I am very excited to announce that Last Time I Saw You will participate in LudoNarraCon 2024!
LudoNarraCon is an annual digital event, made by the indie publisher Fellow Traveler, for people who are into narrative games. Apart from us, they'll be showcasing many other wonderful games with a strong narrative component. Take a look at the their official selection panel to see some of the big names we'll be sharing the spotlight with!
The event will take place on Steam from May 9 - 13 2024 and will feature many livestreams and talks by various developers. In my case, I'll be uploading a commented gameplay to Steam, where I'll be talking about the game while showing you some parts a bit further into the story with new characters that you may have briefly seen in the last trailer 👀
Q&A Time!
I'd also love to do a Q&A during the gameplay, so I'd like to ask you to send me all the questions you may have about the game so I can answer them while playing 😊 The best way would be to receive them via the Maboroshi Discord server, but you can also write them in the comments of this post or send them via Twitter or by the email form of the studio website.
Feel free to ask anything you want about the game, about Maboroshi or even about myself and my journey as a game developer living in Japan.
Oh! And be sure to send them before May 3 as I need some time to properly record and upload the video!
Being part of this event really is a great opportunity to reach more people, so I am very happy to have been selected. It really is a great achievement! So let's enjoy it together! 🥳
I'll be waiting for your questions! 💙 .Juan
Make sure to wishlist and follow Last Time I Saw You!💙
Busy days! We are getting very close to finishing the development of Last Time I Saw You, so while you are still waiting I decided to bring you a new DevLog that I hope you’ll like.
In today's post I’m going to talk about the Art of Last Time I Saw You and the references I’ve been working with while creating Ayumi’s world.
When I had the idea to start developing a game on my own, I was working as an art director at a company in Japan that focused on the localization and development of video games. Thanks to Yume Nikki: Dream Diary, the project that the team I was working with and I had just finished, I had the opportunity to learn how Unity works and the processes to follow when creating a game and bringing its development to completion.
I had the experience of having worked on a 3D game, although somewhat limited at that time, so I decided to play it safe and rely on what I already knew how to do best, which was to draw. For this reason I decided that Last Time I Saw You would be a 2D game drawn by me, since I would have more control over the final product and, by doing most of the artistic and visual tasks myself, I would reduce production costs considerably.
Once I had decided this, it was time to establish an artistic style. This is very important, as it will be the hallmark of the game. At that time, I was very interested in photorealism and photobashing techniques, which basically involves creating pieces by assembling various photo references and painting on top. The concepts of Yume Nikki: Dream Diary were actually made using this technique. Here you have some examples:
Early concept images that I made for Yume Nikki: Dream Diary, developed by Active Gaming Media.
This style is usually used mainly in the concept art phase, but it has also appeared in some games as final art, being one of them Detention, by RedCandleGames. I really liked it and I was trying to get better at it, but the truth is that it wasn’t fitting very well with the story I wanted to tell with Last Time I Saw You.
Photobashing technique in Detention, developed by RedCandleGames.
It was then when I decided to get out of my comfort zone and started to try something new, something similar to Studio Ghibli and the anime from the 80s and 90s. In particular, it was the movie Only Yesterday, by Isao Takahata, that began to guide me towards a more defined and personal style. This, together with Makoto Shinkai's use of light and flares were the references that defined the direction I was going to take for Last Time I Saw You.
Background paintings by Kazuo Oga for Only Yesterday (1991), dir. Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli.
Your Name (2016), dir. Makoto Shinkai, CoMix Wave Films.
Once I had practiced and defined this style enough, I started to draw backgrounds in Photoshop, following a polishing process until I ended up with the desired style.
Creation process of Ayumi's Living Room while setting the art style of the game.
And this is basically the creative and thought process I had in order to establish the art style of Last Time I Saw You! From time to time I still use photos as textures and then paint on top, but at the end I try to make it as hand-drawn as possible.
So I hope you liked this post and that you have learned a little more of the ins and outs of Last Time I Saw You. Let me know in the comments if you would like to know more about any of these techniques in particular!
