Ossu,
Today, we have some information about the characters and art style in JDM: Japanese Drift Master. Our game is a racing game like no other. Thanks to our team of amazing artists, we merged a classic racing game narrative with a story presented on manga panels. They replace typically used cut scenes and appear throughout the story with each successive event (don’t worry, there will be an option to skip it). From our perspective, the story part is very important because we would like players to feel like a part of it.
The upcoming free prologue - JDM: Rise of the Scorpion, is an introduction to show you what type of storylines and characters we prepared for you in the full version of the game.
Art of racing
We love classics, like Initial D, Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion. But the style we created in the making of the manga is mostly inspired by the series Gangsta. We draw inspiration from Japanese and American comics and movies. Since we are gamers ourselves and love pop culture, we wanted to add many easter eggs that players will be able to find in our open world.
Know the characters
Each character has their own backstory to tell, so players can learn about their experiences and why they behave in certain ways. Thanks to that, everyone will be able to find someone to identify with. Meet the main cast of JDM: Rise of the Scorpion:
Hatori Hasashi, 18 years old.
An excellent student and baseball team captain. Raised in a traditional Japanese family. Hatori finds his true calling on the track. His arrogance and pride never allow him to lose a race, but rivals keep coming.
Aoi Ishida, 16 years old.
Hatori's girlfriend and childhood friend who always supports him, especially in drift. Their parents want them to get married right after Aoi’s 18th birthday. She loves cars and spends a lot of time with Kaori.
Satoru Hayashi, 17 years old.
He is not rich and being in a private school is hard for him. Drives without a license with a car from an uncle, who is a famous drifter. Like him, Satoru wants to be the best on the track, so he quickly becomes Hatori’s rival.
Ayumi Kurama, 18 years old.
A rich girl raised by a single father who fulfills her every financial whim. Ayumi is a perfectionist, who is successful in every new hobby, especially drift. The adrenaline on track is everything to her, and she treats racing with Hatori like a playground.
Kaori Kato, 17 years old.
An artistic soul and an independent girl who works at a nearby paint shop. She’s Aoi’s best friend but she doesn’t like her boyfriend, Hatori. Kaori doesn’t trust him, but she will support her no matter what.
The art style in JDM changed a lot throughout the production of the game. The first iterations of the characters were inspired by the visual novel style. Eventually, we decided that the designs needed to be more mature. Also, manga pages added more dynamic to the story than visual novel cutscenes. This choice gave us a chance to work with many, amazing artists. Check out the first look at our characters.
Right now, we could describe the genre of our manga as seinen (marketed toward young adult men). Every concept changed from the first vision, but we really wanted to ensure that each design would be deeply rooted in the story.
We’re thrilled with how our character concept art has turned out, but tell us what you think. Next week on JDM: Rise of the Scorpion Steam page we will uncover more information about new locations from the prologue, so stay tuned and follow us there!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1364930/JDM_Rise_of_the_Scorpion/
Remember to add JDM: Japanese Drift Master and the free prologue to your Steam wishlist. Follow JDM social media and join our Discord for future updates and competitions. Get your engines ready for more exciting news very soon.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1153410/JDM_Japanese_Drift_Master/
Let’s Drift!
Gaming Factory
