Shikou No Tokumei - The Unknown thought.

“...What a long strange trip it’s been”

Growing up as a child, having had been raised with a wide diversity of both native America, Scottish, German, Creole, and even Japanese ideals; I often times found myself alone with little to do, other than create things to entertain myself. I feel that this in tandem with Lego’s, card board, Building Blocks and the few Tin soldiers I could get my hands on from time to time, that these simple resources, in tandem with other things later in my life, became the very reason that I would later form Tokumei LLC, a Multi Media production and Game development company. I often found that the most reliable resource of entertainment came from within my own head from the vast and rather diverse worlds I’d create, to the potential thoughts, dreams, and Ideas that spurned my yearning desire to beat the ravaging hoards of boredom at their core.

You see; back then, some near 40 ish years ago, I was something of a latch key kid. My mother worked a ton, and I often times spent a great deal of time alone. Compounded with the fact that I had been diagnosed at the ripe old age of 8 with a neurological condition that at the time was a latent form of Autism, many of my educators thought that I “might” suffer from some form of mental retardation. It was later discovered that I did in fact have a staggering IQ (162 at the time), but this in turn made me socially “Undesirable” and awkward. People like me were the social outcast’s that always had odd social quarks, abnormal obsessions with common things and yes even dysfunctional social nuances.

It probably didn’t help that the movie “Rain Man”, made people who were on the spectrum to seem completely socially inept. It’s funny though when I think back on it; some of the worlds greatest minds of today, during that era were considered to be the very same people that we would have then called “socially maladjusted”, “Mentally OFF” or simply “Unpopular”. Even “Gary Numan”, a now vastly up and coming media icon; during the late 70’s was noted as being socially off. It was only later discovered that he did in fact have Asperger syndrome and was yet another amazing mind, “on the spectrum”. It was because of these types of neurological conditions, compounded with my limited social interactions with others that I had in turn had difficulty developing many of the common social cues that others now take for granted. Simple social nuances, and common social subtleties were all but an alien language that I then never quite understood. However it was because of this that I fused more of my time seeking to study and develop my abilities to observe others so as to be able to better understand the human social mindset. This would later prove to help enhance my writing, stories, and later game creations.

Because I often had so much free time alone, I’d often spend it, watching TV, reading books, or creating in my mind; entire worlds, vast histories, and extensive personalities to fill my imagination. Here within my own head I could test in my own perceptions of different social interactions to better understand how people related to one another. These fictional people became my friends, family, and stories of lore. I often found myself out in the woods swinging swords made of cardboard and stick, fighting off hordes of Demons, ghost’s and other abnormal creatures. I would often times imagine a rag tag band of Pirates, Scoundrels, and Knights that I fought alongside of, all the while defending the universe from Captain Jacob’s and his armada of genetically engineered soldiers. My imagination at the time, held no bars and could not be stopped.

Looking back on it; I remember creating entire games within my many stories. Where I’d build complex systems of combat for my Army men, as my metal Star Wars figures waged war against the terrible Green plastic Giants. Their Laser blasters were no match for these monstrous beast’s that lumbered through the barren wastelands of Arrakis, that came in the form of a sandbox, tan blanket or vast open floor. The Fremen would often times be called into battle upon their prestigious PVC Pipe Sand worms that rose up in the sandbox and consumed the plastic giant hoard. Wave after wave of Plastic warriors stormed the battle fronts as the PVC Worms launched fighter jets from within their spiked maw of impending doom. The onslaught did not stand a chance against my creations, and my mind found a new sanctuary within the comforts of my vast creations and infinite worlds. Vast empire were raised and fallen all in the exploits of my diverse and creative mind.

It was within these worlds of vast creation that I inspired, created and studied human interaction, which I feel now has greatly influenced the way I understand people. I would often find myself watching TV shows and mimicking the characters on TV, only to recreate those social cues and emotional nuances in my imaginative play, only to use that to later develop more a robust understanding of social psychology and how people in general interacted with one another. As I got older my creations become more diverse. Then around the age of 10 I discovered Dungeons and Dragons, Mekton, Gammaworld, Robotech and Warhammer 40k, to name a few; My reality exploded! Now I had an entire worlds and vast universes that others had created with complex intricate systems, machines, rules, and ways to take my world of fantasy, creation, and imagination and finally give it concrete cohesive form! I was at awe at this new discovery. Endless creations, limitless worlds, complex stories with equally diverse people, characters, villains and most importantly; other people to play with who were just like me. The gaming community became my new family. I was for the first time in my life surrounded by people just as equally awkward, socially abnormal, and diverse as I. We like a rag tag bunch of adventurers that I had once imagined as my imaginary friends, had now come together in person on a quest; The quest to be more socially acceptable!

