News: Super Doujin Géant

August 12, 2006, 04:11 AM

by chazumaru, via various -
[permalink]

Speaking of Comiket, you might have understood by now that the 2006 summer edition of the popular doujin convention is organized this weekend (if you don't know what Comiket is, Wikipedia provides a brief explanation). With only one weekend available per year to post on ic (Brandon's note: ;_;), I don't really have the time to cover it extensively, but one can hope people like Zepy will not miss the occasion to explain what Moetan Listening CD Vol.2 is all about. After all, it's been exactly one year since the last update on Canned Dogs! Still, there are a few things to say about doujin games as we haven't covered the topic in a while.

The doujin game scene is mostly fueled with shooting games, fighting games, and fiction such as visual novels and kinetic novels (remember?). That last part is the least accessible to foreigners because of the language barrier, and as a result some people have expressed interest in translating Japanese interactive fictons and even producing one's own. Blade Engine, recently mentioned on the ic forums, is a free visual novel construction kit aimed at people who are afraid to deal with complex code and want something as simple as RPG Maker. There are some demo games available along with dedicated tutorials to explain a few basics, and overall it seems like a good first approach in order to understand some simple mechanics of Visual Novels. If your goal is to write the Next Great Visual Novel, Blade Engine is not really recommended, though. I've heard quite a few complains from people more experienced on the subject than me. There is no visual editor for your script nor management of layers and layer effects, the animation engine is miserable and it is impossible to protect your sources. "Basically it's only slightly better than Powerpoint", I even heard. But hey, it's free! So there is nothing to lose in giving it a try. If you are just a tad more experienced, it seems the better solution to get into the production of a decent visual novel would be ONScripter, the open-source version of NScripter, which ultrapopular games such as Tsukihime were running on. Speaking of which...

The doujin market is getting more and more important in Japan and, as a logical consequence, a few circles went professional and a few games crossed the frontier between doujin and regular circulation. Take the case of Melty Blood for example. This doujin fighting game based on the universe of Tsukihime has grown so popular it got an Arcade version running on Naomi, Melty Blood -Act Cadenza-, which itself received a port on PS2 released last week. First echoes from the always informative Shinobi reveal that the PS2 version has already sold most of its stock; overall an impressive success story for Type Moon and French-Bread.

Most of the important doujin games are of course released this weekend for Comiket 70, and I invite you to investigate on Tasogare Frontier's Higurashi DayBreak (based on the highly popular horror series Higurashi), Blood -Over-, Record of Rozen War Alibat, Hinokakera (version 2.01 released for C70, trial & video available), Acceleration of Suguri (sequel to the popular Suguri), AiMasu Champ! (more on that one here), the demo of Chantelise+ (by the makers of Gunners Heart) and a new patch for Subtle Style's jawdropping fighting game Akatsuki Denkou Senki. And to stay on the subject of homebrew games, check this interesting discussion and that interview.
The awesomifique photoshop-work illustrating this post is by Fabien.