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How to Make a Kodomo Game

Musings on Games for Children

By YawPublished 8 months ago Updated 8 months ago 3 min read
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My favorite video games growing up were portable games, typically role-playing games that emphasized multiplayer. Most of these role-playing games were part of an effort to create a transmedia franchise aimed at children. I often refer to them as Kodomo games because of their prominence in Kodomo manga magazines like CoroCoro Comic, Comic BomBom, and V Jump. For example, CoroCoro Comic has featured many video game franchises, including Pokémon and Mega Man Battle Network. Kodomo manga magazines promote these games with articles and manga adaptations like Pokémon Adventures. However, Kodomo games aren't simply prominent games in Kodomo manga magazines but ones that embody three distinct qualities.

Immersive Worlds

Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand

One quality of a Kodomo game is an immersive world in that players can imagine themselves living. An immersive world requires a protagonist and setting that the player finds believable. A blank-slate protagonist makes for a better avatar for an immersive world because they function as nothing more than a stand-in for the player. Additionally, a setting that alludes to other characters with the same role as the protagonist makes the idea of other players inhabiting the world more reasonable. Pokémon is an excellent example because it has a silent protagonist and a world populated with other Pokémon Trainers. Worldbuilding also contributes to creating an immersive world, like how the technology and culture of Pokémon are reflective of its fantasy elements. Establishing a connection between reality and the game world is another aspect that makes a setting more immersive. Boktai establishes this connection with its real-time clock that dictates the time of day and solar sensor that alters the game world based on the amount of sunlight striking the game cartridge.

Player Expression

Mobile Phone Beast Telefang

Player expression is another quality of Kodomo games and usually manifests as collectibles. These collectibles can be various things like monsters, weapons, or cards as long as the player can decide which ones they want to use. The more collectibles there are, the more the player can express their individuality, leading to a more personal experience. Offering various methods to acquire these collectibles ensures that if players engage with the game differently, they will have unique collectibles. Additionally, some of these collectibles should have an air of mystery to encourage speculation amongst players about the means of obtaining them. Dragon Quest Monsters achieves this with its robust breeding system that occasionally combines two monsters into an unknown species. While in Mobile Phone Beast Telefang, there are three types of evolution (natural, fusion, and lab), leading to some monsters having branching evolution trees. Telefang also included secret monsters you can call by dialing in-game phone numbers revealed in issues of Comic BomBom.

Playing Together

Mega Man Star Force 3

Playing together is a quality of Kodomo games that isn't limited to multiplayer modes. One compelling way to play together is the Azure Sky Tower, a 99-floor dungeon in Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand that bestows each player with one of four elemental Emblems. The only way to complete the Azure Sky Tower is by collecting every Emblem by swapping them with other players through the Emblem Resonance feature. Another compelling way of playing together is the BrotherBand in Mega Man Star Force 3, which allows you to merge your Noise Change with a friend's. A Noise Change is a transformation Mega Man receives partway through the game that grants him an elemental affinity, a more powerful Mega Buster, and passive abilities. However, multiplayer modes that simultaneously provide opportunities for competitive and cooperative play are among my favorites. The multiplayer mode that best represents this idea is the Entralink Missions from Pokémon Black & White, which entail entering another player's world and assisting or competing against them.

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About the Creator

Yaw

imposter syndrome

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