FAQ

1) Is it a sequel (or somehow related) to Ringo Ishikawa?

No.

2) Why does it look the same then?

The game was set in USA 80s at first, but then I understood that using the American setting is like sitting on a volcano. I'm not American so I can portray many things wrong (which I can do with the Japanese setting as well though) and consequences can be disastrous. So I moved to Hong Kong. I wanted to pay homage to my Chinese masters: Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and John Woo (I paid respect to him in my previous game as well) and to expand the geography of my games (it was Japan and France before). So I started to make a game about Chinese Triads. 

But then I came up with some interesting mechanics (it's not in the final game) where the Yakuza setting fitted better. So I returned to Japan. 

I asked the artist (Ueda M.) to make a new character design for the game. She made it and I liked it a lot. It was similar but different. Then she made a walking animation and when I saw it I said to myself "why did she use Ringo animation? I asked for a new one". I started to compare it frame by frame and saw that it was indeed the new one. But even I was sure it was a copycat first. So players will do the same. When I prototyped Ringo I was using Technos graphics, but when I started to prototype the new game I used Ringo animations from the start, so when I saw that even I couldn't see the difference between new and old designs I decided to remake old Ringo animations and use them as the base for the new game.

We used ~700 frames of Ringo animations (for yakuza chars) and she made around 4700 new frames (and the same amount for the shirt design). Beside more than 4000 frames for other npcs. 

3) Did you use Ringo backgrounds as well?

No, Artem Belov made a whole new city based on Osaka and while the style resembles Ringo you can easily see drastic improvement of quality. And beside the day-night circle he made more than 80 backgrounds with the year circle. It's really a tons of work and a huge accomplishment.

4) How many mini-games will be in the game?

Since the game is still in development I can't answer such questions. Because every answer is a promise and I can't promise anything.

5) Will it be structurally similar to Ringo, gameplay loop or otherwise? Open-ended, day/night cycle etc.

In a way it'll be similar. The game's loop is a week which is presented as a one day/night cycle (one day/night cycle = a week). After a few weeks the season changes. But the game isn't realtime as Ringo, so while you stay on a location time doesn't go. 

The whole game's structure is totally different though. I won't go deep here to not spoil anything. And your actions matter this time.

6) So there will be more than one ending, but how many?

For now there are 8 endings (not including bad ones, when you choose something and get killed the next day). But maybe I'll add more. It depends on sales and my mood.

7) Since there are at least 2 playable characters, is there a co-op mode?

No. Kato (second character) is partly playable. You have a couple of "missions" with him and you can use him in some group fights, that's all. I wanted to use him more at some moment, but cut it in the end. So it's a single player with one character.

8) After Fading Afternoon do you have any plans for another game or another passion project?

I have many plans but I don't like to look into the future. Anything can happen, including me losing interest in game development completely (ttt).

9) I'm Japanese. I wanna ask you why you could make Japanese nostalgia in your works very well?

Thank you for your kind words! I just tried to fill the games with my own nostalgia, and since it was a honest and sincere feeling it reached so many people in different countries (and Japanese people mostly of course because of the setting). I think that emotions are universal.

But honestly, I think it's mostly because of the music ) Music is such a powerful media, it works like magic.