(This content was originally published by Delightworks Inc. The gaming division of Delightworks has since been integrated into Lasengle).
Hey there! I'm Yoshinori Ono, COO at Delightworks.
Welcome to my blog and thanks for dropping by!
I don't know about you, but we're only a week or two back from the holidays and I'm still not ready to shift into work mode yet. Baby steps, right?
On the first day back, sticking with tradition in Japan, the team and I went to visit our local shrine to make our New Year wishes. But man, did we pick a day! Tokyo was hit with a snowstorm--which is pretty unusual for this part of Japan.
We figured this was our first real test of the year, so undeterred, we braved the cold in our lightweight city clothes and headed to the shrine.
What did we wish for? I prayed for the future of our company, and for the continued health and safety of everyone in the team during the ongoing pandemic. Because, being healthy means we can face up to most challenges--even sudden snowfall!
This new year break, I headed back to Osaka, my hometown. Following family tradition (and that of most people in Osaka!), we went to Namba Grand Kagetsu to watch some of Japan's best-loved comedy talent at the annual New Year Show.
There's nothing like a good laugh, right? And it's such a great way to kick off a new year. It gives me such a release, and charges me up ready for the year ahead.
2022 marks the start of a brand new voyage for Lasengle. As we head out on adventure, I'll be using my experience but also on the lookout for fresh challenges--so watch this space! It's going to be an exciting year at Lasengle.
Now, for a different kind of excitement with my featured game for blog #4, Nova Drift.
Once upon a time, back in the day, radio-controlled cars (RC cars) were all the rage in Japan. Was it the same where you were growing up?
A full setup could set you back a pretty penny--not exactly pocket money stuff! I remember as a kid agonizing over how to make my New Year's gift money stretch to buy what I wanted, counting and recounting hoping that somehow, it'd magically increase (spoiler alert: it never did).
The top-of-the-range RC cars were not kiddie toys. The speeds and power were enough to make your head spin, and handling was an artform. It was hard enough to get them to go straight, and mastering that perfect drift around a figure-eight track took some serious skills and dedication.
Eventually, versions that were affordable for the average kid hit the market, and that's when customizing became the next big thing. Me and my friends would go all out trying to one-up each other with the most tricked-out, original rides we could build with the parts (and cash!) available.
Nova Drift takes all that excitement and technique, and launches it into space. So, yeah, I was hooked from the start!
Nova Drift is a top-down shooter where you control a spaceship, with steering that feels a lot like controlling a RC car. You've got control over the direction and speed, so you can go forward and make turns.
But just like with an RC car, getting your spaceship to go straight is a challenge all of its own! You might be tempted to play it safe: nudge forward a bit, make a slight turn, inch forward a bit more. But you'd be missing out on what makes this game so much fun.
Like the "Drift" in the name suggests, once you get a feel for the controls, the game turns into a fast-paced, action-packed battle across the universe. Master the drift and you can whip your ship around to dodge enemy attacks, or to line up the perfect shot on your enemies.
It's not just the spaceship that's fast, the whole game progression cycle is super speedy. Ship and gear power-ups happen as you blast through enemies.
You can also play around with different part combos to customize your ship and battle strategy. So, every run, you can trick out your ship into your own personal space monster machines--just like when you were a kid.
ut, just like when you were a kid, you can't build the perfect monster machine every time. Only, it's not your allowance that's holding you back. In Nova Drift, the ship and item options are random, so every run you gotta work with what you've got.
This element of random luck combines with the fast-paced game cycle and the intense space shooter action to create a game that always keeps you on your toes. I found myself trying out a couple of ship and weapon combos that I probably wouldn't normally think of, and shaking up my whole strategy on the fly, sometimes switching from missiles to full-on attack.
The magic of Nova Drift is that it's not about grinding for hours and hours to create the ultimate custom monster machine and push it to the max. The game is designed to make you want to experiment with different setups, and test out stuff that you might not usually go for right off the bat.
It's why when you wrap up a run, you catch yourself thinking, "Just one more go," which quickly turns into, "Okay, just one last try," and "Alright, this is definitely, absolutely the final one!" and soon hours have flown by in what feels like minutes (yeah, we've all been there, right?).
I love the sleek and simple game design, especially how it works to highlight how fast your ship evolves as you defeat enemies. Watching my ship upgrade with drops from defeated enemies was like watching the high-speed food chain of fish and plankton in a pond, or watching human evolution on fast-forward. The art design added a kind of mesmerizing beauty to the whole process which I really enjoyed.
To wrap up, Neon Drift I love the sleek and simple game design, especially how it works to highlight how fast your ship evolves as you defeat enemies. Watching my ship upgrade with drops from defeated enemies was like watching the high-speed food chain of fish and plankton in a pond, or watching human evolution on fast-forward. The art design added a kind of mesmerizing beauty to the whole process which I really enjoyed.
Neon Drift has tons of options to customize and have fun experimenting with crazy combos. It's so addictive and you'll want to keep playing it again and again!
That's my take on Nova Drift!
Thanks for reading.
The next game is calling my name so gotta go--till next time!
Yoshinori X（Twitter）