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Vanillaware
Vanillaware Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. An independent company, it was founded in 2002 under the name Puraguru by George Kamitani, a game developer who had previously worked at Capcom and Atlus, and directed Princess Crown (1997) for the Sega Saturn. Beginning as a small studio developing Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion for Enix, in 2004 the company moved to Osaka, Kansai, and changed its name. Kamitani wanted Vanillaware to create successor projects to Princess Crown, beginning with Odin Sphere.
The company is noted for its use of two-dimensional artwork, with character models having jointed hand-scripted movements similar to Flash animation. Later titles have experimented with layered levels and 2.5D graphics. Kamitani based many of his games on the classic beat 'em up game titles he worked on while at Capcom, which had similarly influenced Princess Crown. Vanillaware debuted with two games in 2007; Odin Sphere, which was delayed by publisher Atlus; and GrimGrimoire, a real-time strategy game for Nippon Ichi Software. They have worked with many different publishers, though most frequently with Atlus.
Company founder George Kamitani had an extensive career in video games reaching back to the 1980s, working on pixel art for an unnamed company and for Capcom as an artist and designer on Saturday Night Slam Masters and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom before leaving to become a freelancer. His first effort as a director was at the Kansai branch of Atlus on Princess Crown for the Sega Saturn, released in 1997. Originally planned as a life simulation game similar to Princess Maker 2, he changed it into a role-playing game (RPG) to appeal to Sega. The game was a commercial failure, resulting in Atlus Kansai being closed, Kamitani's team being blacklisted in the industry, and an intended Dreamcast sequel being cancelled. While it was developed prior to Vanillaware's official founding, Princess Crown remains strongly associated with Kamitani and the company.
Between 1998 and 2004, Kamitani continued as a freelance designer for Racjin and then Sony Computer Entertainment, during which time he moved to Tokyo. During his time freelancing, he met with artist Takehiro "Shigatake" Shiga and struck up a friendship. While living in straitened circumstances, he still wanted to create his own games. After Sony, he was hired by Enix as one of the core staff on Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion (later retitled Fantasy Earth Zero). Originally a very small project, it ballooned in scale. To help facilitate its development, Kamitani formed a new company to manage its logistics. At that time, it was known under the name Puraguru. The company consisted of only three employees; Kamitani, Shiga, and programmer Kentaro Ohnishi. Puraguru was officially founded on February 8, 2002.
Under Puraguru and Kamitani's influence as director, Fantasy Earth moved away from its premise of a human-vampire war to a traditional fantasy RPG setting involving princesses. Art designs and 3D models for the cancelled Princess Crown sequel were recycled into Fantasy Earth. The production of the game was stressful for all staff, with problems ranging from technical ones to marketing pressure to the merger of Enix with Square to become Square Enix which happened during its development. Ultimately, Kamitani and Square Enix parted on poor terms, with Kamitani saying Square Enix took the project away from him. Puraguru left production in 2004, resulting in Square Enix giving it to developer Multiterm.
Kamitani moved the company down into offices in the Iwatani No.2 Building in Osaka, Kansai. There, it changed its name to Vanillaware; Kamitani chose the new name to evoke the enduring and timeless popularity of vanilla flavoring in ice cream. Kamitani wanted to create a sequel or successor to Princess Crown, and his team began development on Odin Sphere for PlayStation 2 (PS2) with funding and publishing by Atlus. Kamitani was able to gain support from Atlus thanks to contacts there, overcoming the negative stigma attached to him from the failure of Princess Crown.
Production was completed in 2006, but Atlus delayed its release into the following year so as not to cannibalize the market for their other titles. They also refused to take any more titles from Vanillaware until they saw the sales of Odin Sphere. To keep the company afloat during the delay, Vanillaware took on more projects for other publishers. Kamitani had been approached during production of Odin Sphere by Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Shinkawa, who was a fan of Princess Crown. As the team were lovers of StarCraft and were given complete creative freedom by Shinkawa, they created a fantasy-themed real-time strategy title for PS2 called GrimGrimoire. GrimGrimoire was completed in a very short time, estimated at around six months. The production of GrimGrimoire entirely drained Vanillaware's funds, and to tide over the period to release Kamitani took out a personal loan of 20 million yen.
Odin Sphere was a critical and commercial success, with its sales allowing Kamitani to pay off his loan, distribute staff bonuses, and help finance future projects. GrimGrimoire met with less commercial success, leading to Kamitani's plans for sequels being scrapped. Following Odin Sphere, the team began a second project which would evolve the gameplay of Princess Crown as Odin Sphere had evolved its narrative. This title was Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. The concept originated during production of Odin Sphere and was sold to Marvelous Entertainment in 2006, who co-funded production.
