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SquareEnix: Schoolgirl Strikers hugely successful, was made by internal console staff

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Square Enix finally put up the English translation of their financial call (the actual spoken statements, not the slide).

This was one of the more interesting notes, where they bragged about how they bucked the trend and had PS2/PS3 era console devs make a successful mobile game.

Square Enix said:
“SCHOOLGIRL STRIKERS” was a title developed entirely by our internal development team, which resulted in a huge success and contributed greatly in the Period. This internal development team is comprised mainly of seasoned developers from the PS2 and PS3 era. Having this team succeed in F2P development was a big milestone for the Company. Some people say that developing F2P titles would be a major challenge for console developers, however this success has stimulated our internal development teams and veteran developers, and I believe this was a considerable achievement.
As for smart devices and PC browser games, “DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS SUPER LIGHT” and “SCHOOLGIRL STRIKERS” have constantly ranked in the top 20 of application game sales, making significant contribution to the overall profit.
Source: http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/library/docs/141106/page05.html

For reference this is the game: http://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/app/sukurugarusutoraikazu/

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Edit:

One of the notable staff members is detailed by duckroll below:

One of the "seasoned developers" mentioned is Koji Sugimoto. He's a prolific programmer at Square Enix who has been in the company for ages. These days he mainly does 3D engine programming. He's responsible for the 3D tech which powers their best looking PSP games - Crisis Core, 3rd Birthday, and Type-0.

He did a presentation on the client engine for Schoolgirl Strikers earlier this year: http://connect.jp.square-enix.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SQEX_DevCon_sugimoto.pdf

The main points about the client code is that it's supposed to be very small and very efficient. The small download size allows interested players to get into the game very quickly, and it also conserves battery use. It's apparently also a very efficient engine on the technical end.

As far as I can tell, this is the main staff for the game. I've known about Sugimoto's involvement previously because I was looking at something else months ago related to that, but the rest I just pulled from JP Wikipedia. :p

Producer: Toshinori Mizumachi (FFXI PlayOnline Programmer, FFXIV Planner)
Director/Script: Takanari Ishiyama (FFXIIRW Co-Director, Blood of Bahamut Director)
Character Design: Gen Kobayashi (The World Ends with You, SaGa2 DS, SaGa3 DS)
Client Programmer: Koji Sugimoto (Threads of Fate Director/Programmer, FFX Main Programmer, Crisis Core/The 3rd Birthday/FF Type-0 3D Engine Programmer)
 

Corgi

Banned
hmmm seems like there is gameplay too?

screen920x920.jpeg



someone on gaf clearly played this before, so... what is it gameplay wise?
 
Some people say that developing F2P titles would be a major challenge for console developers, however this success has stimulated our internal development teams and veteran developers, and I believe this was a considerable achievement.

Eh... Half of your mobile outpost has been ports if console games, one if your first success in iOS was a console like RPG and one of you most hated mobile games was supervised by console veterans.

Only to a certain degree. I mean, if that's all it took, Idea Factory would be a cyberpunk-esque mega-corporation in control of most of Asia by now.

Or Loveplus for 3DS would have been a success.
 
One day we will get a game with visuals as nice as this but not using 14 year olds with guns and panty shots.

Feels like 3D modeling tallent is being lost in a void of japanese only games.
 
Bald white guys with guns?

Imagine a new jet set radio game with these kind of visuals art wise.

I don't have anything agianst japanese only games but it would be nice to see all this anime visual tech going into something else.

Ultimate ninja storm is close, I guess.
 
Good for them, now that those teams succeeded in mobile give them a bigger budget and put them on handhelds or consoles.

Also, despite the theme, this game doesn't look too bad.
 
Imagine a new jet set radio game with these kind of visuals art wise.

I don't have anything agianst japanese only games but it would be nice to see all this anime visual tech going into something else.

Ultimate ninja storm is close, I guess.

Well, welcome to the reality of the risk averse gaming industry in a Japan with low birth.

Good for them, now that those teams succeeded in mobile give them a bigger budget and put them on handhelds or consoles.

Also, despite the theme, this game doesn't look too bad.

You are talking about Square here...
 

Corgi

Banned
Are there people in the japanese entertainment industry that aren't perverts?

Even nintendo isn't shy to put a nice ass on their gals.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Good for them, now that those teams succeeded in mobile give them a bigger budget and put them on handhelds or consoles.

Also, despite the theme, this game doesn't look too bad.

They already worked on consoles for the last two generations. They got moved over to mobile.
 

kswiston

Member
Imagine a new jet set radio game with these kind of visuals art wise.

I don't have anything agianst japanese only games but it would be nice to see all this anime visual tech going into something else.

Ultimate ninja storm is close, I guess.

