![]() ![]() ![]() Players can practice and hone their skills in little breaks from the game, but the minigames are more than just lessons. Minigames are a key part of learning Japanese in Shijinkou. The feedback was excellent, and we had people saying that they had never heard of an idea like this before and that the gameplay was fresh for a platformer.” “T his has been corroborated by over 50 Japanese natives that came to our booth during the 2019 Tokyo Game Show after hearing about a game where you can use Japanese to fight demons. “ For those who have some command of Japanese, this means that you will not have to be ‘stuck’ in the first few levels learning things that you already know – the game is not trying to make you sit down like you are in a classroom for the sake of learning what the difference between あ (a) and お (o) is,” says Rice. The characters in the game already know Japanese and are trying to save the language. Those who are already studying Japanese won’t need to be concerned with too much handholding either. “ Shujinkou is a game that can be enjoyed not only by people who want to learn Japanese, but also those who want to play a game with a gripping story, sublime music, solid gameplay, and interact with deep, multidimensional characters.” Rice believes that his game stands out from other games that teach Japanese because his team focuses on everything that makes a great video game before anything else. “This means that players that are already familiar with Japanese will also be able to experience a game that doesn’t necessarily want to hold the player’s hand if the player has a decent grasp of the language.” Furthermore, optional mini-games are prevalent in towns and facilitate the learning of different components of Japanese,” says Rice. Signs and NPCs located throughout the world will communicate with the player and provide hints about enemies and the player’s surroundings. “ Our game is not being designed to feel like the player is learning’ Japanese. Learning Japanese should be a side-effect of playing Shujinkou. ![]() While teaching Japanese appears to be a key piece in Shujinkou’s appeal, Rice’s priority is making the game fun. We made the change to Unity in March 2019, and with a strong team of core artists, composers, and programmers, we were able to make significant progress in time for the 2019 Tokyo Game Show.” The focused development cycle and budget have led to Rice believing that the game will be ready for release in 2021. “Initial programming and team recruitment began in late November 2018, and development was initially done on GameMaker Studio 2. “ We have been working on Shujinkou for around 10 months now,” says Julian Rice, Founder and Lead Programmer of Rice Games. Shujinkou isn’t the first game to try to teach Japanese, but it feels like its the most ambitious. The game is full of different abilities, minigames, and more to teach players as naturally as possible. While playing the game, players will be exposed to the language, and hopefully, finish the game knowing a bit of Japanese. The player will play as three protagonists who will use various hiragana, katakana, and kanji to save the language. The game is about a world filled with demons that are erasing the Japanese language. ![]() The 2021 sidescroller is currently being funded on Kickstarter and will release on all major consoles depending on certain stretch goals being reached. With this in mind, Rice Games is creating Shujinkou, a metroidvania game with RPG elements that teaches players Japanese as they go. Fortunately, playing video games isn’t nearly as hard. Learning Japanese is a difficult thing to do. ![]()
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