Why do middle-aged reporters make niche video games individually?

I'm 49 years old born in 1971, but I make indie games as a hobby.

There is no law in Japan that 49 years old must not make indie games (probably in most countries around the world). However, game development is not a common hobby of the same age group.

I am a freelance reporter who has worked in the gaming media for 30 years. In the past, he has been involved in writing articles for Sega and Microsoft console magazines, and Eroge magazines. By the way, my current main job is cross review of a game magazine called "Weekly Famitsu". I have never worked for a game company in the past. In the first place, I have never been employed.

Since 2013, I have been actively covering indie games in Japan. In the process, I came in contact with many young talents and professional souls of veteran developers (born in the late 1970s).

At first, I was just overwhelmed by the heat of the scene, but then I started to think differently.

"I want to be one of them."

Had I been an open-minded person with a position and financial strength, I would have contributed such characteristics to the whole industry. However, in reality, I am a self-conscious freelancer who has failed many times in the past when trying to develop games individually.

First of all, at the Lightning Talk of an indie game event in Japan held in 2015, we announced the plan of a visual novel that we were planning to make at that time. My figure at that time was recorded in the documentary film "Branching Paths" (2016) of the indie game industry in Japan.

*To tell you the truth, my appearance as a presenter is not recorded. Instead, my appearance as a reporter is recorded for a moment.

After some twists and turns, I am currently developing the visual novel "Retro Game Aliens", which is based on a Japanese adventure game for PC in the 1980s. I'm convinced that this game will not only cry middle-aged gamers with loose lacrimal glands, but will also give other generations of gamer “unidentified nostalgia”.

  In the future, this development blog will focus on "Why do middle-aged reporters make niche video games individually?" There may be many topics that are not directly related to "Retro Game Aliens." Instead, you should be able to show the story you learned because you have been involved in Japanese game media for about 30 years. Of course, I will follow the update information of the production, so I look forward to your continued support. As long as I have my life and memory!