Taro Omiya

Taro Omiya

Software Engineer, Game Designer

  • Weekly Game Music: Theme (Bomb Jack)

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    New week, new music.  Lets look back to a time when black-and-white was expected on a handheld device.  That’s right!  It’s time to look into Gameboy music.  Here’s Bomb Jack by Alberto Jose Gonzalez.

    Bomb Jack is a simple 2D platformer where one guides the superhero, Bomb Jack, to collect bombs scattered across the course in order.  Bomb jack can jump really high and glide to make the collection more easier.  Don’t get hurt by any of the enemies, though!

    Bomb Jack on the Gameboy was released in 1992.  It’s been ported on numerous old-school consoles, including Wii’s Virtual Console.

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Theme (Bomb Jack)

  • Omiya Games

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    I’ve opened a new company, Omiya Games to go with my dedication to #OneGameAMonth. Development on this business will be a bit slow (I’m working in 2 other companies), but you should start hearing more about it soon.
    [social_share/]

    Read more: Omiya Games

  • Weekly Game Music: Main Theme (Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of The White Witch)

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    New week, new music.  I’ve never expected to post any Joe Hisashi’s music — an infamous Japanese movie composer — yet here we are.  Level-5’s collaboration with the legendary animators, Studio Ghibli, is nothing short of amazing. Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of The White Witch’s Main Theme is one epic music to be remembered for ages.

    Ni No Kuni begins immediately with a tragedy: 13-year-old Oliver’s mother dies while rescuing her son.  Oliver’s never-ending tears gives him a second chance, however.  His treasured doll suddenly comes to life, and reveals that Oliver could revive his mother by traveling into a magical world, the Ni No Kuni.  Oliver immediately accepts, and the duo goes treading through the new parallel universe.

    Ni No Kuni is a JRPG that’s a bit like Pokemon.  Oliver and his party members can collect a few monsters to aid them in battle.  Each real-time battle takes placed in a flat arena (a lot like the Tales series), where the player can control one party member or monster, while the others are computer controlled.  Up to 3 party members and 3 monsters can be used in each battle, accounting for some hectic action.

    Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of The White Witch was released on the PS3 in 2013.

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Main Theme (Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of The White Witch)

  • Weekly Game Music: Lullaby (Crayon Physics Deluxe)

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    New week, new music.  Let’s move on from the anger-filled sad music, and onto a far more calming one.  Here’s Lullaby by composer _ghost.  It’s a simple composition that even children can enjoy, much like the game it comes from, Crayon Physics Deluxe.

    Crayon Physics Deluxe is a puzzle game where the things you draw with a crayon becomes real objects, usable to solve its numerous levels.  All puzzles involve pushing a ball into a star, typically located in some ridiculous location.  The more creative the solution, the better!

    Crayon Physics Deluxe was released on the PC in 2009.  It has also been ported onto Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Lullaby (Crayon Physics Deluxe)

  • Update: Added Video For The Heart of Darkness

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    And here’s the video!

    Read more: Update: Added Video For The Heart of Darkness

  • Weekly Game Music: Glasgow Mega-Snake (Spec Ops: The Line)

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    New week, new music.  Ready for another melancholic music?  Here’s Glasgow Mega-Snake by the Scottish rock bad, Mogwai.  While it may initially sound like a generic rock music, the composition very quickly wades into an amazing mixture of sadness and rage.  A fitting music to this unexpectedly excellent brown shooter, Spec Ops: The Line.

    Spec Ops: The Line is most famous for its Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) inspired narrative: recon team Captain Martin Walker, Lieutenant Alphonse Adams, and Sergeant John Lugo receives a distress call from Colonel John Konrad, indicating that “evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure.”  Considering Dubai was struck by the worst dust storm 6 months prior, this worries Captain Walker, and decides with his 3-man team to investigate on the matter.  Their mission?  Find any survivors, then message the US army for a safe evacuation.

    If by looking at the concept art below, you thought that Spec Ops: The Line is a generic third-person shooter, well, you’d be right.  However, Spec Ops is more than that: it’s a devastating deconstruction of brown shooter themselves.  Intentionally hypocritical, the game rewards the player for acts that progressively gets worse and worse.  And considering the game is mostly linear, there’s little that the player can do, other than moan from something they have done.  As each of the characters get more shaken and delusional, the game does an excellent job reminding us what Post-Traumatic Disorder feels like.

    Spec Ops: The Line was released on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC in 2012.

    Read more: Weekly Game Music: Glasgow Mega-Snake (Spec Ops: The Line)