didn’t prove very helpful. I’m sure this is a problem faced by many mobile developers, but I also received many complaints that were environment-dependent (e.g. WIFI dropping out) and had nothing to do with my application itself. Getting that kind of feedback, which has nothing to do with the application itself, is disheartening… Daedalus Machine Can you tell us why you decided to switch to PC? Did the challenges you mentioned with mobile push you to switch? Primary Orbit My publisher suggested that I should release a PC version of the game, and I assumed it would be easy with Unity. However, I felt like the game wouldn’t be as interesting on PC if I just did a straight port of the mobile version. The graphics and gameplay needed to be altered to take advantage of the capabilities of the PC. For example, I aimed to increase the strategic depth of the gameplay in the PC version. Daedalus Machine Earlier, you mentioned that you were dissatisfied with the first half of the game. I think that dissatisfaction is something that many creators feel, whether it be game developers or musicians or novelists. But that implies that there’s an end to the process. What I find interesting about games, especially mobile games and their updates, is that there seems to be no end, no finish to the development process. Given your experiences on both mobile and PC development, what do you think about this? Is this a good trend? Primary Orbit I think that the desire to keep on improving a product is essential in all creative media, and if you lose that will for improvement, it’s game over for you as a creator. As long as you have something you want to create, there’s motivation to continue. I could probably keep tinkering around with the same game forever, but I think at some point I should take the know-how I’ve been able to develop in the process of making this game and apply it to creating something new. If I don’t, I think I could be stuck tinkering with the same game for the rest of my life! So, I think that’s a good trend. Daedalus Machine How many members are there, and what are their roles? Primary Orbit There is only one member, me, and I do all the development. Since it’s difficult to set up a booth all alone, when appearing at events like Digige or Comiket I recruit my family to help out. Daedalus Machine Does that mean you create all assets – from graphics to music – from scratch as well? Primary Orbit I bought some of the 3D models in the game (background items and characters) from the Unity asset store. I don't have the ability to create music or sound-effects myself, so I used both free and purchasable assets. The voice acting and translations were provided for free by volunteers. Daedalus Machine In terms of the free assets, are there any sites you would recommend to developers in a similar situation? Primary Orbit With third party assets it can be difficult to screen for content provided by suspicious or otherwise undesirable sources. The best option is to stick to the assets available on the official asset store. I found it relatively easy to navigate the official store too. Daedalus Machine What games have influenced you? Primary Orbit It’s extremely diverse, and I try to include appropriate homages to them. For example, the Disk Station set of works that was sold from Compile in the PC98 era (the maker of the Puyo Puyo games), the Ultima series, Wizardry, the SaGa series, FF series, LOVEdeLIC games, and so forth are big influences. Daedalus Machine I’ve seen you at both Comiket and Digige. What other events have you appeared at? Primary Orbit I’d like to try to appear at other events, but that hasn’t happened at this point; it’s difficult to participate in events when you’re in the middle of development. Daedalus Machine How are these events different? What, in your opinion, are their strong points for indie game developers – why should indie developers go to them? Primary Orbit I’ve only had one experience with Digigie, and that was Digige 2016. It was really stimulating because I was able to get to know various people and interact with developers like me. I felt that Comiket was a stronger event with respect to publicity and distribution due to the fact that the number of people there was overwhelmingly larger. Still, since various companies come to these events and I can talk to people from different fields, I feel that it’s a big benefit to participate. I’d certainly recommend that developers try exhibiting there at least once. Daedalus Machine How are “indie games” different from “doujin games”? What, in your opinion, is the difference between these two terms? Primary Orbit I thought that, in the past, the difference was whether the work was original or a derivative one, but in recent years that boundary has become blurred and I’m no longer sure of the difference. If I was told which my own work was, I wouldn’t be sure so isn’t it better for those who play it to decide? Daedalus Machine Following up on that, to what extent do you think where the game is sold or who is selling it defines these terms? For example, a game sold at Comiket, no matter the experience of the developer, will be a “doujin game” while one on PSN will be an “indie game”. Primary Orbit I don’t know. Sometimes I see games at Comiket that feel somehow “indie-ish” to me, or games on the PSN that feel closer to a “doujin” game. Daedalus Machine Have the terms lost their value, then? Primary Orbit Personally I don’t really feel that there’s much distinction between the two. What’s more important is whether a game is fun or not. When I talk about my own game I often use both terms. Daedalus Machine What engines have you used to develop your games, and roughly how long did it take to develop them? Primary Orbit I developed Märchen Forest using Unity. I didn’t really keep track of how long it took to develop, so I can’t say for certain, but since my real job is that of a salaryman, on weekdays I develop from after I’m done work until late at night, and on weekends and holidays from morning until the evening. I go to bed every day between 2 and 4 AM. I feel like I’ve been living like this for about 3 years. Daedalus Machine What have you done so far to market your games? Primary Orbit I guess it’s really exhibiting at events and tweeting from my personal Twitter account. There’s a lot of people who have gotten to know the game through word of mouth from people who have played it, and for that I’m really grateful. Daedalus Machine What are the biggest challenges you face when developing and promoting games? Primary Orbit Because I was completely inexperienced with programming, the process of writing it was really a struggle. Things like how to load variables output from other sources with different sources…I was so clueless at such basics that if people who knew what they were doing looked at me they’d be surprised. When it comes to publicity, my biggest problem was displaying the game at Comiket. Leading up to Comiket it is difficult to balance your time between display preparations and game development. I was afraid that I’d lose my mind as the event day approached because I wouldn’t be able to get rid of all the bugs. Publicity itself was hard because I couldn’t really find advertising method that was cost effective.
Daedalus Machine
Based on your experience so far, what do you think the future holds for Japanese indie game developers and their games? Primary Orbit I think that we’re going to see a lot more games coming out as the entry barriers for game development keeps getting lower. Indie games are even sold on home consoles like the PS4 these days, so I think the market is only going to continue growing from here. That’s what I’d like to happen, anyway. Daedalus Machine What advice do you have for people who want to design games? Primary Orbit My background is in design, so when I started developing Märchen Forest I didn’t have any experience with programing yet, but I was able to wrap my head around it thanks to the excellence of the Unity engine. So, my advice for people who haven’t done any programming before is to jump in head first and get accustomed to the programming tools at hand. Daedalus Machine Do you have any other projects that you are working on? If so, can you tell us a little bit about them? Primary Orbit At the moment, I’m working on a sequel to Märchen Forest. The first game has been getting a lot of positive reception, so I think it’s best to strike while the iron is hot. I think I’ll have my hands full with this series for a while. There are some things that I wanted to include in Märchen Forest but couldn’t due to my lack of programing knowledge. I’m planning to use the skills I learned from making the first game to implement these features in the sequel. I really want to include more RPG-like features in the second game, but I think that means I’ll need a few years to finish it. It’s quite difficult to develop games all on my own... Related Posts
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