This Week’s Topics:
- Rundown Preamble Ramble: The Co-Op Conundrum
- TSF Showcase 2024-01 Osananajimi wa Onnanoko ni Naare [My Childhood Friend MUST Become a Girl!] by Morishita Mao
- Our World of Demons is Ended! (PlatinumGames’ World of Demons is Being Delisted)
Yeah, I’m using a proper ‘table of contents’ this year, instead of my vague topics listing. Why did I use the old format? Honestly, it was probably some subconscious throwback to how gaming news shows worked during the early 2010’s, namely the old Destructoid Show hosted by Max Scoville and Tara Long. Which itself was a big inspiration for these Rundowns way back when! Anyway, enough for this bonus non-section, on with the stuff!
The header image of this week’s Rundown comes from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, as it was the first co-op game I could think of.
Rundown Preamble Ramble:
The Co-Op Conundrum
Something that I semi-regularly see people criticize is the state of co-op gaming. Both in regards to the quantity of co-op games in general and the way co-op is implemented. It’s a desire that I understand, as people have always liked turning the act of gaming into a social experience and are always looking for ways they can do things with their friends. You gotta stave off the loneliness epidemic somehow. However, when I see people criticize the state of co-op in games, they pretty much never describe how they want it to work, or acknowledge that implementing co-op is a complex game design issue.
When this amorphous group of people criticize the lack of co-op in games, they are not talking about a lack of team-based PvE or PvP games. They are not criticizing a lack of live services where one can play with their friends, far from it. And they are not talking about games where players have the ability to enter co-op instances, matches, or rounds. Instead, they want co-op that is tied to the main part of a game, to the campaign.
From a design perspective, the reason why so many games go the instance-based approach is pretty obvious. Because if something is match-based and multiplayer-based, then the replay value is theoretically infinite. And because even when playing cooperatively in a match-based context, player progression (ranking, loot drops, EXP system, etc.) is still directly tied to each player. Players A and B might get the same rewards from a match, but their levels might not be the same.
With a campaign though… things quickly become complicated. One of the preferred approaches for developers is drop-in drop-out co-op, where players can choose to join their friend’s game as a partner character. However, this does not give them the benefits of progress. If someone wants to play a game like Super Mario 3D World with a friend, then one player needs to be the host and the other player(s) need to be the guest(s). When the stages are cleared, only the host sees the benefit of progress, while everybody else just gets to tag along.
This form of co-op allows people to play together, yes, but it denies them the ability to share in progress even when they have their own copy of the game, their own online account, and their own system. Which begs the question of why not just let players share the progress? Well, because it’s a giant freaking mess, that’s why!
Let’s stick with the example of Super Mario 3D World, because it is a fairly linear stage-based game with various collectibles. If two players want to go through the campaign from the start, then the solution is pretty obvious. Have both players clear out a save file and duplicate progress between them.
However, what if player A goes through two stages without player B and player A does not want to go through those stages again? What should happen to player B’s save file? Should they automatically be cleared and should all collectibles be collected because they played with player A? Should only stages that player B clears be counted as cleared in their save file? If so, what about the two stage gap? If the game was designed to be progressed through linearly, why should it be possible to skip over stages like this?
You see how this shared progression system could become a series issue in any campaign-based game, right? Because it only works if both players are at the same point in the game and have identical progress. Otherwise, you run into progression incongruities, and the more complicated the game is, the more issues you run into.
Now, it is tempting to lowball solutions, such as ‘match the progression of the least progressed player’ but what exactly does that mean? Because that means a lot of different things depending on the game. If a game is stage-based and collectible-based, then that is fairly easy to figure out conceptually. Actually implementing it would probably be a pain in the ass, but this is game development, everything’s a pain in the ass.
What about a game like, say, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? (I know that’s a single player game, but bear with me.) How does one measure progression in a game like that? By hearts and stamina upgrades? By how strong one’s weapons are? Obviously story events and side quests would need to come into play. Yet there are so many variables to consider it’s not surprising that I cannot think of an example of a co-op game that does this.
