Interview with the developer of "PICO PARK". A personally-developed game that sold only 1000 games in 3 years, but it's a "chaotic" way to reach 1 million games in 3 months.

"PICO PARK" is a cooperative action puzzle game created and self-published by a Japanese individual game developer for 2 to 8 players. It was officially announced by the developer on October 7 that the cumulative number of units sold exceeded 1 million. This work, which has been highly evaluated by users for some time, has attracted attention in the past few months and has become a party game loved by users not only in Japan but also around the world. Direct hit. What emerged from that was the latest gamer situation, including the experience of Korona-ka.

Mr. Shunsuke Miyake

While working as a programmer at a major game company, he is an individual game developer who produced "PICO PARK". He became independent in 2021. He was born in 1986.

I don't know if "a game that no one has ever made" will sell

-Mr. Miyake was working as a programmer for a game company and was making "PICO PARK" individually. Do you want to work on your own work while working for a game company?

Miyake : I had a good track record as a programmer in the company, but that was not the case in planning. For example, when I say "I want to make something like this," I get the question "Can it sell?", But I don't know that because it's a game that no one has ever made (laughs). However, I could imagine people who would get excited about the messy play, so I had a strong desire to see how much it would reach.

--Originally, you didn't want to be a programmer?

Since my father Miyake 's job uses CAD, he has been familiar with PCs since he was born. My dad made a program for math, and I've been familiar with it since I was little, but it may be more correct to say that I chose the program as a "means for making interesting things". Hmm.

--Interesting things ... It's a video game.

Miyake When I was a kid, I used to gather at my friends' houses and watch one screen to play games. There is no doubt that the enjoyable experience at that time was the basis for aiming for the game industry and for the production of "PICO PARK".

"Ibarado" to develop a game exclusively for multiplayer cooperative play by yourself

――What kind of ideas and motivations did "PICO PARK" come from in the first place?

Miyake I have two experiences that are directly related to me. One is playing "The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords +" (Nintendo) on GameCube when I was in college. The "fun of playing together with four people" in this work remained vivid. The other is that when I became a member of society and played various games released in the past with my friends, I played a 10-player battle of "Saturn Bomberman" (Hudson at that time). With 10 people, even if the game starts, I don't know where my character is (laughs). It was fresh and interesting to hear a voice like "Which one am I!"

――I was fascinated by the confusion and unexpectedness due to the large number of uncertainties.

Miyake That's right. Also, I don't like the sight of my friends getting sullen in a competitive game.

――Ah …… I understand.

Miyake I was hoping that everyone could work together to create a game that shares a sense of accomplishment.

――Why did you actually start production?

Miyake Around 2013, I wondered, "How many USB controllers can be connected to a PC at the same time?", So I bought 10 controllers and tried them all, and all responded (laughs). For the time being, I made a mini-game with the rules of "make a staircase with 10 people and move to a place where you can't go alone" and "clear if 10 people can press the same button". It is the prototype of "PICO PARK".

――The feeling of play is not something you can try alone. How did you initially playtest?

Miyake At that time, Bitsummit was also a closed event, and I didn't know how to enter. I thought that there were no events where men and women of all ages could try games that they enjoyed. At this point, I wasn't aware that what I was making was an "indie game," so maybe I couldn't just tune in to that kind of information channel, but for the time being, I designed it for an event where people gather. We exhibited at Festa (* one of the largest art events in Japan that has been held since 1994).

――Why Design Festa !?

Miyake : I knew it from the beginning, but I wanted people who don't usually play games to enjoy "PICO PARK", and I thought it was a good place for the test.

--And in 2014, you were nominated as a finalist for the Sense of Wonder Night (* an event in the Tokyo Game Show that selects and commends games with new surprises).

Miyake It was this event that I found when I started looking for a place to exhibit. The gameplay of "PICO PARK" is exactly the sense of wonder (laughs).

――At the time of the exhibition, the title was "PICOLECITTA".

Miyake : I wasn't able to call the names correctly, such as "Picoretta" and "Pico Chitta", so I changed them to something that is easy to understand (laughs).

――I think it was a good decision (laughs). In 2015, we exhibited at the indie game event "Tokyo Indie Festival" held in Kanto, the predecessor of Tokyo Sandbox. I also saw the activities around here in real time as a reporter for an indie game event.

Miyake : I have memories of that event. I didn't get the official award, but the volunteer staff in charge of attending made it for me (and took out a piece of paper from the bag).

――This is ... a very nice gift!

At Miyake Sense of Wonder Night 2014, I received the Best Presentation Award, which was an award given to the excitement of the people who came to the venue. At the Tokyo Indie Festival, I was even more happy that the people who were watching the excitement of the people who actually played on the spot appreciated it.

――Although there are some characteristics of the game itself, Mr. Miyake's attitude of actively creating a circle of players in search of a place that is crowded with people was specially reflected as an individual game developer.