We had a new purpose all of us. We had the very tools before us with systems and social patterns to learn how to interact with others. We could create vast worlds, unique social interactions, and even recreate scenes, settings and social situations as we experienced them, through fantasy and social creation, where upon now that bully at school? Well he was the hideous ugly ogre before us, blocking the path to our destination. We needed to get into that ancient library and research the ancient tomb of knowledge and the Ogre well,… he threatened to hit us if we even attempted to cross his path. Well that simply meant that we the Adventurers needed to find a way past the Ogre. Would we follow the Rogue and sneak into the Library through the back door? Or perhaps we’d follow the Wizards path and use some kind of incantation, name calling, and words of power and magically force that beast to move? Perhaps the only solution was plow into him like the powerful Fighter and pummel and beat him into submission, proving to the Kingdom of Elementary that we were the true hero’s of the land. Or… perhaps we simply needed to set a trap using the Rangers hunting and snaring skills and make the horrendous beast move away by it’s own accord, by making it’s position an inconvenience to the point that the beast itself didn’t want to stand guard in front of the ancient library doors, because… Bee’s.

Each path, and each game offered a new solution, a different way to solve the puzzle, a new way to look at a puzzle and overcome innumerable odds. One by one we collected more books, more games, and more content. Each one increasing our worlds, our realms and even more so our options to solve different problems, quest’s and task’s that we encountered along the way. We for the first times in our lives had tools that could help us overcome any obstacle both in the game and in real life. We had within our very hands the tools of the gods and could create infinite options, encounters, and even solutions to our everyday problems. We had before us the very tools to hon our mental skills by role-playing together and building psychological relationships built upon the foundations of social interactions that we each as children lacked. These “games” gave us the tools and setting to “Pretend” in a way that was tangible to our diverse minds. It gave us the ability to understand what it meant to win a basketball tournament without ever being picked for the greatest team. It gave us the literal ability to interact with people we never met, within the psychological comforts of our own social microcosm. Never having to leave our comfort zones until we had developed enough confidence in ourselves to branch out and interact with others, based on the experiences we had had on the gaming table.

So it was probably no surprise to many, that by the time I reached Highschool age; because of my involvement in various types gaming, I had developed in the process a deep appreciation for comic art, fine arts, miniatures, hobby craft’s and more importantly creative writing and game design. This is because these very things were the pinnacle elements involved in playing various RPG’s as well as many “War games” and other hobby games. Games like “War-hammer 40k”, “Battle tech”, and “Battle Masters” were based entirely upon the idea that a player had to paint, build, and pose their various figures, miniatures and landscapes to play their games. These types of games enhance the players experience and Hobby skills by literally teaching them to custom build, paint, alter, and create entire landscapes, vehicles, and even custom characters within their games. Larger War Games, such as War-hammer 40k, literally can not be played until the player(s) in question not only assemble their entire armies of over 200 2 inch tall figurines, but when playing most public group games; the players are actually required to play the game only when their figurines have been painted. This type of game play mechanic became such a huge influence upon me, that It would later in high-school, and in my adult life inspire me to pursue 3D modeling, and even more so how to become an injection mold artist.

My passion and desire to became a game designer boiled in my blood with such a deep intensity that In my Freshman year of highschool, I took as many fine art’s, drafting, and design classes as the school would allow. This was in my opinion a very fortuitous endeavor as it allowed me to then meet my lifelong mentor and good friend “Dan Fraga”. Dan at the time was a Sr. in our Highschool who when I had met him, had just that year been offered a position at Image comics as soon as he graduated Highschool. There he would end up working with none other than the now very prestigious “Rob Liefeld”, “Jim Lee”, and Todd McFarlan. Together along with many other equally talented artist’s, creators and equally unparalleled brilliant creative minds; they would write, develop and create some of the most prestigious Comic content the world had ever known.

