Developer Notes Vol. 1: The Story Behind Oshishinu

This game is a puzzle adventure jointly developed by SCRAP, the creators of numerous REAL ESCAPE GAMES, and VELUX STUDIO, a developer of a wide variety of digital games.

The game’s defining feature is the ability to move freely back and forth through time by controlling the seek bar on a livestream.

The heroine of the story is Alagna Arai, a hardworking but clumsy and awkward streamer whom you simply cannot help but root for. For some reason, one accident after another occurs during her streams—and each time, she loses her life.

As Alagna’s childhood friend watching over her, the player rewinds time using the seek bar and tries to prevent her seemingly unavoidable deaths.

There are many ways to intervene: traveling into the past to prevent danger before it happens, posting comments to change Alagna’s actions, and even taking part in puzzle-solving battles between streamers.

By repeatedly reliving the same stream and discovering the best possible choices, your goal is to reach a future in which Alagna makes it to the end of the broadcast alive.

In this developer-notes series, we will look back on the development process and explore how the idea of “rewinding time with a seek bar” was born, how it evolved, and how it eventually took its current form.

In this first installment, we will introduce the story behind the creation of the original concept—the very starting point of the game.

It All Began with a Single Presentation

The original concept was born during one of SCRAP’s regularly held “content retreats.”

It all began when puzzle creator Hikaru Sakaiya, who was attending the retreat, proposed a time-travel system that used a seek bar.

According to Content Director Kosuke Mayuzumi, who was also at the retreat:

ーーーーー

Sakaiya began his presentation by showing us a seek bar and saying:

“We all use a time machine in our everyday lives. This is it.”

The presentation got an incredible reaction from everyone in the room.

From there, the project was launched around the concept of “rewinding a dying streamer’s broadcast with the seek bar in order to save her.”

At first, we imagined using a live-action streamer. However, in search of something more distinctive and relevant to the current era, we decided to make the character a VTuber.

There was also an early concept for a game featuring five VTubers in addition to the main heroine, in which players would “uncover the dark side of VTubers.” As development continued, however, we ultimately decided to focus entirely on a single heroine.

ーーーーー

That is all for this installment.

Next time, we will explore the structure at the heart of the game—how saving the heroine again and again gradually makes you grow more attached to her.