Danchi Days - a new adventure game in Japan
I'm developing a new, GBA-esque game set in a Danchi - a Japanese Mass Housing Complex!
Context: Melos here! I’m developing this game - Danchi Days - on the side, part-time, with my partner, sandy powder (pen name) and artist friend mogumu! Follow mogumu on Twitter! Sandy tweets in Japanese but is bilingual in English as well. This post was machine-translated and then cleaned up by me, from the original Japanese. Her writing style machine-translates decently, so you should also check out her other two posts on the game and influences if interested! Her original post follows.
When you think of an “emotionally moving adventure," what kind of setting comes to mind? Many people might imagine settings far removed from everyday life, such as the fantastical future, or the castle town of a sword-and-sorcery world, where heroes slay monsters. Such extraordinary places are often the subject of adventure games.
However, we’ve chosen to set our game in a danchi (団地, lit. group land) - a Japanese mass housing complex. This is an everyday location, and we want players to feel that they can experience extraordinary adventures and excitement - even in an everyday location.
I wrote about why I chose a housing complex as the setting in Devlog #1 (Google Translate). It's been three weeks since then, and we've made a lot of progress, so I'd like to share with you what it means to create a moving danchi-adventure game about Sensing The World. I’ll also share an area currently in-development, a park in the danchi.
Characters
This game originally started with me (design/writing) and Melos Han-Tani (design, programming, music, and assistant writer). Recently, mogumu has joined us as the artist.
And, and! mogumu has already designed the main character and her partner. Aren't they the cutest? It’s been SO moving to see my characters come to life! First, I’d like to introduce them (while avoiding spoilers.)
Hoshino Kanaoka
The protagonist is a lively 12-year-old in the 6th grade. She recently moved with her family to a danchi, dating back over 50 years. The danchi used to be very lively, even with a yearly summer festival, but it’s been decades since the last, in part due to the aging residents. Motivated by a deep purpose (a secret!), Hoshino resolves to revive the summer festival - her heart prepared for challenges along the way.
The name “Hoshino” (Hoshi means “star”) was taken from the first public danchi - Kanaoka Danchi, and its architectural highlight, the Star House .
Moro-Q
A kappa yokai. Although he looks childish, he’s over 100 years old! He supports and joins Hoshino on her quest to revive the summer festival.
What’s the goal of the game?
While clearing main story quests needed to hold the summer festival, like "Revive the danchi’s lost ondo (音頭, folk songs/dance)," or "Recruit food and drink vendors”, you’ll also be tasked with handing out festival invites 151 characters (melos note: this is reminding me of a certain game series…), and ultimately securing their RSVPs.
Gathering RSVPs will range in difficulty. Some characters immediately RSVP, while some have a problem and will only RSVP after it’s solved. For other characters, there may be tricky conditions to even meet them. In preparation for the festival, Hoshino and Moro-Q will embark on a grand, summer adventure through the danchi and its surrounding area.
Now, let’s discuss one of the areas our protagonists will travel to.
The Park in the Danchi
Like Hoshino, I currently live in a danchi (Melos note: Wow… me too!) I often take walks in and around the danchi. Although it's in an urban area, it's surrounded by nature, and you can hear birds singing instead of cars. And because it's a danchi, there aren't a bunch of apartment buildings with different designs, but dozens of buildings lined up with similar designs. In fact, the contrast with the outside world is so strong that it feels like another world! Taking just one step out of my building feels like entering the world of a game.
And because the danchi occupies a lot of land, there are all sorts of different-feeling areas. When going on a walk, you can set out for “Water Tower Zone," "Backyard Mountain (裏山) Zone," "Plaza Zone," and so on. Even if you walked every day, it’d be hard to get bored. We’d like to eventually feature all of these areas in our game, but for this devlog, let’s just introduce an early-game area - “The Park in the Danchi”
First, please take a look at the mockup below. (Melos: this art looks familiar.) The art for our game is still in development, so for now we’re borrowing tilesets from Anodyne.
