In what can solely finest be described as a daring gamble, Danganronpa sequence creator Kazutaka Kodaka has revealed that the the way forward for not simply his private profession, but additionally that of his newly based Too Kyo Video games studio rests on the success of its upcoming launch, The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy-.
A famous determine within the Japanese online game trade, Kodaka received his begin within the trade in 2002, serving as a cutscene director on Capcom’s Clock Tower 3.
Following a handful of different such trade jobs which included offering design work on Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and writing duties for the Detective Conan & The Kindaichi Case Recordsdata sequence, the Japanese dev would breakout in his personal proper in 2010 with the primary entry of his aforementioned Danganronpa sequence, as produced for developer Spike Chunsoft.
A visible novel-esque assortment of video games centered on numerous teams of highschool college students who’re pressured right into a murderous survival recreation by a sinister robotic teddy bear by the identify of Monokuma (although, as followers know, not the whole lot in these eventualities are as they appear), the sequence’ 4 mainline entries – Danganronpa: Set off Completely happy Havoc, Dangaronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa: Extremely Despair Ladies, and Danganronpa V3: Killing Concord – have collectively bought over 5 million copies worldwide.
Consequently, each Kodaka and the Danganronpa sequence have garnered a devoted fan base – and it was because of this devoted fan base that in 2017, Kodaka, alongside Danganronpa sequence composer Masafumi Takada and artist Rui Komatsuzaki, in addition to Zero Escape sequence creator Kotao Uchikoshi, summoned the braveness to depart Spike Chunsoft and kind Too Kyo Video games, a online game studio devoted to fostering and creating “new IP“.
Since then, Too Kyo Video games has launched three unique titles – the interactive movie Demise Come True, the cyber-mystery puzzle recreation World’s Finish Membership, and the investigative journey title Grasp Detective Archives: Rain Code – and are actually gearing up for the launch of their fourth, The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy-.
Paying homage to Kodaka’s work on Danganronpa, albeit with gameplay centered on full-on tactical grid-based fight as an alternative of thriller fixing, the upcoming technique RPG places gamers within the function of teenager Takumi Sumino, who after being granted the powers to combat again in opposition to a mysterious species of monster which have invaded Tokyo is forcibly enrolled within the Final Protection Academy, a distant college which he and 14 different college students are ordered to guard from the grotesque creatures for 100 days.
A little bit of a change of tempo for the usually extra ‘click-and-point’ oriented director, Kodaka spoke to his ambitions for his upcoming recreation throughout a New 12 months’s interview given to Japanese information outlet 4Gamer.internet.
Requested as to his aspirations for 2025 and whether or not he want to give any particular message to the outlet’s readers, the director asserted, “On April 24, 2025, The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy– shall be launched. It’s Too Kyo’ first in-house IP title, created with all the firm’s belongings and money owed. If it doesn’t promote properly, we’re ready to go bankrupt and retire, however it will likely be value it, so please wait and see.”
Notably, this isn’t the primary time Kodaka has famous the high-stakes which have resulted from The Hundred Line‘s improvement.
Offering a behind-the-scenes have a look at the sport’s manufacturing course of throughout a June 2024 interview with Famitsu, as machine translated by DeepL, the trade veteran recalled, “Even when we had bought our shares and invested all of our cash, we nonetheless wouldn’t have had the working capital to keep up the dimensions of improvement that had grown so massive. We had been searching for a writer who would work with us whereas we had been in debt and searching for a strategy to develop the sport, and we made a reference to Aniplex, and issues went very easily.”
“Nevertheless, since this title additionally features a simulation RPG half, we additionally wanted a improvement firm,” he added. “We had been launched to Media Imaginative and prescient, an organization with a confirmed observe document, they usually agreed to take part within the improvement as a developer. Jet Studio, who helped us with the Danganronpa sequence and Grasp Detective Archives: Rain Code, additionally cooperated with us.”
“We managed to launch this title on this approach, and for us at Too Kyo Video games, it’s a “fruits” of our “persistence” at this stage,” Kodaka concluded. “We are able to proudly say that it’s the “fruits” of our efforts at this time limit, and the “ultimate product” of our work. We’re nonetheless in debt, so additionally it is a title for which we’re “risking our lives” (laughs).”
Finally, whereas Kodaka is taking a light-hearted bent to his dialogue of the monetary dangers inherent along with his subsequent recreation, it appears the efficiency of Too Kyo’s upcoming title may have a large impact on figuring out the studio’s future.
As famous above, The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy– shall be launched for Nintendo Change and PC on April twenty fourth, 2025, with bodily editions set to be distributed by Xseed Video games.
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