🎤 Interview with nizakashii

2024年 4月 07日
Indie Tsushin 2024 March-April issueThis article was featured in our 2024 March-April issue. Check out more articles and interviews in the full issue.

We had the opportunity to speak with nizakashii about old school STGs, loving and hating your hometown, and making games as a means of creative expression! Also side note from the editor (Renkon): I couldn't fit this into the interview, but nizakashii explained that their name is short for にざかなおいしい (nizakana oishii, simmered fish is delicious) which is simply delightful. That's the kind of delightful tidbit about nizakashii that makes me want to play their games even more.


English (translated)

Translated by Renkon

Four colorful characters from MagicVigilante sitting on top of a concrete apartment building and looking out over the city

(2023) MagicVigilante

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hello, I make games under the name nizakashii. I make small games as my personal hobby and for my complete self-satisfaction.

How did you get started making games?

I wanted to remake the kinds of outdated games I enjoyed back in the day, but also as a means to express myself and create something of my own... I wanted to see if I could force myself to express myself in the shape of a game, and that was a big reason I started doing this. In any case, truly the only reason I make games is for my own enjoyment.

Can you tell us about some of your favorite games and genres?

I used to love old-school STG (shooting games) to death. I still love them, but not to death... Among action games, I don't think there is any other genre in the world with this high level of freedom to attack and defend at the same time. I really like the series by the current RS34, formerly Klon and MileStone, and I'm very glad that they're continuing to release proper new titles.

What else... I like 3D platformers and any games that allow you to freely walk around and explore small worlds. My favorite game is Super Mario 64 DS.

Player shooting at a blocky enemy in HAKOPALACE with a spiral attack

(2023) HAKOPALACE

Please tell us about HAKOPALACE!

HAKOPALACE is an action game where you fight bosses to the death in one-on-one battles within a tiny room with a fixed 120*48 perspective. There are fifteen bosses in total. You need to defeat six of them to clear the game. It's a short game.

Can you tell us about the process of making HAKOPALACE? Was it different from the way you approached making your other games?

I had been making nothing but STGs for a long time, so I wanted to make something totally different. But then I had work and couldn't devote a lot of time to it... I had been making floor and wall colliders for horizontal screens on a whim, so while I tried to decide what I wanted to make, I just started working on it. One room after the other had a boss inside, and riding the elevator would take you to the next one you had to defeat... I'd been thinking of that game flow for a while, so I should just go with this... that's the thought process I went through, and I remember setting out in this relatively unmotivated way.

Player in HAKOPALACE shooting at an enormous shark leaping up from the bottom of the screen through the top

What was your greatest influence when making HAKOPALACE?

Actually, I don't really like side-scrolling action very much (in STGs, being able to move as you wish in eight directions is freer and more interesting), but Gunstar Heroes was an exception and I love it to death, so I thought for an action game, I had no choice but to model it after this. Gunstar has weapons for beginners like homing shots and caltrops that automatically chase and attack enemies, and I tried to make the airborne shots in HAKOPALACE have a similar sort of feeling.

And I thought it would be fun to have the player use one button to leap through the air and dodge attacks, so I made it so that the player can jump with the X key, just like the movement in Alien Soldier 0.

What was the most challenging part of making HAKOPALACE?

Nothing comes to mind...? It was a game I made within the limitations of what was possible and reasonable...

Player in ROMGADR shooting at a circular boss shooting out three huge red beams

(2023) ROMGADR

Besides just HAKOPALACE, all of your games have really striking colors. Can you tell us about your art style and use of colors?

Even though I am but an amateur, I did a lot of work on the design and color scheme to make it look light and minimalist. The low screen resolution is not so much a matter of style as it was a matter of reducing my workload. So many things get easier to work with when the screen is rough and small... things like calculating coordinates is easier... I always keep in mind that tweaking the color palette will change the look of the entire game, and that can also cut down on my workload. I don't have a lot of time, after all.

Games like the bit Generations and Art Style series on GBA and DSi, SUDA51's games, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's games... Recently, games like n++, PixelJunk Eden 2, and The 25th Ward: The Silver Case are very good. I think I fell under a bad influence since I think stuff that looks weird is usually fun to play. I was especially surprised by the way n++ looks, and I often use it as a guideline.

Is there anything in HAKOPALACE to which you want to draw the player's attention?

Nothing comes to mind... (for the second time)? If you think it's fun, that's good... and if you noticed that I loosely modeled it after Gunstar Heroes, that makes me a little happy...? HAKOPALACE itself is named after Dice Palace (a board game fortress)... wouldn't you rather be playing Gunstar Heroes?

