June 1, 2023 – Page 2 – RITs International Game Industry Course for 2023

Game Jam

May 27th:

I know that it is customary to take your shoes off in homes and many resturant’s here but upon entering the clinic we had to remove our shoes as well!! Not to mention they had slippers of seemingly only one size for visitors. Below are Steve and I’s new fashionable footwear.

Why’s it kind of go with my pants though ?

The doctors was WEIRD. They looked at my throat for one second and made me put this tube in my mouth that blew lowkey gross air into my lungs?? I couldn’t figure out how to inhale it. They kept telling me in Japanese but I was so confused. Then they promptly kicked me out gave me a prescription so I guess it worked out. So strange, but effective??

This was my technically first day of game jam as I missed yesterday. At first I wasn’t supposed to go but working remotely was near impossible and I would have preferred not participating at all as I felt I would hold the group back and add little help to it.

Eventually, I was allowed to go! I met everyone and at first I was very concerned with the team that we had. It was one programmer and the rest were artists. The majority of the day Me, Emma, and Yume worked on character design for our American Japanese combination boss rush game.

There were really tasty snacks so I ate a lot and was exhausted by the end of the day! Some assets and food below.

Yume and Ryusei were super amazing and I tried my best to say anything I could in Japanese but I’m not sure how well that went. Also, working together was super interesting because we were bouncing ideas around in English, sign language, and Japanese it felt like magic. How the heck did we do that.

Shibuya, Harajuku, and Fabian’s birthday celebration!!!

May 31st: Woke up this morning around 9 and went to do my laundry. Belle and I headed out around 9:45 and walked to the coin laundry about 6 minutes away. We used this machine that had a machine that washed AND dried. That was cool. Sadly we had to do some extra drying time since our clothes were still damp after the first cycle. Overall that took about an hour in total. We headed back to our hotel and had maybe 20 minutes until the class had to meet.

Our plan for the day was to go see the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and Meiji Jingu in Harajuku. We hopped on the train and went two stops to Tokyo. The station is like grand central in NYC with a lot of art and architecture. Apparently it was designed by a French guy so it looked very European.

From there we walked to the Imperial Palace. Apparently the imperial family was there at the time so it was very busy. We weren’t able to see the Palace but we did see the gardens. They were pretty and had some history to them. There was a koi pond which was my favorite. Here’s some photos as all we did was walk and see.

Afterwards we went back to the station and took the train to Harajuku to see Meiji Jingu ( that’s a shrine btw). We got an hour for lunch so I ran over to the Sailor Moon store to get some merch. This is where I got told the rules of Tex free and I have now found out I’m gonna have to pay tax when I come home! Little frustrated by that since no one told us but whatever.

I did also get food with a third of the class. It took forever to come to us but I got a very yummy omelet.

After some food we met up with the rest of the class for the shrine. It was a beautiful walk with a lot of pretty trees and architecture. Once again here are some photos:

After the shrine we were let free. A lot of us wanted to go to Shibuya for the Nintendo Store, Pokémon store, and Shibuya crossing. This was a really popular area but half of us decided to walk to the mall. On our way we saw the Olympic stadium! That was cool. The Pokémon center in Shibuya had the mewtwo statue!!!! I didn’t get anything from the Pokémon center but I did get stuff from Nintendo.

So we were a bit on a time crunch cause we had reservations at the Monster Hunter cafe for Fabian’s 21st!! On our way to the train station we ran into Shibuya crossing! It was really cool to see such a populated place that we also so popular.

We made it back to Akihabara for the cafe just in time! We all got some themed food from the Monster Hunter series and had some drinks. It was very yummy. I got some strip steak with potatoes, a drink with cotton candy, and dango for dessert! For fabian’s 21st we made him pose with a big thing of beer the size of his face. It was funny.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, watched half of the new dnd movie, and went to bed.

See you later for the next days adventure soon!!

Game Jam Day 2

Team 01 got off to a rocky start but by the time day 2 came around, we felt much more prepared and had a better understanding of what we needed to do to complete our project.

Our main task to finish up was to finish art and sound assets and put them into the unity project, and then implement player attacks. We were also able to implement some last minute boss attacks. Finally, we hooked everything up through make a semi-working prototype that simulates gameplay and game flow.

It was great seeing everyone’s projects during the showcase afterward. Some teams used Unreal Engine and had more of an emphasis on animation, models, and graphics, while other teams had simpler visuals with an emphasis on gameplay and interaction. Everyone took the theme of “collaborating across cultures” in a unique direction and overall it was a productive and inspiring weekend!

That night, we all celebrated at the hotel for a chill night :).

To Akihabara! (5/29)

Today was our highly-anticipated trip back to Tokyo, headed via Shinkansen to remm Akihabara, a hotel right next to Akihabara Station!

It went well and according to plan. With a somewhat shaky start, taking a while to get settled on the Shinkansen, but having gobbled down some Ekiben, I soon conked out for a good majority of the trip!

Upon arrival, we got settled into the remm Akihabara, a quaint, well-equipped hotel. The room was small, as expected, but the amenities and location more than made up for it. I’m probably more excited than I have any right to be about it, but they had a RAIN SHOWER! HOW COOL IS THAT!

Soon after, our group leader, Stephen Jacobs, led us to Mandarake, a famed anime and manga shop known for its variety of rare secondhand items. It was crazy to see the amount of merchandise they had in that place, a treat for almost anyone obsessed with anything! And I mean anything. The streets of Akihabara were absolutely packed with absolutely crazy stuff. Couldn’t stop looking up!

Next, we visited Super Potato. Hidden away in a sketchy-looking hallway off the street, it’s this massive retro game store. The nostalgia factor was off the charts, with walls of classic games and consoles stretching back decades. The top floor even had a few game cabinets, and was fully decked out with vending machines and air conditioners! Still think it’s insane how Japanese buildings fit so much in so little.

After all the exploration, a bunch of us got hungry and decided to check out Yarou Ramen. This place had a Japanese-only ticket system, which was a bit of a hurdle for some of us (even me), but eventually we managed to order our food. Luckily, that trouble was so worth! The ramen was out of this world! I have to say, it was my favorite meal I’ve had here so far. They even let us customize a fair bit. I put on a bunch of spicy tenkasu.

Post dinner, a few of us roamed the bustling streets of Akihabara and ended up in a massive games complex. The first few floors were filled with claw machines (didn’t win anything, as to be expected, haha). Above, there were rooms full of online and rhythm games, all accompanied by the blare of music and sound effects. It was a sensory overload but in the best way possible. The top floor was a treasure trove of retro games. Wonderful to look at, but I didn’t particularly feel the urge to devote myself to anything.

Our next stop was Don Quijote, a discount chain store that sells just about everything. It was a bit of a maze inside, and quite the hell of “way too much visual information.” Despite the confusing layout, it was pretty neat seeing all the stuff they had for sale! I was on the lookout for a Gengar plushie but unfortunately, they didn’t have it in stock. My search continues…

On the way home, we made a detour to Book-Off. I managed to snag around 10 volumes of Jojolion! Sadly, I think the last few volumes would be a real hard find.

Once I was back at the hotel, I took advantage of the downtime to pick up an umbrella (with the weather not seeming to let up this week) and do some coin laundry. On the way there, I was able to look out at the beautiful Kanda river. Damn.

Once again completely beat, it’s lights out!