Hi everybody! We are just a week away from our first anime convention appearance of the year, at Anime Central in Rosemont, Illinois. Then, a week later, we'll be at Fanime in San Jose, California.
ACen Panel Schedule
Panel #1: Romance 101: Introduction to Ren'ai Games
Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 9pm (LP 7 / London Room, Hyatt)
Panel #2: Shira Oka: Second Chances Preview
Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 10pm (LP7 / London Room, Hyatt)
ACen Dealers Room Info (Booth #540)
Come and visit us in the Dealers Room all weekend! Try a demo of our game in progress, chat with staff members, get a free postcard. ^_^ And as always, you can get a special forum icon for signing up for our forums (or checking in, if you already have an account with us).
Fanime Panel Schedule
Panel #1: Romance 101: Introduction to Ren'ai Games
Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 10pm (Panel Room 2 / San Carlos Room, Hilton)
Panel #2: Shira Oka: Second Chances Preview
Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 10pm (Panel Room 3 / Santa Clara Room, Hilton)
Fanime Dealers Room Info
Only kidding! (Sorry, bad joke. ^_^;) We decided not to have a booth at Fanime this year, in order to spend more of that long weekend on actual development. We'll definitely be on-site for at least parts of Fanime, though, so feel free to stop and chat with us if you see us. ;)
Other Conventions
After Fanime, the next convention we plan to attend is Anime Expo. We'll post more details about that (and any other cons) when they're available.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask on our forums (here). Hope to see you at a con!
Lately we've been preparing for GDC, the week-long Game Developers Conference which is taking place in San Francisco this week. This will be my third year at GDC-- the first year as a lurker, last year as a Conference Associate (a volunteer staffer), and this year mainly to promote Shira Oka and look for a publisher.
I'm both excited and nervous about GDC. Unlike the anime conventions we normally go to, the people attending GDC are less likely to anime fans or familiar with Japanese culture, so it's harder to know what to expect. So far, though, I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of interest and positive feedback I've received through my myGDC page (is that redundant?).
(If you met me through myGDC, thanks for stopping by!)
~Tanuki Note: A belated happy new year to all! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We have been VERY hard at work here at Okashi Studios lately, which is partly why we haven't been as active here on our website. I am working on preparing a significant update on game progress right now, and if all goes well, I'll be posting something new to the front page in the coming days.
Meanwhile, here's something nice and random to entertain you while you're waiting...
Written by Okashi staff writer, Megan (she loves her pomegranate juice!)
I love ren-ai games. Simply put, pretty much any will draw my attention, to some extent. Visual novels are my favourites, but I also enjoy the type commonly called 'dating sims', Angelique being my favourite of these.
However one of my friends asked me one day, "Why do you play them? Aren't they all the same game?"
Oh no, no, they certainly aren't! Even games taking place in the same location can be radically different. Compare Bloody Bride and Tokemeki Memorial for instance, both taking place mostly in a high school. One has you playing as an effeminate vampire prince trying to net a human wife with mutual, consenting blood drinking, the other is your standard high school scene.
But I admit, I can see how somebody not a fan of these sort of games could see them as all being the "same" despite the utter lack of truth of this.
Lately we've been preparing for 
Written by Okashi staff writer, Megan (she loves her pomegranate juice!)