Player in MagicVigilante shooting at an enormous bat that is spraying out a wide array of attacks

I also thought that MagicVigilante really captured the essence of your style. Can you tell us about MagicVigilante?

I want to make a game set in the place where I live now, a crappy suburb with absolutely nothing going on!!! It is with that strong conviction that I created this game.

In terms of genre it is a STG, but there isn't much sense of competition (I like STGs, but I'm not interested in chasing high scores), and since it is a danmaku I faithfully made it brutal. But since the underlying system is pretty loose, if you keep spamming the Magical Sword, I think it is surprisingly easy for anyone to clear the game.

I get the impression that apartment complexes (danchi) and city streets often appear in your games, like in MagicVigilante. Do you have any particular reason for setting your games in the everyday world?

For the danchi, I think I see them as a symbol of the suburbs and of rural areas in general. In the end, I would say that "danchi" ≒ "hometown"...

I truly hate my hometown, but if I were to choose a setting for my creative works, I would have to go with that after all... that was my thought process, so to quickly represent my hometown in games, I used danchi as a visual shorthand. I think I attempted many things in order to give meaning to my hometown and daily life which I dislike, and tried to take familiar sights and abstract them into symbols to see if I could come to terms with them...?

Also, I simply like the look of danchi. When there are a bunch of tall buildings standing in a row, with playground equipment and walking paths in between, it looks like a tiny world where you can see everything you would need for a complete life, and it's a great thing to see. The simple structure of having a series of rooms is also perfect for games. I have only a few games with danchi in them, but I have a lot of ideas stocked up, and I would like to release them in the future.

Level select screen in MagicVigilante with a 'Coffee Scene' explaining that the characters are on the way to visit another character's apartment complex

It's really fun to just browse through your itch.io page since there's such a wide variety of games. Is there any narrative throughline that connects all of your games?

I guess, I tried to make MagicVigilante to be a continuation of TUKIYONO...? I really wanted to try something like a shared universe, but the text was so hopelessly rough that I didn't want to think or care too much about it. When I play games I made before and see the dialogue and endings, I think, "What are you talking about? Gross..." over and over again. At the time, I wanted to try putting text in the game so that's how it turned out... but then again, it's in Japanese, so if people overseas can't understand it, that's totally okay...

Do you have any indie games that you'd like to shout out? What do you like about them?

pareidolia in █▄██▄▄ by 773tk and Blood Machine is truly, truly excellent, and it really made me think, didn't I originally want to make something like this...? I also like Kultisti's games. They are minimalist, cute, and short, and I hope to make something like them for myself in the future if I have time. These are all on itch.

Boss sending out a spiral attack of damage at the player in ROMGADR

Can you tell us about other games you worked on in the past?

ROMGADR is an STG and the predecessor of HAKOPALACE; or rather, I feel like you should play it because their contents are more or less the same... My past works (that is to say, from only around two or three years ago) are even more painful for me to look at now because I can see my lack of skill. Even though I made a lot of games, I don't have many I want to talk about... maybe NEKOTOSAKANA...?

Can you tell us about anything you are currently working on?

It appears I'm in a slump. Recently I've been drawing game screens and making it to the point where I get the ship to move around, but then I think that I don't really want to do this... and then think of something else, over and over again until I lose my mind. I've been making the same type of games again and again, so I want to try other genres, but... I have at least found one thing that I want to make, and right now I'm only thinking about that one game. I started making games because I wanted to find a way to express myself and create something, but I haven't reached that goal yet, so I want to think about it more.

Options screen of ROMGADR showing an office desk with a computer, phone, radio, and other electronics.

Do you have any messages for your players?

I'm only making these for my own enjoyment, so to tell the truth it's terrifying to think of other people who play these...? I'm sorry if there's anyone out there playing these. They must be disappointed.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!


