Ratatan Development Log #1: The Beginning of the Project
This time, I'd like to look back at how the Ratatan project first began.
When people think about game development, they often imagine a straightforward process: come up with an idea, develop the game, and release it.
However, the very first thing we thought about wasn't the game itself.
It was:
"How can we bring our own creation to players around the world?"
The Project Began at the End of 2020
Ratatan began during a casual conversation at an izakaya in Shinbashi at the end of 2020.
Hiroyuki Kotani, Toshiyuki Yasui, and I were having drinks together when we started asking ourselves:
"Could we create something on our own?"
At the time, we all shared the same frustration.Even if we created a game ourselves, the IP would ultimately belong to the company.
Of course, that's completely natural when you're developing games as part of a company.
Still, we wanted to create something we could continue to nurture ourselves for years to come.
During that conversation, another idea emerged.
"With Steam, maybe we could reach players around the world by ourselves."
Then another followed.
"If we used Kickstarter, perhaps we could also raise the development budget."
Steam.Kickstarter.
Those two platforms became the foundation of our vision.
Maybe we could own our own IP.
Bring it to the world ourselves.
And continue growing it ourselves.
That was the true beginning of Ratatan.
Our Original Project Proposal
To turn that idea into reality, we created our very first project proposal.
At the time, the project wasn't called Ratatan.
Its working title was Project JabberWocky.
I'd like to share a few pages from that original proposal.
The first page describes the overall direction of the project.
The proposal outlined three key goals:
Build an indie game studio centered around outstanding creators.
Use Kickstarter not only for fundraising, but also as a promotional platform.
Bring original Japanese games from Japan to players around the world.
The planned release date was 2025.
Naturally, the schedule changed over time.
However, the core vision—building our own IP, reaching a global audience, and growing a community through Kickstarter—has remained remarkably consistent since those early days.
Why Indie?
The proposal also included a section titled "Why Indie Games?"
At the time, choosing the indie path wasn't about making smaller games.
It was about creating the kinds of games that would have been difficult to realize within a traditional company.
From the very beginning, we planned Ratatan as a project for the global market, with Steam as its primary platform.
Kickstarter Was Part of the Strategy from Day One
Another page asked: "Why Kickstarter?"
As you can see, Kickstarter was never intended to be just a way to raise money.
Our original strategy was to use it for:
Promotion
Community building
Presenting the project and the team behind it to the world
Looking back, this decision had a significant impact on the entire development of Ratatan.
Looking Back
Reading this proposal again today, many things have changed.
The release schedule changed.
The game systems evolved through many iterations.
However, one idea has remained unchanged throughout the past six years:
We wanted to own our own IP and bring it to players around the world ourselves.
Ratatan began at the end of 2020.
Its full release is scheduled for 2026.
That means this project has taken roughly six years from its initial concept to reach this milestone.
Game development is a much longer journey than most people imagine.
Especially when creating a brand-new IP, you have to do far more than just make a game.
You need to build a company, secure funding, bring together the right people, and create the structure needed to deliver your work to players around the world.
Through this series, I'd like to document those six years as honestly as possible.
Next Time
This time, we looked back at how the project began and the overall direction described in the original proposal.
Next, we'll dive into the game concept itself.
Using the original proposal, we'll explore what Ratatan was originally trying to become.
Rhythm gameplay.
Multiplayer.
Roguelite mechanics.
And the earliest visual direction.
Including the ideas that never made it into the final game.
Note
The presentation slides shown in this article have been translated into English specifically for this development log. The original presentation was created in Japanese.