A page detailing the development history of ONGEKI. In this article, we will explore ONGEKI’s original design, the redevelopment after the location test, and progress from the pre-release version until how the game plays today.
This article is a work in progress! I will continue to find more details and add them here as I have time.
2015 – A Third Music Game
An early ONGEKI Development Logo – Credit TCRF
ONGEKI Seems to have started development right after the release of Chunithm, in 2015, as quoted from “Koha-D”, the general director of the game:
“…back in the winter of 2015, after CHUNITHM had just launched, when the company asked me to develop a third rhythm game.”
Koha-D went on to describe the original pitch:
“The concept itself was pretty wild — a fusion of shoot-’em-up, rhythm game, and character game — but at a time when I was starting to feel like I’d hit a ceiling with music games, it genuinely surprised me.”
In the 8th Anniversary interview article, Koha-D shared some more information on early Ongeki development!
Card maker with a slot machine lever
‘Graze system’ era development
■ Graze System
“Graze” means “to scrape” or “to brush against,” and it’s a system commonly adopted in bullet hell shooters like the Touhou Project series as a way to add deeper gameplay to the act of dodging.In early development, ONGEKI placed a greater emphasis on bullet dodging
(the location tests had a fair bit more bullet hell elements too, if you recall),
and we were considering a balance where dodging was more important than hitting.Also, in the very first design document, the buttons were actually just two on each side with no side buttons either,
so in the earliest prototypes there were fewer elements to hit,
and we were proceeding with a feeling of “yeah, this could work.”However, as development continued,
it became clear that a greater sense of rhythm game satisfaction was needed,
and as we added side buttons, increased the number of buttons,
and expanded the freedom of hi-speed settings,
it became difficult to build meaningful depth into the “dodging” side of play —
and so this was one of the ideas that was cut fairly early in development.※ Note: the side buttons were an idea from the cabinet development team;
we experimented with various device ideas they pitched and ultimately adopted them.
■ Bomb Button / Special Move System
This was an idea we were exploring around the same time as the Graze system,
also conceived with bullet hell shooter-style gameplay in mind.At the proposal stage, the plan wasn’t to let players freely play any song from the start;
instead, players would advance through stages by maintaining their life gauge,
gradually expanding the range of songs available to them —
and “bombs” as a survival mechanic were being explored as an important element of that game experience.
(We were thinking about how to deliver the classic “clear stages to advance” rhythm game experience through a different approach.)Since it was also a character game with cards,
we were considering allowing players to trigger each character’s unique special move when setting off a bomb —
but in the end, we determined that asking players to assess the situation and activate a separate effect
while already focused on a rhythm game was too much to ask;
having your attention pulled there meant you couldn’t focus on the music,
and it diminished the fun. So this too was cut early on.The chapter unlock system — where playing through chapters gradually opened up more songs —
is a remnant of that era when we wanted to guide players through the game that way.
(It wasn’t a particularly well-received system and was revised later down the line.)
■ Defeat Powerful Enemies to Catch ‘Em All System
One of ONGEKI’s features is that music and characters appear together as opponents,
but the original plan wasn’t to obtain them through gacha or points —
instead, we considered a system where battling opponents gave you a chance to drop their card,
a bit like a certain Po◯émon-style mechanic.We believed that the more times you see a character, the more you grow to like them,
so the idea was that you’d gradually come to like a character from seeing them as an opponent,
and then naturally want to have their card —
a system designed to let you play the game driven by that feeling.
(The very concept of facing characters as opponents was partly intended with this in mind.)Concerns like “I don’t want to be forced to play a song over and over just for a card drop” or
“I don’t want to be locked out of a card I want just because I’m not skilled enough”
were factors that would have gotten in the way of simply enjoying the game as a rhythm game,
and since we found we could create characters that people naturally grew to love without forcing it,
gacha was debated extensively within the team and then implemented,
ultimately settling on a system where cards could be obtained through the game’s overall play cycle.
After several design trials over two years, the game finally came into something closely resembling the final game. Not much is known about these early iterations of ONGEKI, but it is mentioned they tried every combination of buttons and levers they could imagine.
