What is a dojin shmup?

arromdee · Post by **arromdee** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:17 am

I hate to ask this, but I'm confused. I've beenl wondering for a while: just what exactly is a dojin game? Now, I know what a dojinshi is, and I can deduce that a dojin shmup is something like an amateur shmup game.

But what exactly does that mean? Anyone can publish their own shmup game and charge money for it. Anyone can be a company. Is a dojin game a game that can't be found in Toys 'R Us? (Which would mean Power Strike was dojin until it got released to toy stores) Is Trizeal dojin since it was made on a shoestring budget?

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:57 am

Doujin shmups are exactly that: doujinshi games, in shmup form.

They're independant games, almost exclusively for PC. Neither Power Strike nor Trizeal would count, although in Trizeal's case it seems as though it was made by people who probably got their start making doujin shmups.

The best examples are the Shrine Maiden games (The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishible Night, et al) and ABA's games (rRootage, Noiz2sa, Tumiki Fighters, et al). Other notable games are Cho Ren Sha 68K and Warning Forever.

Pretty much all doujin shmups are available for download, although some are just demos (all the Shrine Maiden games, WF, probably the vast majority of what you'll find) while a few are full, free games, like ABA's work and CRS68K. Full versions are sold at conferences in Japan, in some game stores, and online.

(God, I hope I know what I'm talking about.)

highlandcattle · Post by **highlandcattle** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:32 am

alpha5099 wrote:Doujin shmups are exactly that: doujinshi games, in shmup form.

They're independant games, almost exclusively for PC. Neither Power Strike nor Trizeal would count, although in Trizeal's case it seems as though it was made by people who probably got their start making doujin shmups.

The best examples are the Shrine Maiden games (The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishible Night, et al) and ABA's games (rRootage, Noiz2sa, Tumiki Fighters, et al). Other notable games are Cho Ren Sha 68K and Warning Forever.

Pretty much all doujin shmups are available for download, although some are just demos (all the Shrine Maiden games, WF, probably the vast majority of what you'll find) while a few are full, free games, like ABA's work and CRS68K. Full versions are sold at conferences in Japan, in some game stores, and online.

(God, I hope I know what I'm talking about.)

I think it's a doujin game if you ak money for it and actually sell it on disc so Kenta Cho's titles wouldn't count

BTW Triangle service is ex seibu not doujin

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:30 am

alpha5099 wrote: (God, I hope I know what I'm talking about.)

Sounds about right.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:45 am

Being a "doujin" developer is more of a self-chosen tag than anything else. Much in the same way that doujin comics with original characters aren't really "doujin" (doujinshi are, by linguistic definition, things made with other people's characters), you're a doujin developer more by how you label yourself than anything else.

serge · Post by **serge** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:46 am

According to WWJDIC:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

Doujin is: literary group, clique, comrade or colleague;

Doujinshi is:
1) fanzine;
2) publication aimed at a particular hobby group;
3) publication sold directly, and not via commercial publishers;

So according to definition 3 HalfLife2 published via STEAM is a sort of doujinshi.

Wikipedia entry for doujinshi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dojinshi