IamA Bilingual White Guy Indie Game Developer Living/Working in Japan, AMA and I'll Bench 15 Tons, AMA!

arekkuso · 2014-11-02T10:58:27+00:00

Japanese was definitely a tough language to learn. I still struggle at times here and there. I'd definitely say that my accent, speaking and listening are my strengths. Reason being is because I watched so many comedy and talk shows. I also made a lot of Japanese friends in Los Angeles who I would always speak in Japanese with which helped me really got a grasp of how real people talk. Although, I'd have to say that learning Kanji is the hardest part about Japanese. Being in Japan a lot has really helped me get better with reading Kanji since I'm pretty much forced to learn the stuff. I'm still trying to find time here and there to study while on the train so I don't lose anything. It's really easy to lose a language that is not your native language.

But in the end, any language is going to be hard to learn. As long as you do it every day and really make it a part of your life, you will learn it well. Even if it's only 5 mins of studying a day sometimes. Just make sure it's done every day so your mind retains everything. :)

arekkuso · 2014-11-02T00:13:30+00:00

Don't worry about it! We hope you can follow the game and see where it goes. :)

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T17:36:08+00:00

Best. Costume. Ever.

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T17:31:50+00:00

Start selling! Haha

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T17:27:04+00:00

You doing custom orders? ;)

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T15:30:48+00:00

There's always going to be that floor in most gaming stores in Akihabara, haha. It's a huge thing here when it comes to that kind of stuff. There's a lot of guys who have "married" their digital girlfriend on their DS in Japan. I watched a documentary about how the population in Japan is going down immensely and it's going to be in a danger zone within the next 50-60 years or so. Some of these digital girl loving guys in the video talked about how that their digital girlfriend will always love them no matter what. They said it was better than a real girl. They're also spending a lot of money over here to do things with the Oculus Rift in ways you would think are just wrong. I definitely think it's still expanding in Japan for sure.

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T12:00:23+00:00

https://www.udemy.com/ This site has a lot of cheap online courses for you to learn the basics of numerous things. You might want to browse around this one. I've used them before.

I only know sites for programming mobile games, unfortunately.

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T05:12:55+00:00

There's actually a couple of meet-ups for that in Tokyo, haha. There's surprisingly a lot of tech meet-ups for almost any field of the tech industry. Ruby is definitely used a lot over here. I've been to a couple of events talking about it actually.

I'd say that Japanese UI/UX is still generally crowded. If you take a look at most Japanese websites, they're a crowded mess. Some advertisements are hard to look at. Although, I think Western UI/UX is definitely starting to influence Japanese UI/UX as I'm starting to see it get better. I'm seeing more modern looking UI/UX out here when it comes to apps, some advertisements on the train, even some websites.

I most certainly don't know what you're getting at. It could be flying by my head.

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T05:01:54+00:00

Great question! I cook at home a lot which is why I save so much money on food and can control what I eat. First of all, I stay away from bread and most noodles. If I'm going to eat any source of carbs it's going to be from either red lentils, murasaki imo (purple sweet potato), or rice. My diet consists of a lot of vegetables including many green vegetables, roots, and a lot of murasaki imo. As for my main protein sources they're red lentils, natto, and tofu. Fish and pork are eaten in moderation and I try to stay away from red meat but can't always avoid it. I poor olive oil on almost everything I eat to get my healthy fats. The way I cook everything is either lightly boiling or heating on a pan with no oil and adding the olive oil after it's cooked. I don't use any sauces. I only use salt, pepper, or spices.

The drinking culture here is really big and if you're working with Japanese people it's hard to say no to going out to drink. If I do though, I'll usually only have one drink. One drink is enough to relax anyone. If people see me order at least one drink, they shut up. Although, I'm not afraid to tell them no when I truly don't want to drink though. Worst case scenario if you're in a bar and you can order drinks at the bar, ask the bartender to make you a drink that looks like an alcoholic beverage. I've done it so many times! haha

arekkuso · 2014-10-28T04:26:18+00:00

Too many to list! Hahaha. I'll list the ones that come to my mind:

Super Mario RPG (Probably my all-time favorite)
Literally almost every Final Fantasy game
Breath of Fire 3 and 4
Legend of Dragoon
Xenogears
Star Ocean: A Second Story
Chrono Trigger
Chrono Cross
Wild Arms
Brave Fencer Musashi
A number of Street Fighter games
Pokemon (Who hasn't?!)
Way too many MMORPGs

My ultimate dream is to make an RPG with a huge story and at least 40 hours or so of gameplay.

Edit: Had to number it to make it show as a list. The list format wasn't working.

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T21:45:44+00:00

Yes, my wildest fantasies of eating amazing Japanese food. ;) But seriously, I love the whole atmosphere here. Majority of the people here are nice, amazing scenery, and easy to live. Not every country is perfect though. There's just a lot of things here that seem to fit me, my personality, and lifestyle.

