Playism poll: which Touhou derivative games do you want to see?

[cuc]

On this day (May 19 in Japan), Playism English has started a poll about your wishes for non-mainline Touhou games:
http://playism-games.com/article/touhou-derivatives-what-would-you-like-to-see

They claim the poll is used for collecting fan wishes. On one hand, they do not guarantee their list of prospective games will be published (however, it should be a list they are confident about); the other hand, you can suggest any game you wanted.

The list they provided is:

Which Touhou Derivative title do you want to see released in the West?

    New Super Marisa Land (魔理沙と6つのキノコ lit. "Marisa and the 6 Mushrooms") [link]

    Urban Legend in Limbo (東方深秘録 lit. "Eastern Record of Deep Mysteries") [link]

    The Nightmare of Rebellion (東方玄夢妖譚 lit. "Eastern Mysterious Dream Youkai Talk") [link]

    Scarlet Symphony (紅魔城伝説 緋色の交響曲 lit. "Legend of Scarlet Devil Castle: Scarlet Symphony". AKA "Touhouvania") [link]

    Touhou Sky Arena (東方スカイアリーナ) [link]

    Adventures of Scarlet Curiosity (東方紅輝心) [link]

    Other [fill in the name]

The Japanese side of Playism has already published Scarlet Curiosity and The Nightmare of Rebellion.

The poll does not have an apparent end date.

UPDATE:
The following options have been added:

Gensou Shoujo Taisen Scarlet (幻想少女大戦紅 lit. "Fantasy Maiden Wars E") [link]

Touhou no Meikyuu (東方の迷宮 lit. "Labyrinth of Touhou") [link]

Touhou Soujinengi The Genius of Sappheiros (東方蒼神縁起 lit. "Blue God Omen") [link]

UPDATE2:
Day 3 additions:

Gensou Ningyou Enbu (幻想人形演舞 lit. "Fantasy Puppet Dance Performance") AKA. Touhou Puppet Dance Performance [link]

MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou (MegaMari - 魔理沙の野望 lit. "Marisa's Ambition") [link]

Touhou Hisoutensoku ~ Choudokyuu Ginyoru no Nazo o Oe (東方非想天則　～　超弩級ギニョルの謎を追え lit. "Lacking the Perception of the Natural Laws of the East ~ Chase the Enigma of the Gargantuan Guignol") [link]

UPDATE3:
Day 4:

Devil of Decline (東方幻想魔録 lit. "Records of Fantasy Dream") [link]

Tenjou no Tempest (天壌のテンペスト lit. "The Tempest of Heaven and Earth") [link]

Tenjou no Tempest is already available on Playism Japan.

UPDATE4:
Work Day 5:

Touhou Suimusou ~ Immaterial and Missing Power (東方萃夢想 ～ Immaterial and Missing Power lit. "Eastern Forgathering of Dreams and Thoughts") [link]

Youyou Kengeki Musou (妖々剣戟夢想 lit. Youyou Swordplay Dream) [link]

Touhou Soccer Moushuuden (東方サッカー猛蹴伝 lit. "Touhou Soccer Tales of Fierce Kick") [link]

Touhou Unreal Mahjong (東方幻想麻雀 lit. "Touhou Fantasy Mahjong") [link]

UPDATE5:
Work Day 6 & 7 each added a game:

Mystery Gensokyo (不思議の幻想郷 lit. Gensokyo's Mystery) [link]

Touhou Hisouten ~ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (東方緋想天 ～ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody lit. "Eastern Sky of Scarlet Perception") [link]

[Leon゠Helsing]

Looks like you can only vote for 3 games maximum.

Anyway, I voted for ULiL, Scarlet Symphony, and Adventures of Scarlet Curiosity. Kinda hoping that if Koumajou Densetsu is relatively successful in the west Frontier Aja would at least consider a third title.

[Drake]

NSML is pretty much necessary.

Koumajou I is kinda poop and the main reason I'd vote for it is to then bring in Koumajou II which is basically god-tier of Touhou fangames. The team in Aja that developed it has since fractured though, so I'm not sure what that would entail for getting it pushed.


(Also, keenly noted that ULiL is in a list of so-called "derivatives")

[cuc]

(Also, keenly noted that ULiL is in a list of so-called "derivatives")

The game technically belongs to Tasofro, and should be part of Playism's negotiation with Tasofro. This is evidenced by the list grouping it together with NSML.

From Playism's business perspective, this difference is much more fundamental than issues of canonicity. However it may also be something that they themselves are confused about. They are calling it a poll for "derivative" and "non-mainline" games, when in reality the criterion here is neither "a fan game" nor "a non-integer Touhou game", but rather "games not developed by ZUN".

