is a Japanese
video game director and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...
. He is known for his work on
visual novel
A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...
games, including the ''
Infinity
Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol.
From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...
'' and ''
Zero Escape'' series. His writing style often incorporates elements of
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
with various scientific and philosophical themes, and makes heavy use of
plot twists.
Interested in narrative based games from a young age, Uchikoshi studied video game development at a
vocational school
A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...
. His first job in game development was at
KID in 1998, where he primarily wrote scenarios for
''bishōjo'' games and other visual novels. These included ''
Memories Off'' (1999) and ''
Never 7: The End of Infinity'' (2000). In 2001, he left KID to become a
freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
writer, and continued to work on visual novels. Uchikoshi joined
Chunsoft in 2007, where he came up with the idea of integrating puzzles into a visual novel for the player to solve. He implemented this idea in ''
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'' (2009), the first game in which he served as the director.
Both ''Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'' and its sequel ''
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward'' (2012) were commercial failures in Japan. When Chunsoft put the ''Zero Escape'' series on hiatus, Uchikoshi returned to freelance work, and wrote his first
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
series, ''
Punch Line
A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...
'' (2015). He also worked on a
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
and
video game adaptation of ''Punch Line''. A large fan presence helped revive the ''Zero Escape'' series, and Uchikoshi returned to write and direct the concluding installment, ''
Zero Time Dilemma'' (2016). In 2017, he left Spike Chunsoft and formed the video game developer
Too Kyo Games together with ''
Danganronpa
is a Japanese video game franchise created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft (formerly Spike). The series primarily surrounds various groups of apparent high-school students who are forced into murdering each oth ...
'' series staff members and his ''Infinity'' co-writer Takumi Nakazawa. Shortly after, he wrote the concept for the anime series ''
The Girl in Twilight'' (2018), directed and wrote the adventure game ''
AI: The Somnium Files'' (2019), and returned to write its sequel, ''
AI: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative'' (2022).
Life
Uchikoshi was born on November 17, 1973, in
Higashimurayama, Tokyo
is a city located in the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 148,275, and a population density of 8700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geography
Higashimurayama is located ...
.
[
*''NF Magazine'' interview:
*Interview partially reprinted online: ] Almost immediately after birth, he began choking on
amniotic fluid
The amniotic fluid is the protective liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a gravid amniote. This fluid serves as a cushion for the growing fetus, but also serves to facilitate the exchange of nutrients, water, and biochemical products betwee ...
, and claims he would have died had his doctor not held him upside down and "hit his backside".
Uchikoshi was born with
torticollis, which required surgery when he was three years old.
While in
middle school
Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school.
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...
, he read
gamebook
A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...
s written by
Steve Jackson, which instilled an interest in narrative-based games.
He studied
management engineering in college, but dropped out and spent a year without a job. Uchikoshi then enrolled in the
vocational school
A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...
Vantan Design Institute, where he studied video game planning, 3D modelling, 2D art, sound, and programming. Vantan was founded as a school for clothes design, and only branched into game development later; according to Uchikoshi, the teachers were not well versed in video games, which led to uninteresting courses and many students dropping out. Eventually, only Uchikoshi and a few others attended classes, which resulted in the teachers being able to better focus and take care of the smaller group of students who still attended; because of this, Uchikoshi says that he and the other remaining students were able to achieve a higher level of proficiency.
Career
Uchikoshi's first job in game development was in 1998 when he joined
KID, a company known for
''bishōjo'' games.
At the time, KID was also developing video game adaptations of
board game
A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
s; he originally joined KID because of these board game projects, as he was interested in making simple games that a lot of people would be able to enjoy.
His first project at KID however was designing 3D models for the
action game
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...
''
Pepsiman'' (1999).
Sometime after the release of ''Pepsiman'', a producer at KID asked him to write a scenario for an upcoming ''bishōjo'' game. Uchikoshi believes he was chosen because of his personality and experience with writing.
