Tokyo Game Show 2013: Indie Game Fest

[cuc]

The first ever celebration of indie games at Tokyo Game Show, "Indie Game Fest" is now in session. Touhou will be heavily represented during the program, with performance of Touhou doujin music groups lasting during its two days.

As suggested by renowned Japanese game creator and ZUN's friend Kimura Yoshiro, he and ZUN are given a special booth next to the main stage called "ZUN's Room".


The live broadcast available during the two days:
http://www.indiegame-fest.com/#nicolive

From left to right:
The main stage, the LPers' Room, and ZUN's Room.


Common knowledge about the NicoNico comments:
A string of "wwww": laughing ("warau").
A string of "8888": sound of clapping hands ("pachipachi").

As has become a convention in my reports, all names are in the Japanese order: family name first, given name second. This is done in order to account for the large number of meaningful pseudonyms used by Japanese creators.

For example, Unabara Iruka 海原海豚 literally means "Ocean Dolphin". Its first and the third kanji are the same, but pronounced differently.

[cuc]

Here's a haphazardly compiled event report, Part 1. As usual, I have not been to the site, and all info in this post comes one way or another through the internet.

Tokyo Game Show takes place in Chiba City's exhibition hall "Makuhari Messe", and Hall 9 is designated the "Indie Game Corner".

Map of the hall:

On the left are booths showcasing indie game creators from Japan, as well as foreign guests. The main stage is on the upper right, and "ZUN's Room" is to the right of the stage. "LPers' Room" is below the main stage, several of Japan's popular LPers are seated there. They are called upon the main stage when a game needs to be demonstrated.

Banners for Indie Game Fest can be seen on the trains commuting to the site:


Banner in the building:



The event began at 10:30 AM. The people accompanying ZUN were the renowned game designer Kimura Yoshiro, and blogger Yoshinaga, who was there to provide tech support for ZUN's Room. Because of its location, people leaving the stage would often pass through ZUN's Room, which as you can see, is not a room at all, making for some comedic sights.

At the beginning, Kimura asked the NicoNico audience a few questions:
-Have you heard of indie games?
-Have you played indie games?
-Have you played any indie games other than Touhou?

The reaction seems quite positive. It's also interesting to see many NicoNico viewers less familiar with ZUN asking in comments which one is him.

Then the presenter (cosplaying as Reimu) introduced the LPers and other guests.

The LPer group known as M.S.S Project sit down to play DDC Lunatic...

And lost the last life at Cirno.


The game was continued until beating Stage 1, followed by demonstration of the indie shooting games Akashicverse and Astebreed. The second activity of the morning was a demonstration of how you can make a Unity game in 30 minutes. They also showed the trailer for Tokyo Toy Box, a TV drama based on a manga about the video game industry.

ZUN left the hall for lunch at 1:00 PM o'clock, right before the first Touhou music performance (musicians: Yuuhei Satellite and A-One) was started. I was expecting to see his reactions to doujin music, most of which he probably had never heard before, but instead, he opted to leave the stage every time a Touhou music performance began.



This is Tokyo Game Show, no alcohol allowed.


ZUN's left: Kimura; ZUN's right: Yoshinaga.

[Ibaraki]

(musicians: Yuuhei Satellite...)

This is a pleasant surprise.

I was expecting to see his reactions to doujin music, most of which he probably have never heard before, but instead, he opted to leave the stage every time a Touhou music performance began.

Now that's just unfortunate, I was also expecting the same.
Has he expressed distaste towards doujin musics in general before?

[N-Forza]

That might be a good question for the AWA panel, although it could very well be he wanted to take a break whenever he could get it.

[cuc]

Has he expressed distaste towards doujin musics in general before?

ZUN has always been very supportive of fan creations, as long as they don't cross certain lines. However, judging from what I know, he believes he has no obligation to check out what Touhou doujin looks like.

Report Part 2.

ZUN returned and began to stream games. Over 10,000 people were watching his stream. He played Akashicverse, and died in the first stage. He then played two Western games: They Bleed Pixels (a Cthulhu-inspired action game, available on Steam now) and Crypt of the NecroDancer (an innovative rhythm roguelike game), and showed his proficiency there.

After that, Kimura began playing DDC Normal. He played badly, and didn't seem to know about the point of collection system...


Kimura: "Is that duct tape?" ZUN: "She's a rokurokubi. Isn't it gross? I find it quite gross."

And Kimura kept reading the dialogue out. ZUN became embarrassed when his dialogue was read out aloud: "Stop reading it." Kimura stopped for a few second, and then started reading aloud again. ZUN's face turned red with embarrassment: "Stop reading it!"

Following the gameplay stream, it was mostly random chitchat, and talking with people who came through ZUN's Room.

ZUN: "Some people put my games up on Amazon for sale. I think that's a bad thing." Isn't White Canvas still doing that?

A presenter asked ZUN how was the other presenter's Reimu cosplay. ZUN: "The shoes are not quite right."


