Key (game developer)

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Key is a Japanese game developer under the publisher Visual Art’s and is known for its dramatic and action-oriented Ren'ai adventures .

Key's debut work Kanon combined a complex plot with modern anime graphics and atmospheric music. The second game, Air , had a similar, if not more complex, storyline than Canon and better game mechanics. Both Kanon and Air were originally published as Erogē , but also had console ports for Dreamcast , PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable that were released for all ages. By July 2007, Key had released nine games and worked with Interchannel and Prototype on console ports.

The soundtracks for the games are published by the in-house record label Key Sounds Label . But albums are also released that are not directly related to Key's works, e.g. B. two albums by Lia and one by eufonius . The album composers are Key employees, such as Jun Maeda and Shinji Orito .

With Kanon , Air , Clannad , Little Busters! , Planetarian and Rewrite , six works by Key were implemented as anime . The first television series on Kanon and the films on Air and Clannad were filmed by Toei Animation , the television series on Air , the second on Kanon and the television series on Clannad by Kyōto Animation . The implementation of Little Busters! took over JCStaff .

history

Before Key was founded, its founding members worked for the eroge - Ren'ai adventure developer Tactics . Four later key founding members worked on the production of his first game Dōsei : Itaru Hinoue as artistic director, Shinji Orito as composer, Miracle Mikipon and Shinory as graphic designer. After Dōsei , the rest of the founding members joined in and worked on two more games: Moon. and One - Kagayaku Kisetsu e . After One was released on May 26, 1998, these developers went to Visual Art’s where they formed Key, which was named after a majority vote.

Her first work Kanon was published on June 4, 1999 as Erogē, although the sex scenes were kept to a minimum. This should keep the player focused on the plot, the graphics and the music, which was exceptional at the time .

A year later on September 8, 2000, Key released Air , also an eroge with a similar narrative style, his second game.

The third game, Clannad , was released directly for all ages. Originally announced for 2002, the release was delayed to April 28, 2004.

Seven months later, Key released his shortest game, Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume , on November 29, 2004. Unlike Key's previous games, Planetarian is linear, requiring no decisions on the part of the user simply to enjoy the story. This concept has been known as the kinetic novel .

The fifth game Tomoyo After - It's a Wonderful Life was again an eroge and was released on November 25, 2005. The game was intended as a successor to Clannad to appease fans who were disappointed by the sex scene-free version of Clannad . It put the heroine from Clannad Tomoyo Sakagami in the foreground.

Little Busters! (リ ト ル バ ス タ ー ズ! , Ritoru Basutāzu! ), The sixth game, was released on July 27, 2007 for all ages, but another version called Little Busters followed! Ecstasy (リ ト ル バ ス タ ー ズ! エ ク ス タ シ ー , Ritoru Basutāzu! Ekusutashī ) on July 25, 2008 with additional eroge content, plot and graphics. Based on the plot about the character Kudryavka Noumi in the latter game, the spin-off Kud Wafter (ク ド わ ふ た ー , Kudo Wafutā ), who was also 18 and over,appeared on June 25, 2010.

For the 10th anniversary, the Key 10th Memorial Box was released , which includes the games Kanon , Air , Clannad , Planetarian , Tomoya After and Little Busters! Ecstasy contained, each in adult versions.

The last game for the time being, Rewrite , was announced on April 1, 2008 and was released on June 24, 2011. This was again intended for all ages. A sequel, Rewrite Harvest festa! , is scheduled for July 27, 2012.

2013 became Angel Beats! -1st beat- as an adaptation of the anime Angel Beats! announced by Jun Maeda and is due to be released on June 26, 2015. Jun Maeda began writing the scenario for the game after it aired in 2010. It should be divided into 6 episodes and the first should contain the first 10 episodes of the anime - plus the routes for Iwasawa, Matsushita and Yui.

Key sounds label

In 2001 VisualArt's created the record label Key Sounds Label (KSL). From this point on released albums and singles by Key appeared on this label, which excludes 2 previously released albums and a single. The first album was Humanity ... whose only connection with Key works is that it contains a remix of the opening credits from Air . The albums of this label come from the house composers of Key: Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito and Magome Togoshi . Three singles contain songs by the singer Lia and an album, Love Song , by Riya by Eufonius . Three radio play CDs were also released.

