Project Rakuen

Hello everyone~! Wait… what’s this? Posts two days in a row on the Rakuen website? It is true!! (Shigi is trying her best to come out of her game development cave, but it’s requiring lots of tea and chocolate +_+) Anyways… Today, I have two announcements for you guys:

1.) Halloween Art Contest:

At the forums we’re going to be doing a fun art contest for Halloween called “The Rakuen Creature Fest.” You can read more about it by clicking here… but I’ll just say that it involves Halloween + Creatures from the Rakuen universe, AND… The winner will receive the entire 52-track Rakuen Original Soundtrack *before* it’s released to the public ^__^ Good luck to all who enter! I am really looking forward to seeing your art~!

2.) How to sign up at the forums:

Recently some folks have been saying that they’ve been having trouble signing up at the forums. I’m guessing the reason for this is because we have a lot of bots registering, so we’ve implemented some spam filters to help with the problem. Unfortunately, at times it flags real people, too! So if you’ve been unable to sign up, here’s what you can do:

Send us an email (supershigiforums at gmail dot com). Make sure to include the following information: your email address, the username you’d like to use, and a brief reason why you’re joining (so we know you’re a real person^^).

Hi everyone! In preparation for Rakuen’s release, I thought it’d be fun to do a new article series here. As some of you know, there are many Japanese cultural topics that get referenced throughout the game (everything from seasonal events and foods, to mythology and children’s traditions). One of my fondest memories of being a child in Japan, was going to “Omatsuri” (Japanese festivals).

The above screenshot is from a festival in Leeble Village called “Star Night,” which was heavily influenced by summertime festivals like Tanabata or Obon. You can see two stands in the background: the left one says “Kakigori” which means “shaved ice,” and the right one says “Kingyo Sukui” which is a fun (albeit challenging) fishing game where you attempt to catch a pet goldfish before your paper net dissolves in the water. I was never very good at that… Besides games, summertime Omatsuri often have colorful live music and dancing. I remember a giant float with paper lanters, people playing Taiko drums, and folks in Yukata (a lighter version of a Kimono that you’d wear in the summer) dancing around them.

Above are some of my childhood pictures: (from left to right) Wearing a Yukata and enjoying Kakigori, dancing with my sisters around the giant float with paper lanterns, and playing with “hanabi” (fireworks/sparklers).  Besides dancing and games, there’s also plenty to eat and drink at these festivals; one drink in particular I wanted to include in the game is called “Ramune.” It’s a refreshing carbonated drink that comes in an interestingly shaped glass bottle with a marble inside. I remember a boy at my school telling me there was a secret way to get that marble out of the glass bottle without breaking it, but I never figured out how… In retrospect, I’m pretty sure he was making that up.

There are many Omatsuri throughout the year in Japan beginning with Oshougatsu (new year’s celebration). Ever since I can remember, my family would eat soba noodles before midnight on the 31st (my dad said it was symbolic of washing away bad things from the previous year… a “fresh start” so to speak), clean the house, and enjoy Osechi Ryouri (special new year’s food served in lacquered boxes) on the 1st. I love Osechi Ryouri~! It’s always so colorful, beautifully presented and delicious! My mom would also prepare Anko Mochi (sticky rice with sweet beans that she simmered for hours), which is still my dad’s favorite.

Have you ever been to an Omatsuri before? Or have you noticed these special festivals being referenced in cartoons or video games? My favorite episode of Pokemon is actually about Hina-matsuri (Girl’s Day). In this episode, Misty and Jessie compete in order to win a set of Pokemon-themed Hina Ningyo (the dolls pictured below). The ending is one of the reasons Team Rocket has a special place in my heart ^_^

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first “Rakuen and Japanese Culture” article about Omatsuri!

Hello folks! I thought for today’s #screenshotsaturday it would be fun to share a bit about the character featured in the screenshot: Jacky the Phlebotomist. For those who aren’t familiar with the term (I certainly wasn’t until recently), a phlebotomist is someone trained to draw blood from a patient for clinical or medical testing, transfusions, donations, or research.

Jacky loves his job, and is quite passionate about all things scientific and technical. Besides being very knowledgeable, he enjoys sharing information; expounding with unparalleled enthusiasm about everything from perpetual motion machines to egg laying mammals (regardless of whether or not his audience understands what he’s talking about).

