Bellwood's Suzuki Rika's memorable game: "Murder Club"

Game Creator: <Bellwood> Rika Suzuki

Memorable Games

Not movies, novels, or dramas. Entertainment through games.

My first experience with games was PC games in the 1980s. It was a time when pixelated graphics were being added to what had previously been text-based games. I played an adventure game called "Mystery House" and decided I wanted to try making one myself. After graduating from university, I got a job at a company, but I wanted to try something new, so I started a game company with some friends and created the PC game "Murder Club."

It was my first time writing a scenario, and since we were a small team, we didn't discuss the plot and just wrote it directly into the program (laughs). I love foreign literature, and I thought mysteries would go well with games, so I wrote a perfect crime story set in New York. I was prepared for the fact that the work wouldn't be a hit, but thankfully it was recognized by many people, and I was able to continue working as a game creator.

Since then, I've wanted to create entertainment that can only be found in games, not in movies, novels, or dramas. "Murder Club" has been ported to various platforms and is now available on the Nintendo Switch. I used to think that games had a short life cycle, but now with the availability of downloadable content, it's easy to play older titles. We live in an age where if a story is compelling, it can be enjoyed timelessly.

Up until now, I have never worked on a game based on an original work; I have only created original works. Another Code for the Nintendo DS is an adventure game that makes use of the touch panel function. As someone who has been making games for a long time, I challenged myself to create software that was easy to understand and appealing for DS users around the world. The next game I made, Wishroom, is a stylish work that adults can enjoy as well, and its use of rotoscoping visuals also became popular.

In both games, the most important thing was the worldview and characters. I'm in charge of planning and scenarios, which means creating something from scratch, so I start by imagining what kind of characters will live in the story and how they will do so as I begin writing the scenario. Once you begin to see how they live their lives, you begin to empathize with their casual choices and actions, which I think increases the sense of immersion in the game. Adventure games in particular have the appeal of involving your emotions as you solve mysteries and reach the conclusion. My belief is that I want to create memorable games like that.

Suzuki's masterpiece