Algolemeth: The Masterpiece Created as a Last-Ditch Effort Gains Victory [Award Winner Documentary #9] Part 1
■Gunzee
“Gunzee” has been playing games on the NES (Famicom) every day for as long as he can remember, and has wanted to create games that will surprise and inspire people since he was young. He initially worked at an IT company for six years, but eventually quit to pursue his dreams and started teaching himself how to develop games. After seven years, he made the decision to continue making games while working another job to maintain stability. Gunzee now works at a VR app development company, while developing Algolemeth on the side.
Described as a fully automated dungeon RPG, Algolemeth is known for its unique game design that combines RPG and programming elements. Players send their magical automaton or golem to explore a dungeon and fight its enemies. However, the golem only has simple commands built into it at first, such as “attack random enemy”, making it difficult to win against strong opponents. Various commands can be obtained by defeating enemies and by skillfully combining these commands, the player can program complex strategies to adapt to situations such as, “heal ally if their HP is low, otherwise protect yourself.”
Algolemeth was submitted to the 1st GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest but failed to be selected as a winning title. After utilizing the feedback received at the time, it was re-submitted to the second contest, and successfully won an award.
Medium-Rare Games, the developer of Algolemeth, is a one-man team led by Gunzee. Refusing to give up his dream of creating games, he left his corporate job and started his own company and taught himself to develop games. At one point, he ran out of money and worked as a food deliveryman to cover development costs. Faced with the possibility of giving up game development, he decided to create something based on the most interesting idea he had, which is how Algolemeth was born.
We spoke to Gunzee, who persevered in developing games amidst hardship and re-entered the GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest, about his passion for creating games.
■ “I may have to give up developing games”: Bracing himself for the possibility, his masterpiece takes the prize
―― Firstly, congratulations on your award! Algolemeth was exhibited at BitSummit* in both 2023 and 2024. You exhibited the game on your own in 2023, and in 2024 it was part of the GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest’s support program. What were those experiences like?
*BitSummit
Japan’s biggest indie game event, held in Kyoto every year. An event where domestic and international indie game lovers and developers gather. The winning titles from the GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest are also exhibited there.
🔸Gunzee: When I exhibited the game alone, I had to do everything myself, from preparations to setting up the booth. In 2024, I was able to entrust everything to the GYAAR Studio staff. Not only did I get to experience the benefits of being an award-winner first-hand but was able to redirect the effort of preparing an exhibit into developing my game, which was great. I’m also grateful for the on-site interpreter who translated feedback from international users for me. The dungeon map feature discussed in Part 2 of the interview was put into the game thanks to these aspects of the support program.
―― Being a contest winner gave you many advantages, like being able to focus on developing your game, as well as incorporating opinions from users overseas, which would have usually provided a language barrier. Moving on, could you tell me about when you first became interested in video games?
🔸Gunzee: I can’t actually recall when I first started playing video games. I was playing Doraemon on the NES I had at home ever since I can remember, so I feel like games have always been a part of my life.
―― What led you to pursue game development as a career?
🔸Gunzee: I don’t clearly remember this either. Games were my favorite hobby, so naturally, I figured I would end up making games for a living. Although I studied programming, I was hired by a company that wasn’t in the game industry. Unable to give up on my dreams, I left that job after six years, worked as a game developer full-time for seven years, and now juggle being a company employee and a game developer on the side. I started creating Algolemeth in 2021 and here we are today.
―― How did you make a living after quitting your job?
🔸Gunzee: I was cutting into my savings from my previous job. I was producing smartphone games but was never able to make consistent income from it, and all of my money ran out about three years ago. After that, I was developing games while working as a food deliveryman.
―― You were juggling two jobs at the same time.
🔸Gunzee: At the time, I thought that my life was practically over. Being unemployed would have been a better alternative, and I barely went outside. Even so, I continued making games without any vision of them succeeding. However, working in food delivery was surprisingly fun, and it helped me regain positivity. By interacting with many different people, and sometimes even receiving tips, I was able to re-establish a connection with society. I think that this optimism is what led me to finding a new job and continue creating games.
―― Algolemeth differs in many ways compared to the games you’ve created in the past. Up until this point, you developed casual titles like Furniture Climber* (家具クライマー), but Algolemeth has more depth to it, given it’s a game that combines RPG and programming. I get the impression that this strongly reflects your personal interests. How did you build the Algolemeth universe?
