{"id":54331,"date":"2025-11-27T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54331"},"modified":"2025-11-26T19:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T10:29:12","slug":"we-pretended-to-mistakenly-ship-the-game-just-to-get-feedback-silent-hill-f-writer-ryukishi07-reminisces-on-his-humble-beginnings-as-a-game-creator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/we-pretended-to-mistakenly-ship-the-game-just-to-get-feedback-silent-hill-f-writer-ryukishi07-reminisces-on-his-humble-beginnings-as-a-game-creator\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;We pretended to mistakenly ship the game just to get feedback&#8221; Silent Hill f writer Ryukishi07 reminisces on his humble beginnings as a game creator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>To commemorate 25 years of 07th Expansion and the doujin circle\u2019s official X account reaching 77,777 followers, When They Cry series creator and <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-dev-team-includes-not-only-when-they-cry-series-writer-ryukishi07-but-its-composers-too\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Silent Hill f writer<\/a> Ryukishi07 delivered a heartfelt message about the franchise\u2019s early beginnings and how it got to where it currently is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">77,777\u30d5\u30a9\u30ed\u30ef\u30fc\u9054\u6210\u3001\u5927\u611f\u8b1d\u3067\u3059\uff01<br>\u3053\u3093\u306a\u306b\u5927\u52e2\u306e\u4eba\u306b\u5fdc\u63f4\u3057\u3066\u3082\u3089\u3048\u3066\u50d5\u306f\u5e78\u305b\u3067\u3059\uff01<br><br>\u3053\u3093\u306a\u3068\u3053\u308d\u307e\u3067\u6765\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u51fa\u6765\u3066\u3001\u611f\u7121\u91cf\u3067\u3059\u3002<br>\u521d\u3081\u3066\u300c\u3072\u3050\u3089\u3057\u300d\u3092\u4f5c\u308d\u3046\u3068\u3057\u305f\u6642\u3001\u76f8\u68d2\u306eBT\u3055\u3093\u306f\u300c\u6c17\u304c\u89e6\u308c\u305f\u306e\u304b\u3068\u601d\u3063\u305f\uff57\u300d\u3068\u6253\u3061\u660e\u3051\u3066\u304f\u308c\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\u2026<\/p>&mdash; \u7adc\u9a0e\u58eb07 \/ 07th Expansion (@07th_official) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/07th_official\/status\/1993235172389797927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 25, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Post translation:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-palette-color-5-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><em>Thank you all so much for helping the 07th Expansion X account reach 77,777 followers!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I&#8217;m truly happy to have so many people supporting us!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I&#8217;m overwhelmed to have come this far.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>When I <\/em><em>first decided to make Higurashi When They Cry, my partner BT confessed that he thought I had lost my mind. Back then, we were <\/em><em>a group making cards for a game called Leaf Fight. We printed 100 to 200 copies of those card sheets, but putting a sound novel CD-ROM <\/em><em>among them was definitely <\/em><em>a bold move for us at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We sold 50 copies of Higurashi When They Cry at Comiket. We shipped 50 more to mail-order customers pretending it was a mistaken order, offering to mail them the next work for free if they sent us feedback. We were desperate to get even one or two more people to read it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>All in all, we made 100 copies of the Watanagashi arc and 200 copies of the T<\/em><em>atarigoroshi arc. BT suggested releasing the Onikakushi Arc for free on the 07th Expansion website, so we did. &nbsp;Since both the Watanagashi Arc and <\/em><em>Tatarigoroshi arc scripts were included in the free arc, people on 2chan realized that you could read them just by opening their respective files, resulting in a bit of a frenzy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The next print run was 500 copies. The one after that was 2000 copies. <\/em><em>We clearly reached our limit with hand-burning, so we outsourced production to a factory. It rose to 20,000 copies. Then 80,000 copies. And so on.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dear BT, <\/em><em>I think 07th Expansion has come an incredibly long way. But my soul remains in the same place as it was back then: in that room, surrounded by countless empty cans, where we all slept on the floor together during development.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I offer my heartfelt thanks to the staff supporting 07th Expansion today! My deepest gratitude goes out to every single follower supporting Ryukishi07 today! Thank you so very much! (Ryukishi07)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251126-543310001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-54332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251126-543310001.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251126-543310001-380x285.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251126-543310001-768x576.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>From producing cards for the trading card game Leaf Fight and sending out copies of Higurashi just to get anyone to play it, to their works becoming some of the most influential \u201ccult-classic\u201d visual novels of all time, the road to 07th Expansion\u2019s success wasn\u2019t easy. The \u201cBT\u201d that Ryukishi07 occasionally refers to was 07th Expansion\u2019s website manager, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/0707toshokan.wordpress.com\/2020\/04\/14\/the-hidden-all-cast-review-session\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">initially a customer at the writer\u2019s Comiket booth<\/a> while he was still making cards for Leaf Fight. BT sadly passed away in 2009 due to an undisclosed illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though BT is no longer with them, Ryukishi07 is grateful for all the new staff and supporters who helped make 07th Expansion what it is today. With 25 years under its belt, 07th Expansion\u2019s future looks brighter than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/silent-hill-f-writer-ryukishi07s-doujin-circle-tease-upcoming-livestream-of-themselves-playing-the-game\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Silent Hill f writer Ryukishi07\u2019s doujin circle tease upcoming livestream of themselves playing the game<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Silent Hill f writer and When They Cry series creator Ryukishi07 reflects on 25 years of his work at 07th Expansion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":54334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-54331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;We pretended to mistakenly ship the game just to get feedback&quot; 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