Discover how Japanese culture inspired the upcoming party game PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe – PlayStation.Blog
Hello everyone, I’m Yasuyoshi Yamamura, Art Director of Q-Games. Today, I have some development insights to share with you to celebrate the upcoming launch of our party game, PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe.
Yasuyoshi Yamamura, Art Director at Q-Games
Since the launch of the first PixelJunk game on PS3 in 2007, PlayStation has been the spiritual home of the series. From PixelJunk Shooter to Monster, Racer to Eden; PlayStation players have always been supportive of our goal of discovering exciting combos and new mechanics. We’re excited to be back later this year as PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe prepares to hit PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
The land of joy is rising
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where robots rule and garbage abounds, the player controls a group of robot Scrappers and brawls through the streets of Junktown to clear as much trash as possible. I love drawing robots as a personal hobby, so when one of our game directors had an idea for a trash-collecting robot game, I was eager to get to it.
Clean up Junktown streets like a garbage collection robot
Q-Games has been making games in Kyoto for 23 years, and we often draw inspiration from the world around us subconsciously. But this time, we deliberately brought the game to life using elements of Japanese culture that meant a lot to us.
The stages are spread over five areas of Junktown, with the first four taking inspiration from real locations in Japan. When it comes to art direction, I decided to take an authentic look at Japan… and then reverse it.
idol animation
Haruhabara is inspired by the famous shopping district Akihabara combined with the outstanding fashion district Harajuku. I did a lot of research to pick out recognizable iconic aspects.
Haruhabara – inspired by ‘Electric Town’ Akihabara and Harajuku fashion district.
In addition to being famous for its electronic stores and video games, Akihabara is also famous for its idol culture and I wanted to create enemies that fit that theme. I began sketching out the three members of the group that would become the Trinity Lovers, the enemy idol group, and based their style on popular J-Pop groups like Perfume. I’ve always been a big fan of robot anime, especially the classic genre where everything comes together to become bigger robots, so we designed the boss scene to allow Trinity Lover’s idols unite in the final battle.
Trinity Lovers’ Enemy Design, From Concept to Final
Of course, the Trinity Lovers are supported by their diehard fans, known as the Otabots, who attack the player by performing Otagei. The habit of waving neon batons in choreography during musical performances is a common part of Japanese idol culture. The final boss is fought in a live concert, so players must learn the habit to avoid oncoming attacks.
Homeland worship
An area themed around our home city was an original idea that we wanted to execute exactly. Kawaii Kyoto makes up Area 4 and is based on Edo Japan, with its huge torii gates and ancient temples. We had fun figuring out how they would fit into our future context.
Kyoto also hosts many famous festivals or festivals, including the Gion Matsuri, where the streets are lined with food stalls and stalls. Our studio overlooks the main festival route and we get together every year as a company to see the parade, so the festival can be included The elements in PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe are really cool. Our team attended a lot of events for level design inspiration and ate a lot of delicious food, of course… purely for research.
wind rider
When it comes to character design, I incorporated a lot of carnival symbols and created a series of enemy robots based on popular traditions and practices. These include the 400-year-old Awa Dance from Tokushima Prefecture in Japan used as an attack by the Awadoribots and Tengubots based on a legendary yokai spirit.
[Matsuri inspired enemy design]
One of my favorite enemy designs is a Bosu-zoku punk bike riding on a koinobori, traditional Japanese flags that flutter like carp when hanging in the wind. There’s something captivating about a threatening enemy darting across the stage on an inflatable fish… Closely followed are the Wasshoi Workers, who use giant carnival fans to control players and wear happi. traditional short sleeve jacket.
The last thing I want to share is our tribute to the traditional Japanese lion dance, Shishimai. I started by drawing the concept sketch below as a background element for one of the areas, but as development continued we became pretty attached to the design.
Traditional performing arts are an important part of Japanese culture and there is a very popular shrine just an hour away from the Q-Games studio called Namba Yasaka, where there is a huge lion sculpture at the entrance. enter. After a number of design reworks and expansions, the boss Shishimai King was born! Shishimai traditionally symbolized luck and fortune to come, and there will be a huge fortune that will be exchanged for cash once this ferocious enemy is defeated at the end of Sector 4.
LR – Master Shishimai King, Namba Yasaka Shrine in Osaka
This is just a glimpse of the vibrant world we’ve created and can’t wait for you to experience for yourself. Gather a team of your friends, take to the streets of Junktown and fight to be the top when PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe launches on PlayStation later this year.
