I'm not just turning a metaverse drama into a game. The reason for remaking 'Crossroad'

Hello, this is Reiji Kuga.

Recently, I started working on a game version of the metaverse drama 'Crossroad'.

Writing it like that, it probably looks like I'm just making a new visual novel. Of course, that's not wrong. There are choices, the story progresses differently, and there are branches that weren't in the drama version.

But as I actually started working on it, a different feeling emerged within me.

Rather than making a new game, I am remaking a completed story as a different experience.

What I'm doing now is probably closer to that.

I thought I could just port the completed drama as it is

'Crossroad' already has a completed form.

There is a 12-episode story, an official script, characters, voices, and visuals. Since we spent three and a half years making it, I thought that even if we turned it into a game, it would be faster than starting from scratch.

The materials are already there.

All I have to do is rearrange them into a game format.

I think I was thinking something like that somewhere along the line.

But in reality, it wasn't that simple.

If you just play the video within the game and display the dialogue in order, it's not so much a game version as it is just watching a video inside a game screen.

In the video, the audience watches what the protagonist chooses.

But in a game, you place the player close to that hesitation.

For example, do you answer someone by saying 'I'm fine,' say nothing at all, or change the subject?

In a video, you just watch the answer the character chose. But the moment it is placed in front of you as a choice, the player becomes even slightly responsible for that character's emotions.

Do you see it as someone else's decision, or do you accept it as the result of your own choice? Even with the same dialogue, the weight changes just by having a choice involved.

I hadn't thought about it that deeply before I started making it.

To protect the original work, we must change it

I originally thought that not changing the original work was the way to cherish it.

It is a work that took a lot of time to create. I don't want to easily touch the dialogue, the flow of scenes, or the feelings of the characters. Just because it's being adapted into a game doesn't mean it should become something else.

I still feel that way now.

However, once I started making it as a game, situations arose where not changing anything felt more unnatural.

Hesitation that passes in an instant on screen needs to be paused as a choice in a game. Even if information is known to the viewer in the drama, there are times when it is better for the player not to know it yet.

A pause that feels comfortable in a video can sometimes feel long in a game. Conversely, there are times when I want to show a scene that was short in the drama a little more deeply.

Even though it is the same story, when the medium changes, even the rhythm changes.

This part is interesting.

But it is also scary.

How much should I change to make it natural as a game? At what point does it stop being 'Crossroad'?

Perhaps there is no correct answer.

That is why the game version does not aim to be a perfect replica of the drama version. While maintaining respect for the original work, we are remaking it to fit the medium of a game.

It is easy to say, but actually doing it is quite confusing.

Will I have to redo everything for the next work as well?

While I was proceeding with development, I suddenly thought about that.

Is it enough if only this 'Crossroad' game version works?

Even if one is completed, when I make the next work, I will have to rebuild everything from scratch again.

Thinking about that, honestly, it felt overwhelming.

When you are creating works on a scale close to an individual, starting from zero every time is heavy. It cannot be solved by enthusiasm alone, and it takes time and effort.

So now, as a unique foundation to support our production, we have started developing something called Project Alive Engine.

Looking at the name alone, it might sound like a full-fledged game engine is already complete.

But we are not at that stage yet.

Right now, we are in the middle of finding a form that can be used for the next project while actually running 'Crossroad'.

I don't want a system that only works for this one time; I want to create something that leaves something behind for the next project.

If we can do that, I feel it will have more meaning than just completing a single game.

Faster thanks to AI, but more decisions to make

We are also using AI in this development.

We are now able to give shape to things that I could not have progressed on alone in the past. Having code written, checking its operation, fixing bugs, and testing again. The speed of that process has increased significantly.

However, it won't decide what to keep from the original work or what to change for the game.

Because the speed of creation has increased, the number of times I have to judge whether 'this is really Crossroad' has actually increased.

I think that is something we have to take responsibility for in the end.

The completed work still had another entrance

'Crossroad' has already been completed as a drama.

We released all 12 episodes on YouTube and held screenings on cluster. It is a work that finally took shape after three and a half years.

We could have just left it as it was.

Since it was finished, moving on to the next project would also be natural.

But I felt it would be a waste.

It felt less like the story had ended, and more like just one way of delivering it had been completed.

Some people know it through the video, while others encounter it for the first time at a screening. Perhaps some people will even come to know 'Crossroad' through the game.

When the entry point changes, the way you encounter the same work also changes.

In the drama, you watched over Shogo and the others' lives, but in the game, you become involved in their choices. There may be emotions that only become visible there.

That is why I do not want to just reuse past works.

I want to re-examine the same story once more in a different medium.

What I am doing now is probably that.

It has not yet reached the point where it can be called a methodology

Using the completed video work as a foundation, I am remaking it as a game.

I do not yet know if this will take shape as a single production method.

I think it will take time for the name 'Project Alive Engine' to catch up with its content. The game version of 'Crossroad' has also only just taken its first step.

Therefore, I cannot say anything too big.

However, within 'Crossroad', which was a drama, choices that did not exist before are beginning to emerge.

Even though it is the same characters and the same story, they are starting to show different expressions than they did when it was a drama.

I won't know if that is a correct change until I make a bit more of it.

However, I feel like I can see things now that I didn't notice when I was making it as a drama.

Recommended for you!