Famitsu.com is reporting on the establishment of a new game company called Too Kyo Games by a “certain well-known game creator.”
Too Kyo Games will host a live stream on September 11 at 19:00 JST where that creator will appear, and details about the company’s establishment, goals, and current project will be revealed. The broadcast will also feature Famitsu editor-in-chief Katsuhiko Hayashi, Too Kyo Games staff, and voice actors. It will be streamed on YouTube and Niconico (the YouTube link will be shared at a later time).
As a countdown to the live stream, Too Kyo Games will be publishing videos of other game creators who know its own noted creator well. The first video features Square Enix’s Yosuke Saito, who says, “Actually, (redacted) asked me for advice about this a while ago, like ‘But wouldn’t this be good? Wouldn’t this be good?’ Since what I told that person then is connected to now, if I can get back like 10 percent or so, it will all be worth it. Please make sure everyone has fun.” Saito seems to be joking about giving this creator advice on starting up a company, and now wants a cut of the profits in return.
[youtube]U8wmbga_pEQ[/youtube]
The company’s first tweet describes the studio as “Too crazy games, anime, and entertainment, from Tokyo to the world.” The Japanese description of “too crazy” used in the tweet is “狂イ過ギ,” which itself is very eccentric. It is only speculation at this point, but the eccentric wording combined with Yosuke Saito being one of the creators who knows Too Kyo Games’ noted creator well seems to indicate that the company is led by NieR director Yoko Taro. Saito previously worked closely with Taro on NieR: Automata.
最后一个项目是 Spike Chunsoft 和 Too Kyo Games 之间合作开发的黑暗幻想风悬疑作品，在本作中玩家将在一个充满幻想的城市中冒险，面对各种各样惊悚的事件。此外，许多曾经开发过《枪弹辩驳》的成员都会参与到本作的开发之中。从这图中来看虽然有赛博朋克的元素，但并不是赛博朋克风格的作品，还会有更多元素。
Too Kyo Games, the mysterious game companed announced earlier this week, is led by Danganronpa series creator Kazutaka Kodaka, Zero Escape series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, and other well-known creators, Famitsu reported.
“The object of this company is to do something new, which is the creation of a new IP commonly known all over the world and in a future we will make indie games by ourselves,” Kazutaka Kodaka said in a statement. “This new company enables us to move freely towards the goal.”
Four new projects are currently underway at TOo Kyoo Games. Here is a piece of concept art and bit of information about each project:
Project #1 (Game)
“A Game with a Kodaka x Uchikoshi Joint Scenario! ‘Limit’ x ‘Despair.'”
A video game that all creators of Too Kyo Games will concentrate their abilities on. The genre has not revealed yet. Kodaka and Uchikoshi will make the scenario together.
Project #2 (Anime)
“Everyone is a Villain.”
An anime in collaboration with Studio Pierrot. The original author is Kodaka and the character designer is Komatsuzaki. They will depict the image of action films in the 1990s such as Pulp Fiction and The Professional.
Project #3 (Game)
“A Children’s Death Game, By Children, for Children.”
An action adventure game by Kodaka as a general manager, Uchikoshi as a scenario writer, and Nakazawa as a director. The concept art drawn by Take (illustrator, known for Tawagoto) represents school children playing death game. It is very shocking.
Project #4 (Game)
“A Spike Chunsoft x Too Kyo Games Dark Fantasy-Esque Mystery.”
Collaboration of the development team of Danganronpa and Spike Chunsoft. Kodaka actually started this project before his retirement of Spike Chunsoft. We imagine a kind of cyberpunk world from this art. Komatsuzaki designs the characters, Shimadoriru designs background, and Takada directs the sounds.
Too Kyo Games, the newly established studio led by well-known developers such as Danganronpa series creator Kazutaka Kodaka, Zero Escape series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, and Ever17 and Root Double writer Takumi Nakazawa, will not release any of its four in-development projects announced alongside its establishment earlier this month for about two to three years, Kodaka told IGN Japan at Tokyo Game Show 2018 last week.
Here is the snippet:
While this might be difficult to answer, about how long from now do you plan on releasing the titles you have currently announced?
Kodaka: “I think it’ll probably be about two to three years for the titles we’re currently working on, but we’re working to put them out as quickly as possible.”
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu reveals Deathmatch Club, one of the four projects in production at the recently established Too Kyo Games. It is being developed in collaboration with Grounding for release on PC by publisher Izanagi Games in 2020.
Described as a controversial work where a death game unfold between 12 yeaer-old elementary school students, the game is divided into action and adventure parts. Players will control a young boy named Reicho and solve puzzles while clearing stages.
