Influences of Asia in Video Games
When searching for inspiration, you can look anywhere. A glance out the window could give you a story, a character, a setting and more. Reading about real locations and fantasy ones can help you come up with something right for you. Music, art, literature, games, film, design and more can inspire your own music, art, literature, games, film and design. When it comes video games, you can be overwhelmed by what you can put in your world. You can use a fantasy environment with magical kingdoms, go deep into space with planets of warring aliens, look to Earth’s past and possible future, set your game in the here and now, in the mind, in a concept and more.
When it comes to building this world you’ve created, you can look at different cultures to help fill in and give some depth and design to your universe. No matter when and where it’s set, you can look at different human cultures and take ideas and be inspired by them. Asian culture has been giving game designers for decades, with many games being situated in the continent. Of course, many games are produced here, especially in Japan, so they will obviously make games using their own culture. Some examples include the Yakuza series, Ninja Gaiden, Samurai Shodown, the Persona series, Shenmue, Dynasty Warriors and more.
These sorts of games use real Asian locations, people and events to create their game, though often exaggerated. The Yakuza series for example are set in almost real Tokyo locations, with many familiar aspects of the city such as buildings, stores, brands, fashion, etc. Dynasty Warriors and it’s sister title Samurai Warriors, use real life conflicts in Asia’s past, but exaggerate them in terms of style and combat. Game studios outside of Asia will look here and do similar things, such as the Xbox 360 title Jade Empire that features many Chinese mythology concepts or even online casino slots such as Samurai Split from CasinoSlotsGuru being based on the samurai.
Some games may be more subtle in their Asian influences or simply take small parts and mix it with others. The Final Fantasy series for example, is produced in Japan and so naturally will take many ideas from it’s culture, history and mythology. The early games took place in fantasy medieval settings but would still include Japanese weaponry, the ninja job class, as well as martial arts monks, and this would all expand through time. Final Fantasy X was much more Asia inspired than the other instalments, being set in a fusion of a fantasy South-East Asia of the past but with advanced technology. You can see similar ideas in Dark Souls, with it’s inclusion of Japanese weapons, characters from fighting games such as Tekken and Street Fighter from various Asian countries with traditional martial arts from the region and more.
With Asian being one of the top locations for game development, we’re going to see elements of their culture and history in all of our games. As we do, more and more devs will look to the region for ideas, with Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima possibly being the tip of the iceberg.