Hey there! I'm Yoshinori Ono, CEO at Lasengle.
Welcome to my blog and thanks for dropping by!
If you read last month's blog, you'll know that I put a call out for brave adventurers to join our crew on an exciting new voyage (AKA looking for new talent!)
When I first hit that post button things were a bit...crickets, prompting one of the team to point out, "Your blog's not exactly going viral, is it?" (thanks for the show of confidence, team).
But, slowly, applications with "I decided to apply after reading your blog," or "I was on the fence about applying, but then I read your blog and thought, why not give it a shot," started trickling in.
See! I knew what I was doing all along. (Wipes forehead. Breathes huge sigh of relief.)
So, having proven that my plan was not a total waste of time, I'm back with some more job ads, including some new departments and roles. Excited? Good.
At first, I was gonna write the ads myself, because, after last time, I'm kind of a job ad pro now. But the Design Team wanted to give it a go ("It's only the boss's blog, how much harm can it cause?"), and here's what they came up with:
■Creator of Worlds (Environment Artist)
We're on the hunt for a divine creator. A god-like being who can whip up living, breathing worlds for titles that will pull players right in.
■Maestro of the Battlefield (Combat Director)
Are you a true maestro? A master of your craft who can work with the sound, effects, and animation teams to choreograph combat sequences in FGO? Then come join us in making the Servants impress!
■Grand Wizard of Visual Effects (VFX Artist)
The FGO world is in dire need of a Visual Effects Wizard to weave their color magic. Teaming up with the animation and sound teams, you'll brew up effects that'll stun and amaze!
These ads are just great, aren't they? I love how you get a glimpse of the person behind each one. Which reminds me, I got some feedback from one of the team on a job ad in the last blog. The ad read:
■Web Marketer on Fire
Wanna make game love spread like wildfire? Do you have a burning passion for ad strategy and cross media? Then join our team and let's make some sparks fly together.
Feedback from the department lead:
"Thanks to everyone who applied or is thinking of applying for this post. We've had a couple of questions since the blog went live about the requirements: "Is it okay if I can't make actual sparks?" and "Is 'burning' passion a must or just a nice to have? I've got passion, but I don't know if it's burning or just kinda warm, y'know?".
I just want to assure everyone that we're open to all types of applicants, flaming or not.
What we want is a diverse team, one that brings together a variety of personalities. At Lasengle, we believe that diversity makes us stronger, it helps us to adapt and helps us grow. So, whether you're a hothead or a cool customer, as long as you share our love for games, we'd be happy to have you on board."
Well said!!
To make a great game, you need a team of great people, individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, personalities...all that diversity is how you make truly awesome games. It's all about teamwork, you know?
If your team is made up of one type of person, you'd get strong in that area, but end up limited in others. A team, and an organization, needs to be flexible if it's to grow and adapt.
It's the same when you're gaming.
You could create a highly-specialized party. Or go for balance, with each character having different abilities and skills. You can choose to hoard your precious loot till the end, or use the items as you go. A gaming experience depends on the player's style, and a team will depend on the leader's style.
I don't want a company of Yoshinori-shaped teams (try and get that image out of your head!), I want my team leaders to take the reins and shape the teams themselves.
The awesome thing about Lasengle is that we all have the same goal. We have respect and appreciation for each person's unique talent, because we know that we're all headed in the same direction.
If your heart is screaming "Let me make games already!!!", and even if only one item on the job ad ticks the box, I'd love for you to get in touch. The more people who join us, the more exciting our adventure will be.
If you've read this far, you should've got a taste of what an incredible place Lasengle is to work at--and if not, well, maybe you should go back to the beginning and read harder (just kidding!). Either way, I hope you keep dropping by and learning more about who we are at Lasengle
Next up, my featured game for blog #7, Neon Abyss
Imagine, you're cruising through the night, corporate logos and product images glowing bright against the dark sky, designs and texts sharply defining the structures they're plastered on.
Neon signs have a kind of surreal beauty. But too much neon, and it highlights the other side. Bright lights of the main streets and dark shadows in the alleys, crowds of people and lonely apartments, safety versus danger, good versus evil...As you head down a back alley, where the neon lights flicker and sputter, for no real reason you feel a chill and grip your phone a little tighter. Yeah, we all know that feeling!
Neon Abyss is a side-scrolling twin-stick shooter.
A twin-stick shooter is your basic aim-and-shoot game where the controller sticks functions are split, with the left to move your character and the right for aiming and firing.
This setup lets you move and shoot in different directions, meaning you can shoot in one direction, while moving in another--pushing forward while shooting back, or retreating while shooting in front. With Neon Abyss, since it's a side-scroller, it means you'll be moving to the right while shooting left, or moving down to the left while shooting right.
I'm already a big fan of twin-stick shooters, and how they use this function to create a dynamic and fluid gameplay. But Neon Abyss is a whole other ball game. This game is all about the loot. The more loot, the stronger you get. And there's literally no limits on how much you can snag.
Most shooters will put a cap on your strength. After grabbing a certain amount of items the game is like, "That's it folks, that's as powerful as you're gonna get!", and no matter how many items you collect, it makes no difference to your strength.
But not Neon Abyss. The more items you collect, the more powerful your shots, the faster your firing rates, and the more bullets you can fire at the same time.
There's also no limit on how many pets you can have. Why stop at two or three when you can have a whole conga line of 10, 20 or more creature companions aiding you in battle?
Plus, you can also combine certain items to gain special abilities. Things like boosting your strength, blocking explosive damage, supercharging bullets, even flying. And that's not all.
What I love about this game is you can stack these effects up, so you'll reach a point where you're blasting out so much punishing firepower, enemies barely register before you've completely wiped them from the screen.
Eventually, you get to the point where you're so insanely powerful that the original twin-stick shooting setup has little meaning, and even aiming feels almost pointless. You're just unleashing destruction with that sweet feeling of being completely invincible.
But, if that hasn't sold you, there's more.
Neon Abyss starts you off each run with a basic peashooter-which could've come in handy for last week's Setsubun, but not great at wiping out enemies. At this early stage, you need to handle that twin-stick setup well or it'll be game over before you know it.
Since weapons, items, pets, and maps are all randomized, there's no guarantee you'll get that all-powerful annihilating setup every run. If your luck is down, you can't power-up as you'd planned and yep, you'll bite it.
Visually, the game cleverly mixes pixel characters with playful, toy-like weapons and items, cute plush pets, and vibrant, neon shooting effects to create a world that's somewhere between a sci-fi movie and a dream, all wrapped in a decadent aesthetic that makes for a truly stunning game.
Wrapping up, Neon Abyss is a game where you move and aim with different sticks giving you more freedom over shooting. There's no cap on strength so you want to keep hunting out loot, adding to the sense of adventure and a tangible character progression.
If your luck is in, you'll get invincible firepower with minimal needs for moving and aiming. Eventually, you'll get permanent upgrades to help you clear stages in future runs. The art is sci-fi and fantasy meet retro pixel and neon, vibrant but with a tinge of desolation.
That's my take on Neon Abyss!
Thanks for reading.
The next game is calling my name so gotta go--till next time!
Yoshinori X（Twitter）