Such works as “Spawn”, and later Dan’s own equally illustrious comic book series “Black Flag”. Dan would later end up leaving Image comics to further his career in Graphic illustration, working directly such talented such talented big names as “Marvel Comics”, “Bento box Entertainment”, “Hasbro” and many many more equally distinguished and unprecedented names within the industry. These days, Dan now works as the Site Director of animation at Warner Brothers in Atlanta Georgia. He and I still occasionally chat about various concept ideas, products we are privately developing, and general life. His career, inspiration, mentality, and life ethics have became to be many of the driving forces that influenced me into the man I am today.

To say that the gaming and comic book industry had become such a huge influencing factor upon my life, would be an understatement. In 1992 a very close friend of mine gave to me the first ever Live Action Role playing game (LARP) I had ever encountered. This “Vampire” game, I would later find, would become a pinnacle influence into so much of my life for years to come. You see at the time the very concept of Live Action was shunned by the gaming community aside from content like SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), Amptguard, & Dagorhir. This was because many people often times got so immersed into their creative escapes that they often took things too far. Situations like the book/ movie “Mazes and Monsters” as well as political organizations such as “Focus on the family” and other misinformed media groups, often times misconstrued vital ideas about these types of games and ended up making up completely erroneous stories just to get bigger ratings.

Games like Dungeons and Dragons, and other similar titles ended up getting identified with a social stigma; where at the time, many people actually thought that any social group where people dressed in character or acted out the actions of their games was “clearly” tied into some type of cult or socially dysfunctional group. Sadly they could not be further from the truth; as alas, many very good games intended for private social entertainment often times got blamed for the actions of idiots, misinformed judgmental fundamentalist’s, and unfortunately, those seeking to vilify something they know little about, for the opportunity to gain access to the media spotlight and shine like a hero for illuminating to the masses the proverbial “dark side” of entertainment.

So when my good friend gave to me for Christmas mind you, a role playing game where we could dress up as Vampires and “pretend” I was both ecstatic and a little trepidatious. So much in fact that for the first couple of years during highschool, I was actually uncomfortable again with the idea of Live action role play, for fear of what I might be getting myself into. I felt with genuine dread and discomfort that THIS game was in fact exactly what the media was warning me about. However over time I came to realize that the book was indeed, in fact, nothing more than brilliantly written fiction based with just enough lore, superstition, and carefully crated themes and settings to be a great avenue for social escape. As I became more and more involved into the various Live Action communities around the then “Bay Area” I was suddenly immersed into a world that I didn’t even know existed. A world of fantasy, creation, inspiration, and genuine fun based upon the most basic of childhood games; “Let’s pretend”. But this game, this game had rules and these rules became forms of structured “Improvised acting”. Where myself, my friends and even complete strangers could “Pretend” in costume to be all manor of beast’s, creatures, Monsters, and even yes the very people that hunted them down.

This I truly believe became my shining key that plunged me into the world of true immersion that finally gave me a glimpse into the reality of gaming. This became the very thing that launched me head long into the world and universe I had been seeking my entire life. A world that I and others like me could create on a whim. A world where we could play the roles of anything our minds could muster and experience social nuances that we didn’t understand. A world where people like myself who suffered for many years with neurological “Disorders” and “Conditions” could find a place to embrace the things we didn’t understand and finally be able to see things from the perspective of others in ways we never had imagine. This,.. this was the beginning of my rebirth and evolution into becoming a game designer.

So much in fact that as soon as I graduated High School I immediately attempted to seek different ways to get involved within the Industry. I launched myself like a misguided rubber band into the world looking for ways to become more involved with various gaming groups, communities and industry leaders, thinking that by becoming part of their mainstream ideas, my own creations would come to form. That somehow, repeating the regurgitated norm, would help me blossom into achieving that long standing dream. I had finally found a setting that I felt I belonged, now I just needed to make my worlds, my passions, my thoughts manifest into form based on the aspirations of others.

While Dan who had trail blazed ahead of me cutting a path for his own mind to exist within the world of the leading creative minds; I had a much different path ahead of me. He often would offer for me to follow in his footsteps and to come work with him at Image Comics after I had graduated Highschool; which now looking back on it, I do regret that I had turned It down at the time because I personally did not like the Los Angeles area, despite my father, a man who was my other mentor in life, also happened to also live there. However, I feel that that was not the path that the fates had set before me. You see, time and again to no avail, I repeatedly tried to insert myself into the gaming, animation, or developmental Industry of creative minds in one iteration or another.

