http://www.***.net

Transforming Fields of Game Development in Japan

-a Comparative Study between Doujin Game and Indie Game Development-

Nobushige HICHIBE

Ema TANAKA

Background 1: Doujin Culture and Market

“Doujin” is a Japanese word which means a

group or an individual who creates contents.

comic books, music pieces, animation videos etc.

Doujin groups can distribute their works at Doujin

events or participatory exhibitions such as

“Comic Market”.

Doujin members, some are amateur and some are

semi-professional creators, circulate their self-made

content and have fun while interacting at Comic

Market and other similar events.

Doujin shops also distribute some works of

Doujin on consignment basis to meet a demand

of those who couldn’t participate in Doujin events.

Background 2: Doujin Game

Doujin also creates and distributes video

games, which are called as “Doujin Game”

or “Doujin Soft”.

They are usually made for PC (Widows)

and distributed at 0~30$.

Median of price is around 10$.

“Tsukihime”, “Higrashi When They Cry”

and “Touhou Project” are very popular

Doujin Games.

Doujin Shop

STG

Fighting

Action, RPG, SLG

ADV, Visual Novel

Tsukihime

Touhou Project

Outline of this paper 1

This paper explains three characteristics

of Doujin Game developers, by analyzing

interviews with 76 Doujin game developers.

Firstly, I will show that the majority of

Doujin game developers could be best

described as “Hobbyist” rather than

“Indie” game developers, not to mention

commercial game developers, because

the majority of them create games not for

making living but for having fun by making

game itself.

Outline of this paper 2

Secondly, I will mention that a certain

number of developers have made games

for fun, but they also have been able to

earn living since late 1990s due to

Doujin works distribution platform in Japan.

Thirdly, I conclude that Doujin game

developers gradually have changed their

consciousness and social relationship

since around 2010s to adapt globalization

one of the factors of which is ICT progress.

Previous Studies

Parker (2013) reviews indie game studies

written in English for 11 years. It points out

that games made by amateur, hobbyist etc.

before “indie games” are the least

developed area of previous studies.

About hobbyist game development in

Japan,

Ito (2005) researches the characteristic of

hobbyist games made with “RPG Maker.”

Picard (2013) briefly describes the history of

Doujin Games since 1980s.

Significance of this paper

These researches have focused on Doujin

games, but not on Doujin game

development.

So, little is known about Doujin game

development practice and developers’

consciousness.

This paper’s Flamework

Toynbee(2000) “Proto-Markets”

These are the music production fields where we

can’t explain by logics of economy and music is

often produced from non-economic motivation.

Anthropy(2012), Westecott(2013) “Craft”

They suggest the viewpoint classifying proto-

markets into two types; craft culture and indie

market.

Craft culture is the field where many developers enjoy

creating games and don’t make them for making living.

Indie market is the field where many developers are

interested in making living as well as developing what

they want to make.

This paper’s Flamework: Three Game Production Field

Purpose of developer

Fun,

Interaction,

Expression of

individual

interest

Reputation,

Money Money

Toynbee Proto-Markets Major

Anthropy,

Westecot

Hobby

Culture Indie Market Major

Data Source (Interview Survey)

Later, I discuss whether Doujin game

developers could be best described as

hobbyist or Indie based on Interview

Survey. I and other Researchers

interviewed 76 Doujin game developers.

Among them, 68 people are male and 8

people are female.

The differences between Doujin and Commercial Development

Doujin

Development

Commercial

Development

Purpose, Interest Develop what

developers like

Develop what

players like

Diversity of

developers and

works

√

Autonomy of

development √

Flexibility of

production process √

Production period Short Long

Closeness between

developers and

players √

Possibility of

making living Low High

Similarities between Doujin and Indie

Doujin game development is similar to Indie

game development.

Diversity of developers and works

Autonomy of development

Flexibility of production process

Production period

Closeness between developers and players

Differences between Doujin and Indie

But they are different in the respect of

interest and purpose.

The interest of most Doujin developers is

for enjoying developing games itself

and interacting with others, not for

earning living.

We can say that Doujin game developers

in Japan could be best described as

“Hobbyist” rather than “Indie” game

developers, not to mention commercial

developers.