For the 10th anniversary of Key, a concert called KSL Live World 2008 - Way to the LittleBusters! Was held in Tokyo on May 10, 2008 and later again on May 17, 2008 in Osaka . EX hosted. The concerts lasted two and a half hours with pieces by Lia, Rita , Chata and Tomoe Tamiyasu , which had previously appeared on singles and albums of the label.

Comiket

Key has been an active participant in Comiket , a comic convention held every August and December, since Comiket 57 in December 1999, where they sold products to Kanon (their only work at the time). The first Air products were sold at Comiket 59 in December 2000. Typical products include postcards, phone cards, calendars, posers and albums and relate to their works.

Key participates through VisualArt's together with other brands under VisualArt's in general in the winter comiket, but partly also in the summer comiket, such as the comiket 70 in August 2006, where products for Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume were sold. The products cost between 3,000 and 5,000 yen . This also includes albums from Key's record label Key Sounds Label , which began to sell on the Comiket with Comiket 60 in August 2001 with the first two albums of the label Humanity ... and Natsukage / Nostalgia . For products from a VisualArt's brand that were unsold at the end of a comiket, VisualArt's set up an order website. After Comiket 73 in December 2007, VisualArt's announced on March 4th, 2008 that it was accepting orders, only to announce 10 days later on March 10th that all of Key's products had been sold at Comiket.

Key radio

Key produces an Internet radio show called Key Radio (Key ら じ , Key Raji ), which first aired on December 13, 2007. The show is hosted by Shinji Orito and Itaru Hinoue from Key and a woman named Chiro from Pekoe, another game developer under Visual Art's. Listeners can send their opinions and suggestions about the program and questions to the trio of moderators via a web form. The shows can be downloaded from Key's website and the first nine were also downloadable from the radio show's blog. The shows are also available on Visual Art's' YouTube Visual Channel .

The first six programs had 5 corners or parts, which started with greetings by the moderators and then the opinions and impressions of the listeners on the program were continued. This was followed by a relaxed conversation between the moderators, followed by a section of praising audience contributions to Key that was read out by the moderators. The fourth corner answered questions from the audience and in the last corner Orito played the flute and the audience could suggest songs. With the seventh shipment, two more corners were added. In the first, the moderators read out their own scary stories or those sent by the audience. This corner was also included because Hinoue likes such stories. In the second corner, Hinoue took mailings from the audience with descriptions for new fictional characters and combined several of these. During the broadcasts, pieces of soundtracks released by Key Sounds Label were played in the background.

Leaf, Key Keijiban

On January 26, 2000, a Bulletin Board System (BBS) called Leaf, Key Keijiban (leaf, key 掲 示 板 ), nickname: Ha-Kagi Ita ( 葉 鍵 板 , English: "Leaf-Key-Board"), was established on the internet forum 2channel . The board originated in a dispute on 2channels video game board in December 1999 over the Kizuato game . Kizuato was an early game by Ren'ai adventure developer Leaf . Finally the fans went to 2channels eroge board, where at the same time the fans of Key were shunned because of their discussions about canon and the upcoming Air . Finally, both fan groups left 2channel and reorganized themselves in the PINKchannel internet forum. For November 2007, the BBS recorded approximately 1,500 entries per day. As in 2channel, anonymous posting is preset with Nanashi-san dayomon ( 名 無 し さ ん だ よ も ん , German "Anonymus dayomon") as the name. This is a reference to the protagonist Mizuka Nagamori from One - Kagayaku Kisetsu e , who has a habit of ending her sentences with da yo and mon .

Employee

Jun Maeda has worked as a scenario writer and composer for all of Key's works except Planetarian . In the February 2007 issue of Comptiq , he announced that he was looking for Little Busters! would no longer act as a scenario writer. But he remained a composer. Itaru Hinoue was Artistic Director for Key's first three games. Na-Ga , a graphic artist, worked on the background drawings in the early works. Together with Hinoue he became Artistic Director at Little Busters! . Other graphic artists are Mochisuke ( 餅 介 ), Minimo Tayama ( 田 山 み に も , Tayama Minimo ) and Shinory ( し の り 〜 , Shinorī ). Key's main composer Shinji Orito ( 折 戸 伸 治 ), has been working for the game developer since Kanon . Since Maeda no longer works as a scenario writer, Yūto Tonokawa took over this task and worked with Little Busters! the plot of his first work. He also took on the role of scenario writer in Rewrite .

