French Bread (game developer)

French Bread is a video game developer founded in 1995 as Watanabe Production (渡辺製作所, Watanabe Seisakujo).[2] Originally a dōjin circle, French Bread became well known for their work in 2D fighting games, particularly the Melty Blood series. In recent years, they worked on other licensed-based fighting games, such as Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax[4] and the company’s original game, Under Night In-Birth.[5]

Soft Circle French-Bread

Native name	フランスパン
Romanized name	Furansu Pan
Industry	Video games
Predecessor	Watanabe Seisakujo[1]
Headquarters	Japan
Key people	Nobuya Narita[2] (Studio Manager) Kamone Serizawa[2] (Game Director) Masaru Kuba (Raito) (Sound and Music Composer)
Products	Melty Blood series Under Night In-Birth series
Number of employees	13 (2018)[3]
Website	www13.plala.or.jp/french/

History

The Queen of Heart '98 cover art

The studio was named after a friend of Nobuya Narita, with whom he often played video games with the latter after school. They initially developed desk accessories for Windows. Narita discovered dojin Windows action games and fighting games such as the Tokimeki Taisen (ときめき大戦) and Moon Lights 2 that were ported from the X68000 home computer. He subsequently decided to develop his own project for Windows. It was initially conceived as an original work, but creating unique character designs and graphics proved difficult. Narita was later introduced to the visual novel To Heart and decided to develop his game as a derivative work. Characters for his project were sourced from To Heart, while the system mechanics were based on Asuka 120%, a game that served as an influence for Narita and his team. The Queen of Heart '98 was released on December 30, 1998 to positive critical reception from dojin gamers.[6][7] The Queen of Heart series sold about 100,000 copies, and Watanabe Seisakujo became one of the most popular dōjin game developer.[8] This surfaced significant copyright concern.[9] Some hobbyists also uploaded M.U.G.E.N characters whose data extracted from the game. Watanabe Seisakujo and Leaf received many inquiries about permission, although they had no relation to uploaders.[10] Narita didn't hope a derivative work disturbed its original work and developer. He decided to stop creating unlicensed games, and start fresh with French-Bread (フランスパン, Furansu Pan).[7] The circle name came from the dōjin circle which Narita belonged to before Watanabe Seisakujo.

Narita is also a close friend of Hiiragiboshi Takumi, the author of the Absolute Duo light novel series. They met over 15 years ago while both were still amateurs making doujins. Narita and the Under Night In-Birth artist Seichi Yoshihara have helped in designing battle suits for the said novel series.[11]

Games developed

As Watanabe Seisakujo

Title	Year	Platform(s)	Notes
The Queen of Heart '98	1998	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from To Heart. Its game system was influenced by Asuka 120%.[6]
The Queen of Heart '99	1999	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from Leaf games[12]
The Queen of Heart '99 Second Edition	2000	Microsoft Windows
Ayu-chan Punch! (あゆちゃんパンチ!)	2000	Microsoft Windows
Demon Hunter Mai (魔物ハンター舞 -少女の檻-)	2000	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from Kanon
The Queen of Heart '99 with Second Edition	2001	Microsoft Windows
Party's Breaker: The Queen of Heart 2001	2001	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from Comic Party[13]
-AIR- Flight (えあふり 観鈴ちん危機一髪)	2001	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from Air
Glove on Fight (GLOVE ON FIGHT ぐろ～ぶおんふぁいと)	2002	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from various dating sims, anime, and dōjin games.
Melty Blood	2002	Microsoft Windows

Arcade Games

Title	Year	Publisher(s)	Hardware	Notes
Melty Blood: Act Cadenza	2005	Ecole Software	Sega Naomi	Updated to Version A in 2005, Version B in 2006, and Version B2 in 2007.
Melty Blood: Actress Again	2008	Ecole Software	Sega Naomi	The first French Bread game to be featured at the international Evolution Championship Series tournament in 2010.
Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code	2010	Ecole Software	Sega RingWide	Updated to Ver.1.05 and Ver.1.07 in 2011.
Under Night In-Birth	2012	Ecole Software	Sega RingEdge 2	Updated to EXE:Late in 2013.[14]
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax	2014	Sega and Dengeki Bunko	Sega RingEdge 2
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Latest	2015	Arc System Works	Sega RingEdge 2
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition	2015	Sega and Dengeki Bunko	Sega RingEdge 2
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late cl-r	2020	Arc System Works	Sega RingEdge 2