Here, Kimura was acting as interpreter for Ryan Clark, who made Crypt of the NecroDancer. Kimura's English is fairly good for a Japanese; on the other hand, ZUN speaks typical Japanese English.

At 3:45 PM, there was another live performance (musicians: Seventh Heaven MAXION+MHS and Silver Forest). Since ZUN took leave again during the performance, Yoshinaga would turn the camera to the stage, showing the performance from behind. However, Silver Forest didn't allow that, and Yoshinaga even had to turn off the sound on his broadcast, so he entertained the viewers by moving snacks around before the camera. Is this the first time a Touhou doujin group forbids ZUN and co. from using their work?

More things happened after that, but they were less notable. We can be sure that ZUN enjoyed himself.


Sorry, I don't know who's the Westerner to the left - he's a presenter, and speaks very fluent Japanese.


Impression:
As the international indie game movement rolls forward, many people, for both their self-interest and the common good, are trying to start a similar movement in Japan, and they definitely need ZUN to be present as a mascot, as THE symbol of Japanese indie development. "Look, our indie game show has ZUN! We are legit."

Fortunately, the event, with its LPers streaming games and people coming up and down the stage, has a free-wheeling atmosphere very far from a sombre corporate conference. The audience is also a good mix of men and women, much better than the usual doujin events. For TGS's first indie game event, it could be much worse.

[Zakari]

Wow that was interesting, i like the way ZUN smiles, damn i want to go there too :ohdear:

also for the lulz

[Clarste]

Never thought I'd see such a flattering picture of him.

And Kimura kept reading the dialogue out. ZUN became embarrassed when his dialogue was read out aloud: "Stop reading it." Kimura stopped for a few second, and then started reading aloud again. ZUN's face turned red with embarrassment: "Stop reading it!"

Hehe, that's an amusing image. Very relatable though.

A presenter asked ZUN how was the other presenter's Reimu cosplay. ZUN: "The shoes are not quite right."

This is absolutely perfect. ZUN is my god once again.

[eyeeye]

Do you have any link to watch this show ? (I try to google it but find nothing)

[cuc]

In the first post, I linked to the show's site, which has links to all broadcasts. I guess I should have linked directly to them. Well, when a broadcast on NicoNico is finished, you can only watch it if you are a paying member. And by the time you posted, TGS 2013 was already over.

[eyeeye]

Thank for answer and yes I mean the rerun show.So I have to be paid member to watch this rerun.sigh......I don't have any credit card.
Is there any link in youtube ?

[cuc]

Correction to the last post, even if it's of no help now: it's also generally possible to reserve "timeshift tickets" before a show starts, which allows a free user to watch a rerun within a certain period.

I seem to recall at least one of the indie game shows here being simultaneously broadcast on UStream, where reruns can often be viewed for free. I'll look for them when I have time.

EDIT:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/indiegamefest2013
It's here. But past recordings don't seem to be available.

[cuc]

This is absolutely perfect. ZUN is my god once again.

She was wearing high heels. Reimu would never wear any shoes that make her feet uncomfortable, indeed.


Report Part 3:

I was busy working for the whole Sunday, and didn't have any time to watch the stream myself. Mauve did watch the show, so perhaps you can ask him for more details.

ZUN's broadcast started with a question for NicoNico viewers: "Did you see yesterday's show?"

They talked about Saturday's "miracle", that is, there were an unusual amount of young women in the audience, and then asked the internet viewers about their gender.

Left to right: male (74.2%), female (12.2%), neither (13.6%)

At this moment, someone left the comment "ZUN we love you even here in Russia!" It's good to know there are foreigners watching the show.

Just like Saturday, as indie game developers come up and down the stage to demonstrate their games, they would stay at ZUN's Room, and chat with get interviewed by ZUN. Last day ZUN talked with ISAO of Shindenken (a well-known doujin circle). This morning, he interviewed Naramura Takumi (La-Mulana) and Team Grand Slam (Monken), and asked Naramura questions about their experience publishing La-Mulana in the international market.

The music performance at 13:00 was by ZYTOKINE and EastNewSound.

After the music, it was time for a small HM tournament.

There were 4 teams. The first 3 teams were all LPers, while Team 4 consisted of two pro fighting game players. None of them had played HM before, although the LPers had tried the game for a few rounds before the tournament began. The winners would win the prize of 10,000 yen.



So this guy is Unabara Iruka (leader and designer of Twilight Frontier). Now you know the face of the person you want to blame when you are angry about Touhou fighting game design.


For the first round, Team 1 "M.S.S Project" picked Marisa, and Team 2 "We, the Ultimate Weapon" picked Ichirin. Team 1 played much better than Team 2, winning by a landslide.

When Ichirin was chosen, the presenter asked: "What's the name of this character?" ZUN: "Unzan." Presenter: "Is that Unzan?" ZUN: "Yes, Unzan."

