Creator Spotlight: Alec Holowka

            This week's topic is bittersweet for me.  You see, for a brief period of time, one team of developers had my heart, my soul, and the power to cash any check from me, which I would pay without question, provided it meant more of one game.  That team is the one that made the game Aquaria, Bit Blot.  And...then the disappointment comes.  That being said, I still respect the star of our topic today for what he's done.  Today, the design and musical genius of Alec Holowka.

So much genius...yet, it's not aimed in the direction I desire TT_TT

            Alec Holowka got his first big start in game design with the masterpiece, Aquaria.  This game is ranked in my top 10 of games, bearing in mind that I've played over 1000 titles...yeah, that's a big flippin deal.  So, let's take a journey.  It's 2010, I've got my laptop, it's moderately powerful, and me, having seen an awards show in 2009 that spotlighted a strange, but beautiful title...decide to download the demo for Aquaria.  My god...Aquaria.

From both a music and a design standpoint, Aquaria is a masterpiece.  Go out and play it now.  NOW!!!

            One part Metroid, one part Ecco the Dolphin, and one part the most bittersweet of stories, Aquaria captivated me from start to finish.  Derek Yu and Alec Holowka were the designers responsible for bringing the game to life, alongside the voice talent of JennaSharpe.  Derek Yu is worthy of a spotlight in his own right, but today, we're talking about Alec.  See, Aquaria is a PC game that focuses on exploration and combat, much like Metroid, but which takes place almost exclusively under water.  It features a song based system of auditory, color, and shape recognition for puzzles and fighting enemies that managed to be intuitive, memorable, and strangely haunting, as a way of making the music a more real part of the game.  All these design works belong to Alec.

The voice of Naija, who gave life to Alec Holowka's compositions?

That would be the amazing Jenna Sharpe.  Please, game designers, HIRE THIS WOMAN!  She is just fantastic.

            Alec Holowka is a brilliant game designer.  He's got a real knack for coding, and using the engines at his disposal to make a title memorable, intuitive, and enjoyable.  However that's not all.  Aquaria also features some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard and Alec was the first composer aside from Nobuo Uematsu to make me break down and cry from the sheer beauty and tragedy of the music alone.  Lost to the Waves and Fear the Dark from the Aquaria sound track should be all one needs to prove the sheer power of his rhythm and melody, however he manages to perfectly mix peaceful, exciting, sorrowful, and upbeat all within a few tracks.  Aquaria is a musical tour de force and while I have a bone to pick with Alec...his work in the industry after Aquaria continues to prove that he's still a genius.  It's hard to pin down what makes his music so good beyond base composition.  With Laura Shigihara, it's somewhat easy.  It's clear that her works start from the piano, coupled with her ability to listen and play by ear, which she builds upon for either vocal or symphonic additions.  Alec's work tends to have a synth base, but synth music is a dime a dozen in the world...it's hard to say what makes his special other than it just feels...right.  No matter the piece, it manages to not pull at emotions, but imbue them into others.

            Now, I've built this up enough.  Why do I have a bone to pick with Holowka?  Well, he and Derek Yu ended Aquaria on a To Be Continued that both admitted they had no plans to go back to...sigh...yeah, that's petty of me, but I feel that was petty of them too.  We didn't need that...the story was complete, so...anyway, moving on.

            Following his work on Aquaria, Holowka started up Infinite Ammo, a blog dedicated to the work on his game, Marion.  Marion was eventually scrapped.   AGGGGGHHHHH...Yes, Marion was going to be a spiritual successor to Aquaria with a wonderfully captivating premise of a puppet cutting her strings, using them as weapons, and finding a destiny of her own, free of the manipulations of others.

I can only dream of what could have been...

            Sigh...so, I'm a bit peeved with Holowka.  I can't really blame the guy, though.  He went through a rough patch, trying to find a team, dealing with a cancelled superhero mobile game, and having to rebuild much of Marion from scratch after changing it's art direction.  It's just frustrating to know there's this work of genius that's...never going to be made.

            That being said, it hasn't stopped me from loving his work.  Near the end/middle of Marion's demise, he worked on a game called Paper Moon, which was a free flash game.  It was a cute little title, with a simple, lilting melody that inspired a sort of relaxed pace, despite the game being timed and failure being heavily penalized.  Holowka made the music for this title, as well as the unique mechanic of, since the world is paper, causing the world around you to rapidly fold in or out to create a hectic, but interesting platforming experience.

Trust me...insanely addicting.  This game will eat hours out of your day like minutes.

