City Connection is a domestic game development and sales company. He mainly works on retro games, and has recently released ported versions such as Rampage Ten and Death Smiles. On September 12, a new transplant was also announced. Some of the works that have become a hot topic are HD remastered and released again.
On the other hand, the company also announced the original title Planet ü according to the Tokyo Game Show 2022. As a city connection that has been mainly transplanted, it is anxious movement. At the venue of the Tokyo Game Show 2022, I asked Nobuhiro Oshawa, the president of City Connection, about Wizard’s World Retry and Planet ü.
–Please introduce yourself.
Nobuhiro Oshawa (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Oshawa):
I’m Nobuhiro Oshawa, the representative of City Connection Co., Ltd. City Connection is a company that I founded in 2005, starting a business while entering the Culture Convenience Club (TSUBASA’s operating company). At the time of its founding, the city connection was mainly TSUBASA subcontracting work, and later I was a sound buyer in TSUBASA, so I started the game sound label Clarín Disc as a trigger for music CDs, mainly dealing with music. I did it.
After that, I got acquainted with Paleo because the company name was City Connection (* 1), and Paleo was entrusted with the game IP. I thought it would be useless to have a game that could not make a game even though I had a game IP, so I started working as a game publisher while exploring the absorption of game development companies and new employment of developers. Zero Dive’s subsidiary was also a big event. At present, the number of employees is about 50 and there are three locations.
- 1:
City Connection. Alec released the action game City Connection of the same name in 1985 for arcades.
I want to compete only in the game
-City Connection has released a lot of Paleo’s reprint title. This time, Wise Bands World Retry is relatively new in the reprinted title and is a work with a good idea. From where, the HD remaster of Wiseman World (* 2) was decided?
- 2:
Wise Bands World. RPG for Nintendo DS released in 2010 by Paleo. In the game, after recruiting enemy monsters for user posting projects, 5 channel (2channel) user Make 8 appeared, and became a hot topic.
Oshawa:
In fact, when I took over Paleo’s IP, the reprint itself could be done if I wanted to do it. The source code of Wise Bands World was a set, and there was a connection with the producer, director of Jarek, and Bankers who worked on developing. However, there were some parts that were worried, such as financial aspects and whether to release it in the first place. In fact, four to five years ago, I consulted Bankers about the estimate of the current machine transplant. However, at that time, both companies did not match the timing, so they gave up once.
What was reprinted this time is the timing aspect. In City Connection, many Marco IPs have been reprinted, but the pure transplant title itself is reduced from this term to next term. This year is the culmination of transplantation, and we are going to lower the weight for transplantation and shift to remake and new release. Among them, I thought that Wiseman’s World was a culmination as a transplant, or I always wanted to do it, so I thought it was this timing.
Also, when the number of development teams has increased in the company, and when I thought that I could transplant Wiseman World, Zero Div has joined. For that reason, development has begun, so the development is promoted by the city connection and zero dive staff. External companies are also involved, and they are outsourced and have new backgrounds, while transplanting is proceeding inside.
-The source code of Wiseman World remained beautiful.
Oshawa:
It was left. I also talked to the President Hosting of Bankers, the main programmer at the time, and was taught the details. When the whole resource was 100, it was about 90 or 80 in the company, but I was able to do it as much as possible, saying that I couldn’t do it and asked Bankers to search. This time, Bankers did not participate in the development, but we had you cooperate in reprinting.
―― This work has many changes as HD remasters for Wiseman’s World, so I think it’s no wonder that it is called a remake. Why do you dare call it an HD remaster?
Oshawa:
First, as a change point, the graphics are renewed. In addition, we have been working on the originals pointed out in the original work, the drop rate of items, the tempo of battle, and the difficulty of the game. Aside from not putting it in, we are also considering places where you can earn a lot of experience, and DLC, which double/3 times item drops. There are quite a few parts that have changed, but we are still in the process of developing, and we are going to brush up in the future, so I wonder if we should say too much, so this time we call it HD remastered.
*-* Make 8 was a bit of a topic at the time, but how did it change?
Oshawa:
As a common awareness of the development team, I thought, There is no Make 8. There was no meeting at all, and the change was decided. Besides development, the game may come into the game before the game is completed. In Wiseman World, Bankers’ developed members and Barça were promoted, but I don’t think the whole was united at that time. When I talked to the Bankers President Hosting, I heard that it was decided by Paleo to put Make 8.