For the second round, both teams chose Reimu at first. Team 3 won the match, but unplugged the gamepad by accident, so they had to fight a rematch. Team 3 chose Koishi this time, but didn't know how to use her, losing to the fighting game players of Team 4.

In the final battle between Marisa and Reimu, The fighting game pro managed to release Reimu's Last Word, but got interrupted. M.S.S Project turned out to be the winners, and ZUN laughed heartily.


And here is what's funny about the game: the tournament used HM Ver. 1.00, no doubt installed fresh off the disc, where Reimu doesn't have many options if her Last Word misses. If they'd patched the game, things might have turned out differently. Later this day, after the event ended, Unabara tweeted: "When I saw Ver. 1.00 on the stage, it really scared me good."


The next activity was demonstration of games participating in NicoNico Self-Made Game Festa: Ao Oni (a game now already gained some international notoriety), ぼくらの大革命！ ("Our Great Revolution!", where you lead a group of activists around) and TorqueL. These are all free games you can download. Following them were two Western games: Framed and Mirage. ZUN again interviewed the creators of all these games, including the Western designers Boggs Joshua and Mario von Rickenbach.

The last music performance was by Riverside and SOUND HOLIC. Then, the event concluded with an indie developer roundtable with everyone participating.

Dogma Kazemi, one of the show's presenters, and the LPer who unplugged his gamepad during the match, said he was worried about the future of Japanese video games. "Will Japanese games decline?" ZUN said: "Precisely because it is declining, indie games are coming out to turn the tide."








Aftermath:
ZUN's broadcast lasted after all activities have ended. Nicolai (leader of Endless Shirafu) asked ZUN how to make a good game. ZUN answered: "Do it alone."

[cuc]

Common knowledge about the NicoNico comments:
A string of "wwww": laughing ("warau").
A string of "8888": sound of clapping hands ("pachipachi").


After the show, all indie developers were invited to a party called Indie Stream, sponsored by Sony and Playism. There they unraveled the true meaning of "Indie Stream", a new website for Japanese indie developers. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed this party. Unfortunately I can't find any Indie Stream photo with ZUN in it.

That's it!

[Formless God]

it is declining

[attach=1]

[Ibaraki]

Nicolai (leader of Endless Shirafu) asked ZUN how to make a good game. ZUN answered: "Do it alone."

A-awesome.

I wouldn't be able to keep track of whatever's happening there live with this connection of mine, so your every update really helps a lot. Kudos for the reports, Cuc.
One more question though,  what did ZUN do during the performance by SOUND HOLIC and Riverside?

[cuc]

I'm not sure, I think he left for a break again.

EDIT:
There are more photos at PoriPori Club's blog.
http://poriporiclub.blogspot.jp/2013/09/blog-post_22.html

And here's a 4Gamer article on the indie game roundtable at the end.
http://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20130924067/

[N-Forza]

For Team #4 of the fighting game players, I don't recognize the first name, but Itabashi Zangief is a mean SF player (obviously).

I also remember watching a few of Kiyo's LPs in the past, mostly Mario romhacks. I think he had a different partner though, since I don't recognize "Hira".

[Suikama]

When Ichirin was chosen, the presenter asked: "What's the name of this character?" ZUN: "Unzan." Presenter: "Is that Unzan?" ZUN: "Yes, Unzan."

ZUN knows how it is BV

[monhan]

When Ichirin was chosen, the presenter asked: "What's the name of this character?" ZUN: "Unzan." Presenter: "Is that Unzan?" ZUN: "Yes, Unzan."

Stop that, ZUN! Just stop!
Also, I know that it might just be a coincidence, but with so many times it happened, I can't help but feel that ZUN does have a negative view on doujin music of Touhou. I hope I'm wrong though.

[hungrybookworm]

I reckon he just needed the toilet, or maybe him being there made the performers ultra nervous or something.

Actually isn't he kinda close to the speakers? Maybe he values his hearing.

I mean, there's millions of plausible reasons why he'd leave the stage each time that aren't 'he hates Touhou doujin music,' so I don't see why everyone has to jump to that conclusion.

Oh, and also here's a quote from an interview he did a while ago:

Q. What do you think about Touhou musical arrangements?
A. Aren't they wonderful?... though that's not a hobby of mine (laughs) I'm very glad. If you are going to make them I want you to make them as you see fit. There's no way I can listen to them all, so I can't say which ones are good.

Source

[akj]

ZUN left the hall for lunch at 1:00 PM o'clock, right before the first Touhou music performance (musicians: Yuuhei Satellite and A-One) was started. I was expecting to see his reactions to doujin music, most of which he probably had never heard before, but instead, he opted to leave the stage every time a Touhou music performance began.

In hindsight, we now know that he just doesn't want to be influenced by doujin works. Which makes sense. He' be in a troubling position if he subconsciously used a fan's work / style in his future works. Also, doesn't want to display any forms of favouritism for the benefit of the doujin community~