At the Miyake booth, when I was calling out with a nori saying "Brother and sister, why don't you play!", It was written on SNS as "There is something wrong ..." (laughs). As for my consciousness, I just did my best to make people who seemed to enjoy this game enjoy it properly. In 2015, we had 8bit cafe in Shinjuku and Game & Music Bar CAPSULE Machida place "PICO PARK" under development. I glanced at the customers playing and observed what they were feeling.

--Did you reflect the observed results in the game design?

Miyake Yes. For example, the ease of redoing has improved. If it's a one-person game, restarting depends on your feelings, but if it's a multiplayer cooperative game, it's easy to be dragged by the negative emotions of one of the members.

--ah I see.

Miyake We made one big cooperative action for each stage and ended it with a sense of accomplishment, or when we cleared the big cooperative action, we made it a restart point.

――It's true that if you make a mistake at the end of a long stage and start from the beginning again, it's easy to get into an open mood.

Miyake I was keenly aware that thinking for one person and for a large number of people is different. When making a puzzle game, "mislead" is prepared moderately, but if you do it like a one-person game, when one person gets stuck in mislead, other players can not point out that. I will end up. If you make a gap at the top of the stage where everyone just has to push the block, no one will try pushing the block in front of you if someone asks "I wonder if I can climb over there".

――It seems that you follow the mood maker even though you don't think it's true.

Miyake It takes a lot of courage to point out mistakes when playing with a lot of people. So when I made the stage, I was very cautious about "Is it really a necessary mislead?"

Paradigm shift after the release of Steam version and Nintendo Switch version

――When it comes to offline cooperative games that are exclusively for a large number of people and are optimized for playing with up to 10 people, "PICO PARK" at that time could fit into an "event venue limited game", but what is interesting about it? Did you have the desire to put it in the store and ask the world about its evaluation?

Miyake Of course, it would be nice to make people close to us happy, but I also wanted to see the reaction from overseas. Isn't there a culture of home parties overseas than in Japan? Will the fun of the local multiplayer game "PICO PARK" reach such a place? That was a strong interest.

――Rather, were you conscious of overseas from the beginning?

Rather than Miyake , when I thought, "Where is the place where people gather?", I thought that it was likely to be stabbed overseas. And if you put it on Steam, you can do it. Also, I had a lot of experience when I went to GDC for work in 2014 and saw the awards ceremony for "Papers, Please" live. The monopoly of the award was shocking, and I thought it would be nice to stand in such a place someday.

--And in 2016, the current "PICO PARK: CLASSIC EDITION" was released on Steam. How was the response at that time?

Miyake : It feels like "there was a little" (laughs). At that time, I sent press releases to various media and asked them to write some articles, but Famitsu was the only one who wrote an article that included original information based on the circumstances leading up to the release. It was com (writer in charge, Mill ☆ Yoshimura).

――What is the specific sales?

Only 1000 bottles were sold in the three years since Miyake was released.

――It's for Japanese users, isn't it?

Miyake Worldwide.

―― …… Honestly, what kind of impression did you have?

I felt that it would be difficult to gather a large number of people with Miyake Local Multi. I made it so that it can be enjoyed by as few people as possible, but after all it is more interesting to have more people. Even if I try to play with my friends, I think that the reason why it didn't lead to sales is that if one person buys it, it's enough. In addition, Steam has a system that allows you to refund the purchased software if it meets certain conditions, but it seems that there were many cases where it was refunded because "I thought that there was an online mode, but I did not have it". is. However, I heard that the wind direction of domestic indie games will change shortly after the release, so I was positive.

――The existence of Nintendo Switch, both in terms of time and later development.

Miyake Yes. I decided to connect with the person in charge of indie games at Nintendo via the indie game developer community and start developing the Nintendo Switch version.

――What kind of work did you do?

Miyake The maximum number of players has changed from 10 in the Steam version ("PICO PARK: CLASSIC EDITION") to 8 players, so we remade the stage to optimize it for 8 players at the same time. There are 100 action puzzle games in the world, such as Zara, but as a result of my hard work, I have prepared 48 stages. As you can see if you play it, the gimmicks and strategies are all one-of-a-kind stages. If you want to surprise yourself, you have to prepare more and more new gimmicks.

――The attitude of wanting to be surprised by using your ideas generously is a sign of your entertainer's temperament.

Miyake The rest is recreating the graphics. We received some suggestions from Nintendo about improvements in appearance, and refined the basic route as it was. The graphic-related retake was only once.

――Since it was completed in such a way, I think there was a “feeling of being done” when the Nintendo Switch version was released.

Miyake That's right.

――However, it seems that the Nintendo Switch version didn't break that much ...

At Miyake Famitsu, I was happy to have Ruriko Aoki and Kenichi Suzumura use it for online programs and events, but in the two years since its release in 2019, sales were less than 10,000.

――Hmm ... This may mean that traditional media methods and the like can't fully convey the appeal of titles like "PICO PARK."

