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Post subject: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 7:56 pm 
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An article written by the game's scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima. The article was OCR-scanned, cleaned up manually, and afterwards machine-translated and further edited by myself. I hope I got the gist of his sentiments right, with my apologies for any evident mistakes. A couple sentences I had to omit due to failing to translate them properly, others I elaborated on, all at my own expense. The original text will also be spoiler-tagged in the end for those fluent in Japanese. Hope you enjoy the read!

Quote:
What would happen if history was to be included in an RPG? I had been thinking along these lines absently for a while. Indulging in the imaginary worlds of sword and sorcery - there was always great fun to be had. Yet, having played various games, I began to feel a lack of something. When I realized this enveloping feeling was in fact 'emptiness', a vagrant idea in my head was starting to shape into something concrete.

What is important for games is probably for them to be "fun". But is it "fun" if you only have fun playing it? In this way, games are no different from idle amusement. No, I don't mean to deny the importance of entertainment, but maybe there's something else, something important to be had as "icing on the cake". Looking at sports, for example, it's not that we only play sports to have fun - but to also stay healthy, learn good sportsmanship, and so on. All of those factors add to the value of sports.

While thinking about such things, my head was already spinning with chibi characters moseying around an ancient Chinese setting. Many stories and historical figures came and went in my mind. Well, how about we make our hero an ordinary peasant? And the setting Warring States era China, centered around the city of Luoyang? Sure, and because we need friends, here's Lin Xiangru. We also need a swordsman, so there's Jing Ke. I don't particularly want magic, but there's the Chinese concept of "qigong". For the longest time, I was completely absorbed in planning and preparing this story.

So why choose Chinese history as a subject? After all, northern European setting with Norse mythology would make for a great sword-and-sorcery world. Considering the recent boom in 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' games, it's reasonable to expect Chinese setting to be a profitable enterprise. But the ROTK setting is already too saturated. How about we turn, instead, to the more crazier Spring and Autumn, Warring States era? It's the original and most interesting period of Chinese history. It's certain to introduce diverse characters, the fight for supremacy between the seven states, and familiar stories that we recall in form of common proverbs every day.

However, what became a problem were the hanzi (Chinese kanji). With place names, people, etc. it was impossible to avoid hanzi entirely. At first, I wasn't well versed in hanzi, and in addition many kanji not usually used in Japan came up frequently. I had already decided not wishing to grate the players' patience. It wasn't possible to implement text in 8x8, so 16x16 symbols had to be used. Then we could only have 14 letters on a line, with three rows of text at a time on screen. Could we make it work with such a small number of characters displayed at once? I didn't want players frustrated hitting X over and over again. Well, we tried various things, and as a result I think the message window turned out rather easy-to-read, somehow?

Some of the stories and proverbs weren't familiar to everyone. In addition to new literature, we delved into second-hand bookstores, chased discontinued titles and utilized libraries to the maximum. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors of the literature that we referred and drew inspiration from.

Due to my immaturity at the time, there may have been mistakes. In addition, some parts are arranged for convenience due to gameplay reasons. Please be understanding with this as well.

I cannot say if the genre of "historical RPG" will stay established in the world of gaming. Indeed, at this point I cannot yet say what kind of evaluation and reception "Shiki Eiyuuden" will receive. But, if you take your time to explore every nook and granny of this title, you will certainly be satisfied. In the wake of this game, players developing an interest in Chinese history will surely find literature such as "Shiji" and "Eighteenth History" a highly interesting venue to explore further.


- Kazuo Fukushima (Scenario / Game Design)


Spoiler! :
歴史をRPGに盛り込んだらどうなるだろう?ぼんやりとこんな事を考えていたのは、もう大分前の事だった。剣と魔法の架空の世界は、それはそれで楽しいものだった。だが、いろいろとプレイしていくうちに、何か物足りなさを感じ始めていた。それが「むなしさ」だと気がついた時、私の頭の中ぼんやりとしたアイデアは、はっきりと形を表しはじめていた。

ゲームにとって大切な事は、たぶん「面白さ」だろう。でもそれは、ただプレイしている時間が楽しければよいという「面白さ」だろうか。それならばゲームは、ただの娯楽でしかない。いや、娯楽を否定するつもりはないが、もっと別の、何か余韻のようなものがあってもいいのではないか。例をスポーシにとってみると、プレイしている時間だけが楽しいのではなく、健康にいいとか、スポーシマンシップが学べるとか、他の付加価値があるからこそ私達はスポーシをするのではないか。

こんな事を思っているうちに、私の頭はすでに中国時代舞台に活躍するチビキャラでいっぱいにはっていた。いろんな故事や歴史上の人物が浮かんでは消えた。よしっ、主人公は普通の村人にしよう。街は戦国七雄プラス洛陽で8個か、うん 、ちょうどいいぞ。完璧の故事は使えるな、よし、藺相如を仲間にしよう。まてよ、剣士も必要だな、そうだ、荊軻がいた。魔法はいやだな、そうそう中国には気功があるじゃないか。こんな調子でしばらくは、ネタの仕込みに没頭していたように記憶している。

