Danganronpa and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy creator Kazutaka Kodaka, alongside composer Masafumi Takada, took part in a panel discussion during The Tenth Mosaic, a gaming-focused event at the Institut français du Japon in Tokyo last month. As noted by Game*Spark, Kodaka discussed his creative workflow at Too Kyo Games and the rationale behind his new studio not producing games entirely in-house.
Kodaka departed from Spike Chunsoft with several colleagues to launch Too Kyo Games in 2017. Despite the studio comprising just 10 employees, including Kodaka, their game development methodology isn’t strictly indie. For The Hundred Line, the studio’s inaugural original IP, Too Kyo Games teamed up with Media.Vision for development, particularly for the SRPG gameplay. The subsequent visual novel, Shuten Order, was crafted by Neilo, with Too Kyo Games overseeing planning and scenario creation.
Addressing this strategy, Kodaka explained, “If we attempted to manage development internally, our team could swell to around 50 people. This would necessitate nonstop work and potentially taking on projects we don’t personally endorse.” Essentially, Kodaka believes that supporting a larger team would compel his company to pursue ventures beyond their true passion, solely to sustain operations.
Consequently, Kodaka’s current game creation process centers on conceptualizing characters and narratives, with development outsourced to other firms. “I produce what I enjoy with other people’s capital,” Kodaka quipped.
Although Too Kyo Games maintains a compact core team, the 2025 release of The Hundred Line proved to be a significant financial risk for the company. During the discussion, Kodaka disclosed that they invested roughly 500 million yen (approximately $3.16 million USD) in initial capital for the new IP, with the final expenses surpassing 1 billion yen (about $6.32 million USD). “Given that a team of 10 people worked on it, this translates to roughly 100 million yen per person,” he noted.