As many of you already know, a Sanae fangame has been becoming popular. The fangame is called "SANAE's Sylphid Breeze" and it's been depeloped by the group SOREHODO, which consist of one person, ランナイ (Ran'nai).
This
week we managed to comunicate with the developed and we asked him some
questions with regards to the game and the hispanic comunity. Next, we
will show the small intervie we had. Also, this was translated from
japanese to english using Chatgpt, but was manually reviewed. If you
want to see what exactly he answered, you can read the interview in
japanese.
Japanese
Portuguese: Em produção.
Spanish
1. Can you present yourself and tell us who you are?
Hello, I am Ran'nai, the representative of the circle SOREHODOH. I am a Japanese game developer currently working in Japan. Ran'nai is written as Lakni in English, which is read as RAN NAI in Roman letters (derived from the abbreviation of Lancer Knight).
Since SOREHODOH is an individual circle, you can call it either SOREHODOH or Lakni, whichever you prefer!
Originally, I was active as a pixel artist during my student years. Now, after a 10-year hiatus, I have resumed individual game development and am currently working on 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze!
2. How much time have you been developing games?
Regarding the game 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze,' as of September 2024, it has been six months since development began.
Given that this is a personal project, the development speed over these six months is objectively remarkable. The reason for this rapid development is that much of the game material was created 10 years ago.
During these six months, I have been focusing on rewriting the program from scratch, adding new features, and creating the corresponding images.
3. What motivated you to create this game?
Why am I creating 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze' now? Let me explain my motivation.
Over the past 10 years, I have been working on game development at a game company, but I wanted to challenge myself with personal development once again.
In addition to that, I felt that 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze,' which I had been working on 10 years ago, was unfinished in my eyes. With indie games becoming more vibrant, especially on Steam, and seeing how the Touhou Project continues to thrive even after a decade, I felt that now is the time to truly complete 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze.'
I believe that both new Touhou fans who have emerged over the past 10 years and long-time fans will surely enjoy the latest version of 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze.
4. You mentioned that you are
the one responsible for making the entire game (music, desing and
levels). What do you consider are the biggest difficulties when
developing it?
In a word, it's 'a lack of time'… (laughs). Normally, tasks that would be handled by a team of 5 or 10 people, or even more, are being done by just one person. Additionally, over the past 10 years, I didn’t have programming skills, so programming has always been a trial-and-error process. For example, in the May demo, I struggled significantly with controller input support.
By the way, all the music (BGM) and sound effects (SE) are outsourced to friends and their connections. While I’ve managed to handle programming, sound is a whole different realm for me (laughs).
Moreover, promoting indie games is essential. I’m also handling daily updates on X (formerly Twitter) by myself. While I’m spending time on that, development inevitably comes to a halt… I just don’t have enough time! But I see all of these as necessary learning experiences for continuing indie game development in the future, so it's all really enjoyable.
5. Do you have a problem if the comunity makes translation patches to languages like spanish?
It is undecided whether there will be an official Spanish version. Therefore, if someone decides to create an unofficial Spanish version, it should be clearly stated as such.
'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze' is being developed using GAME MAKER STUDIO, so I think it might be possible to do similar things as in UNDERTALE. (Although I'm not very familiar with the details, UNDERTALE was also created using GAME MAKER STUDIO, and at a time when UNDERTALE only had an English version, fans in Japan unofficially created a Japanese translation patch.)
However,
considering the nature of this game, it is not expected to have an
excessive amount of text, so I believe that a lack of professional
translation will not significantly hinder gameplay. Since it's an action
game, the ideal scenario is to be able to enjoy it non-verbally.
6.
Do you plan to make more games apart from this? Or it depends on the
reception that this game will receive to know if you will make more
games.
Of course. I am making 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze' with the intention of continuing indie game development in the future. I also plan to take on original titles, and work on those projects is already underway.
The girl who occasionally appears with 'THANK YOU' on the official SOREHODOH X account is a character planned for one of the original titles. I will occasionally discuss these original titles, so I would be delighted if you remember her and the others.
Additionally, depending on the response, there might also be a sequel to 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze.'
7. Is there a decided date for the release of this game? Also, I want to mention that I will upload this to my blog.
Regarding the release date, please wait for the official announcement…!
I have already stated that I am aiming for a release within a year, so it is expected to be released by the end of March 2025.
I’m looking forward to seeing it featured on your blog!
8. Finally, do you wish to say some words to the hispanic comunity?
I can definitely feel the strong enthusiasm from the Hispanic community.
Since starting to share information about 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze' on @SOREHODH_GL, most of the responses have come from English-speaking regions. While this is natural given that the information is in English, I’ve also received support from people like Suzunaan, who featured the June demo, and others who have suggested translating the game into Spanish.
As of September, I haven’t received any translation proposals for other languages!
As a Japanese speaker with limited English skills, I’m currently unable to communicate directly in Spanish or handle sales in Spanish. However, I definitely feel the excitement for 'SANAE's Sylphid Breeze' from the community.
The release is still some time away, but I will continue to share updates. Your support is greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy the game. Thank you for your continued encouragement and have a great Touhou experience!
From Suzunaan, we give a
huge thanks to Ran'nai for answering our questions and we wish him
succes in his proyect. And for you dear reader, don't forget that you
can follow him in X, both in english and japanese; or even better, you can try his game freely and if you are interested, you can add it to your wishlist on Steam.
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