In the next post I will talk about the animation process of our characters, which is also handmade!
Until next time! 💙 .Juan
LTISY DevLog #2
Hello everyone!
In today's post I’m going to talk about the creation process behind our protagonist Ayumi. Just like in the game, the idea of making Last Time I Saw You started with a typhoon. An emotional and physical typhoon that hit Osaka (where I live) in 2018. And about the emotional part… we'll talk about that in another post 😉
This typhoon, named Jebi, created a great deal of destruction around me, even destroying the bridge leading to the Kansai airport, cutting the city off from the rest of the world for several days. Seeing my surroundings altered overnight made me reflect on the ephemerality of things. I knew that rain and wind were going to play a very important role in Last Time I Saw You, and so our protagonist had to be properly dressed for the occasion.
The chaos left by the typhoon in the park next to where I used to work at the time.
For this reason, and because the game takes place in autumn, Ayumi's design had to involve rain clothes, raincoats, rain boots, etc. We took paper and pencil and made the first sketches.
I knew I wanted him to wear a poncho-like raincoat, since I like the shape of them, so the design was defined as I went in that direction. Once I decided on the clothes, I wanted him to carry a weapon. Since this is a narrative game with some action elements, having a weapon with which to interact with the environment gives the gameplay some variety and appeal.
Being a young boy, I decided that the most natural thing would be for him to carry a baseball bat, something that could also be a small reference to Earthbound.
I already had the idea, but it needed to be defined. The sketches were good, but such a character would have been too difficult to animate, so, based on the basic designs, we worked on a more polished version, with more defined proportions, so that the animators could bring it to life without much hassle.
Those who know Japanese may have noticed that Ayumi is originally a girl's name. The male version would be Ayumu, but as with other names, like for example Hikaru, it is possible (though not common) to find the name Ayumi applied to boys. I really liked this ambiguity and it gives the character a special identity trait. Feeling disconnected with his surroundings, wanting to know more and having a special name make for a unique blend in Ayumi.
And this is how Ayumi was created! In our next post I will talk about the art style of the game and what movies and games inspired me.
Would you like me to talk about a specific character in future posts? If you want to meet them yourself, the demo is available for download right now on our Steam page!
Until next time! 💙 .Juan
LTISY DevLog #1
Hello everyone!
It's been more than a year since we first presented the demo of Last Time I Saw You at Steam Next Fest last June 2022. It was an amazing experience that made Last Time I Saw You reach a lot of people, even winning two awards at Bitsummit and signing a publishing deal with Chorus Worldwide.
This literally turned my life upside down. Finally, after many years of hard work and random jobs to pay rent, I was able to start focusing on my own game full-time, doing my best to create something emotional and memorable for everyone to enjoy.
Because of this, I've spent the last year totally immersed in development, causing me to leave social media a bit aside… and that’s not good! So it's about time I thank you all for your incredible support with a series of DevLogs that will give you exclusive information and background about Last Time I Saw You, where it comes from, how it's being developed, etc.
Let's start with our main character Ayumi. A 12-year-old boy who lives in Amatsu, a town in a rural mountainous area of Japan. He likes drawing, video games and any sort of escapism.
He does well in school. Let’s say he doesn't get good grades… but not bad ones either! He spends his classes drawing on his notebook, so he doesn't pay much attention, which makes it difficult for him to pass his exams from time to time and he always ends up asking his best friend Nao for help. His mother actually does worry about his grades too… 📓✍🏻
He is eager to grow up, so he likes to be around older people, as he enjoys their conversations more than those of kids his age. He is often told that he is very mature for his age, and always looks too much for validation from adults, as it makes him feel better and smarter.
Who knew that what awaits him after the typhoon will change his life forever…
In our next post I will talk about the creation and design process of Ayumi. Where the original idea comes from and the process I followed to end up with the final design.
If you like what you have read, and are intrigued by Last Time I Saw You, don’t forget to wishlist and follow the game!
Until next time! 💙
.Juan
We have a new trailer!
