- Developer's Note [#11] - 8 May 2026
Hello from the dev team!We sincerely apologize for the long silence. Development has been steadily progressing, and we are pleased to announce our new publishing structure. With this enhanced setup, we will continue moving forward toward release, so please stay with us a little longer!\For "Tokyo Stories," Drecom Co., Ltd. will continue to handle planning and development, while HAPPINET CORPORATION will take on the publishing role.https://happinet-games.com/\We are also pleased to welcome CharacterBank Inc. as our development partner, where their exceptional development capabilities and creativity will be brought to bear on "Tokyo Stories."https://character-bank.com/\"Tokyo Stories" will continue to pursue the ideals our creators originally envisioned, just as we always have.Producer/Director Yuki Ikeda and Art Director Seiichi Terashima will remain at the core of the project, and with…
- Developer's Note [#10] - 31 January 2025
Hello from the dev team! For our tenth update of the development process, we will share "New Keyvisual" & "User Survey" We are conducting a survey to help us in the future development of this title! All participants will receive a wallpaper for mobile devices 📱! 4 participants will be drawn to receive a black or white T-SHIRT 👕! ✨Survey url is here (Japanese) https://forms.gle/8yd18TEBobCysCWE7 (English) https://forms.gle/NRA9NJ4gWitr99j6A Survey Submit Period: Jan. 31 (Fri.) ~ Feb. 9 (Sun.) 23:59 (JST) *Please read the agreement and disclaimer (found in the form) before answering the survey. *About the drawing, an email will be sent to the winners around 14 days after the end of the survey submited period. *Only those residing in Japan will be eligible for the gift drawing. Send us your feedback!
- Developer's Note [#9] - 12 July 2024
Hello from the dev team! For our ninth update of the development process, we will share collections of "Tokyo Food" pixel arts that were posted on social media! The series consists of 12 foods that represent(?) Tokyo, so we have archived them on this page! Pixel art illustrated by ZIMA (@pixel_zima) https://x.com/pixel_zima Lunch time with a creamy avocado burger and lemon soda! Soy sauce ramen is a taste of Tokyo. Have some gyoza with it too! It has been in Japan for about 150 years and is now so well established that it's considered a national food of Japan! Tokyo has many places to enjoy sushi, from casual sushi-go-rounds to upscale sushi restaurants! From among deserts this time we have pancakes! The colorful toppings are a hit with girls! New Year's Eve is finally here! These big shrimp are going to be such a feast! When it comes to parfaits, you can enjoy a variety of ingredients…
- Developer's Note [#8] - 12 January 2024
Hello from the dev team! It's been a while since we've updated so for our eighth update of the development process, we have made a collection of our social media posts about how Suzu spends her weekends! First of all, here is the full look of the room revealed for the first time! It's a very large room with a loft, and her favorite things are scattered everywhere! The first entry is a reading theme with her on a small blue sofa! She seems to be absorbed in a story as she relaxes in the dimly lit room. Next is the one with the study theme. She is drawn in front of a desk, studying. She seems to be studying quite seriously. Next is a scene where she is relaxing on the bed. Moonlight shines through the skylight. She seems to be very focused on the game. Could she be pulling an all-nighter? She is enjoying a movie on the balcony, right outside of her room! Swaying on the hanging chair, she…
- Developer's Note [#7] - 13 October 2023
Hello from the dev team! For our seventh update of the development process, we will share "Tokyo Trip" pixel art that was posted on social media! The series consists of 12 trips, so we have archived them on this page! Introducing an iconic location in Tokyo! There's something magical about Tokyo Tower at night. Akihabara is where various cultures are mixed into one. Marunouchi area near Tokyo station has many interesting sights to see. The illumination is beautiful too. The iconic lantern Furai Jinmon at Sensoji. It's amazing when it's lit up at night. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bldg. is 243m offering a nice view of Tokyo. Ueno Park is a city park in Japan with over 140 years of history. It's also known for its beautiful cherry blossoms. Ryogoku Kokugikan is famous for sumo and is well-known to Japanese people. Rainbow Bridge is an iconic landmark, part of Tokyo's beautiful nightscap…
- Developer's Note [#6] - 8 September 2023
Hello from the dev team! For our sixth update of the development process, we will share info with you about technology testing. We plan to place objects with physics such as empty cans on the side of the road to represent urban reality. In this test, we made various objects fall. The way how they bounce around is looks very realistic. In this test, we placed a large number of colored balls and checked for interference with the characters! It turned out to be a pretty fun sight! It's quite fun just experimenting by bouncing the ball around. We are not sure if we will use it or not, but we also tested the cloth simulation available on Unity. It is a strange sight to see a huge black cloth randomly in a town, but we received various suggestions on social media. I hope we can use this knowledge effectively somewhere! Here is a test image of an old LCD monitor-like effect that we made when w…
- [Notice Concerning Postponement of the Release Date of "Tokyo Stories"] - 17 June 2023