日本語 Four colorful characters from MagicVigilante sitting on top of a concrete apartment building and looking out over the city

(2023) 魔導自警隊

自己紹介してください。

こんにちは、nizakashiiという名義で趣味でゲ製をやっている者です。個人的な趣味と完全な自己満足のために小さいゲームを作ってます。

ゲーム作りを始めたきっかけはなんですか。

昔好きだったゲームを、型落ちで再現して自身で楽しむといった理由もありますが、なにか表現したり出力したりする手段が欲しくて…ゲームのテイに無理やり乗せる形でならいけるんじゃないか、って試したかったのが始めた当初の大きな理由です。なんにせよ本当に自分だけが楽しいがためだけにゲ製をやっています。

もしよろしければ、ご本人にとって一番好きなゲームや好きなジャンルをご紹介お願いします。

昔はオールドスクールなstg(シューティングゲーム)が死ぬほど大好きでした。今も好きだけど別に死ぬほどでもない… アクション系で、これより攻防が同時に行える自由度の高いジャンルはこの世に存在しないと思います。現RS34、旧クロンマイルストーンのシリーズは本当に好きで、今もちゃんと新作が出続けるのが本当に嬉しいです。

あとは…3Dプラットフォーマーとか、箱庭を自由に見て歩き回れるゲームならなんでも好きです。一番好きなゲームは 「スーパーマリオ64 DS」

Player shooting at a blocky enemy in HAKOPALACE with a spiral attack

(2023) ハコパレス

この度の「ハコパレス」という作品についてご紹介お願いします。

せっまい部屋(120*48)でボスと一対一でたたかう死にゲ―風の固定画面アクションです。ボスは全部で15体。6体倒せばクリア。小さいゲームってやつです。

「ハコパレス」を作るときに、どのようなプロセスで作成しましたか。他のゲームを作るときと何か違いがありますか。

ずーっとstgばっか作ってるし意味性ねーな、もっと別のゲームつくりたいな、でも仕事あるしあまり時間はかけられないな…ってなって、横画面用の壁床判定とかは気まぐれで作っていたから、とりあえずやりたいこと考えながらコレ作ろってなりました。部屋一つ一つにボスがいて、エレベーターに乗って一体ずつ倒していく…といったフローのアイデア自体は前からあったのでじゃあとりあえずそれで…って風に割と消極的な感じで作り始めた憶えがあります。

Player in HAKOPALACE shooting at an enormous shark leaping up from the bottom of the screen through the top

「ハコパレス」を作成するにあたり、最も影響を受けたものは何ですか。

実は横のアクションあまり好きではないのですが(八方向に好きに動けるstgの方が自由で面白いので)、「ガンスターヒーローズ」は例外で超大好きなので、アクションならこれ真似るしかないと思いました。ガンスタにはチェイサーとマキビシという敵を自動で追いかけて攻撃してくれる初心者向け武器があって、これの使用感をなんとなく意識して自機にショットを撃たせているつもりです。

あとワンボタンでバビュンって飛んで攻撃よけられたら面白いなと以前から思っていて、Xキーで「エイリアンソルジャーの0」移動みたいに飛んでくようにしました。

「ハコパレス」を作成するにあたり最も挑戦したことなどはありますか。

ぶっちゃけないかも…?可能な範囲で無理なく作ったゲームだから…。

Player in ROMGADR shooting at a circular boss shooting out three huge red beams

(2023) ルムガダ

「ハコパレス」に限らず、nizakashiiさんの作品は色合いがとても素晴らしいです。色やアートスタイルについてのこだわりについて教えてください。

デザインや色合いについてはズブの素人なりに淡くてミニマルな感じにしたくって色々やってみてます。解像度が低いのは割とオシャレというよりは工数の関係です。画面が荒くて小さいと本当に色々楽になる…座標の計算も楽だし… カラーカラーパレットをいじって全体の雰囲気を変えるのも工数減らせるので割といつも意識してます。あんまり時間ないし。

GBA、DSiの「bit Generations」「Art Style」シリーズとか、須田ゲーとか水口ゲーとか… 最近だと「n++」「PixelJunk Eden 2」「シルバー事件25区」あたりのゲームがすごく良くて、なんか見た目が変なゲームって大抵面白いなって遊んでたせいでなんか悪いほうに気触れたんだと思います。とくに「n++」は見た目でかなり驚いて、ちょくちょく指針にしてます。

「ハコパレス」において、プレイヤーに伝えたいこだわったポイントなどありますか。

ぶっちゃけないかも…(二度目)?自分が面白ければそれでいいから… 「ガンスターヒーローズ」をちょっと参考にしたので、なんとなく寄せたところがあるから気づいてくれたら嬉しい気はする…?「ハコパレス」自体、「ダイスパレス」(すごろく要塞)が名前の由来だったりします…「ガンスタ」遊んだほうがよくない?