Other

Kazuki Fujii ( 藤井 和 貴 ) helped with the scenario for Air as a scenario assistant. Ēji Komatsu ( 駒 都 え ー じ ) was Artistic Director at the Kinetic Novel Planetarian and Fumio ( フ ミ オ ) at Tomoyo After . Outside scenario writers were Leo Kashida ( 樫 田 レ オ ), who was responsible for Key to Tomoyo After and Little Busters! worked, and Chika Shirokiri ( 城 桐 央 ) who worked on Little Busters! worked. Two new composers named Manack and PMMK helped with the music for Little Busters! , as well as MintJam for the arrangement. For Rewrite , two outside authors were also brought in: Ryūkishi07 ( 竜 騎士 07) from 07th Expansion , known as the scenario writer of the sound novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni , and Romeo Tanaka ( 田中 ロ ミ オ ), known as the scenario writer of CROSS † CHANNEL .

Earlier

A former employee was e.g. B. Naoki Hisaya ( 久 弥 直樹 ) as one of the main scenario writers of Kanon , who left Key after its completion. OdiakeS was a composer for Kanon and helped with two music albums for Air and Clannad ; but no longer worked with Key in 2004. Takashi Ishikawa ( イ シ カ ワ タ カ シ ) only worked on Air as a scenario writer. Ishikawa has been working for other brands under VisualArt's since 2000. Kai ( 魁 ) and Tōya Okano ( 丘 野 塔 也 ) worked as scenario writers on Air and Clannad . In 2004 Kai switched to VisualArt's Ram and Okano to VisualArt's Giant Panda. Another scenario writer, Yūichi Suzumoto ( 涼 元 悠 ), worked for Key between Air and Planetarian , but switched to game developer Leaf in 2004 under the publisher Aquaplus . One of the early computer graphic artists, Miracle Mikipon ( み ら く る ☆ み き ぽ ん ), went to Clannad . From 2004 he worked for the Psycho brand under the publisher Nexton , but then switched to VisualArt's Ham Ham Soft brand. Magome Togoshi ( 戸 越 ま ご め ) worked with Key since Air as an essential composer, but left Key in October 2006.

influence

According to Satoshi Todome's Shoshinsha no Tame no Gendai Gyarugē Erogē Kōza , Key's influence on the Erogē world dates back to before it was founded when the founding members were still working for Tactics under the publisher Nexton . Inspired by the success of Leaf's 1997 visual novel To Heart , the developers of Tactics came up with a simple plot: a funny first half, a warm love story to the middle, followed by a tragic breakup and finally an emotional reunion. Games of this scheme are as Nakigē ( 泣きゲー , dt about. "Tearful Game") called and should the player to tears bring to leave a greater impression after the game. This scheme came into play in Tactic's second game, One - Kagayaku Kisetsu e . After its completion, the development team left Tactics to found Key and applied the same scheme to Kanon with great success . The success of the Nakigē scheme of One - Kagayaku Kisetsu e and Kanon influenced other game developers to create similar games, such as DO with Kana - Imōto , KID with Memories Off , Circus with DC - Da Capo , Studio Mebius (also belonging to Visual Art's) with Snow and minori with wind - a breath of heart . Overall, the industry and customers no longer regarded the eroge as just simple sex games, but came to the conclusion that they can also have a captivating plot.