Even modern games with supposedly good co-op, like 2023’s darling child Baldur’s Gate 3, operate on the idea of there being a host who is in control of the game. One person is the lead who possesses the save file, while everyone else is just a guest who controls their own character in another player’s world.
It all makes me wonder if there is a way for co-op to just work in the way that a lot of players seem to think it should, when… I don’t think there is. Prior to the online era, co-op was always something tied to a single save file, and to make it work in a seamless way, game designers would need to design with co-op in mind from the onset. And even then… it might be so hard that they just won’t even bother.
So, why do so many games feature lackluster co-op campaigns? Because designing a game around co-op is really bloody hard, yo!
TSF Showcase 2024-01
Osananajimi wa Onnanoko ni Naare [My Childhood Friend MUST Become a Girl!] by Morishita Mao
Let’s start off this year with another recommendation from a Natalie.TF reader, and a reminder that I am open to recommendations, so please leave them in the bit down below.
Osananajimi wa Onnanoko ni Naare is a three volume series published from 2013 to 2015 and created by Morishita Mao. A mildly prolific TSF creator who was making works dating back to 2002, but their big claim to fame was this story. Honestly, just going through their old unsecured Japanese-as-heck website makes me feel as if I should be doing some sort of creator retrospective on them. But one, I did not choose the life route where I learned Japanese. And two, Morishita Mao has gotten into some weird naked child girl isekai bullshit nowadays. I know that TSF might be too niche to pay the bills, but still…
Anyway, this comic opens with high schooler Shuuichi Osakabe saving a chibi fairy by the name of Sylphie from drowning. Operating on fairy tale logic, Shuuihi gets a wish for saving a magical critter and he wants a female childhood friend. Except Sylphie cannot conjure people into existence— she’s just a fairy after all— so instead she ka-girls Shuuichi’s male childhood friend, Iori Osanai. However, even something like that is too much of an ask for Sylphie, as Iori can resist her spell by affirming their masculinity. Which basically amounts to Iori saying “I’m a guy” while not thinking about how cute their girl form is.
This represents the main push and pull for the comedy antics of Osananajimi wa Onnanoko ni Naare. Iori tries to remain male throughout their daily school life. Sylphie keeps popping up when they have “a chink in [their] armor” to give them a fresh ka-girling. And Iori needs to deal with the consequences of a spontaneous transformation. While everybody in their class knows about the transformation, Iori doesn’t want the wider world or their inexplicably single housewife mother to know about this curse. This leads to the creation of an alter ego, Shiori Yamauchi, and the introduction of some dual identity shenanigans. Though, it’s a far cry from anything seen in Ramna ½ or Ame Nochi Hare, in part due to the nature of Osananajimi.
The comic is broken up into 41 chapters but (aside from the first two) every chapter is only eight pages long, not counting the chapter end gag panel or the chapter introduction page. This limitation forces Morishita to deliver the story at a rapid pace, not only making sure that something happens every chapter, but every page. The comic always feels like it is building to something, never spinning its wheels, and the inclusion of multi-part chapters allow the series to tackle more long-form storylines. Like when Iori inevitably gets ‘stuck’ in their girl form. Or the climax where Sylphie’s mom shows up.
Okay, so what does Osananajimi have to offer in terms of content? Well, it is more interested in silly anime-school-style shenanigans than anything else, using light non-ecchi fan service as its go-to gag, and sprinkling in supplementary characters for more diverse situations. Such as the pining female love interest Miyu Yanase, the jealous teacher Sumire-sensei, or Saito, a middle schooler who develops a crush on Shiori. For what it is, I found it to be a good, comfortable, and overall fun time that put a smile on my face.
