I really should have posted this ahead of the last Picotachi event (Vol. 41), that was held a couple of weeks ago, but I really liked the wood block “Picotachi” logo that Joseph built. If you’re an indie game developer in Tokyo — or one passing through — make sure to follow Joseph so that you don’t miss the next event.
The indie gaming scene in Tokyo is on the rise — the Branching Paths documentary illustrates this quite nicely — and one of the components of that growing scene is the Picotachi series. Organized by game dev Joseph White at his Pico Pico Cafe — a lovely space in Kichijoji — it’s a bilingual show-and-tell series where local and visiting devs can share what they’re working on. The next edition, Vol. 35, is set for this Saturday (August 20), starting at 20:00.
This is a post to celebrate the release of the Branching Paths documentary, which I just love so damn much.
Go buy it here.
So what’s this Branching Paths thing all about then? It’s a just-released documentary directed by Anne Ferrero that takes a look at the growing indie gaming scene in Japan. Unlike in the west, where indies have enjoyed quite a bit of success over the past 7-8 years, Japan is still in the early stages of an indie revolution, and Branching Paths does a fantastic job of illustrating what this nascent movement is looking like. Even better, it’s beautifully shot, and so also does a terrific job of acting as a visual tour of Japan from the perspective of games and the people who power that space.
But for me, it goes deeper. Seeing this now, after being back in Canada for close to a year and a half, it reminded me of a world I left behind. The film is packed to the gills with interviews of people I love and call friends, and so not only did it serve as a nostalgic reminder of all those people that I don’t get to hang out with anymore, but also of the spaces and events that I cared about when I was there (Picotachi, Tokyo Indies, BitSummit, Tokyo Game Show).
It even reminded me of PauseTalk, as the first time I heard about this project was from Anne, the director, who made a few visits to my events.
I love that the very early stages of an indie scene that I saw while I was in Tokyo has continued to grow, and is at a point now where I think there’s no turning back – we’re in for a lot of new and fun gaming experiences from Japan, directly from the minds of of a whole bunch of interesting creators.
That’s something to be super happy and excited about.