Repeatedly I tried to work with, develop, and even go to school to become a Product designer, Game design, Graphic arts designer, creative writer and so on ad nauseum. However for some strange reason, every avenue that I tried to insert myself into with the eventual hopes to become an involved member of the gaming society, a place that I felt I truly belonged; I’d routinely within 6 months to a year wash out from that avenue in one way or another. To no avail, I kept repeatedly hitting road block after road block in my goal to become a game developer. But I my passion ran deep in my blood. My desire was my ambition, my driving force and the very thing that kept my spirit from never giving up! I would not let these setbacks stop me. No sir.

Dan like the impressive mentor and good friend that he had always been; kept reassuring me that I would find my niche and that if I ever desired to change my mind about L.A., I simply needed to ask, and he would gladly find me a position within either his company or at least help me find a position where my talented skills, artwork and capabilities could be put to work in an Industry that he felt would be a great fit for me. However, despite all that, I kept trying and trying and would not give up. Year after year, game after game I become more and more driven by the desire to become a game designer. Each set back, had no longer became a hurdle for me to overcome. No,.. now they had became my fuel. I now looked forward to each set back, each failure as all they did was strengthen my resolve and build that burning pyre within me, giving me an undaunted yearning fire to make my passion a reality. It became a driven desire to overcome those limitations and prove to myself and the world that I could in fact become a great designer and more importantly that I had what it took to be that very person I desired within my heart of hearts.

Sometime later, almost 10 years of trial and error and even the inclusion of relocating to the Midwest where I met and got to know other great creative minds like “Michael Longcore” (Musician & Lyricist), Micah Skaritka (Apophis Consortium & now the CEO of Negative Gain productions), Steve Wieck the literal CEO of White wolf publishing, the very company that wrote the book of “Vampire the Masquerade” which had been my crowning inspiration to dive into the world of gaming, and even Ívar Kristjánsson (CEO CCP Games). Here my path was even more clearer than before. Here I had found that the problem that I had had for so many years was not a fault in the person I was, nor even the desire and ambition. But merely instead the way I was going about it.

You see each of the industry leaders who pioneered and blazed the paths to their success that I was trying to emulate, and insert myself into their world and their realms of creation had done so through their own hard work. Their own dedicated determination and their own focused resolve. Each of the creators of the past became the very icons of today, from their refusal to give up. But more importantly they each blazed the path before them focusing on their passions, their desires, and even the stories they wanted to tell. They each manifested into reality a concept that they believed someone would one day want to hear. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but one day, if they kept writing, kept creating, kept aspiring and just let the creative mind in their heart be the wild animal uncaged, unhindered and most importantly free; the world, the people around them,.. well… one day they too would catch up and see what they had manifested in the world. Where upon they, they creator could say at last; “Behold”.

This was where I came to terms with reality. This was the moment I realized that the way to make my dreams a reality was to drive my passion on the fuel of my love for this reality I had once had a taste for. I could not allow others to limit me. I could not let their minds tell me what I could and could not create. I could not let them tell me where the limits of my creations were oing to be. I needed to embrace the truth of self anf manifest within me the creations I wanted to see. I needed to make into reality MY WORLDS. Thus… I started to do that very thing. Like Egg Shen says in “Big trouble in Little China”.

~ “See? That was nothing. But that's how it always begins. Very small.” ~ Egg Shen:

He was right. You can’t build an empire digging in the trenches of another monolith. You have to go out into the world on your own. You have to bleed, work heard, and expect diminished returns. You have to start small today, driven by blood sweat and tears so that eventually over time the hard work becomes easier and easier as you become accustomed to it. Your yield becomes your potential until before you know it your Ant hill has evolved into a full blown mountain and then… then you can really change the world.

So in 2014 after nearly 30 years of seeking, striving and failing with an endless desire to make form into reality, I along with my life partner Ayrianna Lain, formed Tokumei Entertainment LLC. 3 decades of manifested passion formed into one cohesive idea. One manifested form of thought. At the time we had made an attempt to launch the first ever board game under our belt’s called “Dystopia: Racing – Grav lev”.

