Bumping this as Sketcz's Kickstarter seems be be stalling just over the halfway mark and he has lots of interesting people on board for the interviews already:
It'll be a real shame if this doesn't get funded, as this book would be an absolute goldmine of new information.
Originally posted by Sketcz
[People] such as Resident Evil scenario writer and Einhander planner Kenichi Iwao. While Ryuichi Nishizawa, of Wonderboy / Monster World has introduced me to Strider and Cannon Dancer developer Yotsui Koichi, plus Michitaka Tsuruta, the man behind Bombjack and Solomon's Key. I contacted Naosuke Arai, who from its beginning had been at Tecnosoft, the company behind Thunder Force. He was happy to be interviewed and put me in touch with others, telling me that he prayed for the success of my book project. I was put in touch with Aziz Hino****a, responsible for co-translating FFX - he'd started out doing spritework at Athena, the company behind 2D shooter Biometal on the SNES, and the shooter-maker series Dezaemon. He shared fascinating trivia about the company, such as why they produced so many Mahjong games alongside their 2D shooters. I also contacted Shibao Hidenori, who started as a manga writer, moved into journalism during the golden Famicom era, and worked on a wide range of fascinating games. Not only can he provide a perspective on both the history of games journalism and development in Japan, but he's promised to introduce me to his friends from over the years - all of whom you will recognise. I was very moved by an email from Yutaka Isokawa, where he invited me to his home, happy to discuss his work, and promising to introduce me to colleagues from over the years. Likewise I was contacted by Mikito Ichikawa, who expressed a strong interest in the project. Roy Ozaki is now also on board! So is Takashi Tokita! And Yoshiro Kimura!
Takashi Kogure - artist on multiple games, including Metal Storm, Little Samson, and Cannon Dancer.
Hiromasa Iwasaki - lots of work at Hudson. Already on my list of contacts, but contacted me again to express a strong interest and putting me in touch with colleagues.
Takuya Iwasaki - designer on Klonoa, and producer at Cavia
Professor Yoshhiro Kishimoto - I was contacted by one of his students, who will introduce me. He developed the Famista series, Baraduke, and - I believe - that unusual Star Wars game for the Famicom, which never reached the West.
Fumio Kurokawa - formerly at Sega, Konami and Digicube, now working on his own crowd-funded project in Japan.
Akinori Nakamura - Famicom researcher and book author.
Kiyohiro Sada - early Konami musician, now runs a production production company.
Manabu Yamana - early Japanese computer games (MSX, PC-88, FM7), Chunsoft, Dragon Quest, Pokemon.
Hidenori Shibao - I mentioned him on the front page, but I want to say it again. He started as a manga writer, before moving into games journalism during the Famicom era. He has seen the industry change, documenting it himself. He wrote strategy guides (including the only one for the infamous Super Monkey Daibouken - which is almost impossible to complete), moved into design, including Paladin's Quest and its sequel Lennus II, and was a scenario writer for Enix. As he said to me: "There have been so many untold stories since the dawn of video games."
Acquire - the company that made Tenchu and Way of the Samurai. I've been given the contact details for two people, but haven't contacted them yet.
I've also been investigating avenues for contacting key figures at ZOOM, Climax Entertainment, Telenet / Wolfteam, GameArts, Red Entertainment, Taito, SNK, and a whole bunch of others. I've also gotten fairly close to tracking down two of the four surviving gentlemen in that Enix poster from a previous update (my idea: let's recreate that photo). Plus I've been promised introductions to a few known figures who I can't name yet (think RPG developers who are not related to Konami, Falcom, Square or Enix).
Takashi Kogure - artist on multiple games, including Metal Storm, Little Samson, and Cannon Dancer.
Hiromasa Iwasaki - lots of work at Hudson. Already on my list of contacts, but contacted me again to express a strong interest and putting me in touch with colleagues.
Takuya Iwasaki - designer on Klonoa, and producer at Cavia
Professor Yoshhiro Kishimoto - I was contacted by one of his students, who will introduce me. He developed the Famista series, Baraduke, and - I believe - that unusual Star Wars game for the Famicom, which never reached the West.
Fumio Kurokawa - formerly at Sega, Konami and Digicube, now working on his own crowd-funded project in Japan.
Akinori Nakamura - Famicom researcher and book author.
Kiyohiro Sada - early Konami musician, now runs a production production company.
Manabu Yamana - early Japanese computer games (MSX, PC-88, FM7), Chunsoft, Dragon Quest, Pokemon.
Hidenori Shibao - I mentioned him on the front page, but I want to say it again. He started as a manga writer, before moving into games journalism during the Famicom era. He has seen the industry change, documenting it himself. He wrote strategy guides (including the only one for the infamous Super Monkey Daibouken - which is almost impossible to complete), moved into design, including Paladin's Quest and its sequel Lennus II, and was a scenario writer for Enix. As he said to me: "There have been so many untold stories since the dawn of video games."
Acquire - the company that made Tenchu and Way of the Samurai. I've been given the contact details for two people, but haven't contacted them yet.
I've also been investigating avenues for contacting key figures at ZOOM, Climax Entertainment, Telenet / Wolfteam, GameArts, Red Entertainment, Taito, SNK, and a whole bunch of others. I've also gotten fairly close to tracking down two of the four surviving gentlemen in that Enix poster from a previous update (my idea: let's recreate that photo). Plus I've been promised introductions to a few known figures who I can't name yet (think RPG developers who are not related to Konami, Falcom, Square or Enix).
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