The comedy is cute. The artwork is adorable. There is definitely an undercurrent of character development across Iori and Shuuichi throughout the series as they learn to adapt to this new normal. However, it also feels as if the story is missing a certain… something. Osananajimi goes on for long enough to feel like it has the opportunity to explore many ideas. The final stretch of eight chapters all feel like they were deliberately chosen to end the story. …Even if the ending is such a status quo ending that the final chapter is named ‘Status Quo Ending.’ And you can tell that the author put a lot of love into this cast of characters just from the way they are drawn and the extras at the end of each volume.
Clearly, there was a lot of love present here… so why does its exploration of everything TSF feel so… flat? Well, part of that is due to the series’ complacency with itself. Osananajimi is not trying to be much beyond a silly slice of life type affair. While I could understand that approach from a creator without a vested interest in this subject matter, Morishita Mao clearly does. Doesn’t that mean they would want to pursue more complex material? Well… not necessarily.
Something that I have noticed in my years of casually following various artists is that not every illustrator is a great storyteller. Some of them just don’t have grand ideas or ambitions for the stories they convey. And some artists do have fairly shallow interests and fascinations, preferring to focus on the more light-hearted or comedic. Especially if something revolves around drawing cute/sexy girls. I have by no means studied enough of Morishita Mao’s work to say what kind of creator they are… but that’s the impression that I get. That they are someone who favors the light and fluffy and has a love for TSF due to the cuteness of a boy becoming a girl.
So, what does that mean for Osananajimi wa Onnanoko ni Naare? Would I recommend it? Well, it brightened my mood when I was sick one late December evening, so it gets major points for that. But if you go in expecting much more than the aforementioned lighthearted anime shenanigans, I think you’ll be disappointed. It has low ambitions, delivers a thoroughly pleasant and adorable experience, but that’s about it. Would I like it to do a bit more and would I like to see its creator pursuing something grander? Of course! But there’s nothing wrong with being a 6.5/10. Some of the best things are a 6.5/10! That’s how math works!
…But for those who want high scoring bangers, I’ve got you covered for next week, as a creator whose work I showcased 6 months ago just dropped the latest hotness!
Our World of Demons is Ended!
(PlatinumGames’ World of Demons is Being Delisted)
…Wait, what? That’s a thing that can happen? A game can be double-killed?
Starting with a quick bit of backstory, World of Demons was a live service developed by PlatinumGames and announced way back in April 2018. The game was soft launched in select markets in June 2018, but was removed from the App Store a few months later in September. The game was presumably dead after that, suffering the same fate as the Cygames co-production, Lost Order. But then the game suddenly re-appeared on Apple Arcade on April 2, 2021 as a completely new game. One redesigned to be a single-player experience, rather than a grindy money-hungry mobile game.
After this, the game never came to other platforms, presumably due to contractual obligations with Apple. I don’t know how Apple Arcade exclusivity works, but I generally hate it, as Apple’s closed ecosystem makes it hard to preserve their titles. Due in no small part to the fact that their games cannot be owned or licensed, as they are tied to a subscription service.
Now, I thought the game would just continue to live on Apple Arcade perpetually, maybe get a surprise PC release later on, but instead… this game is getting re-killed! Yes, after being revived by Apple Arcade, World of Demons is now being killed by it!
In a blog post on January 5, 2024, PlatinumGames announced that World of Demons will no longer be available to download on Apple Arcade as of January 18, 2024. While adding that the game will no longer be playable as of February 1, 2024— presumably due to the fact that the game is tied to an active subscription.
This announcement does not address why this is happening… but it’s pretty clear to me that this is due to a deal falling through. I assume that Apple paid for this game to be revived, and after an initial period of a few years was over, it was time to renegotiate terms with Platinum. Things, clearly, did not work out, so now the game is being taken down from Apple’s services. Does this mean the game could be re-released via the standard slate of services as a smaller self-published title? …Sure, I suppose.
While there is some history of titles leaving Apple Arcade and coming to other platforms, like the Square Enix crap basket that is Various Daylife, Platinum has been heading into some weird directions. They have been veering away from the types of games that made them well known, and I don’t know if they still have faith in the live service model. Furthermore, I don’t think World of Demons has quite the production values to feel at place on a console and, per the playthrough linked above, the game wasn’t finished. So unless Platinum wants the game to be met with a muted response, they would need to do some significant retooling.