            Now, this about covers my experience with Holowka's work, but it extends far beyond that.  He wrote music for the interesting little 16-bit throwback, Offspring Fling, featuring a bird-like creature throwing their offspring to solve puzzles, and did both coding and music on an odd title called Planet Punch where...a cloud...punches things...and it's a space based shooter...yeah, that's a weird one.  Either way, both titles showcased more of his talents.  Offspring Fling featured some unique tracks that managed to mimic the 16-bit stylings we grew up with, but with as much flair as the best of Uematsu.  Planet Punch had a different, more harsh style of music not unlike the scratches and beats of a DJ.

Really should give this game a try...

            The game most people might know Holowka for, and yet not know him for, is Towerfall Ascension.  The game where you shoot a limited number of arrows at enemies in an arena, Super Smash Brothers-esque battle for survival.  It was the killer app for the Ouya for a time before it's eventual port to PC and console.  Holowka did the music and by god, is it glorious.  It manages to remind me why I loved the man to begin with, because the tracks are so memorable and so engrossing.

Aright...it's not JUST the music that's got me interesting.

            At present, Holowka appears to be working on three separate projects.  Portico, which is described as a puzzle-trap-defense title, Skytorn, a game that appears to be Metroidvania-esque with a character exploring islands in the sky, and Night in the Woods, an odd little title featuring anthropomorphic animals in a game that seems to be part exploration, part commentary on the state of life, and part trippy as hell visual experience.

            Look, I cannot state enough how amazing Holowka is as both a designer and a composer.  Musician...well, I wouldn't go that far, but he's able to do amazing things with both lines of code and notes on a sheet of paper.  I may have my personal issues with the guy, but check out his work.  All of his games are highly memorable and even if you're not into games, his music is soul rending and soul soothing, all at once.

            Thankfully, Holowka himself has set up links to all his projects, past and present, at his blog, here.  Also, check out his band camp and support him, here.  Aquaria gets its own special mention.  Find it here.

Shine on, Naija.  I miss you.  Maybe someday, we'll get that Aquaria 2.  Eh?  Mr. Holowka...?

            I started off calling him Alec and ended with Holowka because I felt like the man I admired betrayed me, just a little bit.  It's not his fault, really...he doesn't know me and I don't know him.  But still...the man made me feel, with his game and his music.  That's both terrible...and wonderful.  No matter what I may say after, Alec Holowka is one of four composers to make me cry...an honor he shares with the legendary Nobuo Uematsu and the charming Laura Shigihara.  Nothing he does can take that away from him.

            You may frustrate me, but I salute you, Mr. Holowka.

Creator Spotlight: Kiyoshi Sakai

            If ever there were a developer I never expected to spotlight here, it would have to be Kiyoshi Sakai...mostly because I didn't know the name of the developer I had such admiration for until...about a month ago, when I was doing research on a game I dearly love.  Why am I spotlighting Sakai?  Two words.  Umihara Kawase.

Kiyoshi Sakai has practically no pictures online, but Umihara Kawase is his child and his face in the gaming community.  So, ladies and gentleman, meet Umihara.

            Umihara Kawase is a small series of games based around young Umihara.  And yes, this was another Japanese only game introduced to me by the fantastic Justin Carmical, who showcased it in his second You Can Play This video.  I could go on and on about that, but we're here to talk about Kiyoshi Sakai.

            Sakai is the very definition of a niche/independent publisher.  Hardly well known, works typically in informal wear such as slacks or in apartments, and is rather shy in demeanor and very seldom makes appearances.  What I can say about Sakai, though, is that he is a damn fine programmer.  Sakai himself is quoted as saying, "I’m good at making complex game systems.  I designed the game myself, and I did it in a way where I could use my ability to come up with a complex game system. I built the game design around that skill."  Translation?  Sakai is able to program a system that is remarkably complex in it's execution, but very easy to use.  That being said, most of Sakai's games have an incredibly high skill ceiling, making experts on youtube seem akin to gaming gods.

It takes skill to get to the bosses of the game and a ton of skill to survive them.

            Unlike most of my previous spotlights, Sakai has actually been around for a long time.  He got interested in game design due to his father buying a PC for work and he fiddled around with it, learning to program from there.  Sakai wanted to create something with his knowledge and this led to his career in game design.  He got started in the early 90s and his first commercial title as published in 1994, when the first Umihara Kawase game was released by NHK for the Super Famicom.  The game sold modestly well, but NHK faded into the background while Sakai's child, Umihara Kawase, lived on and had several sequels and ports.  Sakai himself is only credited as working on five games.  Four Umihara Kawase titles and the original Ape Escape.  Umihara is Sakai's legacy, as he created one game for the Super Famicom, one for the Playstation, one for the Nintendo DS, and his latest title for the Nintendo 3DS.  The PSP port of Umihara Kawase was made by an outside team.

