Hey there! I'm Yoshinori Ono, CEO at Lasengle.
Welcome to my blog and thanks for dropping by!
Here at Lasengle, we have two working options: Home Style for those who want to work from home, and Office Style for those who want to work in the office.
In past blogs, I've talked a bit about how we're incorporating remote work at Lasengle, and you can read more about our flexible working style here, and see the data on remote working takeup and more here.
To make sure that we're taking full advantage of each working style, we're also exploring ways to get together in-person with regular offsite meetings. Our first venture offsite was such a success that I decided we should make it a regular thing.
This time we headed to...
...Harajuku! Home of the trendy and young. Outside on the street, the coolest of the cool bustled by in the latest fashions. Inside...
...a classy office setup for a bunch of game-loving geeks to hole up in and get down to some intense brainstorming (we took necessary precautions of course: masks, temperature checks, and avoiding crowds).
Online meetings and remote work are great, and technology has brought so many improvements to our working life. But, I still believe that online falls short when compared to the experience of in-person interactions--at least with the technology we have right now. So, at Lasengle, we like to mix up our approaches depending on what we want to get out of it.
For me, it's important to recognize the unique advantages of online and offline environments, and use both of them in a way that works for us. We should keep our minds and options open, and focus on finding ways to improve the organization and make sure the team is supported. That's how we'll be best at what we do, and how we'll keep making awesome games!
So, if your heart is screaming "Let me make games already!", or if anything in our job listing sparks even a little interest, then why not give Lasengle a go. Check out all our latest openings here.
Look forward to reading your applications!
Next up, my featured game for blog #17: Neon White.
Neon White is a first-person speed running action game.
The controls are super simple, and you feel like a superhero as you blaze through the levels at lightning speed. And when I say lightning speed, I mean it--most stages can be finished in under a minute.
But, that doesn't mean you'll complete the game in a flash. One of the things I love about this game is how it's designed for you to enjoy each stage over and over, as you master the speedrun to beat the time. There's also no randomizing, meaning enemy placement, card location (collectable items) and everything else are the same each time.
The basic objective in Neon White is to take out all enemies and reach the goal. Each stage is designed in a way that if you target enemies and cards, you'll automatically follow the most standard route to the goal.
When you start out, you take the standard route, obliterating enemies as you head to the goal. You can really blitz through it, sometimes clearing a stage in just 30 seconds. This route has some obstacles like impossibly high walls and platforms, and impenetrable roadblocks, and you use the cards you've been collecting to get past these within the time limit.
The cards are a bit unique in Neon White because they have two usages: as a weapon and as a special action. For example, the yellow pistol card can be used as a long-range semi-automatic weapon, or as a double-jump style vertical boost. Figuring out when and how to use each card is the key to knocking seconds off your clear times.
To progress the story and get through the stage, you need to complete the level within a certain timeframe, and to do that, you need to master the cards capabilities to find shortcuts.
The shortcuts are my favorite bit about this game. There's nothing like racing at superhuman speed through a secret route that you've only just discovered, and then sliding into goal in record time. And even if you can't find the shortcuts, after a couple of runs the game flashes up hints to help you along.
Sometimes, when I saw the floating hint marker, it was a lightbulb moment, like "How could I have missed that??". But at other times, I'd see the marker and still be confused: "Whaat? That can't be right--how am I gonna get through all those enemies??". And because the stages are always the same, you get to enjoy that mix of discovery and disbelief over and over again!
Neon White also features Gifts, which you collect to progress NPC events. I like how this adds an extra layer of challenge. The Gifts are usually out of reach and you have to puzzle out how to get them. It's totally different to the speed run element and involves a lot of trial and error to find the right route.
I also like the quick restart button which saves a lot of frustration. The game is all about finding the best route and clocking up the best time, and if I mess up mid-run, I want the option to restart and try again, without having to go all the way to the end.
One of the drawbacks of games like this is that running the same stage over and over can get boring, but Neon White keeps it interesting by challenging players to head off the standard route, and find shortcuts, or discover clever detours to grab the Gifts.
Having no randomization meant I could focus on finding hidden routes, and I love that little thrill you get when you finally find the secret path! Throw in the eye-spinning lightning speed superhuman action and it's impossible not to get addicted (well, at least for me!).
When I got to the end, I realized there were two possible endings, but I hadn't completed the necessary prerequisites so only one was available. Now all I want to do is go back, do what I need to do to unlock the other ending, and find out what happens next! And this is exactly what's so impressive about Neon White game design--you want to play every stage again and again, right up until the very end.
If you like high-speed, superhuman action, hunting for shortcuts and secret paths, and love the thrill of speed runs, then you'll get a kick out of this game. Neon White is incredibly well-crafted and a whole lot of fun.
And that's my take on Neon White!
Thanks for reading.
The next game is calling my name so gotta go--till next time!
Yoshinori X（Twitter）