“VR allows the player to truly experience this game’s mystery and suspense.”

KENTO KISHIGAMI, MyDearest Inc.

Last month we had the opportunity to attend BitSummit 7 Spirits, an indie games festival held in Kyoto, Japan. At BitSummit, attendees can play the newest indie games from around the world, as well as talk with up-and-coming indie developers.

We were eager to talk with the minds behind the indie games that, in our opinion, stood out from the rest. Among these talented developers is a man named Kento Kishigami.

Mr. Kishigami is not only the Executive Producer of the VR mystery visual novel TOKYO CHRONOS, he’s also the CEO of the company behind the game’s development—MyDearest Inc.

Kishigami-san answered a few questions relating to the characters of TOKYO CHRONOS, designed by illustrator LAM, as well as his opinion on the trajectory of VR games.

We hope you enjoy!

This interview was conducted in Japanese and subsequently translated into English.

Check out our original Japanese interview here.

I read that you really pushed for this game to be made. Why did you choose VR as the medium for telling the story of TOKYO CHRONOS?

“VR allows the player to truly experience this game’s mystery and suspense.”

Do you think the future of visual novels, or the future of all games, lies in Virtual Reality?

“I believe VR is, without a doubt, the future of Visual Novels.

I also feel that VR will soon be a popular genre among games in general.”

The characters of TOKYO CHRONOS are really beautiful! Did you have any input when it comes to character design?

“The director, Mr. Haruki Kashiwakura, was the one who instructed LAM. But, for the most part, LAM was able to draw freely.

In VR, you’re able to really “look” at the characters, so LAM’s extraordinary character design skills are on full display.”

The game’s mystery writer went from writing books to writing for a visual novel. Are there challenges that arise when writing a video game that don’t arise when writing a book, such as writing for multiple endings?

“There were times when it was difficult to move freely in a VR scenario.

Also, because we didn’t want large blocks of text, we made the lines shorter than in novels.”

Lastly, is there anything you would like to tell your players in the west?

“We made this game for everyone to enjoy. I encourage all who like story-oriented games to play TOKYO CHRONOS.

Of course it’s a new step for Visual Novels, but I believe it also sets a new standard for all story-oriented VR games.

The game supports English, and we plan to add other languages, such as German, in the future.”

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Kento Kishigami is the CEO of MyDearest Inc., a company that specializes in developing games for Virtual Reality. These VR experiences, which they dub “FullDive,” allow players to live within a story if they were the characters themselves.

MyDearest currently has has three VR games under their belt, each themed after a different Japanese medium of entertainment.

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1. FullDive LIGHT NOVEL: Innocent Forest

Visual Novels meets Virtual Reality in this ultimate immersive reading experience.
With character dialogue voiced by high-profile voice actors, and illustrated pages turning into 360-degree VR animated scenes, you will be absorbed in the story, and feel as one with the protagonist.

“When you step into this forest, you lose one memory…”
Innocent Forest is fantasy story about a girl called Luclei and the memories of her visitors.
The forest of lost memories: a place where they say you can forget one painful occurrence.
Kei, (voiced by Yusuke Kobayashi) a young man lost in the forest, encounters a mysterious girl named Luclei (voiced by Rina Hidaka) who lives among the woods and gathers a flock of birds.

It is through these birds the past, present and future of lost memories unfolds.

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2. FullDive MANGA: The Dream Clinic

An ultimate immersive reading experience based on the concept of “VR x Manga.”
It is a VR manga in which the readers immerse the world of the story as if they become a main character.
All characters are fully voiced by high-profile voice actors so that the readers can also enjoy FullDive MANGA like audio books.
There are two viewer types.

“If you have a scary dream, come back again.”
One day, an innocent little girl, Miki (CV. Aoi Yuki) who has been troubled with nightmares gets a strange flyer.
The flyer guides her into the dream.
There are dream clinics run by tapirs who loves dreams.

Miki courageously gets into the one with the old sign and meets Notte (cv. Hanae Natsuki). He keeps Miki’s nightmare but he doesn’t seem to eat it. Notte just meaningfully smiles. And then they step into Miki’s nightmare again.

Scary dreams. Dreams you do not want to see. And “dreams you do not want to forget”.

Have you had a “nightmare” that you do not want to forget?

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3. FullDive ADVENTURE: TOKYO CHRONOS

# Features

– All-new Visual Novel designed for VR from the ground up

– Engrossing storyline with story duration of est. 15-20 hours

– Over 5,000 lines of professionally voice-acted dialogue

– Multiple routes and endings

# Staff

Director：Haruki Kashiwakura (Expelled from Paradise)

Script：Kou Segawa (Nazozuki Otome)

Producer：Kazuma Miki (Sword Art Online)

Character Design：LAM (Illustrator)

Theme Song：UNLIMITED / Eir Aoi

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