Here is the game’s development staff:
• Creative Director: Kazutaka Kodaka
• Scenario and Director: Kotaro Uchikoshi
• Director: Takumi Nakazawa
• Character Design: Take
• Art Director: Kentarou Yoshida
• Producer: Shinsuke Umeda
• Development Director: Yukio Futatsugi
• Developer: Too Kyo Games and Grounding
And here are some interview tidbits:
• Kodaka: “I settled on a children’s death game project with Uchikoshi. Since I’m finally taking a break from Danganronpa, I wondered if maybe that was enough death games, but Uchikoshi said he wanted to give another death game a try, so.”
• Uchikoshi: “(There were things that we didn’t get to put in Zero Escape.) I persuaded Kodaka and won him over.”
• Kodaka: “In exchange for making this game, we promised that this will be our last death game. Then I’m done with death games. So this game will be the last death game we work on.” […] “We’re leaving the action parts to Futatsugi and the team at Grounding.” […] “The people at Grounding have a lot of experience and can actually make things happenl it hit me again how amazing they are”
• Izanagi Games’ Umeda: “I want to sell games made by Japanese creators directly to big markets overseas.” […] “There are other titles are in development at Izanagi Games, too.”
• Kodaka: “Since I had never heard of a group of people like Izanagi Games, it was a little shady when they reached out to me.” […] “Action parts are side-scrolling.” […] “This title is a children’s game for adults.”
• Kodaka: “The tagline is ‘Trust each other, die.'” […] “Unfortunately when you abbreviate the title of the game, it’s DMC. (Laughs.)”
• “The tagline for Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward was similar, ‘If only we trust each other, if only they would die.'” Uchikoshi: “No way! Seriously!?” […] “Now that you mention it, we did use that! I thought we threw it out.” Umeda: “Do you want to change the tagline?” Kodaka: “I’m sure you’ll think of something better by tomorrow.” Uchikoshi: “Give me a little longer than that…”
• Kodaka: “For example, an elementary school student with the special ability to throw various things will appear. The reason will be revealed as you progress through the story.” […] “There are also elementary schoolers with crazy abilities. There’s even a character that can control electricity.” […] “The only character you can control is called ‘Reicho.’ Other characters will follow, as well as cooperate during buddy actions.” […] “The volume of the scenario is huge. You can look forward to plenty of unexpected twists until the very end of the story.” […] “Reicho doesn’t talk. The reason is similar to that of our national RPG.” (Editor’s Note: He is referring to the Dragon Quest series, whose protagonists do not speak.) […] “Adventure parts will be fully voiced.” […] “It will take about 20 hours to finish the game.” […] “Since our main target is overseas players, we’re doing PC first.” […] “It’s a 2020 release, we announced it early because it’s common to release information on indie games pretty far in advance.”
• Umeda: “Another reason is that this company has overseas funding. There may be a surprise announcement before release.” […] “I would like to release an action gameplay demo as soon as we possible to get feedback.”
Death March Club details story, characters Reycho and Vanilla
Publisher Izanagi Games has launched the official website and Twitter account for Death March Club, its newly announced action adventure game due out for PC in 2020 from developers Too Kyo Games and Grounding. And Famitsu has gone up with the first screenshots.
Just another elementary school in Tokyo—with a “LOSER” class where all sorts of drop-outs are brought here. Reycho is an oddball who’s in this class. On one summer day, Reycho’s class was on its way to a school trip when the bus was caught in a rock slide.
The students woke up… only to find themselves in an amusement park under the sea. It must have shut down a long time ago. Reycho and his friends were trapped in a deserted and spooky ruin. A clown appeared from out of nowhere… and it demands the kids to play a game to kill each other! Without time to understand what is going on, Reycho and his classmates are dragged into a game of life or death!
How will these kids survive this insane situation? While they are at their wit’s end… mysterious and uncanny powers awaken within them.
At the same time… an emergency situation took place above the waters.
■ Characters
Reycho
A sixth grade boy.
A curious boy who sticks his nose into everything. He steps up to the plate in a crisis situation, not because he is courageous, but only because he is not aware of the potential risks. He is definitely a brat, in both good and bad ways. He is an immature and naive boy… and oblivious when it comes to girls.
Vanilla
A sixth grade girl.
A happy, but crazy, scatterbrained, and ditsy girl. She is totally off-key and usually ignored by others. She plays dumb, but actually has a brilliant mind. She is one of the first to notice the conspiracies plotted by the grown-ups.
■ Staff
Creative Director: Kazutaka Kodaka
Scenario and Director: Kotaro Uchikoshi
Character Designer: Take
Director: Takumi Nakazawa
Art Director: Kentaro Yoshida
Producer: Shinsuke Umeda
Development Producer: Yukio Futatsugi