Miyake I don't think that's the case. The original Nintendo Switch version was local multiplayer, which should have had some influence.

――Will it be concentrated there in the end? It's ironic that the reason why "PICO PARK", which was touted as interesting as local multiplayer, couldn't break completely was "because it's only for local multiplayer". Even though I put out the game I wanted to make in the ideal form, I think it was really tough that the situation that did not lead to the evaluation in the market continued for many years.

The reactions and evaluations of the people who actually played "PICO PARK" at the Miyake event were so good that I was wondering "why wouldn't it lead to sales?" (Laughs). I had a desire to move on to the next work, but even if I complained that I bought it because I thought it had an online function, I couldn't refund it like the Steam version. was. With the disappointment of the person who bought it by mistake, I wondered if I could go to the new work ..., but with the 2020 Korona-ka, it became difficult for people to physically gather in one place. rice field. As a result, I realized that the hurdles for playing remotely have dropped significantly, and I thought, "Reiwa's local multiplayer may include remotes as well." I also saw the situation where "Among US" was insanely popular, so I was able to find the meaning of embarking on the online version, which had been hesitant due to technical problems with the program.

――You could often correct the policy there.

Miyake : It's true that I had a feeling that I would come if I came out now.

Frenzy days when cumulative sales have increased about 100 times in 3 months

――In fact, the situation surrounding "PICO PARK" has changed all at once since the release of the Steam version for online multiplayer based on the Nintendo Switch version in May this year.

Miyake I buzzed in Korea once in 2020 when a popular Korean YouTuber played, but it was in July 2021 that I really buzzed. Immediately after the online version was released, the main users were South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. In Japan, streamers such as SHAKA and Radaa, who have an influence on domestic users, distributed play videos and gradually gained recognition. Then, in early July, a Twitter post of a play video of "PICO PARK" by a Japanese user saying "There is a very interesting game for 500 yen" was re-toured in units of 10,000. Immediately afterwards, we received inquiries from several major VTuber offices, and a few days later, the play video released on bilibili video suddenly exceeded 1 million views, and sales in China increased at a stretch. For those few days, I was only saying "Yabe" (laughs).

――It's just the “moment when it sold”.

Miyake At the end of July, eight popular American streamers, each with millions of registrants, distributed "PICO PARK" multiplayer, which spread to Europe and the United States. The number of units sold, which was less than 10,000 in May to June, exceeded half a million (500,000) in July.

――After that, it was the end of August that the number exceeded 1 million, so you can see that it spread at an astonishing speed.

Miyake August sales were centered in the United States and South America. The reason I went to South America was Tiktok. A video with the tag "PICO PARK" is playing 300 million times (laughs). This was a completely unexpected development.

――── And in September, the Nintendo Switch version, which was the original purpose, will be updated for online multiplayer, and it is expected that the player base will further expand. What is the self-analysis of the number one cause of the break so far?

Miyake I was conscious of "what kind of conversation will be born" when thinking about the stage and gimmicks. The simple ones are "Se-no" and "Go away!". If it says "Don't Push!", "This is something you can push" (laughs), and I wonder if that kind of thing was a good match for streamer distribution in this era. There is a flow of trying to play with such streamers by seeing their happy appearance. I wonder if the power of conversation created by "PICO PARK" is spreading.

Attitude as a creator that can be maintained because it is personal development

――Another feature of "PICO PARK" is that this work is Mr. Miyake's completely personal development and publishing title. I would appreciate any knowledge or advice that can be passed on to other people based on my experience as an individual indie game creator.

Miyake : In my case, I didn't hear the voice of publishing, so I had to do it all by myself as a result ...

――No, that's not true.

Even if you are interested in "PICO PARK" exhibited at the Miyake event, it ends up with "I wish I could play online." That opinion was correct now.

--(Smile).

Miyake : When it comes to exhibiting and promoting events with an eye on overseas, the hurdles for individuals rise immediately. I was jealous of the indie games published by Devolver Digital being exhibited at booths at events all over the world, so if you want to expand it worldwide, I think you'll be grateful for the existence of the publisher.

――In that respect, "PICO PARK" means that streamers and users from each country took the lead in the role of promotion.

There is no boundary between the excitement of Miyake Streamer and the excitement of ordinary users. This game happened to match the streamer culture of today, but when I started making it, there was no such soil, so I learned that "a work that emphasizes the power of conversation will stick to streamers". became.

――It all started when you decided to make an “unknown game” by yourself that you couldn't make by a member of a game company.

Having developed games for more than a dozen years as a member of the Miyake project, I became more motivated to think that there is no point in making a new game that someone else would make. I wasn't confident that I could convince people to plan a game that no one had ever made, but no one needs to convince me if it's personal development (laughs). I think the appeal of personal development is that you can continue to make things with the image that "there are definitely people who like to get together and play, and I will definitely deliver them to those people."