Hi everyone,
I'm so excited to share with you our brand new trailer for the game! This new trailer shows a lot of the things we've been working hard on this past year: new areas, new characters, new mechanics... It also gives a bit more context about the story and lets you know what to expect narratively speaking. I hope you like it!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I personally love what the composer has achieved with the music 😊
Pre-release promotion is a very important thing for this game (for any game really) to succeed, so we are looking for ways to increase awareness. If you like what you see it would help us enormously if you share the trailer and wishlist the game! 🙏
I am also very excited to tell you that the Alpha of the game is done! This basically means that Last Time I Saw You is, as of today, playable from start to finish in a rough form, which is a big step for any game development 😊 Yay! There are still a lot of things to improve, implement and refine, like collectibles, side quests and some more surprises, but we're almost there!
As always, thank you so much for your support💙
.Juan
New Key Art and Day of the Devs!
Hi everyone! This time I’m not here to share another milestone report, but some wonderful news instead!
KEY ART AND STEAM PAGE UPDATED
We’ve created new key art with a much more attractive image in which you can see many of the characters that you will meet during this adventure 😏 The demo only shows very little of what awaits you in Last Time I Saw You…
What do you think of the new poster? Tell me in the comments below! We’ve also taken this opportunity to update the Steam page with improved descriptions, new gifs and screenshots. Take a look. I hope you like it!
DAY OF THE DEVS
Apart from this, I'm so grateful and excited for the opportunity to have Last Time I Saw You be part of Day of the Devs! It's like a dream come true and I can't express how special this is for such a small team like us✨
Last Time I Saw You will be part of the online showcase, which will be LIVE on December 6th at 8 AM PST. Here's the link!
Also it will be available for playing by everyone at the in-person event to be held at City Market Social House, Los Angeles, on Friday, December 8 from 12pm to 8pm. If anyone is around come say hi! We’ll have postcards and stickers 🙌
This time we’ll be showing an exclusive updated version of the demo with new content that no one has seen before! (We plan to upload it to Steam at some point in the future so everyone can play the most updated version of the game).
Yes, I've made the skull's eye match Ayumi's :P
One of the new additions is the Notebook, which is used as inventory, quest log, etc.
TAIPEI GAME SHOW
And that's not all. Last Time I Saw You has also been nominated for Best Narrative at the Taipei Game Show that will take place in January next year! Of all the parts of the game this is one we've worked the hardest on, so this nomination feels especially good. Thank you so much to everyone who voted! 😊
As always, thank you so much for your support! 💙
.Juan
Development Update: Milestone Report Autumn 2023
Hi everyone,
Here I come with our new milestone report! As we explained in the previous one, these reports are common practice when working with a publisher to let them know how development is going internally. Hopefully, this is also of interest for those of you who want to get a better understanding of what goes into developing a game and working with a publisher. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to add them below!
Here is the most recent report for the game!
“I can say that, for the first time in the whole development, we’ve had a smooth, agile and trouble-free milestone delivery. Earlier in the year we had some challenges with the development which could have jeopardised our overall schedule, so we made several changes to the design of the days to come in the game. This didn’t necessarily consist of content reduction, but rather a series of efficient changes to avoid (or go around) many of the problems we had become aware of.
These changes were planned from Day 7 onwards (since at that time all the dialogues and design of Day 6 had already been done, even though we weren’t yet working on implementation yet) and, I am very happy and proud to announce that they have taken effect!
Thanks to them, in this milestone we have been able to deliver Day 7 and 8 (instead of one day per milestone as we used to) and, as I have already mentioned, its implementation has been relatively fast and painless. There are still plenty of bugs to uncover and fix - such is game development! - but everything is now far more manageable.
Apart from this, we’ve added music to several new areas of the forest and we’ve also made a slight change in the final dialogue with one of the main NPCs after completing a certain puzzle in Day 6 in order to reduce backtracking. This will lead in the future to the fast travel system that we have planned, but as it is not yet implemented, for now it’s just a simple connection between the end of Day 6 area and the forest entrance.