Console & Computer Games

Title	Year	Platform(s)	Notes
Drill Milky Punch	2003	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from Âge games[15]
Bike Banditz	2003	Microsoft Windows	Horizontally scrolling shooter, succeeding Wizards Star 2nd developed by the defunct dōjin circle NEXT.[16]
Melty Blood Re-ACT	2004	Microsoft Windows
Melty Blood Re-ACT Final Tuned	2005	Microsoft Windows
Melty Blood: Act Cadenza	2006	PlayStation 2
Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B	2007	Microsoft Windows
Ragnarok Battle Offline	2007	Microsoft Windows
Glove on Fight 2: Gleam of Force (小鳩ヶ丘高校女子ぐろー部 Gleam of Force)[17]	2008	Microsoft Windows
Lilian Fourhand	2009	Microsoft Windows	Features characters from Maria-sama ga Miteru
Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code	2011	Microsoft Windows	Published on Steam by Arc System Works in 2016.[18]
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late	2013	PlayStation 3[19] Microsoft Windows	Balancing update to Under Night In-Birth. Ported by Arc System Works. Updated to Exe:Late [st], then Exe:Late [cl-r]
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax	2014	PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Latest	2015	PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Microsoft Windows[20]	Balancing update to a console version of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late. Ported by Arc System Works.
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition	2015	PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita	Balancing update to Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. The first game to release downloadable characters.
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late cl-r	2020	PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch Microsoft Windows[21]	Balancing update to Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. Previous owners of PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows versions of Exe:Late[st] upgraded to this version automatically, although this version's new content remains as paid downloadable content. Ported by Arc System Works.

References

1. Official Website of Watanabe Seisakujo at Internet Archive
2. Loreille, Thomas (2018-08-20). "The surprising story of the French Bread studio". Bas Gros Poing. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9yamXDSc0U
4. Romano, Sal (2013-11-10). "Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax developers revealed". Gematsu. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
5. Toyad, Jonathan Leo (February 6, 2011). "Melty Blood creator gives birth to new 2D fighter". GameSpot. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
6. "名作同人ゲーム Best 5 : Queen of Heart '99" [The 5 Best Dōjin Video Games : Queen of Heart '99]. 同人ゲームマニアックス [Dōjin Games Maniax]. Kill Time Communication. 2001. pp. 30–45. ISBN 4-906650-96-1.
7. "同人から商業にフィールドを移したフランスパンが，新作「アンダーナイト インヴァース」で目指したもの。代表・なりた氏に聞く，その思惑". 4Gamer.net. Aetas, Inc. 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
8. Hichibe, Nobushige (2013-09-30). "ゲーム産業成長の鍵としての自主制作文化". Tokyo Institute of Technology: 32. Retrieved 2019-02-10. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
9. キム (2003-02-05). "飛躍する同人業界 〜 同人ソフトサークル『渡辺製作所』にインタヴュー 〜". 探偵ファイル／探偵魂. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
10. "このページに関する注意". 渡辺製作所. Archived from the original on 2001-12-03. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
11. http://d.hatena.ne.jp/hstar/20140325
12. "Games - The Queen of Heart '99 SE". Kitchen Discotheque. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
13. "Games - Party's Breaker". Kitchen Discotheque. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
14. "Melty Blood Developer Upgrading Under Night In-Birth".
15. Kitsumeda (2013-03-13). "Review: Drill Milky Punch". Rice Digital. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
16. "Team HotPulse". French-Bread Online. 2003-12-28. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2012-01-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
18. "Arc System Works Releasing 5 Titles on Steam by Summer 2016!" (Press release). Arc System Works. 2015-12-08. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2019-02-04.
19. "Under Night In-Birth coming to PS3 in Japan this July". 2014-04-22.
20. "UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[st] is Coming to Steam on 8/20! | Arc System Works".
21. "UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] ｜ アンダーナイト インヴァース エクセレイト クレア".

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)