The first ''bishōjo'' game he worked on was the visual novel ''
Memories Off'' (1999), followed by ''
Never 7: The End of Infinity'', ''
Memories Off Pure'' and ''
Memories Off 2nd'' (all 2000).
While writing ''Never 7: The End of Infinity'', Uchikoshi wanted to include
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
themes, but was instructed by his superiors to instead focus on the romantic relationships between the game's characters.
In 2001, Uchikoshi left KID to become a
freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
writer and developer;
this was the result of a need for independence, and the ability to work for other companies besides KID.
Over the next few years, he worked on several games, including ''Close To: Inori no Oka'' (2001),
''
Ever 17: The Out of Infinity'' (2002), and ''
Remember 11: The Age of Infinity'' (2004).
He also wrote two erotic visual novels, the first was a 2003 game which he was uncredited for and whose title he does not remember, and the second was ''Eve: New Generation'' (2006).
While working as a freelance writer, Uchikoshi was contacted by the game development company
Chunsoft about a possible job offering. Looking to provide a stable income for his wife and daughter, he accepted the company's offer in 2007.
Chunsoft had developed several mystery visual novels in the past, such as ''
Kamaitachi no Yoru'' (1994), but wanted to create a new type of visual novel that could appeal to a wider audience.
Uchikoshi came up with the idea to include puzzles that are integrated within the story, and need to be solved in order for the player to make progress.
He began implementing and expanding upon these ideas in ''
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'' (2009), in which he served as the game director, planner, and scenario writer.
Although the game was a commercial failure in Japan,
its unexpected critical success in North America prompted Uchikoshi to continue the series.
The sequel to ''Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'' was ''
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward'' (2012).
In an attempt to reduce costs, Uchikoshi asked Chunsoft if he could develop ''Virtue's Last Reward'' and its eventual sequel simultaneously, as both games would use the same
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
and
digital asset
A digital asset is anything that exists only in digital form and comes with a distinct usage right or distinct permission for use. Data that do not possess those rights are not considered assets.
''Digital assets'' include, but are not limited t ...
s; Chunsoft agreed to the proposal.
Uchikoshi maintained his duties as the director, planner, and scenario writer.
Despite positive international reviews, ''Virtue's Last Reward'' was another commercial failure in Japan. As a result, Chunsoft placed the game's sequel on indefinite hiatus, effectively concluding the ''
Zero Escape'' series.
Uchikoshi examined the possibility of financing the development through the use of
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
on a website like
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
, but felt that the idea was "not quite persuasive enough".
After ''Virtue's Last Reward'', Uchikoshi returned to freelance work. He wrote a scenario for ''
Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram'' (2013)
before working on his first non-game related project, the
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
series ''
Punch Line
A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...
'' (2015).
Uchikoshi wrote the episode scripts, which he noted were more cinematic in tone than most of his previous projects.
The series ran on Japanese television from April to June 2015. Uchikoshi also wrote a ''Punch Line''
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
, which began serialization in September,
and a
video game adaptation, released in 2016.
Meanwhile, fans of the ''Zero Escape'' series created an online campaign to raise awareness and support the development of a sequel to ''Virtue's Last Reward''.
Uchikoshi noted that the fan presence was a key factor for the sequel's reevaluation.
While delivering the
pitch for the game, he used a fan-made vocal rendition of the series theme song;
Spike Chunsoft
is a Japanese video game development and video game localization, localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike (compa ...
agreed to the proposal, and
green-lit
In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the projec ...
production of ''
Zero Time Dilemma'' (2016). With ''Zero Time Dilemma'', Uchikoshi intended to resolve all mysteries left from the previous two games in the series, as well as those introduced in the third. Following the game's release, he remarked that having devoted the last decade of his life to the series, he was saddened to see it finally come to an end.
His next two projects were announced in 2017: the
escape room
An escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, exit game, or riddle room, is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal in a limit ...
game ''The Pop Star's Room of Doom'',
and the video game ''
AI: The Somnium Files''.