[Drake]

Indeed, I should have caught that.

[cuc]

According to the poll's own page, it was "posted 5 weeks ago".

[monhan]

Looks like you put the wrong link to ULiL(It's NSML), and Nightmare of Rebellion(It's ULiL).
Nightmare of Rebellion : http://wp.gensoukyou.org/genmu/
Nightmare of Rebellion ~ Ran(Chaos) : http://wp.gensoukyou.org/genmuex/
Which version are they referring to, by the way?

I was also a bit ticked off by them including ULiL as derivative, but I can understand the reasoning behind it.
Still wondering which ones I should choose...

[cuc]

Thanks for pointing out. For Genmuyoudan, their link is for the base game, but the version published by their Japanese side does include the expansion pack.

I don't usually do consumer opinion polls, but considering I live in a reality where both ZUN and Tasofro have hardly topped their performance in IaMP, and considering the nearly decade-old game would be a lower priority to the publisher... 'Kay, here's a vote for IaMP.

[Kilgamayan]

Votes NSML, KDSS, and a write-in for MegaMari.

[cuc]

Today, Playism has added 3 options to the poll.

Gensou Shoujo Taisen Scarlet (幻想少女大戦紅 lit. "Fantasy Maiden Wars E") [link]

Touhou no Meikyuu (東方の迷宮 lit. "Labyrinth of Touhou") [link]

Touhou Soujinengi The Genius of Sappheiros (東方蒼神縁起 lit. "Blue God Omen") [link]

[Suspicious person]

More games to be available on playism \o/

As far as the poll goes, personally I think that putting the games of the circles that they already managed to contact and are confident in getting the OK from would have been more reliable and concrete. Naming your favorite fangame works too and might actually be more effficient in raising Touhou awareness, but it might make this look like an insider-only event or something. Pretty curious in how this'll turn out.

Also, there seems to be some games that are already involved in the Play!Doujin program in this, how does this works ? Is it likely to see the games that'll receive new content like the revised Gensou no Ronde, specially remade to be ported on PS consoles ?

[Koog]

Well... TSA is a game that caught my attention for a long while. So my first vote goes for that.

I recently started playing Gensou Shouju Taisen and really loving it so far. Second vote.

And really loving Urban Legend in Limbo, it has become one of my favourite games I played. Third vote.

It was a hard poll considering there are lots of good games to vote... Adventures of the Scarlet Curiosity is great. Labyrinth of Touhou is great. Scarlet Symphony is great. New Super Marisa Land is great. The Nightmare of Rebellion and Genius of Sappheiros are great. Everything is great and had a hard choosing what to pick...

[Reddyne]

Koumajou I is kinda poop and the main reason I'd vote for it is to then bring in Koumajou II which is basically god-tier of Touhou fangames. The team in Aja that developed it has since fractured though, so I'm not sure what that would entail for getting it pushed.

This explains so much and is next to heartbreaking to hear. It just confirms fears I've had for a few years now though.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

Keeping in mind that Melonbooks already carries both Labyrinth of Touhou games as well as their expansions, I voted for NSML, TSA, and Koumajou Densetsu II as the write-in.

...Koumajou II which is basically god-tier of Touhou fangames.

I wholeheartedly agree with that. One video on YouTube some years back was all it took for me to hit up Amazon JP and order a copy. The fact it has an English (and French) translation makes it seem like it was almost designed to be released in the Western market.

[mauve]

I wholeheartedly agree with that. One video on YouTube some years back was all it took for me to hit up Amazon JP and order a copy. The fact it has an English (and French) translation makes it seem like it was almost designed to be released in the Western market.

It was. In fact, i twas on sale on an English store.

For less than one day.

And then ZUN's "no selling Touhou stuff on English stores" rule came out of nowhere.

RIP

[mauve]

Also this vote thing is really strange to me. Do they honestly have no idea what fans would want?

Bear in mind, they say nothing about English. And there is no way in hell ULiL is gonna be in English, because it has ZUN dialogue.

This honestly strange approach to publishing feels like it's kinda going to hurt the chances of some of my favorites, even if they were on such a list.

[Romantique Tp]

Pools are good for publicity.

[cuc]

Pools are good for publicity.

Josh Weatherford, one of the founders of Playism had left Playism this March. I don't know anything about the inner workings of AGM (the parent company), so I have no idea if his leaving has any effect on how Playism is handling Touhou at the moment.

It was. In fact, i twas on sale on an English store.

For less than one day.

And then ZUN's "no selling Touhou stuff on English stores" rule came out of nowhere.

RIP

For posterity's sake, can you someday give us an account of the events surrounding the English release? I'm not asking you to disclose things you are not supposed to, just some clarification on info that used to be publicly available, and is becoming exceedingly difficult to find out.