Key is one of 17 brands under Visual Art’s that are represented in the Lycèe trading card game by Broccoli . Characters from Key's first five games appeared in the first 3 of 4 Visual Art's card decks, and characters from Little Busters! in the 5th VisualArt's card deck. Furthermore, 7 of 55 rare advertising cards depict characters from key games. Other well-known Bishōjo game developers included in the trading card game are AliceSoft , August , Leaf, Navel and Type-Moon .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Yūto Tonokawa: Answering Questions Journal. July 7, 2008, Retrieved July 8, 2008 (Japanese): “ 当時 の ス タ ッ フ の 多数 決 で 決 ま っ た よ う で す. "
  2. ↑ Canon. Key, accessed November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  3. ↑ AIR. Key, accessed November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ CLANNAD. Key, accessed November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  5. ↑ a b planetarian. Key, accessed November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ 智 代 ア フ タ ー . Key, accessed November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  7. ↑ a b c d リ ト ル バ ス タ ー ズ! 製品 内容 . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 18, 2011 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / key.visualarts.gr.jp
  8. ↑ visualstyle Vol.1. VisualArt's, December 28, 2007, p. 23 , archived from the original on January 15, 2008 ; Retrieved February 25, 2008 (Japanese, monthly web magazine).
  9. ↑ リ ト ル バ ス タ ー ズ！ エ ク ス タ シ ー . Key, accessed February 25, 2008 (Japanese).
  10. ↑ ク ド わ ふ た ー . Key, accessed March 25, 2012 (Japanese).
  11. ^ Key 10th Memorial BOX. Key, accessed March 25, 2012 (Japanese).
  12. ↑ Key 完全 最新 作 「 Rewrite 」 の 製作 が 決定 し ま し た !! . Key, April 1, 2008, accessed March 31, 2008 (Japanese).
  13. ↑ a b c Rewrite. Key, accessed March 25, 2012 (Japanese).
  14. ↑ Rewrite Harvest festa! Key, accessed March 25, 2012 (Japanese).
  15. ↑ Products. KEY, May 5, 2015, accessed May 5, 2015 (Japanese).
  16. ↑ Key Head: Maeda Working on Possible Angel Beats! Game. Anime News Network , November 21, 2010, accessed May 5, 2015 .
  17. ↑ a b Discography. Key Sounds Label, accessed May 15, 2013 (Japanese).
  18. ↑ イ ベ ン ト 開 催情 報 公開 . Key, March 14, 2008, accessed March 14, 2008 (Japanese).
  19. ↑ a b ビ ジ ュ ア ル ア ー ツ 出品 一 覧 - 株式会社 ビ ジ ュ ア ル ア ー ツ . Visual Art's, archived from the original on October 13, 2002 ; Retrieved November 29, 2007 (Japanese, VisualArt's branded products for Comiket 59).
  20. ↑ a b Key パ ッ ク . VisualArt's, archived from the original on April 15, 2003 ; Retrieved November 29, 2007 (Japanese, Key products for Comiket 63).
  21. ↑ a b C71 Key goods. VisualArt's, archived from the original on December 17, 2007 ; Retrieved September 21, 2008 (Japanese, Key products for Comiket 71).
  22. ↑ C73 key goods. VisualArt's, archived from the original on November 12, 2008 ; Retrieved December 13, 2007 (Japanese, Key products for Comiket 73).
  23. ↑ コ ミ ッ ク マ ー ケ ッ ト 70 Key グ ッ ズ . Key, archived from the original on July 6, 2007 ; Retrieved November 29, 2007 (Japanese, Key products for Comiket 70).
  24. ↑ C65 VisualArt's web. VisualArt's, archived from the original on November 8, 2007 ; Retrieved September 21, 2008 (Japanese, VisualArt's branded products for Comiket 65).
  25. ↑ コ ミ ッ ク マ ー ケ ッ ト 67 ビ ジ ュ ア ル ア ー ツ . VisualArt's, archived from the original on October 7, 2006 ; Retrieved November 29, 2007 (Japanese, VisualArt's branded products for Comiket 67).
