SHOHO RELEASE MUSEUM
Artwork, chronology, genre changes and development context from the back catalog.
One of the games from Shoho’s first release year. Its premise made the mundane act of parking enforcement the entire fantasy.
One of the games from Shoho’s first release year. Its premise made the mundane act of parking enforcement the entire fantasy.
Released in the same first-year burst as Parking Cop Simulator, showing the studio’s early appetite for turning ordinary activities into game premises.
Released in the same first-year burst as Parking Cop Simulator, showing the studio’s early appetite for turning ordinary activities into game premises.
Part of Shoho’s earliest catalog and an example of the literal-title era of the studio.
Part of Shoho’s earliest catalog and an example of the literal-title era of the studio.
A return to the hiking concept one year later, making it one of the earliest repeated ideas in the catalog.
A return to the hiking concept one year later, making it one of the earliest repeated ideas in the catalog.
An early move toward choice-heavy storytelling, years before Text Me Back expanded branching into a much larger social system.
An early move toward choice-heavy storytelling, years before Text Me Back expanded branching into a much larger social system.
A typed interactive-fiction experiment centered on puzzles, choices and survival. It is one of the clearest ancestors of Shoho’s modern narrative obsession.
A typed interactive-fiction experiment centered on puzzles, choices and survival. It is one of the clearest ancestors of Shoho’s modern narrative obsession.
The release immediately after CRYPTIC swerved from interactive fiction to geometric puzzle design. Genre loyalty was clearly optional.
The release immediately after CRYPTIC swerved from interactive fiction to geometric puzzle design. Genre loyalty was clearly optional.
One of the stranger artifacts in a back catalog that rarely repeats itself for long.
One of the stranger artifacts in a back catalog that rarely repeats itself for long.
A surviving piece of Shoho’s older catalog, preserved here as part of the studio’s archaeology.
A surviving piece of Shoho’s older catalog, preserved here as part of the studio’s archaeology.
DEVELOPMENT RELICS
Parking Cop Simulator, Reading Simulator and the Hiking titles say exactly what they are. The titles themselves became part of the joke and the pitch.
Creatio and CRYPTIC show the route from compact choice experiments toward the much larger relationship machinery of Text Me Back.
CRYPTIC to Hamster Logic 3D is interactive fiction to geometric puzzle game in consecutive releases.
The current studio slate now spans narrative games and consumer products rather than a single game genre.