Sup Holmes every Sunday!
[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]
Not long ago, we were lucky to welcome Downwell creator Ojiro “Moppin” Fumoto to the program. Though one might guess he and his game were obvious shoe-ins for success, Ojiro’s unlikely road to prominence would be hard for anyone to replicate. He initially wanted to compose music inspired by the scores for the early Kirby games. That lead him to study music theory and eventually, opera singing, all at a young age, traveling between Japan and New Zealand along the way.
In the end, he ended up being too humble (my words, not his) to continue pursuing opera singing as a career. He did not feel right in the spotlight. Instead, he made the remarkably unassuming, but intensely-charged game Downwell. Like so many of the developers I’ve spoken with on Sup Holmes, I felt Ojiro’s personality bore a strong resemblance to the personality of his game, though I don’t think I put it quite that way on the show. I didn’t want to make him feel self conscious.
We discussed that, how the atmosphere and emergent mechanics of Super Metroid were an influence on him, what he’s planning for future games, the joys of working with Devolver Digital, scrapped ideas for Downwell, game enthusiast culture in Japan, and a lot more.
Thanks again to Ojiro for hanging out with us, and be sure to tune in today at 2:30pm EST when we welcome Felix Bohatsch of Broken Rules (And Yet It Moves, Chasing Aurora, Secrets of Raetikon) to the program.
