Language RPG, Koe, wants to help players learn Japanese as they explore.
Described as a traditional JRPG in the style of games like
Dragon Quest, Pokémon and Final Fantasy,
Koe is currently seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter.
Developer Jitesh Rawal explains, "I know people who are interested in this style of gaming, as well as anime and manga, and who have wanted to learn Japanese because of it, but have no idea where they should start. So why not a fully-fledged story-driven JRPG that gives you a nice start with the language itself?"
As such, you can expect "random battles, bosses, a story, pets, wizards, cities, houses as well as cats and you will play through collecting items, experience points, weapons and everything else that comes with a traditional JRPG."
From the language-learning side of things, most of the game will be in English but the game's items will be Japanese words. The words can be collected from various sources such as non-player characters (NPCs), shops, monsters and so on. The words in your arsenal are then used in the turn-based fights as battle moves.
Chaining words together into sentences results in better moves.
A Japanese syllabary is also in place in the form of hiragana.
Levelling up hiragana has different effects. For example, capturing a cat (neko/ねこ) as a fighting companion means you can level up that cat by levelling up the ne and ko characters from the hiragana chart.
Currently, the game contains a lot of placeholders, and Rawal has been developing it solo while studying at university. As such, the £35,000 Kickstarter funding is intended for artwork, licensing, voice acting and hiring a composer.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