Dystopia Racing; Promo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7aGfvLfFoE

Where upon we got the exclusive and wonderful chance to work with some already very talented artist’s, creators, and Musicians; such as Lydia Burris, David Alusik of Urn and Kill Ritual and the esteemed and very passionate vocal talents of Leslie Benson, from “The Sweetest condition”. But while that did not do as well as we had hopped; this time, we didn’t let that stop us. We retooled, rebuilt, and in 2020 we renamed the company to just “Tokumei LLC”, and teamed up with Melanie Hahn as an editing Consultant, Melissa Hanifee as our contractual in house content researcher, the acclaimed William Williams as a seasoned product tester, and ever were able to contract Reid Kleiner as another consultant to help us with our website designs and systems analytics.

In the last year alone since the relaunch and rebranding of our professional image; we have now developed 4 separate board game titles, including a recreation of one of our failed titles, and have even been featured on Jeff Cliff’s pod cast. We have since then even caught the attention of the now world renown online Science fiction writer “Sean Kennedy”. In fact now because we are building steam in a much more refined engine than before; it has allowed us to reach out to other creators such as Rob Boyle the CEO of Posthuman Studio’s and the new co-writer of the widely respected online pen and paper RPG game; “Eclipse Phase”, and genuinely inquire with him about different business strategies he has implemented in his own game company, as the first ever dominantly PDF driven online content creator. In fact, now that we have shifted almost 90% of our production away from the traditional systems of marketing, sales, and product distribution, and implemented the Print on demand aesthetic, in tandem with the Creative Common/ GNU Linux style support structure, we are actually seeing a bigger market interest than ever before.

Which I think is in fact where we as a game company, and more so a society of online creators are heading. With the new era of the “Cyberpunk 2020” finally upon us; the great pioneers of vision like Michael Pondsmith, William Gibson, and Neal Stephenson, once envisioned back in the late 80’s a digital world were the common lay person would have the ability to make money from their very thoughts manifested into conceptual ideas. We the digital society of tomorrow can now finally more than ever be driven and inspired by the online virtual media of tomorrow. The Epoch of society is upon us and we have been given a gift of a lifetime. Like Prometheus, we have been given a fire of a new age where we can now dedicate a space within our own minds, hearts and souls, to create with passion and emotional reverie anything that our hearts and souls aspire to manifest into conscious form.

Web sites like “Memberful”, have become the dimensional portals that grant us the ability to transcend the mortal coil and manifest into a virtual form our very thoughts. We the common person have evolved into the muse’s of the future. Where now we can truly create a virtual platform together. Where upon creators like myself who have spent a lifetime building and refining their tools and trade, only to have doors closed in our faces because of our social differences, Now have the opportunity to reach more people, more directly than ever before. We no longer are dependent upon the “Store” based middle man, and now can sell our very thoughts, creations, and aspirations directly to the interested parties who are most interested in indulging themselves with everything we have to offer. Where now they can directly support, download, and even interact with me the creator and my team in the most interpersonal ways imaginable; online, virtually within a world that we can create together.

This is the new epoch of humanity, a time where we as a society of online creative minds can build a new universe together as one society, one creative mind with many diverse ideas, concepts and imaginations driven by the desire to make thought into a formulated reality. Here in this space, on this site and many more to come, we each have the exclusive power to become the next George R.R. Martin, Frank Herbert, or even Tolkien. We the thinkers no longer have to be told how to think, what to think, or what is and is not acceptable for printing and or production. Our voices as PEOPLE are no longer being censored, nor are we being told that our creations infringe upon the multi-billion dollar Brand name mainstream market, and will not be allowed to release that story, that concept, or even that character, because a big name icon doesn’t like it. We will no longer be told what is taboo and what is or is not allowed to be said.

This digital age shall be one of passion where the minds of the free can finally express their thoughts, desires and ambitions, and as a person we can each see through the flow of support, revenue, and even publication, our ideas flourish into something more tangible, where our dreams can finally become a reality. For the first time in human history, humanity can express it’s ideas, words, passions, hopes, dreams, and even lives as raw and unfiltered as we desire, regardless of where we live, how social we are, or even the limitations of our physical form. Just imagine what Walk Disney, Arthur C. Clark, Stephen Hawking or even Lloyd Quarterman, a brilliant Scientist who worked on the Manhattan project during world war 2. Imagine what any of the minds of the past could do with the technology of today as they have the potential to reach literal billions of people with but a simple mouse click!

We have become the living and breathing rose in a digital age.

Beautiful yet treacherous, and together like a rose bush we all shall evolve and embrace our passions together, as one community. We shall grow and become an unstoppable force that changes reality.