2017 – December 13th Livestream Reveal
Ongeki is revealed during the MaiMai Milk launch. Players are given a chance to try the game.
2017 – The December 15th Location Test
- The location test was held from December 15th to 17th, at Akihabara Sega Building 3 (Which would become GiGO Akihabara Building 3 in 2022)
- The game version is seen as Ver.0.10.0
During the location test, people were lined up before the Arcade had opened to get a chance to try Sega’s new game (Source: dengekionline)
Above, the 2017 location test control panel featured LEDs underneath the TAP buttons. (Source: dengekionline & ariesu)
The location test cards, sporting a different holographic pattern, different skill icons and skill amounts, earlier artwork, and “Location test” watermarks on the top right. The cards also show an “O.N.G.E.K.I 0.10” ID on the bottom right, that is formed differently to how the final cards display their version. (Source: dengekionline)
During the location test, something became apparent: The game was clobbering newcomers. Because the development team had focused on the dodging part of the game more heavily than the rhythm game part at the time, even medium-level songs had chaotic, almost bullet-hell like sections that were game-overing players before they could complete a song.
Because the game has such a big wind-up between songs, this means going through the whole game over section, not earning many jewels, and taking the GP from an attempted song from you. The feedback was brutal online. Many players thought the bullet part of the game was too much, and the music part was too little.
A location test is the first real trial every arcade game goes through — the moment you find out whether players actually respond to what you’ve built. When we finally got there, what we realized was just how big the gap was between what we’d been trying to make and what players actually wanted.
With only a little under two months before JAEPO 2018, the game had to be redesigned to resemble something closer to what rhythm gamers would expect.
2018 – 9th February JAEPO (Japan Amusement Expo)
- The version can be seen as Ver 0.11.0
With just two months until the JAEPO show and not much time left before launch, we went into a complete frenzy. We overhauled our direction entirely, pulled in staff from maimai and CHUNITHM, and in the most literal sense, everyone worked together to finish the game that we unveiled at launch.
From what can be seen on videos, the charts had heavy re-designs to be more music-game based, while bullets were mostly moved to the outer boundaries on the lower difficulties. Where bullets used to appear at the end of hold notes or as walls to dodge through quickly, the game started focusing on taps and slides, while keeping the bullets to a minimum, only appearing as obstacles if you missed a flick, or were already outside the black play area.
Even the lunatic chart for “No Remorse” saw a huge bullet nerf from the original onslaught in the 2017 location test.
The LED light underneath the buttons has been removed, however, it can be seen here that the WAD button has a honeycomb-style look. The final WAD design is a rectangular checkered look. The “SAMPLE” written on the cards appears to be printed labels attached on top of the cards and was not part of the original print.
The JAEPO 2018 Expo location test card still shows a different holographic background design. Yuzu’s card says “Aim for the School Tournament!” whereas the final says “Aim for lots of cheers!”. There is no ‘School Tournament’ in the final story of Ongeki, the closest being the ‘Shooter Fest’ that the characters eventually perform in Summer.
The JAEPO version appears much closer to the final version, with the game feeling far less ‘bullet-hell’ like on charts.
2018 – May 2018 2nd Location Test
- The 2nd location test was located at Sega Akihabara Building 3 & 4, possibly other locations
- The version was seen as: Ver. 0.20
- The test was held between at least May 12th until the 20th, but it may have been a little longer.
- A blog about the location test (where these images are sourced from) can be found here
There’s not much to say about this version, other than it’s a small iteration from the JAEPO overhaul, and it plays closely to the final release version.
2018 – July 26 Release Date
After clearing every obstacle, we’d finally made it to launch day. The response was largely warm — people welcomed this new rhythm game and its new style. But not everyone in the market embraced it. GP mechanics, chairs, card printing — this game was, in many ways, a foreign object to the established rhythm game norms, and not every player out there accepted it with open arms.
Players’ honest feedback is something every title has to face eventually. It’s never easy to sit with negative opinions, but by tackling each issue one by one — over many versions, over a long time, walking side by side with our players — I think O.N.G.E.K.I. finally became a completed work over these four years.
If you are interested in more information about the development of Ongeki, I strongly suggest checking out the interview articles!