*Furniture Climber
Jump across furniture floating in mid-air!
Developed in one week as part of the Unity 1 Week Game Jam, it was later released for smartphones on iOS and Android. Many lessons were learnt with the release of the smartphone version, like dealing with rejections from the App Store, to sending press releases to game media outlets.
🔸Gunzee: When creating a game, I tend to think about the constraints I need to work around. For Algolemeth, I thought about making it sci-fi to match the programming element, but the assets I had were mostly fantasy-based, so I went with fantasy for the sake of convenience. I chose a monochrome color palette because I wanted to use a combination of assets from a variety of sources. By removing color from the assets and applying a pixel-art effect to them, I sought to disguise the differences between them and create a sense of unity. As an independent developer, I believe it’s essential to consider how you can leverage the resources you already have by working backwards.
―― The game design is unique too. You program the automated actions of the golems by combining the commands obtained from defeating enemies.
🔸Gunzee: I came up with the idea while playing an RPG called Stranger of Sword City*, thinking that it would be interesting to make gameplay completely automatic. I would use the same commands against the same enemies, so I thought it would be interesting if all actions could be programmed beforehand, thereby automating the combat, and the party would automatically exit the dungeon once their HP falls below a certain value.
*Stranger of Sword City
An RPG released in 2014. Lead adventurers to explore a 3D dungeon.
―― Turning the action of playing a game into the game itself is a fascinating approach.
🔸Gunzee: I came up with the idea a long time ago, but only started developing it into a game in 2021. I had run out of money, and hadn’t achieved much with game development either, so I thought it was the end of the road for me. If I were to give up game development, I wanted the last thing I created to be something I wouldn’t regret. In that case, I wanted to work on the most interesting idea I had. If that didn’t work out, I would be able to quit making games knowing I didn’t have the talent for it.
―― You put your all into this game, prepared for the possibility of giving up game development, but your efforts paid off. Developing Algolemeth under those circumstances must have been challenging.
🔸Gunzee: It was. I didn’t have much money to develop my game or make ends meet. I was under pressure, but situations like that can help you come up with great ideas.
―― In a way, it motivated you.
🔸Gunzee: Up until then, I created games with the skills I had on hand. But with Algolemeth, I stopped thinking about what I could make and simply made what I wanted to express. That isn’t to say that the games I developed in the past were a waste of time. Not only have my programming techniques improved, but experiences like partaking in game jams and getting feedback from users through the app store has helped me be successful in developing Algolemeth.
―― You applied to the previous GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest with Algolemeth, but unfortunately weren’t selected as a winner. Why did you decide to enter the contest for a second time?
🔸Gunzee: The email that GYAAR Studio sent to notify me that I hadn’t won an award included feedback that could only be given by someone who had actually played the game. More than 200 games would have been submitted to the contest, but they had taken the time to closely evaluate my game.
―― Given that there were over 200 entries, it’s quite an incredible feat that detailed feedback was provided for each game.
🔸Gunzee: I’ve entered other contests without winning before, but this was my first time receiving such thorough feedback. Some contests will respond with a one-sentence email from a generic template, which is inevitable as contests tend to receive many entries, but they can be quite disheartening to read. With the way GYAAR Studio responded, I could see the person beyond the email, and it was very encouraging.
Furthermore, I knew you could enter the contest multiple times with the same game. Although my game was unsuccessful at the contest, it received high praise from various media outlets after BitSummit 2023 and I was also interviewed by BS TV Tokyo. Because of these achievements, I thought I would try applying for the contest again.
―― Developing a game while working another job must have been difficult, especially right before the contest deadline.
🔸Gunzee: I put a lot of work into my application when I entered the contest for the second time. My first application was pretentious and uninteresting, so I tried to make my second one more personal. I included things about developing my game without any income for a period of time, Algolemeth being featured in the media and going on TV, and how making Algolemeth changed my life.
- In Part 2, Gunzee discusses important lessons the Supercell tour taught him about developing games, the benefits of shifting from making games full-time to part-time, and more!
▼ Algolemeth
Algolemeth is a fully automated dungeon RPG where you create and finetune a golem’s battle logic AI and send it forward into a labyrinth.
Your input on its journey ends with the creation of its AI.
Improve it through trial and error so that the golem makes it out of the labyrinth!
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