Submit your questions for ZUN at AWA 2013!

[Keine Kamishirasawa]

Comment on Submit your questions for ZUN at AWA 2013!

[Kilgamayan]

Here's a few relatively easy ones because I'm not good at thought-provoking questions.

- Who, if anyone, do you draw musical inspiration from?
- Who, if anyone, do you draw visual art inspiration from?
- How do you conceive of bullet patterns in your head? Do they just come as they come or do you need to trigger a muse somehow?
- What, if any, other indie games do you play?
- What, if any, Touhou derivative works do you enjoy?
- Can we have an official romanization of Miss Hearn's given name? (You don't need to select this one because I know Solamarle will ask it regardless)

EDIT: If pictures of the Q&A session are permitted:

- Can you JoJo's pose for us?

[Tengukami]

By now you've become more familiar with the size and scope of the Western Touhou community. Have you reflected on what changes, if any, this could mean for the distribution of Touhou Project games and other official works?

Many of your ideas come from events and people from ancient Japanese history. Is there any person or event from this history that you've wanted to incorporate into a game, but haven't found a way to yet?

What are the greatest challenges facing independent game developers right now?

[BL2W]

I'm not certain if he's ever answered any of these questions yet, but these are questions I'd like to find out myself:

~ What is the most difficult point for you when putting together a Touhou game?
~ What inspired you to start writing the Touhou encyclopedias (e.g., Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, Symposium of Post-Mysticism)?
~ How do you come up with the English titles for any and all entries that you have contributed to in the Touhou franchise?
~ Is there any specific Touhou character you would ever like to cosplay as, if given the opportunity?

I will make another post with more in the near-future if anymore ever happen to pop into my head~

[KaiserKnuckle]

-On what level of STG play is Ki-san compared to you?
-When was the exact moment that you realized that the western Touhou community was thriving?
-If you have bothered to check them out, have you played any Touhou fangames, barring DNA's?
-When will you, personally, ever feel that Touhou has lost it's charm and/or fans, should it ever happen?
-Do you hold Amusement Makers and/or Shunsatsu sare do? and/or RebRank in as high of regard as you did back when the PC-98 games were in development?

[Nicole Artist]

How involved in the touhou fan community are you?
Are we allowed to sell touhou related fanmade products?
Have you seen some of the touhou animated videos like Memories of Phantasm and 3D Dog Fight that people have produced?

[nintendonut888]

You seem to draw inspiration on Japanese mythology for many of the Windows games. However, were there any inspirations you can think of for the characters or settings of the PC-98 works?

Are there any songs you've composed that have had a profound impact on you upon creating?

How good would you say you are at your own games? Are there any spell cards that you yourself have a lot of trouble with?

[Sage Ω (Ultima)]

Seeing that this is your first time in America, were you aware of your western audience?
Touhou has been around for quite awhile, how long do you plan to keep the series around?
Have you ever considered selling Touhou outside of Japan?

[Drake]

What inspired you to start writing the Touhou encyclopedias (e.g., Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, Symposium of Post-Mysticism)?

This is a bit backwards, I think. Deciding to actually flesh out and manage the Touhou universe was probably stewing for quite a while, and the encyclopedias were just a natural outlet of the vast amount of background and meta he didn't put in the games, rather than being inspired somewhat. By PCB's release he likely already had quite a large portion of the PCB-IN-SSiB-CiLR chapter written out/in his mind. He's readily acknowledged in the past that he doesn't put much information into the games, and it's heavily implied that the books are basically just a huge formal infodump of all the stuff he envisions about the games before he even starts making them. So it's more like, a lot of the stuff in the encyclopedias come first, and the games come soon after.

[Athrel]

What genres, if any, have you considered making touhou games other than danmaku and fighting?

Which touhou game are you most proud of in terms of music?

[danyun]

- If you could go drinking with any Touhou, who would it be?


It had to be asked.

[Hatateru]

-What is Yuugi's exact power?
- Will there be a Touhou 15 next year?
- Did ZUN really watch Shingeki no Kyojin and like it enough to insert a reference in Sukuna's spellcard?

That's all I can come up with.

[Captain Onimaru]

If I were to ask ZUN one question, it would be...

"Which of all the Touhou Project games did you most enjoy making?"
...or something like that.

I can't help but wonder if somebody hasn't asked this before. However, with all the new games he's release, it can't hurt to ask anyway. This has always been a curiosity of mine, since ZUN seems to make these games as a form of recreation. It would be interesting to know which ones he had the most fun with, as it could speak volumes bout their differences and level of quality.