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Vanillaware
Vanillaware Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. An independent company, it was founded in 2002 under the name Puraguru by George Kamitani, a game developer who had previously worked at Capcom and Atlus, and directed Princess Crown (1997) for the Sega Saturn. Beginning as a small studio developing Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion for Enix, in 2004 the company moved to Osaka, Kansai, and changed its name. Kamitani wanted Vanillaware to create successor projects to Princess Crown, beginning with Odin Sphere.
The company is noted for its use of two-dimensional artwork, with character models having jointed hand-scripted movements similar to Flash animation. Later titles have experimented with layered levels and 2.5D graphics. Kamitani based many of his games on the classic beat 'em up game titles he worked on while at Capcom, which had similarly influenced Princess Crown. Vanillaware debuted with two games in 2007; Odin Sphere, which was delayed by publisher Atlus; and GrimGrimoire, a real-time strategy game for Nippon Ichi Software. They have worked with many different publishers, though most frequently with Atlus.
Company founder George Kamitani had an extensive career in video games reaching back to the 1980s, working on pixel art for an unnamed company and for Capcom as an artist and designer on Saturday Night Slam Masters and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom before leaving to become a freelancer. His first effort as a director was at the Kansai branch of Atlus on Princess Crown for the Sega Saturn, released in 1997. Originally planned as a life simulation game similar to Princess Maker 2, he changed it into a role-playing game (RPG) to appeal to Sega. The game was a commercial failure, resulting in Atlus Kansai being closed, Kamitani's team being blacklisted in the industry, and an intended Dreamcast sequel being cancelled. While it was developed prior to Vanillaware's official founding, Princess Crown remains strongly associated with Kamitani and the company.
Between 1998 and 2004, Kamitani continued as a freelance designer for Racjin and then Sony Computer Entertainment, during which time he moved to Tokyo. During his time freelancing, he met with artist Takehiro "Shigatake" Shiga and struck up a friendship. While living in straitened circumstances, he still wanted to create his own games. After Sony, he was hired by Enix as one of the core staff on Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion (later retitled Fantasy Earth Zero). Originally a very small project, it ballooned in scale. To help facilitate its development, Kamitani formed a new company to manage its logistics. At that time, it was known under the name Puraguru. The company consisted of only three employees; Kamitani, Shiga, and programmer Kentaro Ohnishi. Puraguru was officially founded on February 8, 2002.
Under Puraguru and Kamitani's influence as director, Fantasy Earth moved away from its premise of a human-vampire war to a traditional fantasy RPG setting involving princesses. Art designs and 3D models for the cancelled Princess Crown sequel were recycled into Fantasy Earth. The production of the game was stressful for all staff, with problems ranging from technical ones to marketing pressure to the merger of Enix with Square to become Square Enix which happened during its development. Ultimately, Kamitani and Square Enix parted on poor terms, with Kamitani saying Square Enix took the project away from him. Puraguru left production in 2004, resulting in Square Enix giving it to developer Multiterm.
Kamitani moved the company down into offices in the Iwatani No.2 Building in Osaka, Kansai. There, it changed its name to Vanillaware; Kamitani chose the new name to evoke the enduring and timeless popularity of vanilla flavoring in ice cream. Kamitani wanted to create a sequel or successor to Princess Crown, and his team began development on Odin Sphere for PlayStation 2 (PS2) with funding and publishing by Atlus. Kamitani was able to gain support from Atlus thanks to contacts there, overcoming the negative stigma attached to him from the failure of Princess Crown.
Production was completed in 2006, but Atlus delayed its release into the following year so as not to cannibalize the market for their other titles. They also refused to take any more titles from Vanillaware until they saw the sales of Odin Sphere. To keep the company afloat during the delay, Vanillaware took on more projects for other publishers. Kamitani had been approached during production of Odin Sphere by Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Shinkawa, who was a fan of Princess Crown. As the team were lovers of StarCraft and were given complete creative freedom by Shinkawa, they created a fantasy-themed real-time strategy title for PS2 called GrimGrimoire. GrimGrimoire was completed in a very short time, estimated at around six months. The production of GrimGrimoire entirely drained Vanillaware's funds, and to tide over the period to release Kamitani took out a personal loan of 20 million yen.
Odin Sphere was a critical and commercial success, with its sales allowing Kamitani to pay off his loan, distribute staff bonuses, and help finance future projects. GrimGrimoire met with less commercial success, leading to Kamitani's plans for sequels being scrapped. Following Odin Sphere, the team began a second project which would evolve the gameplay of Princess Crown as Odin Sphere had evolved its narrative. This title was Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. The concept originated during production of Odin Sphere and was sold to Marvelous Entertainment in 2006, who co-funded production.