#rakuen #screenshotsaturday #indiegame

Hello everyone! I’m super happy to announce that Rakuen is finally in beta! We started testing about a week ago, and so far it’s been a really wonderful experience getting to read everyone’s feedback. I never fully believed that I’d get the game to this point, and I think I was in such a state of fight-or-flight this past month preparing everything that it hasn’t fully sunk in yet that the game is actually playable from start to finish.

At some point it also occurred to me that I had no idea how people would feel about the game… I’ve gone through the puzzles and read the dialogue more times than I can count, so I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like through the eyes of a new player. This made me SO NERVOUS >_<; I kept thinking, “what if it’s not good?” “what if I spent the last 3-4 years of my life working on something that ends up having no meaning?” But I had to let all of that go, and just let folks test the game… and I’m really glad I did. The comments and feedback from the first round of testers has made me feel so happy and relieved, and I just wanted to say THANK-YOU SO MUCH to the first round of testers, and to all the folks who have been so kind and so supportive over the years ^_^

Now (after taking a much needed week off to rest) I’m inspired to jump back in and get this game shipped! There are still a lot of bugs to fix, art that Emmy is in the process of swapping out, and things I’d like to iterate on as well… but now I’ll have more time to update folks on how things are going! So before I go for today, here are a few things…

1.) As I mentioned before we’re doing a closed beta. There are still a few spaces open, so if you’re interested in participating please email me at rakuenbeta at gmail!

2.)  Now that I finally have some more time, I’m really excited to start talking a bit more about the world of Rakuen, and doing more interactive things like contests and videos~! I’ll be updating this website regularly, so make sure to check back ^_^ I think for the next post, I’ll probably share some new music, and talk a bit about the culture of “Morizora’s Forest,” which is the fantasy world from the main character’s storybook.

3.) If you’d like to contact me about an interview, I’ll be devoting time to these each week (and if you contacted me about an interview earlier, but haven’t heard from me because I was in crazy hermit mode, I’ll be trying my best to work on those as well)^^

And as always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below! I hope you are all having a wonderful week ^_^/

Hello everyone! I know it’s been a while, so I wanted to give you guys an update on how things have been going with Rakuen. I think the most important thing is that…

1.) …We’re finally nearing the end of development! Emmy and I have been holed up, working away on the final areas of the game for quite a while… We’re very excited because right now it’s actually possible to play the game from start until right before the final cutscene and credits. All the sections have been completed… I’m just going through the game and connecting everything together (for example, there are a few sections where it’s not nearly intuitive enough how to progress from one section to the one directly proceeding it, so I’m removing certain requirements and fixing that up before we move into beta). Emmy’s working on swapping out placeholder art; she’s created some incredible new characters that really add a lot of life to the game. And while about 80% of the soundtrack has been finished, I’ll be working on the last parts of the music once the game is in beta and I can take a break from coding and writing dialogue.

2.) We’re going to put the game on Steam. Last year I met with some folks from Valve and we got the thumbs up to put the game directly on Steam (bypassing Greenlight). The game’s release probably won’t be for at least another few months (since I’m guessing with all the puzzles, the beta test phase will be pretty lengthy)… but we were super happy to find out that we wouldn’t have to go through Greenlight. I’ll make sure to let everyone know once we have more information about that!

3.) We’ll be doing a closed beta.  Our goal is to begin testing in about a month. I’ll be posting a link in the coming weeks for where you can sign up if you’d like to be included! If you already signed up via the forums, then we’ll make sure to contact you there.

4.) Soundtrack stuff! Some folks have noticed that the release date of the OST keeps getting pushed back. The reason for this is because I really wanted to do a pre-release so that folks could preview as much of the music as possible… however I didn’t want to release the full soundtrack until closer to the game’s actual completion. Unfortunately, Bandcamp doesn’t give me the option to say “TBA” and the game’s development has taken so many turns that I was never sure what date to enter… so I’d just push it out a few months at a time 😛 The other reason I’m waiting to release the OST until closer to the game’s completion is because the last few tracks are actually kind of spoilers… so I’m still figuring a way to include those without spoiling some important parts of the story! I’ll make sure to keep you all updated about the OST however… I really hope you’ll enjoy it ^_^

4.) Thank-you for your support, we’ll be posting more updates in the near future! As much as I’ve wanted to, it’s been tough posting updates for this game… Since it’s primarily story and puzzle based, I’m trying my best not to spoil anything through the art or music. That being said, we’ll still have plenty of updates in the near future, so make sure to check back! As always, thank-you all so much for your support throughout all of this… It’s been a tough year, but I’m really excited with the direction of the game, and how far along it is right now.