Here’s a list of the characters and objects that appear on this screen:
① A warning/rules sign
② Drinking fountain
③ A stone stepstool for children to reach the fountain
④ A woman who wants to do a backwards roll on the bar, even though she’s an adult
⑤ A low horizontal bar
⑥ A high horizontal bar
⑦ A seesaw
⑧ A sandbox
⑨ A poster on a street clock
⑩ Something lying on the ground
This area was inspired by the kinds of children’s parks you often find in danchis, like the photos below:
Mechanics for Exploring the Danchi
Next, I’ll introduce the mechanics you can use to explore the “Park in the Danchi.”
‘Look’ at stuff in the Danchi
In the game, you can look by controlling a grid-based cursor in front of Hoshino, and targeting the square you want to look at (up to 3 squares away). If there is nothing in particular to look at, no text will appear, but if there is something, text will appear.
By adding text to things that are often just set dressing (such as house furniture or trees), I want to convey the fun of walking around and looking at things in the danchi. As the game’s writer, making this text interesting will certainly put my skills to the test.
‘Sense’ the Danchi… Sense the World
A command that displays text when you see something is a standard in games, but our game also has a command called "sense." You can sense something on the screen that you would be able to use your senses of hearing, touch, taste, and smell on. (Excluding sight, of course.) For example, you can smell the scent of flowers near a flower bed, or feel a pleasant breeze blowing through the danchi with your sense of touch.
The player can sense through the following three steps:
The player must intuit or deduce the location of invisible sense points on each screen. Hints for guessing include 1) the layout of the screen, 2) animations, 3) sounds, or 4) Hoshino's facial expression. (Melos note: and 5), tactile sensations like walking slower in mud, etc)
If you sense while near a sense point, the “Sense Game” begins. Moving sensations will appear, and you’ll have to absorb them under the time limit, while controlling the circle. (See above video)
If you clear the Sense Game, some kind of change will occur. For example, 1) something, or an NPC that wasn't there before will appear, 2) you will be able to obtain an item, 3) Hoshino will be able to perform a new contextual action, etc.
‘Search’ the Internet!
This command was inspired by our game’s initial inspiration - the GBA classic "Sakura Momoko's Uki-Uki Carnival". When you open the computer in our game, you can use the Internet and do the following:
Use bookmarks obtained throughout the game to go to specific webpages
As you progress through the game, Hoshino will think of various keywords to search. Searching for keywords will display a list of matching pages you can then read (and bookmark, if desired)
You can also jump to different pages via links on a page
By combining the “search” with "look" and "sense," I hope to add an element of mystery to the game, and create a sense of richness and depth in the game’s world.
Exploring the Park in the Danchi
Let’s see what happens when combining these three mechanics - Sense, Search (the Internet), and Look - to interact with objects and characters in the Park in the Danchi.
1. Warning Sign
In Japan, there are a lot of signs in parks, full of warnings and rules. "Do not bring your dog or cat to the park!!", "Don’t do dangerous things like playing catch, soccer, or using fireworks!!", etc. It's off-putting to see so many warnings (this one park went from 0 to 24 signs in 6 years!) Instead, I thought it would be nice to have a sign like the (funny/unique/pleasant) ones that appear on Twitter’s Kanban (sign) Bot, and thought of the following sequence.
Look at the "Warning Sign” → Text: "To visitors, both adults and children: play like children! -The Council For Better Park Signs" → Text: "Hoshino thought of a new keyword: "Council For Better Park Signs"!
Search for the keyword "Council For Better Park Signs" → The official website shows up.
The site states,
"Hello. Dear local officials, are you tired of signs full of rules? We sure are! We’re the Council For Better Park Signs. How about purchasing one of our lovely signs for your park? We’ve yet to sell many signs, but we scrape by.
Several sample signs are posted, and Hoshino’s danchi is introduced as an existing customer for the signs.
2. Drinking Fountain
I like the water fountains you find across the city. I prefer to carry as little as possible when I take a walk, so I don't carry reusable or disposable water bottles, and instead quench my thirst at a water fountain. These days, water fountains at trains stations are being abolished, one after another, and water fountains in parks are becoming an increasingly valuable place for the thirsty citizen. In particular, on hot days I feel especially grateful when encountering a water fountain in a park.
In our game, we want players to have the experience of drinking from a water fountain, and we’ve been planning to include a drinking fountain from the beginning of development. And, drinking fountains in parks also appear in our original inspiration, "Sakura Momoko's Uki-Uki Carnival."