[Kosachi]

-What inspired you to collaborate with Tasofro and make the fighting games?
-Where(if you do) do you get your ideas for player bombs?
-Are you comfortable with Touhou making it's way around the world?

Not much and I'm not certain if these were answered elsewhere, but the above are definitely what I would like to ask him.

[Jomeiji]

Why does Team Shanghai Alice consist of only 1 member?

Has anyone in the past asked to join in the making of the Danmaku games?

Who in the collaboration with Tasofro approached the other side first?

Have you (ZUN) ever considered taking on a protege?

[Fonzi]

I know that all these questions can't be asked, but I hope that at least a few will be.

Do you ever check out Touhou H doujinshi?
How good is your English?
Do you ever plan on visiting Europe?
Which of your characters do you consider the cutest?
Was Akyuu really born in year 109? If so, who's the girl in the newspaper picture in PMiSS?
Can Reimu use her Fantasy Nature for as long as she wants?
Will we ever know what's the connection between Maribel and Yukari?
Will you ever reveal Sakuya's true name?
It seems danmaku is more of a girly matter in Gensokyo. I wonder how does the male population resolve conflicts there.
Why do Reimu and Marisa look alwyas the same age even after so many years?
Why were the Lunarians so afraid of human astronauts when they could easily defeat an army of youkai?
Is Reimu's life really the only thing that's holding the Great Hakurei Border intact?
Will we ever know what deity is enshrined in the Hakurei Shrine?
Do you know how many of your fans would like to see Mima in any of your future works?
Why did Eirin dirnk the Hourai Elixir when you mention in SoPM that she's a goddess?
Is Iwanaga-hime really OK with the fact that her mountain was taken over by a pair of goddesses from the outside world?
Why are kappa considered human-friendly when they have a habit of taking people's shirikodama and killing them in the process?
Can we expect more games where the main heroine/s won't be the same old Reimu and Marisa in the future?
When Aya's camera causes spiritual damage, does that mean she hurts somenoe every time she takes a picture of them?
Is Reimu truly the one who invented the Spell Card rules?
What happened to the rest of her family?
How long has she been living alone and who looked after her?
Why is Byakuren's hair gradient?
Were the background characters in HM put into the specific stages with a clear intention or was it just a random character dump? Did you approve of all of their appearances in the stages? Because some of them feel a little out of place.
What are Flandre's wings really made of?
Who summoned that meteor on the mansion in BAiJR and how did Flandre know about it, including the precise moment it would appear?

[Tamashii Kanjou]

Most of the questions I wanted to ask have been taken.  :ohdear:
I guess I'll just go with specific ones...

- Would you ever consider re-doing more tracks from your PC-98 days, like Magical Shop of Raspberry, for future CDs? Purely based on his comments for stuff like that and Eternal Shrine Maiden; which did feature on Volume 1.

- In the same light as above, would you release more FM compositions like the SSiB & PMiSS CDs?

- When people continue to ask you about turning Touhou into an animation project, does it ever effect how you work on the series in general? Do you ever feel like groups out there that do (fan)animations of your series are portraying your characters in a way you approve of? Not sure if this would get answered, but it's something I am curious about.

- Do you ever get tired (and/or annoyed) of people asking you to bring back X character?

I'll be happy to just to have one of them asked, in all fairness; seeing as many people at the convention will have questions of their own to ask. I'd insert a 'would you come to the UK' question in there, but that would be both selfish and pointless of me to ask.

[Tengukami]

Was Akyuu really born in year 109? If so, who's the girl in the newspaper picture in PMiSS?
Can Reimu use her Fantasy Nature for as long as she wants?

Heh.

[Fonzi]

Heh.

What?

[hungrybookworm]

Oh man, let me think...

• I've noticed that none of the Touhou characters are sexualised in your games and official works. As a female fan, I really appreciate this. Was there a conscious decision behind it, or did things just turn out that way? (Obviously this question will need to be reworded slightly if the interviewer isn't female, lol).
• What's the typical schedule behind making a Touhou game? (May have been asked before, not sure).
• What's the funniest/stupidest bug you ever encountered during development?
• Do you ever worry about your liver?

[Arcorann]

Descending order of priority.

* Why did you decide to change the designs of Reimu and Marisa from Shuusou Gyoku onwards?
This is probably the big one.