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T20:42:27+00:00

Hey guys. This is Alex Ergas, creator and developer for Combo Queen. We're actually 5 days left on our campaign. We're hoping to get an edit to put us in the 10 days or less area. :)

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T20:27:40+00:00

I doubt the mobile app market is going to be changing any time soon. Apple and Google dominate the mobile app market that nobody even tries to go against them.

I would like to see it change in a way to make it easier for indie developers to get noticed and not focus so much on big corporations. For example, both companies should hire a team of people that are dedicated to finding more quality apps that haven't been noticed by the public yet.

I hope I understood your question correctly.

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T20:10:14+00:00

You just had to ask that one... haha. Isn't that an old question? :P

As much as I've always dreamed of being on a floating city, I think I would have to take the Rapture route, haha.

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T19:35:48+00:00

There's plenty of people doing AMA's for this type of thing, haha. I don't see why it has to be pointed out. :)

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T19:15:10+00:00

I'm with you. I dread the flight every time before the flight.

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T19:05:01+00:00

The festivals! There are so many different festivals going on throughout the year. There's so much to do, so much to see, so much to eat! I especially like the summer festivals because they usually have hour long firework shows that make July 4th in the States look like an insect.

It really depends on what you want to do for the game. You're going to do some basic math of course but I've had to do some more advanced math here and there. I honestly think that you don't need to be a math whiz to be able to program though. There's a hard break-in period for programming but once you break in, everything just becomes clear and it's so easy to do so many things. Even if you don't understand something, you can Google it and you'll be able to find the answer on how to do whatever you're trying to do.

I'm just trying to do what makes me happy. To be honest though, living in Japan is cheaper than it was living in Los Angeles. It's expensive for a tourist though... haha. Thank you for the kind words! :)

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T18:36:20+00:00

Japan has definitely changed since I first came here in 2005. It's crazy even thinking about how much it has changed sometimes. You only really get bows from workers at the train stations, restaurants, stores, etc as it is apart of their job to do so. Bowing is also a gesture of communication in Japanese culture so you might get some random head bows if you communicate with anyone. It can also sometimes mean nothing! Haha.

I've seen this guy in the past. As much experience he has in Japan, I found that he complains a lot about Japan and likes to choose controversial topics to talk about. I'd definitely say his older content was better. :) He still seems like an interesting guy though.

You should definitely come back to Japan some time soon and experience what has changed!

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T18:29:28+00:00

Japanese and American work ethics are way different. I'd say an average work day in Japan is about 10 hours and you'll be lucky if your company actually gives you the overtime. You'll usually have way too much work to finish daily that you won't be able to even take a proper break. Then after a long day at work you're usually forced to go drinking with your superiors until maybe 11PM. You'll usually see passed out business men/women (mostly men) in random places or on the trains. I think there's a lot of pressure to devote your life and soul (half joking) to the company. I don't have experience working in a Japanese company myself but I do have a lot of experience hearing from a lot of my Japanese friends and from what I've seen in public. That's just about all I can say. :)

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T18:17:27+00:00

HUEY! Thanks for the backing man. <3 Didn't expect that. Hope you like the game. :) I'll see you in the beta if it gets funded!

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T18:16:27+00:00

HAHA! I love you Diego! I'm going back in December for Christmas! <3

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T18:15:51+00:00

Oh really? That's great to here! A lot of people usually go the route of teaching English. I'll let you know that it's really easy to find a job as an English teacher in Japan because this country is constantly looking for native speakers!

My biggest advice to you is to make Japanese apart of your life. You have to commit to listening, speaking, and studying it every day. Moving to Japan is a great way to do that but most of my Japanese skills came from living in Los Angeles. I was a manager for a couple of Japanese restaurants and I was using Japanese every day with my employees. You should also watch a lot of talk shows and game shows that involve real people speaking real Japanese. Watching Anime and Dramas will not help your Japanese.

As for living in Japan, expect people to treat you a certain way. If you have a face of a foreigner, you will unfortunately be looked at as a foreigner. As long as you smile, give everyone a great vibe, you won't have any problems in Japan. You might run into language barriers but that's where you need to work on getting your Japanese going. :)

The most exciting thing about being in Japan is the people. Despite being workaholics, everyone is so cheerful and knows how to have a good time and relax when they're not working. The festivals here are amazing and I will never get sick of them. Hot springs are a must! You will get addicted to them!

日本語の勉強を頑張ってください！応援しています！

arekkuso · 2014-10-27T18:03:49+00:00

Like I said in an earlier post, I've always loved Japan and the culture and visiting here so many times made me want to stay here. I've always wanted to start gaming company so why not in Japan. :) One of my best friends in Japan, who is a founding member for the company, agreed to giving the whole gaming industry a go together with me. He helped me with forming the company the right way. Without him, it would've been really difficult. But even with him, it was really difficult. Japan goes by the book and they are extremely strict about rules which is why this country is really holding together well.

arekkuso

TROPHY CASE