"Tokyo Stories" was originally scheduled to be released in 2023. Unfortunately, after much consideration we have decided to postpone the release schedule to "to be determined" status. We are very sorry for all the people who have been looking forward to the release of "Tokyo Stories" to be made this year. Our original plan of the title was to be a rather small project. But as our team worked on the project day by day, we came to a realization that that we had more ideas and contents we wanted to implement in "Tokyo Stories" than we originally had in mind. It was a difficult decision for us, but at the same time, it was a chance to make the project even better. From the day when we made our first announcement of "Tokyo Stories" last year, we have been encouraged by many positive reactions and opinions we received from everyone. The voices of the community have driven us to be confident i…
- Developer's Note [#5] - 9 June 2023
Hello from the dev team! For our fifth update of the development process, we will share info with you about the camera system used in the game. Tokyo Stories will be using a fixed point camera system. Not many modern games use this camera system any more, but it was a common camera view system used in the early PlayStation 1 and 2 era. Instead of allowing the camera to be moved about freely, the player's camera view will be fixed in a position, which adds more control for game designers to deliver the intended content to players. By using this system, it allows us to accurately show the wonderful Tokyo city the way we envision it. One of the major benefits of this system is that it allows us to cut down on the time and effort to make models in areas where the players will never be able to see. By focusing our efforts on the details of models seen within the camera view, it raises the ov…
- Developer's Note [#4] - 12 May 2023
Hello from the dev team! For our forth update of the development process, we will share info with you about visual effects used within the map. The map is not complete yet with just 3D models. It also needs visual effects such as dust-like particles that float around and lighting effects from objects like lights and vending machines. Lighting effect also needs to be adjusted accordingly to put emphasis on the light source. A single screen will contain multiple visual effects by the time when it is completed. Large plants have animations. By intentionally reducing the number of animation frames, it can make it look less like a 3D model. Although not a plant, the flickering neon sign also stands out doesn't? Snow map effect we made for testing purposes. We made it in case snow started to fall in Tokyo. One benefit of using 3D is that it is easy to add effects later if we decide to do so.…
- Developer's Note [#3] - 14 April 2023
Hello from the dev team! For our third update of the development process, we will share insight with you about the city of Tokyo where the game is set in! Although most of our team members work remotely, our team headquarters are in Tokyo. Tokyo is an astonishing city that appeared in many other titles, to a point one may say it is overused. For "Tokyo Stories," we are depicting the other side of Tokyo. Unlike the busy main streets of Tokyo, the back alley of the city has a totally different impression. It is like a separate dimension cut out from the crowd. It may be worth to sit down at a back alley with a drink in hand, or explore it a bit on your own. Don't worry, the city will not reject you. On paper, traveling around the city can be done simply by a short ride on the train. However, to actually execute it can be difficult even for us locals living in Tokyo when we have to figure…
- Developer's Note [#2] - 17 March 2023
Hello from the dev team! For our second update of the development process, we will share with you a little about character designs! Each character has a theme color to easily distinguish them when made into a pixel art. The main character wears an oversized parka and a large pair of sneakers. Her theme color is blue, including her backpack and even her shoelaces! She prefers a dark color scheme that blends into the night, suggesting her personality perhaps? The main character's friend. She wears relatively relaxed outerwear and her iconic flower hair accessory. Her theme color is mainly yellow, but also have other soft colors to complement. Her kindly yet enigmatic impression might be the reason of attracting the main character's attention. A young man wearing a rather tight clothes in a casual fashion. His theme color is red, with the collar fur that stands out on his slim-fit coat tha…
- Developer's Note [#1] - 17 February 2023
Hello from the dev team! From now on, we are going to occasionally share some behind-the-scenes updates of the development process! We’ll be posting exclusive content that won’t be shared on social media platforms. This is a breakdown video of the pixel art expression, which is the biggest challenge in the visual aspect of our work. First, we create a rough impression by setting the lighting on the polygonal background model. Next, we burn the shadows of non-moving parts into a light map and apply a texture to the 3D model. Then, we enhance the shader lighting and apply a distortion effect to the light-dark boundary. After that, we pixelate the entire image and apply colour reduction using the colour palette. Last, we adjust the colours of the entire screen and apply a final brush to complete the process. (In reality, there are various minor adjustments made.) Here is a scene from the g…
