Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Touhou Mechanical Scrollery’

Review Fix chats with Shokutaku no G, Co-Founder, Mikosan Manners, who details the original, creative influences and goals of Touhou Mechanical Scrollery.

Review Fix: How was this game born?

Shokutaku no G: I often enjoyed talking with my friends who loved the Touhou Project, exchanging opinions on what kind of Touhou games they want to play. Before I knew it, it made me desire to create this game. 

Review Fix: What was your role in the game?

Shokutaku no G: Director, Programmer, 3D modeler, VFX artist, etc.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in the industry?

Shokutaku no G: I’m generally a big fan of Touhou Project games and have played them a lot. However, there weren’t any that explored free-flying action gameplay as we’ve done with Touhou Mechanical Scrollery, which was what I wanted to play. This is what spurred me to create my own game and get involved with game development. 

Review Fix: What was development like?

Shokutaku no G: It was really tough to start! I had no experience in programming, modelling, or anything else! I even had to start with buying equipment, software, etc., so I worked part-time to save up the money. Three years later, we built up the game then sold it for the first time at a Touhou Project fan works sales exhibition. After that, we spent two years more to improve and polish it, and finally, we’ve launched it on Steam! It’s been a long road, but I enjoyed every bit of it!

Review Fix: What makes this game special?

Shokutaku no G: You can freely control the characters, letting them fly around to all directions in 3D space. Full freedom 3D bullet hell combat. The story may be familiar to Touhou Project fans as we’ve reimagined the Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom and Forbidden Scrollery stories. I think that a game based on both of those works may be rare for fans.

Review Fix: What games influenced this one the most?

Shokutaku no G: Obviously Touhou Project (original series and fan-made games), but it’s also inspired by action games like Horizon Zero Dawn and the Monster Hunter series.

Review Fix: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?

Shokutaku no G: We spent five years making this game, so I was always scared of drastic changes to the official Touhou Project cannon. We didn’t want our story to be different from what fans were expecting.

Review Fix: What were the major lessons learned?

Shokutaku no G: I had started from scratch, so I learned a lot about teamwork, development skills, new ways of thinking, etc.

Review Fix: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?

Shokutaku no G: The important thing is whether those games are fun or not. If it’s more fun not to change the older ones, they should be preserved. If those games are not fun, I think new initiatives are important.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite memory as a gamer?

Shokutaku no G: There is nothing like a game to play with your friends. It’s fun even just to watch, even if not everyone is playing. Next time, I would like to create a game which you can play with other players.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Shokutaku no G: If you love Touhou Project, if you have the desire to create a game, you can make it. I made it! I hope you can feel my passion while playing this game.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Shokutaku no G: I’m planning a new update to add a customization function for Spell Cards, and new stages and more story for additional challenges.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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