French Bread (game developer)
French Bread[4] is a Japanese video game developer founded in 1995 as Watanabe Production (渡辺製作所, Watanabe Seisakujo).[2] Originally a dōjin circle, French Bread became well known for their work in 2D fighting games, particularly the Melty Blood series. In recent years, they worked on other licensed-based fighting games, such as Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax[5] and the company’s original game, Under Night In-Birth.[6] Most of its developed video games are commonly released for Microsoft Windows, Sega arcade systems, and PlayStation consoles.
Native name | フランスパン |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Furansu Pan |
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | Watanabe Seisakujo[1] |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Japan |
Key people | |
| Products |
|
Number of employees | 13 (2018)[3] |
| Website | www13 |
History
The studio was named after a friend of Nobuya Narita, with whom he often played video games with the latter after school. They initially developed desk accessories for Windows. Narita discovered dojin Windows action games and fighting games such as the Tokimeki Taisen (ときめき大戦) and Moon Lights 2 that were ported from the X68000 home computer. He subsequently decided to develop his own project for Windows. It was initially conceived as an original work, but creating unique character designs and graphics proved difficult. Narita was later introduced to the visual novel To Heart and decided to develop his game as a derivative work. Characters for his project were sourced from To Heart, while the system mechanics were based on Asuka 120%, a game that served as an influence for Narita and his team. The Queen of Heart '98 was released on December 30, 1998 to positive critical reception from dojin gamers.[7][8] The Queen of Heart series sold about 100,000 copies, and Watanabe Seisakujo became one of the most popular dōjin game developers.[9] This surfaced significant copyright concern.[10] Some hobbyists also uploaded M.U.G.E.N characters with data extracted from the game. Watanabe Seisakujo and Leaf received many inquiries about permission, although they had no relation to uploaders.[11] Narita didn't hope a derivative work disturbed its original work and developer. He decided to stop creating unlicensed games, and start fresh with French-Bread (フランスパン, Furansu Pan).[8] The circle name came from the dōjin circle to which Narita belonged to before Watanabe Seisakujo.
Narita is also a close friend of Hiiragiboshi Takumi, the author of the Absolute Duo light novel series. They met over 15 years ago while both were still amateurs making doujins. Narita and Under Night In-Birth artist Seichi Yoshihara has helped in designing battle suits for said novel series.[12]
The founder of freelance video game developer group Subtle Style and the creator of Akatsuki EN-Eins series, Subtle becomes reoccurring freelance sprite artist for later modern French-Bread games since Under Night In-Birth and exchange to allow French Bread to include the titular Akatsuki Blitzkampf protagonist guest appearing in French Bread's said first original game series.[13]
Games developed
As Watanabe Seisakujo
| Title | Year | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Queen of Heart '98 | 1998 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from To Heart. Its game system was influenced by Asuka 120%.[7] |
| The Queen of Heart '99 | 1999 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from Leaf games[14] |
| The Queen of Heart '99 Second Edition | 2000 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Ayu-chan Punch! (あゆちゃんパンチ!) | 2000 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Demon Hunter Mai (魔物ハンター舞 -少女の檻-) | 2000 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from Kanon |
| The Queen of Heart '99 with Second Edition | 2001 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Party's Breaker: The Queen of Heart 2001 | 2001 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from Comic Party[15] |
| -AIR- Flight (えあふり 観鈴ちん危機一髪) | 2001 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from Air |
| Glove on Fight (GLOVE ON FIGHT ぐろ～ぶおんふぁいと) | 2002 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from various dating sims, anime, and dōjin games. |
| Melty Blood | 2002 | Microsoft Windows |
As Soft Circle French-Bread
Arcade Games
| Title | Year | Publisher(s) | Hardware | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melty Blood: Act Cadenza | 2005 | Ecole Software | Sega NAOMI | Updated to Version A in 2005, Version B in 2006, and Version B2 in 2007. |
| Melty Blood: Actress Again | 2008 | Ecole Software | Sega NAOMI | The first French Bread game to be featured at the international Evolution Championship Series tournament in 2010. |
| Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code | 2010 | Ecole Software | Sega RingWide | Updated to Ver.1.05 and Ver.1.07 in 2011. |
| Under Night In-Birth | 2012 | Ecole Software | Sega RingEdge 2 | Updated to EXE:Late in 2013.[16] |
| Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax | 2014 | Sega and Dengeki Bunko | Sega RingEdge 2 | |
| Under Night In-Birth Exe:Latest | 2015 | Arc System Works | Sega RingEdge 2 | |
| Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition | 2015 | Sega and Dengeki Bunko | Sega RingEdge 2 | |
| Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late cl-r | 2021 | Arc System Works | Sega ALLS HX |
Console & Computer Games
| Title | Year | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill Milky Punch | 2003 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from Âge games[17] |
| Bike Banditz | 2003 | Microsoft Windows | Horizontally scrolling shooter, succeeding Wizards Star 2nd developed by the defunct dōjin circle NEXT.[18] |
| Melty Blood Re-ACT | 2004 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Melty Blood Re-ACT Final Tuned | 2005 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Melty Blood: Act Cadenza | 2006 | PlayStation 2 | |
| Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B | 2007 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Ragnarok Battle Offline | 2004 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Glove on Fight 2: Gleam of Force (小鳩ヶ丘高校女子ぐろー部 Gleam of Force)[19] | 2008 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Lilian Fourhand | 2009 | Microsoft Windows | Features characters from Maria-sama ga Miteru |
| Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code | 2011 | Microsoft Windows | Published on Steam by Arc System Works in 2016.[20] |
| Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late | 2013 | PlayStation 3[21] Microsoft Windows | Balancing update to Under Night In-Birth. Ported by Arc System Works. Updated to Exe:Late [st], then Exe:Late [cl-r] |
| Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax | 2014 | PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita | |
| Under Night In-Birth Exe:Latest | 2015 | PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Microsoft Windows[22] | Balancing update to a console version of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late. Ported by Arc System Works. |
| Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition | 2015 | PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita | Balancing update to Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. The first game to release downloadable characters. |
| Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late cl-r | 2020 | PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch Microsoft Windows[23] | Balancing update to Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. Previous owners of PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows versions of Exe:Late[st] upgraded to this version automatically, although this version's new content remains as paid downloadable content. Ported by Arc System Works. |
| Melty Blood: Type Lumina | 2021 | PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch Xbox One Microsoft Windows[24] | The first Melty Blood game depicts in remake timeline of Tsukihime series, and Melty Blood Act sub-series. |
References
- ^ at Internet Archive
- ^ a b c Loreille, Thomas (2018-08-20). "The surprising story of the French Bread studio". Bas Gros Poing. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ "ふらぱん情報局 2018年04月27日放送 - YouTube". YouTube.
- ^ Japanese: フランスパン, Hepburn: Furansu-pan
- ^ Romano, Sal (2013-11-10). "Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax developers revealed". Gematsu. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ Toyad, Jonathan Leo (February 6, 2011). "Melty Blood creator gives birth to new 2D fighter". GameSpot. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ a b "名作同人ゲーム Best 5 : Queen of Heart '99" [The 5 Best Dōjin Video Games : Queen of Heart '99]. 同人ゲームマニアックス [Dōjin Games Maniax]. Kill Time Communication. 2001. pp. 30–45. ISBN 4-906650-96-1.
- ^ a b "同人から商業にフィールドを移したフランスパンが，新作「アンダーナイト インヴァース」で目指したもの。代表・なりた氏に聞く，その思惑". 4Gamer.net. Aetas, Inc. 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
- ^ Hichibe, Nobushige (2013-09-30). "ゲーム産業成長の鍵としての自主制作文化". Tokyo Institute of Technology: 32. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ キム (2003-02-05). "飛躍する同人業界 〜 同人ソフトサークル『渡辺製作所』にインタヴュー 〜". 探偵ファイル／探偵魂. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- ^ . 渡辺製作所. Archived from the original on 2001-12-03. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- ^ "2014-03-25".
- ^ "「エヌアイン完全世界 Anastasis（仮）」，クラウドファンディングを本日開始".
- ^ "Games - The Queen of Heart '99 SE". Kitchen Discotheque. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ "Games - Party's Breaker". Kitchen Discotheque. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ "Melty Blood Developer Upgrading Under Night In-Birth".
- ^ Kitsumeda (2013-03-13). "Review: Drill Milky Punch". Rice Digital. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
- ^ "Team HotPulse". French-Bread Online. 2003-12-28. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
- ^ . Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
- ^ (Press release). Arc System Works. 2015-12-08. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2019-02-04.
- ^ "Under Night In-Birth coming to PS3 in Japan this July". 2014-04-22.
- ^ "UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[st] is Coming to Steam on 8/20! | Arc System Works". 20 July 2018.
- ^ "UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] ｜ アンダーナイト インヴァース エクセレイト クレア".
- ^ "Melty Blood Type Lumina Announced for Consoles". Siliconera. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)