では、なぜ中国史を題材に選んだのかというと、ヨーロッパ史では、結局北欧神話をもとにした剣と魔法の世界になってしまいそうだったからだ。では、なぜ中国史を題材に選んだのかというと、ヨーロッパ史では、結局北欧神話をもとにした剣と魔法の世界になってしまいそうだったからだ。かといって日本史では生臭さすぎるし、NHKの大河ドラマみたいになりそうだ。昨今の三国志ブームからみて、中国物なら無理なく入っていけるのではないか。ただ三国志はもう使い古しだ。それなら、もっとマニアックな春秋戦国時代にしよう。そもそも中国史で一番面白いのは、この時代だ。多様な人物、戦国七雄の覇権争い、私達が日常使っている故事成語も導入できそうだ。

しかし、ここで問題になったのは漢字である。地名・人物など・どうしても漢字はさけて通れない。もともと漢字が苦手な私だが、それに加えて日本では通常使われていない漢字がひんぱんにでてくる。もうこれは、プレイヤーに我慢してもらうしか方法がないと勝手に決めてしまった。ドットも8x8では不可能で16x16にしだ。するとー行に14文字しか入らない。縦も3段でおさえないと画面が隠れてしまう。そうなると、一度に表示できる文字数では、メッセージがうまく伝わるだろうか。といって、プレイヤーにあまりボタンを押させたくはない。とまあ、いろいろ試行錯誤したが、結果として、わりと読みやすいウィンドウになったと思っているが、いかがか。

故事成語もなじみのあるものだけにした。歴史をあつかうだけに、時代考証などもできるかぎり時間を使い万全を期した。新刊書はもとより、神田の古本街へ日参し、廃刊になっている珍書を追いかけたり、図書館もフルに活用した。参考にさせていただいた文献の著者の方々には、この場をかりてお礼を申し上げます。

ただ私の未熟ゆえに、もしかしたら間違いがあるかもしれない。その時はどうかお許し願いたい。またゲーム化にあたり、作者の都合の良い様にアレンジしてある部分もあるので、これもご理解いただきたい。

歴史RPGというジャンルが、ゲームの世界に確立するかどうかは判らない。ましてや新作のRPGである「史記英雄伝」がどんな評価を受けるのかは、全くもって判らない。でも、すみずみまで味わっていただければ、必ず満足していただけるように作ったつもりである。このゲームをきっかけに、プレイヤーのみなさんが中国史に興味をおぼえ、「史記」や「十八史略」などの文献を読んでみようという気になってくださったら、これに勝る喜びはない。


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:08 pm 
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Thank you for this, hausen-san. 'Twas an interesting read. Though, while I don't mind exploring nooks, I have to draw the line at the exploration of grannies. lol


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:20 pm 
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LOL how did that slip in haha!


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:16 pm 
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I am sort of back. I am in a post-op phase, following surgery. The doctor tells me everything went fine. Although I expect to be back 100%, I am taking it "easy" for a while longer, at my pampering wife's insistence, lest she place me in an even more restrictive "time-out"!

I will read this in greater detail once I pour a few cups of coffee down my neck and have some breakfast grits. Looks like something I would like to include on our project page - con su permiso!

I hope to post a video after while. I just learned about the legend of shooting out extra suns with an arrow and saving the parched land. As in Chaos Seed, feng shui was not required, just aging archer Kisho!


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:47 pm 
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Wildbill wrote:
I am sort of back. I am in a post-op phase, following surgery. The doctor tells me everything went fine. Although I expect to be back 100%, I am taking it "easy" for a while longer, at my pampering wife's insistence, lest she place me in an even more restrictive "time-out"!

I will read this in greater detail once I pour a few cups of coffee down my neck and have some breakfast grits. Looks like something I would like to include on our project page - con su permiso!

I hope to post a video after while. I just learned about the legend of shooting out extra suns with an arrow and saving the parched land. As in Chaos Seed, feng shui was not required, just aging archer Kisho!


Glad to hear that everything went fine, Wildbill. Take it easy ;)


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:59 pm 
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Wildbill wrote:
Kisho!
= Ji Chang ;)


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 3:50 pm 
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hausen wrote:
Wildbill wrote:
Kisho!
= Ji Chang ;)
I'll fix that game-wide.

Edit: What will we call Ramen in the game? "Lamien"


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:01 pm 
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It is probably a good thing I'm not writing this game, 'cause that exploring grannies comment would make it in there somehow. :P That was a good one. :lol:


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:14 pm 
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taskforce wrote:
It is probably a good thing I'm not writing this game, 'cause that exploring grannies comment would make it in there somehow. :P That was a good one. :lol:
Who sez it won't turn up? It'll be immortal!


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Post subject: Re: Postscript by scenario/game designer Kazuo Fukushima
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:19 pm 
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Agh, what sort of demon have I turned loose this time?!


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