Hi guys.
I never anticipated that it was so hard for me to write blog once a week. But I still continue I show what I am doing as game designer.

 

Let me start from the rest of the last diary. I was writing that our making indie game is like a exploring cave. I want to talk about MAP for cave adventure today.

Indie game explorer without map
I am sure,If I prepare  map, It is very convenient for developing video game. And this map is called Game design document. But I noticed this thought was very workaholic. so I gave up to prepare proper beautiful game design document in this project.

Mean that, we do not have proper map for adventure of this cave.

But our project have this rough map.

Like this..

I said I stopped  to make proper beautiful GDD, but we have something surely.
I started to make my handwrite GDD for team since 8 month ago.
This is not proper one. This is not beautiful at all!!

What is important for my making game?

I am still thinking what is good for my style everyday. But I am sure. Hand drawing is very good for my brain. I can order my thoughts easily.

Entertaining people, Honesty, Good fellows, Hand drawing, it seems these are very important for my making game.

Oh, my fellows..
When I was talking insignificant rubbishy idea to them, they showed me their strange questioning face.

I like this honesty.
I love you guys.

To Be continued

Yoshiro Kimura 2013 feb 4

 

Hi guys, finally I am going to start something like a DEV diary of my project.
I will write something like a diary of explorer in the cave.

I think I should show good and bad things both.

I am walking on bumpy road. I do not want pretend this is very beautiful flat road.
So, This is not a hopeful blog:-)
And I want to tell you something before I start.

 

Game designer who was dropped out from Japanese Consumer game industry

Actually, people often ask me “Did you retire?”
NO! NO! I am not giving up making game!
But people says to me “ I thought kimura-san is spending the rest of his life wealthy”
Fuck off! NO! Definitely NOT! I am looking for a way to survive desperately.
I am not retired from game industry.
I am walking on the new way which is very different from my past.
I was looking for my new door of life.
 I was struggling for changing my life, changing my self since 4 or 5 years ago.
And I am struggling still now on for this theme.

My theme is…like this

“I make game what I want to make.
And I sell directly to customers.
And I survive with it.
Is it possible for me?”

***Struggling man and My character ***

I know how difficult it is.
I know only few person can do it in the world. And they are very great men who have very great skills, of programming and visual and sound in one person.
And I am not a kind of man unfortunately. Even though I can do all, my skill is very low.

But I asked to my heart.

A Little kimura in my heart, he said,
“Do it! Do It! You must do! Make your strange world again!”

TO be continued.

Who is talking with me at night?

When is the best timing to create my own world?

It is night.

And I think that it is night of before I fall asleep.
The last moment of the day is my favorite magic time.

I would play with creatures in my head a little.
I speak with tiny onion some time. And I speak with small creatures sometime.
This is my play.
But,If I get good inspiration,I stop that I play with them.

Tiny onion says “why don’t you continue ? Please play with us ,Please chat more with us”
I answer “Don’t disturb me. I got a Idea that I want to write about. And I am going to work  now!”

And then, they disappear slowly.

 

Jan/27/2013

Yoshiro Kimura

There is famous legend of new year in japan
People says,first night dream of new year is come true,it become real.
Is this same everywhere?

By the way, I got a lot of indie doujin games in comic market at 2013 december 31.
And I have played doujin shooting game a lot  while I am in holiday,Revolver360 RE:ACTOR, Yakouga5, ASTERBREED, TOHO,etc

 

And I had a dream at night suddenly.
Dougin game monsters were attacking to the small wood box which I was riding on.
Danmaku was attacking to me very much.

This is a first nightmare of this year.
And also This is very happy dream of this year

2014 January 8
Yoshiro kimura

December is the very impressive month every year.

Something start often.
Something finish often.

By the way, One of my board Game group meeting have been finished in this month. It was very good meeting for me to have a new experience  about new game rule often. But most impressive experience was this after all.

It is not about game.

One couple of this group,they are charming and very kind friend. They had a new baby. And They wanted me to cuddle their baby!!

I can not refuse ^^;
This Baby was so pretty and so cute and tiny boy..
And I noticed he is afraid of me…  wow..oh shit..

 

But I wanted to say to him “I am afraid of you too!!”.
Even though you are so cute !!

What a beautiful feeling this is!
I felt he was so small and very fragile but,he was very energetic.
He was magical and wonder existence!!

oh baby .. baby is like this. it moves my mind so much every time.
I remember that I used baby photos in Little king’s story for boss character TV dinner.
That baby was one of development staff of that time.

Am I am going to make someone’s baby appear in my game some day in future again?

My favorite  board game group have been finished,but this baby’s life started 🙂
Great!

Something magical started.

Yoshiro Kimura
24/december/2013

Jingle Bells is too noisy for me.

Even though I love santa claus.

Now, Tokyo is full of Christmas music.it is too noisy for me.

but I like walk around in the town. I love my town.
There is a building of man-made, there is a lot of artifact in the town.
There are a back alley and  a strange place ,strange people.
If I walk slowly or I stop on the road,I can see different things a lot.

When I found something,
I took photos, I write record immediately.

I love some small favorite event and place in town,for example, the event that I saw the strange person is talking to me continuously at the escalator of subway, the event I saw the very wild man start to talk like baby to the nurse in the hospital suddenly, the event I feel very good cool air behind that shrine, the event I found the strange house which have a small door at the outside wall of 2nd floor without meaning.

When I found these kind of place,I often took photos or I write record.
Or I return to the same place again and again for watching.

It is like treasure box of town that I can feel something from my eye.it is not movie,it is not video game. I feel these memory are my jewel.it is much rich than any kind of entertainment.

