JRPG is a game that teaches the player Japanese kanji and grammar, in other words reading skills. There may be a possibility for added sound files and the like to do listening recognition, but that is something that will come out in future releases or so depending on resources and those willing to help with the project.
As for the material, I’m aiming for the Minna no Nihongo textbook way of teaching. Starting with introductions, the game will proceed through the chapters of the Minna no Nihongo books, and beyond. Kanji and vocabulary will be built up, and the best part is? It’s part of the games storyline!
So far, I’ve been rather tired with the level of material currently out for learning Japanese, and so I’ve been thinking of a way to make learning more enjoyable, and so more in-depth, that the games out so far. The games out now, like Knuckles in China Land, and Slime World, Kana Attacks, etc are great for learning, but they quickly get old and repetitive to people like me that want a game that feels like a game, not just like you’re learning things. In this way, the game idea that I’ve come up with, is fairly engaging, at least in my own opinion.
The game world is made up of two large continents. On one continent, you have Pleuo Kingdom a country of philosophers, whose specialty is mathematics. The language here is English. On the same continent, there is the Tamashi Kingdom. This country is a mix of government and military, with the spoken language both English and Japanese. On the second continent, there are two countries, the Country of Magic, and the Country of Science. These two countries are constantly at war, fighting over land for things like mining, crops and more. They are two countries that just can’t forge a good relationship with the other.
To try and abate the hostile actions of these two countries, the Pleuo Kingdom is sending a novice mathematician to the Tamashi Kingdom, to learn Japanese. Why a novice, and why Japanese? To start with the second question, the language of Continent 1 is English and Japanese, with English being used in the Pleuo Kingdom, and both English and Japanese used in the Tamashi Kingdom. However, across the great sea, only Japanese is spoken. The relationships between the countries are still being forged, and the languages are still developing, and changing.
Why a novice? One could say that otherwise, you would have the start the game with quite a wealth of knowledge in mathematics. That not entirely being the case, we can look deeper into the Plueo Kingdom. They are a country of philosophers, spending their time on research of the world, the stars, and the meaning for their existence. Due to this outlook, most of the people are not too interested in the war across the sea, or in creating better relations. So instead, they send a promising young novice to the Tamashi Kingdom to learn the language, and to prepare for a diplomatic mission to the Countries of Science, and of Magic.
This is where the game takes an interesting twist, and is unlike most games you have probably played. The game starts in English, and gives the history of the lands, the basic plotline of the game, and the overall gist of what the players mission and goals will be. Through this, the player has a good understanding of what is expected of him/her, allowing them to keep the story line in mind, and advance through the language learning aspect of the Tamashi Kingdom.
After a time, when the novice from Pleuo Kingdom succeeds in completing a certain number of quests that measure the overall Japanese proficiency of the player, they can proceed to a port city, where they can board a ship and head across the sea to try and solve the diplomatic problem of the two warring countries.
Going back real quick, the innovating part of the Plueo Kingdom, is the notable RPG feel in learning Japanese. I have, and if you are interested in this, I’m sure you have as well, become tired of those games where a monster appears, and you type in a kanji to defeat it. Will a monster really die because you know a kanji? Maybe. But not yet, in this game at least. Instead, you receive a lot of quests to begin gathering equipment that will prepare you for your journey. You will learn to introduce yourself to NPC’s, with the “My name is…..I am from….,” lines. You will also begin gathering provisions, for the trip. This is where Vocabulary skills will be raised. Foodstuffs, medicines, clothing, tools, weapons, etc will need to be prepared, and you will learn the Japanese for these items, as well as how they are used in sentences. The Kanji as well will come, but it builds as your level progresses. The interesting thing about clothes, is the NPC that gives you the quest will ask you to gather the ingredients, so you will learn animal names, plants, vegetables, meats, atomic elements, (for example, iron for forging tools and weapons, etc. The land of Magic is pretty much Chemestry, so there will be a lot you learn from that as well.)
That is the gist of the Tamashi Kingdom. After the character has gained ‘knowledge’ of items, there is a “review” battle that begins as you walk around randomly. This “review” battle is pretty much sentences, and you use a system like pokemon, but instead of “attack,” “defend,” etc, you use options such as “noun” “verb” and such to pick a word in a multiple choice format that corresponds to the question. This way you get to read sentences, and learn vocabulary and grammar. As for the hiragana and katakana, I’m trying to decide, but I think they might be a pre-requisite to the game, and I’ll give a link to kana-attacks or some other hiragana/katakana learning program.
After the player makes it out of the Tamashi Kingdom, he will board a boat headed across the sea. During the trip though, a storm arises and blows the ship off course. So, instead of arriving at the port, they arrive beached at the far end of the Science country. From there, you head to the nearest town to try and get some materials to give to the ship hands to fix the boat, following which you would proceed on foot to the major city where the debates take place.
However, according to one of the ship mates, the situation in the Science and Magic countries has changed. They are still arguing and fighting each other, but recently a new terror has arisen. In the fields and roads around settlements, all manner of violent creatures have been spotted in the fields around the two countries. Many people have been killed while tending their farms, or traveling between cities to buy goods and to trade. However, after around two weeks, a great dragon appeared in the sky. While the dragon flies, screeching it’s terrifying cry, the monsters leave the fields, and it becomes peaceful. But it is only for two hours. Peace outside the fortifications of the towns lasts only two hours, while the dragon flies in the sky. It doesn’t kill, attack, or even steal food.
As the player arrives on the beach, he/she sets off to the nearest village, where they replenish their supplies, and get some items to give back to the ship hands. On his way back to the ship, the Dragon finishes its run, and monsters start appearing. But not before a man in the previous village tells you about the combat system.
All monsters, after they are born from the depths, have an engraving upon themselves that gives away their “element”. It is the element they were created with, and by that same element they have great defense. For example, when a monster comes up, it may have on its chest, the water kanji, 水. In this case, you find an attack which defeats this element. For example, in your arsenal, you have an enchanted sword with a special attack, “雨” or, “Rain,” and 火山 or Volcano, 雷 Lightning, Your “test of Japanese” is to use an element attack that corresponds with the creatures’ weakness.
Some creatures don’t have elements, they have words, like 飛ぶ. Such a creature might be a bird. What you do, is find a Japanese word that is the opposite of 飛ぶ、which acts as a “spell” if you will on the bird, and causes it to fall, where you can attack it, or so.
That’s the gyst of the combat system, but not the end of it. Some monsters have more than one resistance, lets say a monster had resistance to fire and flight, then if you used a fire attack, it would do 50% damage. If there were three resistances, fire, flight, physical, then if you used one of those attacks, it would be 33% damage. But an attack like water or so, would be the normal 100%.
The player continues delivering the supplies to the ship, and then proceeds down another route towards the main city. Along the way, the player learns more about the strange appearance of creatures, and the Dragon, growing in experience, and obtaining weapons and the like, stopping at towns along the way.
For right now, that is as far as I’ll talk about.