RedX43
patreon
[Game] Chapter 145: Character Design
🕑 Added 2025-02-18 17:02:22 +0000 UTCIt was past 10 p.m. when Utaha finally returned home.
Since Ko Yagami was now living at the studio, Ichin wasn’t too worried about Utaha’s safety when she came home late—especially since Hazuki had also returned to pick up Mozuku, making the trip even safer with a car.
As she opened the door and walked in, holding a bag of McDonald’s in one hand, Utaha glanced around the living room. Although the lights were on, the house was unusually quiet.
“Is he in the bedroom?”
Muttering softly, Utaha walked to the bedroom door and gently pushed it open.
As expected, she found Ichin sitting at his computer.
Ichin was still focused on his drawing, but fortunately, he wasn’t wearing headphones. He immediately stopped what he was doing when he heard the door and turned to look at her.
“You’re back? Did you have fun?”
Utaha smiled and nodded. “Sang karaoke for two hours—it was pretty lively. Hazuki drove me and Ko back in the end. Here’s your McDonald’s.”
“Thanks.”
Utaha hadn’t bought a drink since the house was already stocked with beverages, and Ichin still had a half-finished bottle of cola on his desk.
Ichin opened the bag and pulled out his double cheeseburger, taking a happy bite. “Ah, eating this late is a calorie bomb, but it’s definitely satisfying. Are you hungry, Utaha?”
“I’m not. You go ahead and eat.”
Utaha sat down beside Ichin and glanced at the computer screen. Seeing the black-haired, straight-haired character on the display, she curiously asked, “Who’s this?”
“Oh, a supporting character for a future game.”
After swallowing his bite and munching on a couple of fries, Ichin explained, “Her name’s Hifumi Togo. She’s a high school student, skilled at shogi, and a cool but warm-hearted Japanese beauty. She’ll be one of the romanceable characters in the game, but she won’t be a combat character.”
“Hmmm~~ A romanceable character, huh?”
Hearing this, Utaha perked up, especially since the character had the same black, straight hair as she did.
Although it was just a rough character sketch, the personality traits were already quite evident. Ichin had also written quite a few notes beside the sketch.
“165 cm tall, huh? She looks very slim. At first, I thought you based her design on me, but I guess not?”
“Of course not. Hifumi Togo’s design is inspired by Hifumi Kato, a famous historical shogi player who became Japan’s first middle-school professional player at 14.”
“Shogi? Does that mean there’ll be a shogi mini-game in the game?”
“Nope. I don’t know how to play shogi. If I were to add a mini-game, I’d go for chess.” Ichin chuckled. “This character is more of a supporting role. After raising her affinity level, she can provide certain buffs in battle. She also has her own full sub-story and can be romanced. There are quite a few characters like her in the game.”
“She’s just a supporting character? Have you finished designing the main characters yet?”
“Pretty much. Want to take a look?”
Utaha nodded curiously. "Really? I can?"
"Of course. There’s nothing I need to hide from you," Ichin said as he saved the file for Hifumi Togo’s design. Then he opened the folder and pulled up the newly finished design for Makoto Niijima.
“One of the heroines—student council president Makoto Niijima. Code name: Queen. Her Tarot Arcana is the High Priestess, and her Persona is Johanna. She’s intelligent, sharp, and carries a strong sense of responsibility and justice. She also has an older sister who’s a prosecutor.”
The illustration showed Makoto’s school uniform as well as her Phantom Thief outfit. However, her Phantom Thief look had nothing in common with her student council president appearance. She was clad in a skintight leather suit, with sharp spikes on her knees and shoulders. In each hand, she gripped a large set of metal knuckle dusters—clearly a character not to be messed with.
“Did her personality flip after becoming a Phantom Thief? She doesn’t look like a student council president—she looks more like a violent enforcer,” Utaha remarked.
“That’s because I haven’t explained her story yet. You’ll understand once I finish writing her detailed character profile and plot outline. According to my plan, you’ll be responsible for writing the full script for this game. I’m aiming for a minimum of 70 hours to clear the first playthrough, even on the easiest difficulty without a perfect run. That’s going to require a lot of text.”
“Seventy hours? Isn’t that a bit too long?”
Utaha was stunned by Ichin’s plan for Persona. In her experience, very few major games in recent years had first playthroughs that lasted that long. Ichin was bold, aiming for a project of this scale.
“Are you sure this won’t be a problem?”
“Don’t worry. For RPGs, the story and character development experience are critical, and I won’t overlook those. Of course, it’s just my solo plan for now, and we haven’t decided this will be the next game to develop.”
Ichin took another big bite of his burger before adding, “If you’re not too tired, I can give you a quick overview of Persona’s main story.”
“Sure,” Utaha said, munching on a fry with interest. “Since I’ll be part of the project, I need to pay attention. Besides, I’m not sleepy yet. Aren’t you streaming later tonight, Ichin?”
“Yeah, Sony’s showcase is in the middle of the night, so I’ll have to stay up for it.”
Even though Ichin wasn’t as excited about Sony’s first-party games as before, he still wanted to see if they would reveal anything new at this year’s Cologne Expo. Watching the showcase live was a must for him.
“Then I’ll keep you company for now. In the meantime, you can walk me through Persona’s story,” Utaha said.
“Okay. Let’s start with the protagonist since he’s the core of the entire game.”
With that, Ichin began eating his late-night snack while explaining Persona’s story to Utaha.
The narrative was set in Tokyo, and many key plotlines revolved around real-world social issues, including bullying and criminal organizations.
The first plotline, focused on bullying, struck a chord with Utaha. While she had never experienced it herself, she knew that even at Toyogasaki, similar incidents were happening.
As Ichin went on, Utaha’s expression became more serious.
Writing for this game was going to be far more challenging than she had initially expected.
...