In the future we’ll have a map of the forest and the player will be able to choose where to go. We have a wonderful artist working on an amazing world map that will serve this purpose. I would love to show it to you but… it’s still in progress 😉
Apart from this, all game dialogues are already written (including side-quests) and ready to be implemented! The animators are already working on Day 10 animations and we also have the final cutscene of the game done (except for the backgrounds, which I'm taking care of these days).
I have also completed the list of all the items and collectibles of the game and their visual assets have also been created. They are on standby until we start with that task, and let me tell you they are looking great!”
Conclusion Things are going well and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! Last month I also attended the Tokyo Game Show, where Chorus was showing Last Time I Saw You at their booth. It was nice to meet up with them again in person and meet some of the team that I talk to on a weekly basis but we hadn't met in person until now.
Surprisingly, IGN Japan wanted to interview me to talk about the game, and it was a very pleasant experience. I share with you the video where you can see me talking about Last Time I Saw You as my face becomes redder and redder as time passes due to the terrible humidity and heat of that day 😅🍅
During the interview we briefly talked about the inspiration that the first Shenmue had had on me when I started working on the game (it's funny that Yu Suzuki was also interviewed minutes later in the same stream, coincidence of life!). This led to a Shenmue fan site to write a very interesting article about Last Time I Saw You.
And I would also like to thank The Gamer site for the nice article they wrote about the influences of Makoto Shinkai's work on the game. Both articles speak quite well about Last Time I Saw You and explain very well the concept behind the game. I recommend you to read them!
Hope you guys like them! See you next time! 💙 .Juan
Development Update: Milestone Report Summer 2023
Hi Everyone… It's been a while since I gave you an update on how the development of Last Time I Saw You is progressing, so I wanted to share a little something with you!
This is taken from the notes that I create when delivering milestones of the game to the publisher. The report provides an overview of what we have been working on over the previous months (basically since the previous milestone build of the game) and highlight what’s going well and where we may have some challenges 😬
What is a milestone some of you may be asking? It's a way for us as developers to provide a scheduled status update to the publisher, Chorus. In a nutshell it's a regular delivery of the game, including the content originally promised in the production plan - or hopefully something close to it! 😅
Here’s the last one we wrote that I want to share with you:
"At the end of the previous milestone (April 2023) we decided to spend some time revising the save system, fixing the issues with the original one we built earlier in the year. Now you can save and load at the numerous checkpoints scattered throughout the game (Ayumi's desk and the small shrines in town and the forest). This allows you to play from the beginning of the game to the end without having to do so in a single run (like was happening before having this new system).
It may seem rather obvious, but having this system in place as soon as possible is incredibly important for anyone that needs to check, test and playthrough the game while it's being developed!
We have also completed Day 6 (the game is separated by days), which is the longest and most complex of the entire game due to the large number of events and ramifications it has. This has meant that we’ve had to dedicate an entire milestone to a single day (along with the save system, the notebook menu and numerous bugs and errors that occurred in previous scenes reported by both Chorus and ourselves). This doesn't delay development, but rather has been a matter of moving one thing that was planned for later in order to do it now.
Apart from what we’ve included in this build, the animators are already working on Day 10 animations and, in terms of writing, we have already written all the main story dialogues of the game and they are approved (both by me and the narrative consultant) until we check them in-game. Apart from that, we’re currently working on sidequest dialogues.
Day 7 is already fully assembled in Unity and I’m starting to work on Day 8 asset implementation. As soon as we finish and deliver this build, the programmer will start working on Day 7.
Conclusion After the huge number of hours we have spent fixing stuff that was present from the beginning, the game now is much more stable and enjoyable. The new music and sound effects really add a lot and make everything feel more cohesive and final!"
I hope that you have found it interesting to find out a bit more about how we approach the game development and what goes into a milestone report. Soon I will also start sharing DevLogs with you with more insights about the game and what inspired me to make it :)
If you have any questions, drop them in the comments or via Twitter @MaboroshiArt.
Oh! And apart from this, we’ll also be at Tokyo Game Show 2023, which will run from September 21st to 24th at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. If you happen to be there, please come to the Chorus booth at the Indie Game Area in Hall 9, booth 09-E67 and say hi!