Making living as “Intended Consequences”

But a certain number of Doujin game

developers can earn living by selling several

thousand or ten thousand copies of their

games regularly as “unintended

consequences”, because Doujin events

including Comic Market and Doujin shops

provide significant opportunities to distribute

their works nationwide.

Doujin Contents Distribution Platforms

“Doujin Contents distribution platforms”

have been developed since the last half of

1990s in Japan.

The distribution platforms provide many self-

made content creators of comics, music,

animation etc. opportunity to make living by

selling their self-made works in Japan.

Doujin games distribution

Doujin games also have been distributed

and sold in the “Doujin” platform.

Shops like “Tora no Ana” and others shops

franchise nationally.

Addition to that, game download distribution

site like “DLsite.com” also sell Doujin Games.

In these platforms, Doujin game

developers could sell their works as much

as in commercial game distribution

platforms.

Doujin Shop (Sangatsu-Usagi)

Doujin Store (DLsite.com)

ICT also effects Doujin Game Development

It, however, should be noted that these

production practice and distribution routes

seem to be slowly changing because of

ICT developments.

The spread of fixed and mobile broadband

network, cloud computing system and

smart devices promote globalization at

various points.

And they also effect Doujin Game

Development.

Negative effects on doujin games

Doujin games for PC look expensive

compared with social and mobile games

that can be played free or at a low price.

As PCs with CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

have been decreasing, so many players

can’t play Doujin PC packaged games.

Due to these factors, the sales of PC

Doujin games are considered to decline.

Some Doujin developers said that the sales of

their PC games have already declined in

Japan.

Positive effects on doujin games

Online sales sites such as “Steam”, one of

a global game distribution platform,

provide new opportunity to distribute

Doujin games globally.

Besides Steam, AppStore, Google Play,

PlayStation Store also increase the chance to

distribute Doujin games.

Positive effects on doujin games

And Doujin game developer’s social

relationships with users and other

developers are also changing due to ICT.

Some developers who have built

relationship only nationally so far regard

this change as a new opportunity to

build new relationship with oversea

game developing communities and

users.

Changes of Doujin developers’ consciousness and action

In around 2009

Most of them were interested only in

distributing to Japanese, and not interested

in distributing to overseas players.

Since around 2010, they have been

interested in global platforms and gradually

started to distribute their games to all

over the world through these platforms.

They also participate in the events for

foreigners and the foreign events like PAX

East.

Changes of Doujin developers’ consciousness and action

The words of an interviewee indicate the change

of their mind: “There is no future in Japan. So

we go global.”

Asterbreed(Steam)

Touhou @ Anime Weekend Atlanta 2013

出所： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIkNU2Em7p8

Conclusion

Doujin game developers could be best

described as “Hobbyist” in view of their

production practice and consciousness.

The majority of Doujin developers make

games as hobby and don’t earn living by

selling their works. But a certain number of

developers can do it almost unintendedly.

Since around 2010, many developers

have begun to be conscious of global

distribution, and change their mind and

production practice to adapt globalization.

Bibliography

Anthropy, Anna, 2012, Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, Seven

Stories Press.

Ito, Kenji, 2007, Possibilities of Non-Commercial Games: The Case

of Amateur Role-Playing Games Designers in Japan, Suzanne De

Castell and Jennifer Jenson (eds): Worlds in Play: International

Perspectives on Digital Games Research, Peter Lang Pub Inc, 129-

142.

Parker, Felan, 2013, Indie Game Studies Year Eleven, Proceedings

of DiGRA 2013.

Picard, Martin, 2013, The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of

Early Japanese video games, Game Studies, 13(2).

Toynbee, Jason, 2000, Making Popular Music: Musicians, Creativity

and Institution, Arnold.

Westecott, Emma, 2013, Independent Game Development as Craft,

Loading… The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association,

Vol7, No 11, 78-91.

Thank You

The full paper of this presentation will be

included as one chapter of a book titled

Video Games in East Asia (Palgrave

Macmillan).

Nobushige HICHIBE

Foundation for MultiMedia Communications

natsunokumo2008@gmail.com

Ema TANAKA

Foundation for MultiMedia Communications

ema.tanaka@gmail.com