{"id":56287,"date":"2026-01-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56287"},"modified":"2026-01-29T18:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:30:22","slug":"sexy-action-rpg-sees-steam-wishlists-explode-in-japan-after-viral-ladder-climbing-animation-showcase-we-ask-the-dev-about-their-rear-jiggle-physics-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sexy-action-rpg-sees-steam-wishlists-explode-in-japan-after-viral-ladder-climbing-animation-showcase-we-ask-the-dev-about-their-rear-jiggle-physics-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexy action RPG sees Steam Wishlists explode in Japan after viral \u201cladder climbing\u201d animation showcase. We ask the dev about their rear jiggle physics philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>NIGHTIN CAGE<\/strong>, an upcoming action RPG single-handedly developed by creator GRIS\u7070\u767d (hereafter, GRIS), has recently been attracting a lot of attention, especially from Japanese gamers. After a certain in-development clip of the game showcasing the heroine\u2019s ladder climbing animation was criticized for being a bit too \u201cunnatural,\u201d the dev quickly came out with an update that makes everything a bit smoother while, still keeping the \u201cfocal point\u201d right where it\u2019s supposed to be. In an interesting turn of events, the two jiggle-physics-rich animations went viral, causing Japanese Wishlists to skyrocket in just a couple of days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AUTOMATON recently sat down with GRIS to ask them about NIGHTIN CAGE\u2019s newfound success in Japan, and discuss what new fans can expect as the game\u2019s development steadily progresses.<\/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=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Made the ladder climbing feature in the game. Check it out!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/gamedev?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#gamedev<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/indiegame?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#indiegame<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/rpg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#rpg<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/nightincage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#nightincage<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p0qLX6xc4Z\">pic.twitter.com\/p0qLX6xc4Z<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NightinCage (@NightinCage) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NightinCage\/status\/2008951087768981871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 7, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While GRIS would rather not disclose the exact numbers for each country, they said that Japanese Wishlists jumped from around 300 to 5,000 after the ladder video. \u201cThese numbers are considered huge for a solo-developed indie game which doesn\u2019t even have a demo out yet. The number of Wishlists from Japan surpassed Wishlists from the US, which both exceeded my expectations and was an outcome completely contrary to industry norms. I am really grateful to everyone who Wishlised the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the developer explains, the intention behind sharing different in-development clips of the game is to get direct feedback from users and pick out what works best for a certain scenario. Despite being rather new to development themselves, GRIS has around 10 years of experience in the art sphere, most notably having worked on 3D character designs for Mabinogi: Heroes. \u201cI may be a rookie developer, by I\u2019m a very experienced artist. I always try to seriously judge what kind of change could benefit the work itself and the things I\u2019m personally pursuing. Thanks to this expertise, I have a clear understanding of my art style, and while sometimes that can manifest as blind stubbornness, I believe that, from time to time, the concept of art itself can hold that kind of foolishness.\u201d<\/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=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you all for your appreciation. I&#39;ve added more transitional animations so she no longer looks like she&#39;s falling over after leaving the ladder, and I&#39;ve also adjusted the sound effects.\ud83e\udd73<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/gamedev?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#gamedev<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/indiegame?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#indiegame<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/rpg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#rpg<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/nightincage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#nightincage<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/S428uOWeNT\">pic.twitter.com\/S428uOWeNT<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NightinCage (@NightinCage) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NightinCage\/status\/2009163750998430115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 8, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As an example, GRIS explains that, despite NieR: Automata and Stellar Blade being major inspirations for the game, they couldn\u2019t just replicate the cool acrobatic movements 2B makes when climbing ladders, because such movements wouldn\u2019t be natural for NIGHTIN CAGE\u2019s characters. \u201dHowever, having the character just normally climb the ladders isn\u2019t fun, so I decided to add a little twist,\u201d GRIS notes. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While taking feedback into account, GRIS seems to be paying a lot of attention to details, making sure to keep them within the game\u2019s worldview. However, they say that it&#8217;s not their intention to \u201csell\u201d the game with its animations. \u201cMy game is not trying to use animation as its selling point. I\u2019m not a professional animator. But animation is something that can\u2019t be avoided when making games, and in order to cover up its lacking quality, I always try to make it look special somehow. I especially consider the interactions between the characters and environment to be important, and even when it comes to animations where she falls into traps, I always think thoroughly about how my character will act in various situations. It\u2019s not that the heroine is just waltzing around the stage alone \u2013 my goal is to show how completely she blends into this fantasy world.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NIGHTIN CAGE is currently in development for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3755120\/NIGHTIN_CAGE\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> NIGHTIN CAGE developer talks to AUTOMATON about the animation showcase videos that made the game go viral in Japan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":56290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[18,17],"class_list":["post-56287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-global-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sexy action RPG sees Steam Wishlists explode in Japan after viral \u201cladder climbing\u201d animation showcase. We ask the dev about their rear jiggle physics philosophy - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NIGHTIN CAGE developer talks to AUTOMATON about the animation showcase videos that made the game go viral in Japan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sexy-action-rpg-sees-steam-wishlists-explode-in-japan-after-viral-ladder-climbing-animation-showcase-we-ask-the-dev-about-their-rear-jiggle-physics-philosophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sexy action RPG sees Steam Wishlists explode in Japan after viral \u201cladder climbing\u201d animation showcase. 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