[Ghaleon]

I tried to vote other but the checkbox on other wont effing check... qq.

[Clarste]

Also this vote thing is really strange to me. Do they honestly have no idea what fans would want?

Bear in mind, they say nothing about English. And there is no way in hell ULiL is gonna be in English, because it has ZUN dialogue.

This honestly strange approach to publishing feels like it's kinda going to hurt the chances of some of my favorites, even if they were on such a list.

They translated Takkoman, but a full RPG is probably beyond the scope of what they're willing to do. My assumption is that the extra options they added were the top 3 write-in votes, and they just added them out of curiosity more than anything else. The original batch is what they were thinking of beforehand.

And, yes, ULiL probably wouldn't be translated.

[Ghaleon]

Actually, something just occured to me. I have no idea how playism does their business, or what their policy is but I recall Tom from Xseed saying something about Xseed communicating with the fan-translators for certain games like Ys: Oath of Felghana IIRC about payment for what they've done.  I don't remember the specifics but I do know that fan translators were not left in the dust 100% after something they did first got commercialized. Playism may or may not do such a thing as well, but if anyone has any idea, perhaps we should reconsider NOT voting for games we already own and enjoy via fan translation?

[mauve]

For posterity's sake, can you someday give us an account of the events surrounding the English release? I'm not asking you to disclose things you are not supposed to, just some clarification on info that used to be publicly available, and is becoming exceedingly difficult to find out.

Barely remember. The store went up, I'm pretty sure they were using dlsite? at the time, it was definitely geared for westerners to get stuff with an English "you can buy it here!" page. Then ZUN's rule change came down within the next day and they were forced to take it down.

That's all I got.

[N-Forza]

I think they know what fans want (hence the list), but the fact that a bunch of highly demanded games have a whole lot of text requires them to narrow down the field or prioritize stuff. Things like Marisa World and ULiL wouldn't take much effort, but the RPGs and the like will have to come a bit slower unless they want to hire/outsource a dedicated team of translators.

They could very well work out a way to re-purpose a fan translation a la Xseed but they'd still have to run it by an editor.

In any case, I don't blame them at all for trying to take a somewhat cautious approach (although Takkoman was a bit out of left field, to say the least).

Also, it seems at some point that they added 3 MORE games to the list: Puppet Dance Performance, MegaMari, and Hisoutensoku

[Clarste]

Adding stuff to the poll so late makes it totally inaccurate though.

[Critz]

Voted both official fighters and Sky Arena. TSA would really use being translated into english (as opposed to the games that already have patches).

[Spotty Len]

I voted ULiL, TPDP and Koumajou Densetsu.

They should probably reset the results after adding the three games though.

[Shadowlupus]

I vote ULiL, Koumajou Densetsu and Touhou Labyrinth.

It was really a tough choice for me since almost all of them are my favorite.

[mauve]

Barely remember. The store went up, I'm pretty sure they were using dlsite? at the time, it was definitely geared for westerners to get stuff with an English "you can buy it here!" page. Then ZUN's rule change came down within the next day and they were forced to take it down.

That's all I got.

Found the appropriate archive link. Yeah, it was DLSite. Though i'm guessing they put it up for sale before the English version, which was apparently released about a month later. Had my timeline mixed up as usual...

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

...Playism may or may not do such a thing as well, but if anyone has any idea, perhaps we should reconsider NOT voting for games we already own and enjoy via fan translation?

As much as I want to vote like you, there's still the majority of people who don't want to or can't import. Releasing those games in the Western market would be a great benefit, both to their creators and the players.

...a bunch of highly demanded games have a whole lot of text requires them to narrow down the field or prioritize stuff. Things like Marisa World and ULiL wouldn't take much effort, but the RPGs and the like will have to come a bit slower unless they want to hire/outsource a dedicated team of translators...

I know ZUN wouldn't allow translations for his games without his approval, but if the circles that make derivative games do it would be interesting to see what "official" translations are like, especially when compared to fan translations (for the games that have them). There's also using fan-translations as Ghaleon mentioned, which might have important implications.



Anyhow, this news is shocking (in a good way) and can certainly lead to excellent outcomes if everything goes smoothly. The way I see it releasing doujin games internationally would benefit all the parties involved, and if done correctly, would stay within the realm of the doujin mindset. Here's hoping this venture results in success!

[cuc]

They haven't gotten tired of updating the poll midway...

Devil of Decline (東方幻想魔録 lit. "Records of Fantasy Dream") [link]

Tenjou no Tempest (天壌のテンペスト lit. "The Tempest of Heaven and Earth") [link]