In "Sakura Momoko's Uki-Uki Carnival," you can drink water by pressing the A button, but… that's it. It feels like something’s missing. So, in our game, I want you to use the sense mechanic to have Hoshino taste the water.
Look at "2. Water Fountain" → Hoshino says: "It's a water fountain. Should I take a drink?" → Player's choice: "Drink it" or "Nope"
Choose "Drink it" → "Ah… the water feels good on my dry throat…”
(You will continue drinking until you press a button, so during this time:) Use Sense → The onomatopoeia "gulp" that expresses the sense of taste appears → In the sense game, absorb the “gulp” sensations to win.
After succeeding, Hoshino obtains a related keyword related to sensing the water’s temperature. The text might be like: Hoshino: "The water’s kind of lukewarm!” followed by, "Hoshino thought of a new keyword: 'lukewarm'!"
Then: Search for the keyword "lukewarm" → …I haven't thought about what kind of page will be appear yet, but I would like it to be a page that enriches the setting of the danchi.
We plan for there to be multiple water fountains in the game. The taste and temperature of the water varies depending on the fountain, so try drinking them all and using the "sense" ability!
3) A stone stepstool for children to reach the fountain
I love water fountains - not only are they practical for staying hydrated but also many of them have stepping stones for children. Seeing thoughtful touches like this make me very happy.
As for the game, the details are still being hashed out, but I'd like to go with something like:
See "Step Stool” → Hoshino: "It's a step stool for children! Now even shorter people can use it. What a thoughtful design!"
"Hoshino thought of a new keyword: Compassion!”
Search for the keyword "compassion" → Some webpage shows up that enriches the danchi’s worldbuilding.
4. A woman who wants to do a backward roll, even though she’s an adult, 5. A low horizontal bar, 6. A high horizontal bar
It’s common to see horizontal bars in children’s playgrounds. So, our game’s playground also has a low and high horizontal bar. In the game, there’s a woman nearby, who wants to do a backwards roll.
Hoshino talking to her causes Hoshino to hand out a flyer for the summer festival, inviting her.
However, the woman replies that she’s in trouble… and can’t go to the festival. She wants to do a backwards roll on the bar, but she can't do it well. She’s having trouble, because she was able to do it as a kid, but not anymore. She asks Hoshino (still a kid!) to show her how to do it.
If you choose to show her an example, a mini-game using the "sense game" mechanics will begin, with sensations imitating the motion of a backwards roll. If you succeed, Hoshino will perform the move.
The woman thanks you, and says she'll come to the summer festival. She’ll also thank you for practicing with her by giving you a bookmark for her website.
(The text of the woman’s page is currently being planned)
7. Seesaw
You can learn about Moro-Q at the seesaw - another common piece of equipment at children’s parks.
Look at "7. Seesaw" → Hoshino: "Should I go on the seesaw with Moro-Q?" → player chooses: "Yes" or "No"
If you choose "Yes," Hoshino and Moro-Q ride on the seesaw, but you discover that Moro-Q weighs nothing. (Is it because he's a yokai??). Since he’s weightless, Hoshino can’t play on the seesaw. Oh well!
In cases like this, we want the player to get to know the characters better through their interactions with objects in the environment.
8. Sandbox
The number of children in Hoshino’s danchi is decreasing year by year. Since fewer children are playing in the sandbox, it’s started to grow weeds. However, there are some areas in the sandbox where there are no weeds. And, when Hoshino walks in these weedless spots, her walking speed slows down. These are hints to the player that there’s a sense point to be found.
Stand on an area of the sandbox where there are no weeds and sense → the onomatopoeia that represents a ‘rough’ tactile sensation appears on the screen → The sense game begins! You collect sensations representing “roughness”, and sensations for “rustling” also appear. → Absorb these sensations to complete the sense game.
Hoshino: "The sand feels coarse against my shoes... What? Something’s rustling under the sand! Let's dig it out." → "A bunch of flyers were under the sand." → “Hoshino got "50 advertisement flyers"!” → Examine the "advertisement flyers" in your inventory, and you’ll find out more about them. They’re flyers for the sale of an under-construction residential high rise, near the danchi.
"Hoshino thought of a new keyword: 'flyer'!"
Search for the keyword "flyer" → A job posting appears. The site just says: "Help wanted: Putting advertising flyers into mailboxes. 8,000 yen / 7 hours."
