During our stay in Tokyo, while we were presenting our game Ministry of Broadcast at the TGS 2018, we were approached by one of the TPG IP holders.
Fascinated by the creative direction we had in our portfolio by that time, he suggested we write and pitch a game to TP and see where it takes us.
Following our return to Prague, Dušan & I sat down to get acquainted with the whole TPWiki and then brainstormed together with our partner in crime, writer Jiri Hruška, following the brainstorm with the development part of the team. I was then set out for an adventure of setting the whole feel and creative direction of the game. Unfortunately due to the financing problems, the game never got to see the day of light, however I am able to share with you part of what we did and what has been so far published on Steam and other media.
TP games all revolve around the strange phenomena occurring in the Gensokyo World, a fictional world inhabited by humans and Yokai, supernatural beings. Gensokyo World has been sealed of from outside World, by the magical barrier and therefore has been left in the time of Feudal Japan, whilst Human World proceeded into technology evolvement and New Age. The border between Human and Gensokyo is guarded by Reimu Hakurei, maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, who examines the Yokai and fights the antagonistic ones.
Dark Echoes is a narrative single player puzzle platformer set in both Gensokyo and the Outside World. As Sumireko Usami, switch your way between worlds to solve puzzles and uncover the mystery of the Dark Echoes with the help of familiar Touhou characters.
Dark Echoes is a narrative single player puzzle platformer set in both Gensokyo and the Outside World. As Sumireko Usami, switch your way between worlds to solve puzzles and uncover the mystery of the Dark Echoes with the help of familiar Touhou characters.
Investigate the mystery behind the unusual incident troubling Gensokyo. As the main character, Sumireko Usami, you get to travel all across the Gensokyo solving environmental puzzles using your unique ability to switch between the two realms. Mysterious dark echoes are swarming around the Youkai Mountain and both Gensokyo and the Outside World are in danger. As the story unveils you find out that Sumireko’s involvement in this incident is greater than anyone ever thought. The game was specially designed for Nintendo Switch, so we decided that - Switching would the main mechanic in the Dark Echoes game.
Inspired by Nintendo Switch console colours. we decided to go with the blue-green/red-pink scale. First we sketched out our art-style very fast, using our first concept for the character which was later changed to be more Semi-European Kawaii girl.
"Because the game is made in Eastern Europe, its art style is very unique and never seen before in a Touhou derivative work. Both Gensokyo and the Outside World also have distinctive looks of their own and all the characters are absolute cuteness overload."
Testing ratios & story sequences -
We were definitely targeting niche of people who love TP game and good fusion between Japanese history and European aesthetics, so we needed to pay proper respects to all three above mentioned. But, first we needed to test object:environment ratio.
We were definitely targeting niche of people who love TP game and good fusion between Japanese history and European aesthetics, so we needed to pay proper respects to all three above mentioned. But, first we needed to test object:environment ratio.
Since our story, mechanics and creative direction got approved my team started thinking how we could make the whole game as much 'arty' as possible, how we could keep the 'brush stroke' effect and re-use assets. We definitely had to do some more work on the style, so we decided to sharpen it up a bit (backgrounds especially) and break the whole image into as much as assets as possible. Moss, flowers, grass, small stones, would be able to be wherever, because we did our best to keep the same light effect.
Final environment art direction and feel -
Final environment art direction and feel -
As for the colours, we have established a pre-defined colour values for the developer, who could then easily turn Human World into Gensokyo World colour code, without any strange disagreeing colours appearing all of the sudden. That means we hade to test all assets how they would work with each other in both worlds.
Finding the right path when it comes to character creation for Japanese/European gaming market can be challenging. Our cultures and taste in aesthetics differ so much it can often end up having in hand a knife with two sharp edges. You may get a very likeable or character that is nice but not 'relatable' enough for the Asian nor European players.
Some scenes involving characters from above -
What you can see in this section is all in sketch form, due to the fact that the game was never published.
