A game creator in an Artist Residency: my experience at Villa Kujoyama

Christophe Galati - Game Creator - Himitsu Project

January 5 - May 31 2019

Bonsoir and welcome to this article! I’m Christophe Galati, a French game creator. You may have heard of a game I created called "Save me Mr Tako!", which was released on Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2018. Today I’m here to talk to you about a great experience I got the chance to live in 2019: I became the first game creator to be selected at Villa Kujoyama, a French Artist Residency program in Kyoto.

 Villa Kujoyama, picture by Kenryu GU

An Artist Residency program is a support for the mobility of artists that France sends in another country for a few months, give a place to live and pay them to work on their own projects, without expecting anything in return. I heard about those kinds of program thanks to a documentary about Villa Medicis, the oldest French artist residency, and I thought that it would be great to have this kind of programs for game creators. It could help for the recognition of games as an artform and bring the resources that indie game creators often lack. Villa Medicis does not welcome video game creators yet, but then I heard about Villa Kujoyama, which was way more suited for me as my games are very inspired by Japanese culture and because I already had a foot in Japan thanks to the various game events I attended there. I applied, thinking I’d be overlooked because games were not in the artistic fields list (like composer, painter, dancer, architect, movie director…), and I didn't meet the age requirement. But in the end, the jury was very welcoming about games, and I got selected! 

Villa Kujoyama, picture by Kenryu GU

I spent 5 months in Japan, between January and June 2019, in this kind of grey fortress on one of Kyoto’s mountains. In this inspiring environment I started to work on my new game, currently called “Himitsu Project”, which will also be a tribute to a Japanese game era. The central theme are secrets and how they turn into shadows. I was able to take time to research for the universe and starting to prototype, it’s still the beginning of the project but it’s currently leaning toward the Action RPG genre. I’m going to talk to you about how I spent those 5 months and how I work, in the following categories:

I) Research 

II) Pre-Production and documentation

III) Prototype development

IV) Personal growth

V) Entering Kyoto Indie Scene

VI) Conclusion

I) Research 

I arrived in Japan during the night on January 5, in the first batch of artists of the year. At Villa Kujoyama, each artists get between a 2 to 6 months stay. After acclimating, meeting the other artists (a dancer, two puppeteers, a typographer, and later a writer, an architect, an exhibition commissary, jewels and bamboo items designers...), I directly started to do preparatory research and to write new ideas, as almost a year passed since I submitted the new game ideas in my application to the french Institute in Paris, of which Villa Kujoyama is a residency program. I started to write in a diary what I was doing, I completed it everyday to keep a written record of this once in a lifetime experience, and also as devlog of the project progress.

One of my first research field was learning new softwares to become more efficient, as it gave me time to learn. I quickly setup my work environment with the new version of Unity (game engine that I used for Save me Mr Tako) and read tutorial of the new features, like the UI System and Tilemap tools. Then I started to learn how to use better Pixel Art tools, as I did all of Tako’s graphics in Microsoft Paint. I chose Aesprite, which I’m still learning today.

During all my stay, I took the time to play some classic games of the JRPG genre (the one I want to explore with Himitsu Project), as Mother 3, Terranigma, Final Fantasy IX... in order to analyze how they were conceived, what made them legendary and inspiring even today, learn the codes and trope to use them to create something new in my game. I also took advantage of the fact that I was in Japan to go to many retro game stores in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo, for contemplating the Japanese box arts (which are quite often different that the versions we got in the west), it was such a treat to find all the games that inspired me, and to introduce some of them to the other artists.

Pictures by Christophe Galati at Osaka’s Super Potato, March 3 2019

One of my goals when designing a game is to use classic codes and aesthetic to create something new, more modern and inclusive. I got very attracted by the Drag culture in the past few years, and I want to explore that universe through one of the characters in the game. When I lived in Paris, I used to go see Drag performances, so while I was in Japan I also wanted to saw some local performers to enlarge my vision. So I went a few times to the Diamonds are Forever party at Club Métro in Kyoto, as well as a few other drag show in Osaka and Tokyo, where I met and talked with very talented performers. I want to keep in touch with them to write a character and depict a drag scene as accurate and true as possible.

Picture from Christophe Galati at Diamonds are forever, Club Metro, February 22 2019

Finally, the life with the other artists, all the people I met in Japan also made me grow as a person, and are inspiring my creation. In the gaming scene, I don’t often have the chance to meet artists from completely different fields. Getting the opportunity to talk about various subjects with them and to be able to be 100% myself, far away from everything I know, was very refreshing. I was also able to meet again a long time internet friend in Osaka, MetalRenard, composer who was actually making the musics for my RPG Maker games back in high school. Every Monday, we did a movie night at the Villa Kujoyama, which made me discover many movies, and discuss about the intentions behind them with the others. The various Matsuri as Setsubun (spring festival), the nature around the Villa Kujoyama (I could observe foxes, monkeys, boars, dears, tanukis…), visiting many temples in Kyoto, Nara, my Takoyaki parties, karaoke… all those great memories of scenes I will unconsciously transcribe in my games, and that I couldn’t have experienced in such good conditions without the Villa Kujoyama.

Picture from  Alessandro de Bellegarde at the Open Studios, March 16 2019

Takoyaki by Christophe Galati

II) Pre-Production and documentation

Picture from Villa Kujoyama

When I entered the Villa Kujoyama, I already had the early ideas for the story and gameplay of the game, that I started to write in documents. My goal for January was to complete all those preparatory documents with a more clear vision of the project. I then continued to update them during all my stay, following the new ideas that arose during my research. Here are the different kind of documents I worked on:

This first document, usually call GDD (Game Design Document) is said to be the “bible” of a game project. It describes and list every features, systems, patterns, metrics, how the game is played, what the designers wanted to express, so every people in the production team have the same vision. Even if I work alone, I think it’s a good exercise to create this kind of document to organize my ideas and have a clean line for the project to follow, even if it evolves during all the development. The basic component of a GDD are the 3C : Character, Camera, Controller : describing who the player is, what he can do, how he sees it, and how to play (for example the inputs). I first did a one page version, before making a more complete document. Then I translated it in English so it’s more convenient to send it to publishers/people I want to work with, so they can understand where I want to go with the game, what is planned, even if the current prototype can’t show it yet.

When I write a story, I always start by setting up a mythology, how the world was created, all its history from its creation to the beginning of the game. I call it Universe document, it also list all the places, era, conflicts and customs to understand the world of the game.

The Story Document starts at the beginning of the game, and lists, as a movie script would do, all the scenes where the story of the game will be told. I usually divide it in several acts, with the key points and plot-twist highlighted. For Save me Mr Tako, I left some holes in the script to leave space for the new ideas that arise during the development. I also fill it with screenshots from the game when the scenes are implemented, turning it into a kind of illustrated book of the story of the game.

I also wrote a Character-Design Document, where I list all the characters, the main cast, villains, and important NPC. I write their background, habits, their goals, the message behind them, and graphic references. I gave this document to Valentin Seiche, the illustrator who made the key Art for my previous game, and he started to design the main characters.

Early Character Design by Valentin Seiche for Himitsu Project

This document list all the graphic reference I have, the games that inspired it, describes the limitations, colors and mood wanted. It’s also where I put mockups, so if one day I start working with graphic artists, they will be able to directly understand the visual vision of the project, and use this same document to communicate their vision.

To finish, the TDD (technical design document) is here to list all the game systems, how they are technically implemented. You can find the various “classes”, the game architecture, all the softwares and plugins used in the project, so each developer can understand the code of each others. Even when working solo, it’s useful to remember some