…Or they could just do a stealth release on Switch and other platforms after the incredibly likely February Nintendo Direct. It worked for the unfinished ActRaiser Renaissance, the aforementioned Various Daylife, and the underbaked, but finished, Little Noah: Scion of Paradise.
Actually, that sounds plausible enough to be a thing. If I manage to get this right… then I will treat myself to a $3 mini pizza after that inevitable Nintendo Direct.
Progress Report 2024-01-07
Yep, this is an extra tiny Rundown this week, because there was so little news to discuss. I feel a bit bad about handling things this way, but I’m only doing one TSF Showcase per week now that I’m 100% committed to doing them every week. I just finished the 2023 Ramble, so I don’t have any other matters begging to escape my mind, and you got the TSF Showcase re-releases. Frankly, I think you people have enough Natalie.TF writings at the moment.
2023-12-31: I was able to muster up the drive to write 1,600 words for this Rundown, but I ran out of steam after lunch.
2024-01-01: Wrote 1,200 words for CH 6-18, but I ran out of steam and played Metroid Prime for most of the day.
2024-01-02: Got back into the groove by FINALLY polishing off CH 6-18 of VD2.0 with another 3,500 words, most of which was Posse Logs. However, in revising the outline of this chapter, I consumed the outline of another chapter. And for CH 6-19, I wound up combining two chapters into one, because the Posse Logs introduce continuity issues, as everybody needs to do something, so it… now makes sense to make chapters into multi-plot events. But not in the sense that there is an A plot and a B plot, in the sense that there are two A plots. I wrote an extra 900 words of outline, re-read the old stuff, came up with a framework, but before I could get started it was 23:00, and I need to get extra sleep to kill this COVID… Also, added 300 words to the Rundown.
2024-01-03: I wrote 6,000 words for CH 6-19, and I’m still in the first stage of this chapter somehow. The chapter is basically three date night chapters thrown into one, and I find writing date banter to be weirdly enjoyable, even though I’ve never been on a date before. That should NOT be a surprise to anyone. I DID say I was aromantic after all.
2024-01-04: I wrote 7,500 words for CH 6-19. I would have finished the main chapter, except I got bored of writing sex scenes! I’ll finish it tomorrow. Also… yeah, I don’t know how to write male gay sex scenes. Which is gonna be a major problem, but I’m sure just trying will teach me well enough.
2024-01-05: Edited the Rundown and added about 600 words. Wrote… 3,600 or so words for CH 6-19, nearly finishing it off (I need to do the outline for the next chapter first). I would have done more, but I had to fix a scanner at my old workplace. It took 5 minutes to fix, but I was away for 3 hours. I could have troubleshot that shit on the phone! At least I made $35…
2024-01-06: Freaking hell. I spent basically all afternoon working on next week’s 4,500 word TSF Showcase and spent 90 minutes grabbing the 23 images for it and drafting the image links. That might sound like a lot of time, but it takes a while to find the right images, crop them, and reference the text where they belong. Even longer when I need to censor them or kitbash them together! I did not get to work on the outline until 23:00! After that, I was brain drained so I played more Metroid Prime! Fuck you!
Verde’s Doohickey 2.0: Sensational Summer Romp
Acts 1, 2, and 3 Progress Report:
Current Word Count: 227,816
Estimated Word Count: ~450,000
Total Chapters: 48
Chapters Outlined: 41
Chapters Drafted: 23
Chapters Edited: 0
Header Images Made: 0
Days Until Deadline: 143
Thanks for the post, Natalie!
Your point on coop games reminded me of new “larger scale” coop games, like Valheim and VRising. These games try to circumvent this progression speed issue by having the main progression be tied to the availability of certain crafting stations. Building these stations is locked behind specific tasks. But once built, the stations become a ressource usable by all allies.
