Danchi Days News: November 2024
Digi Game Expo 2024, showfloor demos and more
2 months ago, sandy, mogumu and I officially revealed Danchi Days to the world through a trailer and Steam page! The past few weeks have been challenging getting a demo ready for a show. But now that time of struggle is behind us… and we have a shiny nice demo in English and Japanese 😊
Here’s a little sneak peek if you haven’t seen it yet.
Pulling together a demo can be challenging, because you have to get a LOT of stuff together! It’s like prepping your ingredients for cooking. Clickable images, receiving e-mails, getting bookmarks to people’s home pages, searching keywords to find pages… truly, it really adds up. Well, let’s just say it’s a relief it’s all working now 😅
Coverage in the West
We actually received fairly little coverage from the English-speaking world in the past two months! We were surprised given the game’s generally positive reception, but maybe that’s how competition is nowadays. I’m personally a bit disappointed because I thought that an angle of a game set in Japan, by an Asian woman with Japanese background, would be pretty interesting - especially in contrast to the generally male-led Japanese game industry - or the games featuring romanticized takes on Japan.
But… I guess that wasn’t the case. It’s possible that people just need to see a demo first? On the other hand, Japanese press has been pretty warm to the game.
Well, based on fan reception in Japan I still have faith that word of mouth can help us out, so I’m still hopeful. I do have to shoutout that we did receive some coverage from Payton’s Corner Youtube channel alongside other cozy games. We’re very gracious for the attention!
Other than that, we were accepted into Cozy Quest 2024, a Steam Event which will be starting in about a week. Keep an eye out for the event!! We’ll only be in it with our store page, though.
Digi Game Expo 2024
Last weekend we got to present Danchi Days at Digi Game Expo 2024, in Akihabara!
This was a fun event. It’s been a while since I’ve shown a game at a show before, so I forgot how fun it can be to meet fans and meet other developers, both doujin and indie.
All three of our computers (and our secret 4th Journalist Steam Deck) were occupied almost the whole show! We got to observe about 60 new people play the game, even meeting other people who were fans of one of Danchi Days’ main inspirations, Uki-Uki Carnival.
So what was in the demo? It’s quite short, and gives a taste of the writing, world and game mechanics of Danchi Days. It’s a demo-exclusive scenario not in the final game, where, after Hoshino learns a few tutorials from Moro-Q (the kappa), she encounters a Certain Webpage. Its negative portrayal of Hoshino’s home danchi motivates her to go and invite people to the summer festival. After you invite some people, the demo ends… before revealing that there may be malevolent forces at work in the world of Danchi Days…
In addition, players got to explore a bit of the internet, as well as experience some item puzzles, and our Sense Games!!
Ah, Sense Games… the mystery of Danchi Days. What, exactly, are they? I’ll save the details of the Sense Games for another time. However… they were consistently a highlight for players!
Player Reception
We were lucky to receive positive feedback online, as well as even some articles, after the show. Let me translate a few for you.
Danchi Days was great!! It made me think about when I was a kid, hanging out at my friend’s house in a danchi. The game has cozy vibes, so I’d recommend it to any Boku no Natsuyasumi fans. (Streamer)
Danchi Days really lived up to the name “Danchi Days”! Great art and vibes, but I particularly loved the music… soo moving. (Fellow gamedev)
Tried out Danchi Days mostly because they follow me here. And… on top of the great art, the gameplay and dialogue were really well-done, too! Only got to play 10 minutes but I’m already a huge fan. (Player)
In Danchi Days, a 6th grader and a kappa with a cucumber allergy decide to revive an aging danchi! Yes… revive the danchi’s summer festival and invite a bunch of people! The pixel art, atmosphere make for a really cute game, and the retro feel of the in-game internet was charming as well. (Writer)
Even in the demo version there’s already a wide variety of events. Looking forward to the release!! (Let’s Player)
Saw something amazing today! A family of four came to play, and the mom first tried it. After losing, the older brother took over, and when the daughter said “I can’t see!!” the dad lifted her up… and finally, when the brother won, they were all delighted!! For me, a guy who just plays single player games… this was indeed a dazzling sight… (Localizer)
I got to play Danchi Days!! It was really really good!!! The cozy, charming world, the detailed tutorials… they were all great! The mini-games were all unique, fun and felt really polished! I’m looking forward to the release~ (Fellow gamedev)
I was able to try out Danchi Days!🌻 Moving the characters around the beautiful pixel art environments was fun, and I was immediately absorbed. I want to play more!! The shocking ending made me even more excited for the release🥒 (Fellow gamedev)
Danchi Days already has the makings of a masterpiece!! A girl deciding to revive an aging danchi… such a great concept! Seems like she has to invite a lot of people to succeed. I can’t help but cheer for her… this game is one to watch!! (Michinori Ozawa, Soul Caliber 4/6 producer)
I played this on the recommendation of a streamer! The tutorials were easy to understand, and it was a really relaxed, cozy game. The minigames were fun too, and the staff at the booth were really kind. (Player)
We’ve also received some coverage (with a bit more still to come!)
Me and the team are really pleased at the reception from fans, and I’m happy that we’re on the right track. Already, we have lots of ideas on how to push the the game into even more exciting and surprising territory. Personally, for me it can get easy to feel down about a game not getting big, but these shows are good reminders that the point of any art making is really that human connection through collaboration with teammates and sharing with players.
As for our fans in the English world… it may be some time before you’re able to get your hands on it. Alas! But we might reach out to influencers with a demo this winter, so keep an eye out!