Another anime project, ''
The Girl in Twilight'', was announced in 2018, for which Uchikoshi wrote the original concept.
In 2018, it was announced that Uchikoshi had left Spike Chunsoft and formed a new, independent video game developer,
Too Kyo Games, together with writer
Kazutaka Kodaka and composer
Masafumi Takada, both of whom previously worked on the ''
Danganronpa
is a Japanese video game franchise created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft (formerly Spike). The series primarily surrounds various groups of apparent high-school students who are forced into murdering each oth ...
'' series at Spike Chunsoft. Other ''Danganronpa'' staff members, and Uchikoshi's fellow ''Infinity'' writer Takumi Nakazawa, also joined the company. At Too Kyo Games, Uchikoshi has the role of scenario writer and game director, and has written two video games: ''
World's End Club'', an action-adventure game involving children playing a death game,
and ''
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy'', a
tactical role-playing game
Tactical role-playing game (abbreviated TRPG), also known as strategy role-playing game or (both abbreviated SRPG), is a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical (Turn-based tactics, turn-b ...
co-written with Kodaka.
Writing style and philosophy
As a writer, Uchikoshi prioritizes storylines over characters, with the goal to write a story that people will remember regardless of the overall quality.
He first writes the basic outline of a story.
With
plot twist heavy stories, he will typically work on the ending first and continue backwards, in order to not get confused when writing the plot.
This method of writing, referred to by Uchikoshi as the "deductive composition method", was not used in his earlier works; ''Ever 17: The Out of Infinity'' was written using the "inductive composition method", where a setting is created first, and a story is created to support the setting, something he described as a gamble, with the risk of an uninteresting story. He also likes to work non-sequentially, writing multiple scenes in parallel.
After crafting a story, Uchikoshi attempts to create a balanced cast of characters with regards to genders, personalities, and ages.
He used the
Enneagram of Personality
The Enneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram, is a pseudoscientific model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types.
The origins and history of ideas assoc ...
as a reference while creating the characters for ''Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'' and ''Virtue's Last Reward''. He purposefully does not give the main character of the story a strong personality in order for the player to more easily empathize with them.
Although the character dialogue is usually written with an international audience in mind, Uchikoshi will sometimes incorporate humorous or important lines aimed towards Japanese audiences.
This style of writing can be seen in ''Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors'', as a vital plot point hinged on a Japanese pun, which forced the
localization team to play through the entire game again to determine if the story still made sense in English.
Uchikoshi believes the most important aspect of writing visual novels is to envision what the player will think about in each scene,
saying that he always has "a conversation with an imaginary player" when writing stories.
Uchikoshi's works often deal with scientific and philosophical themes, including
idealism
Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...
,
Rupert Sheldrake
Alfred Rupert Sheldrake (born 28 June 1942) is an English author and parapsychology researcher. He proposed the concept of morphic resonance, a conjecture that lacks mainstream acceptance and has been widely criticized as pseudoscience. He has ...
's theory of morphic resonance, and the
prisoner's dilemma
The prisoner's dilemma is a game theory thought experiment involving two rational agents, each of whom can either cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual gain. The dilemma arises from the fact that while def ...
.
When asked about this, he noted that he often has them in mind before writing a story, and collects
web page
A web page (or webpage) is a World Wide Web, Web document that is accessed in a web browser. A website typically consists of many web pages hyperlink, linked together under a common domain name. The term "web page" is therefore a metaphor of pap ...
s related to the topics. Once he has completed the final preparations for a story, he will choose which topics interest him and conduct further research.
Among his influences are science fiction writers
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
and
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...
.
Uchikoshi believes ninety percent of any creative work consists of pieces from others' works, and that the remaining ten percent is creativity, with the result hinging on how well a writer can incorporate their influences with their own ideas.
Works
Video games
Other
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uchikoshi, Kotaro
1973 births
21st-century Japanese writers
Japanese video game designers
Japanese video game directors
Living people
People from Higashimurayama, Tokyo
Japanese video game writers
Writers from Tokyo