It’s not explained why there were 50 flyers in the sandbox. However, if you check Hoshino’s mailbox, you can find an identical flyer. Maybe it was a part-time worker who had to distribute 100 flyers, finished half, but, unable to hand out the rest, buried them in the sandbox. Maybe he or she did this because they’d been scolded in the past for not giving them all out.
Through moments like this, I hope players will have fun imagining the lives of various characters and their relations to the danchi, even if they don’t appear in the game.
9. A poster on a street clock
Look at the 9. A poster on a street clock
Hoshino says: "It says 'NO SMOKING IN THE PARK!!'… in big letters."
But right next to it is… 10!
10. Something that has fallen to the ground
Look at 10. Something that has fallen to the ground
Hoshino: "There's something on the ground... what!! It’s a cigarette butt! Who left it there?"
Number 9 and 10 are common in Tokyo, and were inspired by my experience of seeing people smoking next to anti-smoking posters.
Feeling moved, finding wonder and surprise - all in an everyday Danchi!
It’s taken a while, but I’ve now explained 10 objects and characters that players will encounter in the danchi’s park - through the eyes of Hoshino.
It might seem trivial to focus on things such as a lukewarm water fountain on a hot day, or the coarse feeling of a sandbox on your shoes.
However, if you use your five senses to the fullest - even on the smallest of sensations, you may enter a world of surprise and mystery! Perhaps, one hot summer day, you’ll show an adult how to do a backwards roll. Or, you might find other little surprises, like a peculiar sign in the park… an unexpected object buried in a forgotten sandbox… cigarette butts next to a no-smoking poster.
Rachel Carson calls this a "sense of wonder."
A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world would be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the source of our strength.
Rachel Carson, Sense of Wonder (1965)
Carson writes that a "sense of wonder" can be cultivated in nature, and not in "things that are artificial.” But, I believe that a "sense of wonder" can be felt not only in nature, but also in artificial things.
Because…
Everything in the world can be interesting!
Mania Style! Enjoying Towns: A Primer on Other Viewpoints (edited by: 合同会社別視点)
As the above points out, even man-made and everyday things like "rubber hoses" and "outdoor units" are full of surprises and excitement when you change your perspective. And through our game, we want to show that "danchi" is one of those things that are interesting, while being man-made and ordinary.
The fun and appeal of danchi has already been shared with the world by danchi researchers, and I have learned a lot from them during this game’s development.
The things that truly excite us are, in actuality, right next to us.
The more familiar danchis (or whatever) are, the more invisible they become. The more you think you understand something, the less you actually do.
If, after finishing our book, our readers find something new in a place they thought they knew well, then we’ll have fulfilled our objective.
大山顕, 佐藤大, 速水健朗『Danchi Group: Film Theory From The Balcony』p. 36-37.
In the vast danchi, various human lives are at play. Children playing happily, middle-aged women hunched over, chatting, futons on the balcony, hung to dry. At night, windows light up in different colors. It's because people live in them, that danchi are attractive places.
Even in the everyday setting of the danchi, we want people to feel excitement, and explore it as if they were seeing it for the first time. We want players, holding curiosity in their hearts, to interact with each unique resident while encountering wonder, surprise, feeling moved - even philosophizing. It is this hope that drives our game’s development.
Aristotle famously said, "For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.” If we accept his statement, then perhaps children are more like philosophers than adults. Small children are touched by tiny plants on the side of the road, and they treasure even the smallest stones or seashells. At that moment, children are already philosophers. If we can approach anything with surprise and wonder, then we can find endless meaning, enriching our lives along the way.
And hopefully, by the time players finish playing our game, their lives and their futures will be feel a little richer than before they started.
Thanks for reading! For the latest news on game development, check out the Twitter account for Danchi Days!
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Excited for this Sandy + Melos + Mogumu collab. I think not infrequently of the wonder, surprise, and emotions I experienced when playing Pokemon Blue for the first time without prior knowledge of the mechanics, characters (Pokemon), or Japan (I guess I'd say Kanto Region is modeled after a "Japanese place). The combination of fear and excitement of wandering through Viridian Forest for the first time hoping to encounter a new Pokemon was such a rewarding and memorable experience.