By the way,the town is full of chiristmas music.
Jingle Bells song are telling to people “Eat more” and “Buy more” and “Have a sex more”.
It seems that my favorite world is out side of these Jingle Bells suggestions.

dec/17/2013
yoshiro kimura

This is Taniguchi-san who is very good man.

Left side of this picture, This is Taniguchi-san who is composer of Chulip, and some other lovedelic games.
I respect him very much.and I drink a cup of coffee with him sometime.

Once we start to talk,we never end.
We talk about not only music,but also movie and game, strange news ,storage people etc etc.
He is not only composer for my game. he is very good friend. He is one of person who can stand in front of my crazy story.

By the way, we went a little expensive cafe at ebisu recently. And while we were walking to cafe,we were talking about price of it.
“how much ?” I asked to him.
“Maybe it will expensive a little.” he answered.
I was wondering “where dose he take me to ? hotel restaurant? ”

 

In tokyo, people can go very very poor cafe or expensive cafe.
You can buy a cup of coffee,
it will be 100yen of Macdonald, or 360yen of Starbuck,or 1000yen incredibly expensive coffee at hotel restaurant.

“hum hum kimura-san” My tiny onion asked me “it is like a iPhone game price hum hum..”
And onion continued like this.
“Which cafe do you prefer to drink with Taniguchi-san ? 100yen coffee? or you buy iPhone game?”

I answered to tiny onion “I go to coffee of course.”

Having a coffee with friend is very happy more than anything.
It is priceless for me that I can talk about stupid things and discuss life with my friend.
Even though I love video-game, but I prefer talking with him more than purchase to app store.
This is true and honest.

And after having a coffee and chatting a lot with him.
I was whispering to my onion “Don’t think about video game price too much.”

December/12/10
yoshiro kimura

The story?

I am writing text a lot recently. It is not only writing for Blog but also for the story.

Today,I write about  “the story”.

It is very important for me that I write the story by my own ideas in my life. I am writing something every day really like ill.
And what is “the story” for me?
Making story is that I create the new world that can have me. And I explain that these new world is very fragile bubble. And one of the bubbles may becomes a real universe. I am thinking like this.

I wrote three story today. One is for my very very tiny game. One is for job which I may earn some money. One is very strange story plot like CHULIP ,like moon which is for talking to my friend of far away land.
I wish that these bubbles become real small galaxy someday.

The word is very important element for the space which is final frontier in my heart. I can not explore without words.

You may often think video game don’t need the story.
And someone says “Chess dose not have story” “Puzzle game dose not have story”
but I don’t like making video game without story.
My body and soul says “Think Think Think,you can find out good solution between game and story”

By the way,My tiny onion often says  “I want to feel ecstasy.”
But human race is not living only for ecstasy.
Making story and telling a story and exchanging a thought is also very human’s fav.

Even though it may be very very fragile bubble.

“Hey! My tiny onion! Do you understand?”

 

 

(hi guys,I am still trying to write about my daily story in english:-)

Can I write the new story of …?
I say I am professional game designer,but I feel I suspect my self often.
I had a strong frustration recently.
Because I could not get new inspiration for adventure game.
I was thinking next piece ,something new ideas of like moon or like Chulip past few months.
But I was not able to  get something new idea.

Starbucks coffee dose not help me at all.

I was thinking in starbucks of shinjuku3choume. and I was thinking in my house a lot.
It was so difficult for me.
My brain melt down quickly.And,I slept automatically like death.

And I did not notice my head became like volcanos.

 

 

And…One day…
My Head exploded suddenly!

 

 

After explosion of my head
I thought I need help of my friends for making my head quiet.
I e-mailed to fellows and We had a meeting.

It was very long time.
First of all we were discussing about something new concept.
We had a various theme .
But,one guy said to me “I want you to talk about what you like to do now.”

“now? in real life?”

And I was talking about my ambition on the road in real life. And I started to talk about  trauma of the past unconsciously.

And I vomited all what I was feeling.

For example,I was talking about dissatisfaction of Chulip, dissatisfaction moon,my childhood strange story,the story of communication with animals ,trauma of sex, major incident of adult era, and the strange peoples I have met in my life.

And strangely enough, I got one inspiration from this discussing.

“I should start to write about it. Even though I do not know it can become videogame or not.”

And I can continue to think again.

 

Nov/27/2013
Yoshiro Kimura

 

By the way,
Do you know Japanese Climate?

Do you know japan climate is very strange recently?
How is climate in your land?

Recently small earthquake happen a lot. And temperature change a lot in japan.
And some typhoon came a lot after autumn.

World people don’t notice Japanese indie game scene like they don’t notice Japanese climate change now.

I want to tell you like this.Can you believe?
“Something happened at November 2013 for japanese indie game scene”
Japanese Indies started to exhibit a lot of game to audience recently.

New Indie game festival of Japan started!?
There were two events in this month.
One is Tokyo Location Test game show in akihabara, and other one is Digital Game Expo in kamata.

Comic market is famous otaku festival of japan not only video game but also they show a lot of comic and cosplay.
Usually indies go to show their video games in comic market.
But new place appeared called Digital Game Expo.

Digital Game EXPO is the first rare event of exhibiting original video games without comic market.
This is special indie game developer’s event for all game fun.

I felt something that new phenomenon started with very clear philosophy for future.
“Make game freely”
“Exhibit Game freely”
“You are freedom”

Even though I am Japanese, but It was not easy for me to find out Japanese indie game usually.
But I found a lot in this November.I must say this is miracle month.

And I noticed Japanese Indie Game Typhoon will be coming very soon to the world.

I hope I can join it in near future.I hope I can.
Bye

Yoshiro Kimura
November/19/2013

by the way I  took some photos of Japanese indie game in this month
You can watch this Gallery, if you like.