Player in MagicVigilante shooting at an enormous bat that is spraying out a wide array of attacks

「魔導自警隊」もまた、nizakashiiさんのスタイルが生きているゲームと思いました。「魔導自警隊」というゲームについて教えてください。

今自身が住んでるような日本のなーんもない郊外のクソ田舎を舞台にしたゲームが作りたい!!!といったそこそこ強い気持ちが元となったゲームになります。

ジャンルはstgですが競技性とかは特にあんまりなく(stgは好きだがスコア周りに興味が持てない)、弾幕自体は宗教上の理由でしっかり作ってて苛烈ですが、システムの調整がかなり雑なのでマジカルソード連打で案外誰でもクリアできるんじゃないかなーと思ってます。

「魔導自警隊」でも登場しましたが団地や街並がゲームに登場することが多いような印象を受けました。団地のような日常の世界にゲームを持ってくる理由などはありますか。

団地については、ありふれた郊外や田舎の象徴として見ている気がします。とどのつまり、団地≒地元と言いますか…

地元が本当に嫌いなのですが、もしも創作で舞台に選ぶならやっぱ地元周辺だよなぁ…と思うので、それで手っ取り早くゲームを作るために地元の記号としての団地が出てくる気がします。たぶん嫌いな地元や日常になにか意味を持たせたくて、とりあえず身近なものを記号的に出してみて気持ちを消化できないか色々試している気がする…?

あと団地は単純に見た目が好きです。大きい建築物がボンボン立ってて、間に遊具や散歩道が整備されてると、極小の世界みたいでここで生活の全てが完結してる気がして見ごたえがあります。部屋が単純に連なる構造はゲーム向きでもあります。団地が出てくるゲームは現状まだ数作ですが、団地がテーマのアイデアはかなりストックがあって、そのうち出したいです。

Level select screen in MagicVigilante with a 'Coffee Scene' explaining that the characters are on the way to visit another character's apartment complex

nizakashiiさんのitch.ioのページは見ているだけで楽しくなるようなゲームがたくさん並んでいます。それぞれの作品同士に何か物語上のつながりがあったりしますか。

一応、「魔導自警隊」「月夜野」のつづきものにしようとしたハズ…?共通の世界観みたいなの本当は割とやってみたかったのですが、テキスト回しが絶望的にアレすぎて現在はあまり考えたり気にしてないです。以前作ったゲームのセリフとかエンディングとか、後から遊んで「何言ってんのコイツ…?キモ…」って何度もミソりそうになりました。作ってる当時はテキスト入れるのやってみたくてこうなったはずなのですが… でも日本語だし、海外の方にわからなければそれで全然いいような…

おすすめのインディーゲームはありますか。おすすめのポイントも教えてください。

773tk氏Blood Machine氏「pareidolia in █▄██▄▄」が本当の本当に良くて、俺が当初やりたかったのってこういうのじゃないの…?ってかなり思い詰めました。あとKultisti氏のゲームも好きです。ミニマルで可愛くて小さいゲームで、今後リアルの合間でこういうの作っていけたら良いなって思います。両方itchにあります。

Boss sending out a spiral attack of damage at the player in ROMGADR

もしよろしければ、これ以外に作成したゲームについてご紹介お願いします。

「ルムガダ」は「ハコパレス」の前身のstgで、というか内容だいたい同じだから遊んでみて欲しい気はする… 過去作(つって2~3年前だけど)は今以上に見てて痛々しいか技術不足な感じがするので、たくさん作ったわりにあんまり紹介できるのがない…「ネコトサカナー」くらい…?

今はどのようなプロジェクトを進めていますか。今作っているゲームなどをもしよろしければご紹介お願いします。

スランプぽいです。ここ最近はゲーム画面を描いて自機が動くとこまで作っては、なんか別にコレやりたくないな…って別のを考えるのを何度も繰り返してて気が狂いそう。割とワンパターンなので、もっと他のジャンルがやりたいのですが… いちおう作りたいものはひとつ見つかって、今はそのゲームのことだけ考えてます。なにか表現したり出力したりする手段が欲しくてゲーム制作を始めたのに、そっちの目的は何も実現していないので、もうちょっと色々考えたいです。

Options screen of ROMGADR showing an office desk with a computer, phone, radio, and other electronics.

プレイヤーの皆さんへ何かメッセージがあれば一言お願いします。

自分が遊ぶためだけに作ってるので、逆にそんな方おられるんですか…?いたらなんかごめんなさい。ガッカリさせちゃって。

この度はインタビューにご協力いただき誠にありがとうございます。

nizakashiiVisit nizakashii's itch and Freem for more of their works and the latest information on their games.