In Valheim in particular, the player character and their inventory is saved locally whereas the world and its buildings is saved separately with the host. As such, a player lagging behind will quickly catch up by using the stations already available in the world, while a player who’s ahead still has to help complete the tasks to gain access to the next required stations. Putting everyone somewhat at the same progression state.
Having such a progression friendly system probably required a lot of prior design work and likely limits the kinds of systems that the developers can introduce.
For example, including such a system in more tailored experiences like Baldur’s Gate or Divinity Original Sin seems much more difficult. I feel like for such games to even work, having the same group of players that go through the game together is kind of a prerequisite. And even then, often not all players will partake in this tailored experience equally. Some party members may find the story dialog uninteresting, decide to ignore it and pick-pocket every NPC they come across instead.
I guess I might as well throw one in, for the TSF suggestions ^^’:
I guess I would be curious about your opinion on “How Many Light-Years to Babylon?” by Dowman Sayman. It’s not a TSF story per se, but sex changes occur in a few of its chapters. The whole manga is available on MangaDex or can be purchased in english.
Oops! I think I made a minor communication error. You see, I typically refer to ‘co-op games’ as something different than ‘multiplayer games,’ ‘communal games,’ or ‘large-scale non-competitive multiplayer games.’ I guess that’s the problem with speaking in short-hand, and looking mostly as knit communities.
Valheim is a game that I should be familiar with, given how big and successful it is, but I have a growing number of blind spots. Just from the store page, this seems to be more of a ‘run-based game,’ relying on randomness and procedural generation, and not something driven by a central campaign. Sure, the goals might be the same per playthrough, but the randomization means that every path to get there will be different. To me, that necessitates a very different view of game structure and design, and the introduction of uniform multiplayer incentives over a dynamically sized group of people.
While Larian’s past decade of titles are co-op games, do have campaigns, and were cited by me as an example, the freeform nature of their game design and the freedom afforded to each player make them very… fluid titles. Games that support both rigid role-play for those who wish to get lost in the material, and also function as sandboxes to goof around, grief friends, and generally be a menace to society. I never really thought of how… incredibly difficult it must be to manage that, and that just makes the fact that all of those games function as well as they do… kind of amazing.
Hmm… I will check out How Many Years to Babylon?. From the premise, it sounds like it might not fit the nebulous criteria that I have for a TSF Showcase. I’ll leave a reply after I read through it.
Okay, I read through How Many light-Years to Babylon? It was a very good sci-fi comedy manga, had interesting ideas, a surprisingly endearing cast, and I always like how often sci-fi comedy manages to blend in outlandish ideas with a certain mundanity and humility. However, it is not a true TSF story. The sex transformation element is just a one-off gag that the writer kept bringing back because… girls are fun to draw! Better than boys anyway (allegedly)!
Thanks for the recommendation! ^^
Morishita’s stuff is great! One of the few showcases here that I’d actually already read. Also, it’s still a real blast from the past every time I see someone use “ka-girl” as a verb.
I thought about featuring some of Morishita’s other works to help pad out the showcase, but since so much of it is untranslated, I didn’t really get into it. But I enjoy their artwork, definitely one of the cuter TSF artists I could name. ^^
I decided to use ka-girl at the end of my novel, The Dominance of Abigale Quinlan, back in 2022. Since then, the fake verb has remained lodged in my head. It’s a simple and effective way to say ‘transformed into a girl’ and also a nice Wotch throwback (at least that’s what I think the origin point was, circa 2001/2002). …Ah beans. I probably should cover The Wotch on one of these eventually. It’s been so long, but the next generation must know the sacred truths!
Holy potatoes, I would love to see The Wotch covered here! It (and its forums) was a huge part of my high school and college years. Maybe they got the term from someplace else, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was indeed the origin!
That would be a challenge to cover, as there was so much comic created over the years, and I would need to research the MANY things about its history that I have forgotten. It is something that I eventually want to do, but no promises. ^^