Anime Expo '08: Go! Comi Unveils O-Play Online Manga Games

I arrived late for Go! Comi's panel on Saturday at Anime Expo 2008, but managed to catch a few new manga announcements, and see the demo of O-Play, Go Comi's secret project that's been over a year in the making.

Announcing O-Play 'Immersive' Manga Games

So what exactly is O-Play? It's kind of like a mix between an interactive manga story and an online role playing game, similar to the ren'ai dating simulation games that are popular in Japan. (You can see a screenshot posted by Gia at Geek By Any Other Name). But what's different about O-Play is that it'll be an Flash game that allows you to log in and save your game play instead of being a stand-alone computer or video game. "We want this to be completely online so people can play wherever and whenever they want," said Go Comi Creative Director Audry Taylor.

If anyone is familiar with ren'ai games, it's all about characters and relationships," said Taylor. "We replaced stat-building with plot-building. It's immersive manga -- the point is to get in there and have an impact on how the story unfolds."

In the demo for the first release, Dragon Academy, Taylor demonstrated the game play, that revolves around the main character (a.k.a. the player) and the conversations and interactions players have with the other characters in the story. Players get to choose their next actions, and their facial expressions with a click of the online Wheel of Emotion, "or the 'wheel of emo' that corresponds with the decisions that you have to make," said Taylor. "There are no right or wrong decisions, but each choice makes for a different outcome."

The game will unfold in weekly episodes, and while there will be a fee charged to access and play the game, access to the prologue chapter that sets up each story will be free. There are three stories in development, and David Wise, Go! Comi CEO hinted that he has shown the demo to Japanese manga-ka Mick Takeuchi (Her Majesty's Dog) and You Higuri (Cantarella), with the hopes of developing O-Play games based on their stories and artwork.

Neither Taylor nor Wise offered firm dates for the debut of O-Play or the exact fees ("probably less than $10"), but Taylor promised that updates will appear on the Go! Comi website soon.

New Manga By Mick Takeuchi and You Higuri

Meanwhile, Taylor, Wise and Go! Comi's Promotions Manager Mallory Reaves revealed a few new manga series for the rest of 2008 and beyond:

• Angel's Coffin by You Higuri
  Like Cantarella, this one-shot manga is based on a historic murder-suicide in the Austrian royal court, the Mayerling Incident, of 1889.
• Crown by Wada Shinji and You Higuri
  Much like The Princess Diaries, Crown is about an ordinary girl who discovers that she's a princess who's next in line to rule a kingdom. With jealous, conniving relatives who want to do her in, the main character has to be protected by her "handsome brother and his friend," and in a slightly creepy twist, "maybe she likes her brother a little too much," said Reaves. Look for this in 2009.
• Bound Beauty (Shibariya Komachi) by Mick Takeuchi
  The main character Chika can see the threads that bind people's destinies. But she pretty much just uses this ability to tell fortunes for fun. When a mysterious guy tells her "You shouldn't do that," she gets kind of freaked out -- but the that's just the start of an unusual turn of fate that costs her something very precious: nine years of her life.

Image credit: © Go Media LLC