Questions on the finer points of Touhou canon (may or may not be suitable for a press interview, but if someone is willing to, ask them during the panel instead?):
* What is the basis of the season numbering in Gensokyo? In particular, what is the relation between the season numbering and the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier? In addition, when does the season number change?
Two things that are suspected but never confirmed.
* In the newspaper article of PMiSS about Akyuu's birth the photo features a young girl. Is the girl Akyuu? If so, was she actually born at that time? If not, how does the girl relate to the article?
Asked by Fonzi above, but first pointed out by cuc over a year ago.
* Was Remilia in Gensokyo during the Vampire Incident?
Might as well ask. After all, for some time it was claimed that Remilia entered Gensokyo after said incident, citing Akyuu.

I'm sure I had more - I knew I should've started a text file for this.

[Tengukami]

• I've noticed that none of the Touhou characters are sexualised in your games and official works. As a female fan, I really appreciate this. Was there a conscious decision behind it, or did things just turn out that way?

Ooh! Excellent question. I would love to hear ZUN elaborate on this.

[BL2W]

Oh man, let me think...

• I've noticed that none of the Touhou characters are sexualised in your games and official works. As a female fan, I really appreciate this. Was there a conscious decision behind it, or did things just turn out that way? (Obviously this question will need to be reworded slightly if the interviewer isn't female, lol).
• What's the typical schedule behind making a Touhou game? (May have been asked before, not sure).
• What's the funniest/stupidest bug you ever encountered during development?
• Do you ever worry about your liver?

Oh, wow. I realize my opinion isn't really relevant here, but I honestly love all of these questions. Just my two cents~

[Firestorm29]

-How are you able to create so many unique characters and game stories?

Always liked how Touhou didn't have too many Fox-Falco-Wolf things going on.

[hungrybookworm]

Uwaa, I-I'm glad you like my questions. :blush: Hopefully that means they might get picked! They're things I've been wondering for a few months now, and I figured ZUN might have fun answering them too.

(That and everyone else already suggested all the canon clarification questions I'd like to know, heheh.)

[ToyoRai]

- Do you design bunch of characters in one go and then pick the ones you might use n the future or do you design the characters as you go?
- Where do you get some of the spellcard name and ideas (Like all the astronomical terms in Marisa's spellcards)?
- How plentiful are some of the youkais species which we have only seen one character of?

[Letty Whiterock]

How good is your English?

Someone didn't read my front page article.

[Necrotek]

Someone didn't read my front page article.

Well, if you're about "To start, ZUN does not know English. At all." then it's not really that much true. He uses some veeeery simple but still English in his games. For example, if I don't know writing Japanese, I can't write even a single Japanese word. That's what I would call "don't know at all". Though it's possible that it was done only by using dictionary.

[Kilgamayan]

A few of these have known answers right now, so...

Are we allowed to sell touhou related fanmade products?

ZUN has given a generic blessing to anyone that wants to sell derivative works as long as he is credited properly.

Touhou has been around for quite awhile, how long do you plan to keep the series around?

ZUN has said he's going to keep making games even if no one else cares, because he likes making games.

Have you ever considered selling Touhou outside of Japan?

Yes.

Do you ever plan on visiting Europe?

He visited Europe on his honeymoon. I think he was in Germany, but I don't remember for 100% sure.

[Critz]

-Is Sakuya a serial killer and does she serve human meat to the Scarlets, particularly Flandre? Her EoSD profile stated she eats human meat cakes.
-Will Reimu's goddess summon powers from SSiB be ever implemented into games?
-Will you reveal any info about the Hakurei bloodline?
-Are you willing to make another Phantasmagoria game in the near future?
-Will Sanae come back as one of the main characters in the future? And if not, does any other character have the chance to become a permament playable alongside Reimu & Marisa?
-Are you still planning to reveal Sakuya's or SDM moving to japan backstory? Or will you leave it unknown?
-Does human being eaten by youkai still happen? What about people Yukari brings to Gensokyo from outside or those, who cross the border on the Road of Reconsideration?
-Do youkai need to eat humans?
-Why does Mokou resurrect after every spellcard if danmaku is non-lethal anyway?
-How did Byakuren and Miko learn about spellcard rules and abided by them? Or why did Okuu bother to comply with the rules if she wanted to destroy Gensokyo?
-Why does Satori have her species name as her first name? That's weird.
-Any reason why the vast majority of the youkai in Gensokyo look almost like human girls?

Updated.