Hello, everyone!

Only 24 days left for the OMORI Kickstarter! So much has happened, yet so little time has passed since the launch. As mysterious as this Kickstarter is, I would like take some time to let you know the origin and background of OMORI.



OMORI started out as a very personal project. He was a character that I created to help me cope with my problems during a confusing part of my life. I posted his character on a blog with a white background, which eventually became what the game calls WHITE SPACE. Drawing him did help me, but the more I posted, the more I felt that he needed to leave the space he was confined in. He needed to get out. So as ironic as it was, I created a story for him to explore and be a part of.

I tried drawing a graphic novel, but while I was drafting the chapters, the story's path seemed too linear. I wanted the audience to be able to explore outside of the pages, and the more I drafted, the more I felt that a graphic novel wouldn't be the best medium to tell this story. I wanted the story to be fully interactive, and I wanted the audience to be able to make choices. All my ideas were coming to me in the form of gameplay. I needed to make OMORI a video game.

On a whim, I bought RPGMaker VX Ace for me and my friends (it was on sale), and we started working on the project. The next day, I called up my friends (Space Boyfriend and Slime Girls) with something like "Wanna do something crazy?" and invited them to become a part of this project. They were really excited, and I was really hyped up about the whole thing too, because something that I previously thought to be impossible suddenly became possible.

Early on in development, I came up with the idea of the Jukebox Quest and began looking for musicians to include in the soundtrack. While on my search, I heard "My Time" by Bo En and immediately felt it's connection to the game I was trying to make. I contacted him about it, and it eventually became the accompanying music to the OMORI trailer.

The OMORI trailer was a crazy feat in itself. I planned out the entire trailer, drew all the animations by hand, took all the photos, and edited the whole video frame by frame as a giant .gif in Photoshop. Planning aside, I finished the video within a month. It was exhilarating, but also straining. I realized that the workload from OMORI would put too much stress on my body and mind considering my other projects and the timeframe that I had planned to release it. Just in time, I met an amazing and experienced RPGMaker VXAce programmer and specialist, Archeia who is now the main programmer and developer of the game; and through her I have met many other amazing people to help me with the creation of OMORI.

It is very important to me that this game is made in RPGMaker. Not only am I a fan of RPGMaker games, but I also want to promote this platform that supports and provides the tools for DIY storytelling and game-making. For this reason, I am also keeping the game development team as small as possible. It's more work for us, but I believe the end-product will be beyond worth it.

Having gone through art school, I've always felt that games were viewed as money-making products instead of art; but just because it is commercial doesn't mean that it's not good: in fact, I would argue the exact opposite. Games do everything that art is supposed to do and beyond. It mixes visuals, writing, music and sound, storytelling, and interaction and puts it all in one package. Games are so successful at what it does that there is a whole culture (and then cultures within cultures) based on them. As creating games becomes easier in the future, I want to get across the idea that game-making is an art medium. I am creating an art piece called OMORI and my medium is a video game. This game is going to be about my expression, and with the help of the OMORI team, it will become realized. I can't wait to show you all the final result of our labor of love.

Thanks to this Kickstarter, OMORI has gained so much support. To everyone who's donated at least $1, I give my undying gratitude. In addition, I've also revealed the next two stretch goals and will be revealing the rest hopefully very soon. Here are the details:

$30,000 Expanded Intro and Cutscenes. I will be creating more animation pieces like the ones from the OMORI trailer and inserting them in game. (SMASHED!)

$50,000 A Mac port of the game will be distributed to all $15+ backers along with the PC Version of the game. You will essentially be receiving two copies of the game. (SMASHED!)

$65,000 Mini-Games will be playable through in-game arcade machines. In the world of OMORI, there is a diner called GINO's. In the hallway of this diner is an old arcade machine, and although it's broken now, it will be playable after a certain point in the game. However, I found that there was another good opportunity to include more fun retro Mini-Games within this game. If this goal is reached, we will be including more arcade machines (I won't tell you where because spoilers) that will each have their own mini-game... because that would be awesome and also crazy.



$80,000 Extended side-quests in the game (like there weren't enough already). We currently have over 60 NPC's in just one side of the OMORI game, and we plan for the player to have the opportunity to become immersed in each of their lives. Therefore, it is very important that we have enough quests to establish this connection between players and NPC's. If this stretch goal is reached, we will be adding more daily quests, some extra (kind of scary) mini-bosses, and at least two major (hard to find) side quest strings that involve multiple people in the town and may spawn some alternate endings... We will be hiring an extra programmer as well.



$100,000 Japanese localization! Thank you for all your support, Japan! We never expected to get this reaction overseas. We are pleasantly surprised and super grateful. As a big thank-you, we've added this. If this stretch goal is reached, OMORI will be getting a Japanese translation. You will be able to choose which language of the game you would like in the survey after the Kickstarter.

$125,000 An OMORI Game Artbook and Walkthrough that will reveal all the game's secrets (there are a lot) and include concept work and groundwork behind OMORI will be available by adding $35 to your REWARDS Tier. A survey will be conducted after the Kickstarter in order to make sure you get your desired prizes. As an added bonus, all $55+ backers will receive the OMORI Game walkthrough in PDF format including the two copies of the game, the wallpaper, the OST, and the pin set.



That's it for now. The next goals are the big ones, the best ones, and the hardest to reach. I will be revealing them as soon as we reach the next stretch goal of $65,000. (And yes, it's what you've all been waiting for.)

Stay tuned!

- OMOCAT