            Now, I love Umihara Kawase, but it is damned hard...and I have Sakai to thank for that.  The game features a cute girl named Umihara in a strange otherworld in habited by fish who walk on land and strange larger than life items, like vegetables or bicycles.  Her only defense is her ability to jump, run, climb and use her elastic fishing pole, which she can use to reel in fish, or latch onto objects.  This is where Sakai comes in.  While he designed all the game mechanics on his own, what is jaw dropping is the physics engine.  See, Umihara can use her fishing pole to swing from ceilings or walls to try and get to new places.  Some of these swings are insanely hard, requiring momentum, precise angles, and a combination of the jumping and climbing mechanics on par with rom hacks, swinging from ceiling to ceiling with nothing but an ocean or a bed of spikes underneath.  For 1994, this physics system was amazing and has never been replicated except by, ironically, Sakai himself.  Like Bionic Commando, it features swinging from roofs and walls, however there is so much more finesse at play with Umihara, that I'd say the only comparable physics engine is actually in Portal, which uses momentum in a similar way.

Takes some out of the box thinking to make the physics engine work for you in this game.  It takes skill.

            What is perhaps more shocking is that Sakai hasn't worked on more games.  In fact, his Umihara games have been made by different studios each time, with the only real constants being himself and the series illustrator Toshinobu Kondo.  So, I want to give Sakai a bit of a spotlight for this amazing game system.  It is a testament to his talent as a developer that, for the Super Famicom, he created a physics engine on par with, if not better than, most modern ones.  Sakai doesn't really see any problem with a lack of recognition for himself or his series, though.  In fact, the most recent game in the series, Sayonara Umihara Kawase, seems to be closing the door on the series, and he's satisfied with how far it has come.  It would seem that Sakai saw game design and programming as a challenge and something that he enjoyed doing just for the hell of it, rather than getting rich off a franchise.  By his own admission, he built a prototype on his own and showed it to a friend who was working with NHK and asked if they could work together to make a video game out of it.  Despite this somewhat laid back appearance, Sakai has led the charge with all the Umihara games, being the visionary who has kept the series going.

Yes, that's a giant radish and a huge tadpole.  No, I don't know why.

            If I had to give a complaint about Sakai, it's his lack of story focus and at times his informal demeanor.  In truth, Sakai himself admits that Umihara Kawase came to be because of a happy accident.  The games feature almost no story, despite Toshinobu Kondo's illustrations of Umihara and the world around her seemingly begging for a Miyazaki-esque fairy tale to provide context to the weird world of giant fish, oceans, and rivers.  It features some unusual imagery that does actually make players wonder...like in the original game, bicycles, vegetables, and certain other things that in Japan might be related to childhood or how in the sequel there are hints at a more grown up perspective, with pencils and school supplies dotting the landscape.  All the while, the background focuses on rivers and oceans, hinting at recreation and the imagery of another life that might be an obstacle for Umihara's enjoyment.  Even Umihara having fishing as a hobby was just because Sakai thought it would be cool for her to do that in order to make his mechanics work.  He didn't set out to make a fishing game at all.  Ostensibly there is no story and even the game's title, Sakai admits to creating just on a lark.  Umihara Kawase refers to the choice cuts of meat on fish, Ocean Stomach, River Back.  Kondo's illustrations beg for more context to this world...

Sakai, I wanted to know more about Umihara.  Please, tell me more.

            Umihara Kawase has never seen an English release, but in 2014, English speakers are going to get their first taste of it through Yumi's Odd Odyssey on the 3DS.  Honestly, I'm super excited, but I also hope it's not the end.  The game seems to have a story of sorts attached to it and it will be our first taste of some translated Umihara goodness.  For many, it will also be their introduction to the hardcore, but oddly satisfying mechanics that has become Sakai's hallmark.  I would like for more people to know about Umihara Kawase and Kiyoshi Sakai, because they're just fantastic, all over.

Sayonara Umihara Kawase on the 3DS, known in the States as Yumi's Odd Odyssey.  Check it out to witness Sakai's mastery in action.

            Kiyoshi Sakai has little information floating around the web about him, lacking even a proper wikipedia page, but there was an interview with him on USgamer and he is credited on Giant Bomb.  Umihara has little information about it, but to see it's madness and it's beauty, this youtube channel is the best way to go.  And please, support Umihara Kawase by buying Yumi's Odd Odyssey on the 3DS.  It's a digital download from the eshop and is well worth the price.  Give it a look!