This time, when the Wiseman World City Connection is revived, the purpose is to revive what Bankers want to make. The city connection is not Paleo, so Make 8 was changed, thinking of trying to cut Paleo’s promotion once. With the same idea, the character design and songs are also changed. It is not whether Make 8 is good or bad, but the result from the concept. So, this time Wiseman World can be said to be a city connection-style arrangement. However, if the game is gone, the game will not progress, so we have an event that will replace Make 8. I hope you can wait for the announcement later.
―― In Wise Bands World Retry, the screen configuration is one screen from two screens, and the UI and visuals have been significantly changed. Perhaps it was quite difficult to change.
Oshawa:
The basics are left to the development members, but when the screen came out when I first wanted to do it on one screen, I was quite impressed and felt their sense. The part of the two screen to one screen was quite nice. Originally, it was RPG, and it was not compatible with touch, so I think there is a part that was easy to do. Another problem appears in action games, but it was RPG, so it was relatively easy to change.
―― Please let me know about future transplant titles. Have you ever considered Golden Bonds (* 3)?
- 3
Golden bond. Wii software released in 2009 by Paleo. Development is Town Factory. Sales were poor for development costs, and it became a hot topic at the time, including Marco’s president, President Takashi NATO, called Usage.
Oshawa:
There is no possibility of Golden Bonds (laughs), so I have never thought about transplanting Golden Bonds because I am not Jalekomania. However, the reason I wanted to transplant Wiseman World is a bit related to Golden Bonds. There was a time when Paleo did not play the game for Nintendo DS. The title released before Wiseman World was that Golden Bonds.
At that time, Alec had not released the game for a while before, and that the previous work was Golden Bonds, so I think that the impression of Russian was not good, and it was partly because of the sales did not increase. I think Marco’s previous work Golden Bonds was a factor that could not be evaluated as a single game. I had a desire to compete with the game alone in the form of eliminating such external factors.
――As for transplantation, how about the National Deck Torn Festival?
Oshawa:
Dakota was selling, so there are quite a few voices to do decorated. I think there is a possibility of transplantation about 100 times that of Golden Bonds (laughs).
City Connection is working on the original title
—The original new work has been announced from the City Connection overseas corporation CITY CONNECTION TURBO. Let me hear about Planet ü.
Oshawa:
I think the city connection has the image of a company that releases titles based on IP. Even if you change it, there are many UI changes and the addition of useful functions. If anything, I was interested in selecting porting titles such as Xiaomi to see the stars, Rampage Ten, and Gimmick. In the future, I will not stop developing a niche market itself, but as mentioned above, I would like to lower the weight a little and give it an original title, which will be Planet ü which was announced this time. That’s why. This time, we are exhibiting playable at the TGS indie corner. Originally, there was no plan to exhibit until the last minute, but I heard from the development team that it could be in time, and it was a hurry.
Development is handled by members in the city connection, making it a completely in-house game. This is a team called Hello Quest, who has been in charge of transplantation such as Ninja Pajamas Collection, Xiaomi looking at the Stars, Rampage Ten, and Gimmick. In parallel with the transplant of Gimmick, we have been developing Planet ü. I told them that if I followed the Gimmick release schedule, I wasn’t really involved, so I played Planet ü for the first time last night. 。 Because it is a game of our company, it is a good idea to lift it so much, but I think it is well-made as a single indie game.
-City Connection gives the impression that he is attacking as a company. Do you have enough money?
Oshawa:
There is no external capital in City Connection. In addition, there is no money except for the money that I, the president and the owner, is included. I just turn it with sales and borrowing from banks. For example, Steam has a good number of worldwide on each platform, such as developing about 20 titles. The number of titles is complete, so even if you do a sale, you can get a lot of sales every month, and this year the company itself has finally come around. The reason for being able to challenge is not to leave cash in the company. All the remaining cash has a budget, only the locked investment. I don’t make a profit. You can’t listen (laughs)
What I keep in mind is that if the game industry has been doing the same thing as a crushed developer or publisher, we will die with a high probability. After seeing the five to ten years earlier, I try not to feel that even if it is a very painful option, if you choose it, it will be crushed, or you will not be able to do it.
–thank you very much.
From City Connection, Wiseman World Retry will be released in 2023. The official website is now available for the original title Planet ü.
[Writing] Each YOKOHAMA
[List man / editing / shooting] AUO Keybase