  26. ↑ コ ミ ッ ク マ ー ケ ッ ト 69 ビ ジ ュ ア ル ア ー ツ . VisualArt's, archived from the original on October 5, 2006 ; Retrieved November 29, 2007 (Japanese, VisualArt's branded products for Comiket 69).
  27. ↑ コ ミ ケ 73 グ ッ ズ の 通信 販 売 を 開始 し ま し た. . Key, March 4, 2008, accessed March 10, 2008 (Japanese).
  28. ↑ コ ミ ケ 73 グ ッ ズ 完 売 し ま し た! . Key, March 10, 2008, accessed March 10, 2008 (Japanese).
  29. ↑ key ら じ 配 信 開始 し ま し た . In: 不定期 ス タ ッ フ 日誌 . Key, December 13, 2007; accessed December 13, 2007 (Japanese).
  30. ↑ a b c key ら じ . Key, accessed December 6, 2007 (Japanese).
  31. ↑ Key ら じ 投稿 フ ォ ー ム . Key, accessed December 6, 2007 (Japanese).
  32. ↑ Key ら じ . Archived from the original on December 27, 2008 ; Retrieved December 28, 2007 (Japanese, Key Radio official blog).
  33. ↑ Visual Channel. YouTube , accessed July 11, 2008 (Japanese).
  34. ↑ a b 葉 鍵 板 年表 . Archived from the original on December 1, 2007 ; Retrieved December 16, 2007 (Japanese).
  35. ↑ a b 麻 枝 准 . In: ErogameScape- エ ロ ゲ ー 批評 空間 -. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009 ; Retrieved September 27, 2008 (Japanese).
  36. ↑ 樋 上 い た る . (No longer available online.) In: ErogameScape- エ ロ ゲ ー 批評 空間 -. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / erogamescape.dyndns.org
  37. ↑ ギ ャ ラ リ ー ： 社 内 対 抗 う ろ 覚 え 大会 02 . Key, accessed December 1, 2007 (Japanese).
  38. ↑ ギ ャ ラ リ ー ： 社 内 対 抗 う ろ 覚 え 大会 01 . Key, accessed September 27, 2008 (Japanese).
  39. ↑ a b Key ス タ ッ フ 一 覧 . Retrieved September 18, 2008 (Japanese).
  40. ↑ 智 代 ア フ タ ー ~ It's a Wonderful Life ~. In: ErogameScape- エ ロ ゲ ー 批評 空間 -. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014 ; Retrieved May 27, 2007 (Japanese).
  41. ↑ 樫 田 レ オ . (No longer available online.) In: ErogameScape- エ ロ ゲ ー 批評 空間 -. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / erogamescape.ddo.jp
  42. ↑ ARS NOVA - OdiakeS WebSite. Retrieved May 27, 2007 (Japanese).
  43. ↑ イ シ カ ワ タ カ シ . (No longer available online.) In: ErogameScape- エ ロ ゲ ー 批評 空間 -. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013 ; Retrieved May 27, 2007 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / erogamescape.ddo.jp
  44. ↑ PSYCHO ・ LS メ ン バ ー リ ス ト . Archived from the original on July 24, 2011 ; Retrieved June 13, 2007 (Japanese).
  45. ↑ さ ら ば Key, さ ら ば ビ ジ ュ ア ル ア ー ツ . In: 戸 越 ま ご め の 『人生 、 ハ ズ レ 馬 券』 . July 10, 2007, Retrieved November 19, 2007 (Japanese, Magome Togoshi's blog).
  46. ↑ Satoshi Todome: 初心者 の た め の 現代 ギ ャ ル ゲ ー ・ エ ロ ゲ ー 講座 第 3 集 そ れ は “え い え ん の せ か い” か ら 始 ま っ た @ 野 良 犬 の 塒 . Retrieved November 22, 2007 (Japanese). Excerpts from English translation: Satoshi Todome: A History of Eroge: Chapter Three - "Crying games" hit the standard. In: shii.org. Retrieved September 26, 2008 .
  47. ↑ Visual Arts 1.1. Broccoli, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  48. ↑ VisualArt's 2.0. Broccoli, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  49. ↑ Visual Arts 3.0. Broccoli, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  50. ↑ VisualArt's 4.0. Broccoli, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  51. ↑ VisualArt's 5.0. Broccoli, archived from the original on November 8, 2008 ; Retrieved April 1, 2008 (Japanese).
  52. ↑ プ ロ モ ー シ ョ ン カ ー ド . Broccoli, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese).
  53. ↑ カ ー ド リ ス ト . Broccoli, archived from the original on August 3, 2009 ; Retrieved November 30, 2007 (Japanese).

Web links