If it's anything like other low budget anime styled games, it looks nicer in still shots than it does in horribly animated motion. Ultimate Ninja Storm was impressive because it was so fluid in motion.

On a side note, it's crazy to think that, just 15 years ago, I would blindly buy just about anything with the Square or Enix logos on them.
 

duckroll

Member
One of the "seasoned developers" mentioned is Koji Sugimoto. He's a prolific programmer at Square Enix who has been in the company for ages. These days he mainly does 3D engine programming. He's responsible for the 3D tech which powers their best looking PSP games - Crisis Core, 3rd Birthday, and Type-0.

He did a presentation on the client engine for Schoolgirl Strikers earlier this year: http://connect.jp.square-enix.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SQEX_DevCon_sugimoto.pdf

The main points about the client code is that it's supposed to be very small and very efficient. The small download size allows interested players to get into the game very quickly, and it also conserves battery use. It's apparently also a very efficient engine on the technical end.

Edit: I think it's worth pointing out that the quote doesn't suggest that there's an existing team which was "moved" to mobile. Rather, it just says that the team who made this game are internal S-E employees who have prior experience on console games at the company. Not exactly the same thing.
 
Hey, they just announced a Vita game, and they do have a decent output of 3DS titles, anything's possible.

They took years to do a Chaos Rings port, Saga is their first Vita game that is not a port or mobile, great part of their PSP library remains out of PSN, the 3DS doesn't even have ports of their mobile stuff.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Professional developers makes success mobile game? Shocking!
 

Oregano

Member
They took years to do a Chaos Rings port, Saga is their first Vita game that is not a port or mobile, great part of their PSP library remains out of PSN, the 3DS doesn't even have ports of their mobile stuff.

Army Corps of Hell was an original Vita exclusive at launch.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Edit: I think it's worth pointing out that the quote doesn't suggest that there's an existing team which was "moved" to mobile. Rather, it just says that the team who made this game are internal S-E employees who have prior experience on console games at the company. Not exactly the same thing.

I changed the title to say staff to reflect this.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Bald white guys with guns?
This isn't even a common thing in next gen games anymore. It's quite clear that Japan has been lagging behind lately when it comes to graphical fidelity on next gen, except for a few exceptions like Capcom with Deep Down, Konami with SH and MGSV, From with Bloodborne etc.
 

duckroll

Member
I changed the title to say staff to reflect this.

Yeah it's not immediately obvious at the first glance, but I think what they were trying to say mainly is that they're really happy that they managed to convert internal resources who previously only had consumer games experience, into a mobile product which seems pretty successful and well received now. Well, good news for them, maybe not good news for the average GAF member! Lol.
 

Dee Dee

Member
But what do you DO in Schoolgirl Strikers?
(I also thought this was about football/soccer...)

If it keeps the talented staff at SE, I am all for it. Let's not kid ourselves saying their talents are wasted on mobile, Schoolgirl Strikers probably paid for what FFXV still costs to be made after years of nothing. More power to them, I am personally all for cool new mobile games with talented staff on them, we need more Monster Strike and less Slot Machines. (Stop it with the mobile slot machines already, western mobile gamers! You are ruining it for everybody!)
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Yeah it's not immediately obvious at the first glance, but I think what they were trying to say mainly is that they're really happy that they managed to convert internal resources who previously only had consumer games experience, into a mobile product which seems pretty successful and well received now. Well, good news for them, maybe not good news for the average GAF member! Lol.

Yeah, I agree there.

A lot of publishers have had issues doing that, and part of why they used to be so beholden to companies like Mobage and GREE, so having success here is actually a notable success for them.
 
I play this game every day when an event is going on. Really fun to collect outfits in a mindless and stress free way! The monetization for some of the outfits is really steep and events are frequent enough that i understand why the game is so financially successful. I put some money in myself
 

Shengar

Member
How big is the success they bragged about? Any comparison with their other games?
I keep my optimism that this is just their console team pilot project to making their way into the mobile market.
 

duckroll

Member
As far as I can tell, this is the main staff for the game. I've known about Sugimoto's involvement previously because I was looking at something else months ago related to that, but the rest I just pulled from JP Wikipedia. :p

Producer: Toshinori Mizumachi (FFXI PlayOnline Programmer, FFXIV Planner)
Director/Script: Takanari Ishiyama (FFXIIRW Co-Director, Blood of Bahamut Director)
Character Design: Gen Kobayashi (The World Ends with You, SaGa2 DS, SaGa3 DS)
Client Programmer: Koji Sugimoto (Threads of Fate Director/Programmer, FFX Main Programmer, Crisis Core/The 3rd Birthday/FF Type-0 3D Engine Programmer)
 
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