{"id":67303,"date":"2026-05-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=67303"},"modified":"2026-05-27T18:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:39:40","slug":"japanese-indie-developer-behind-bizarre-tofu-action-game-says-becoming-a-certified-tofu-meister-is-what-helped-him-get-through-a-six-months-long-creators-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-developer-behind-bizarre-tofu-action-game-says-becoming-a-certified-tofu-meister-is-what-helped-him-get-through-a-six-months-long-creators-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese indie developer behind bizarre tofu action game says becoming a certified Tofu Meister is what helped him get through a six-months long creator\u2019s block"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recently, Japanese outlet GameMakers<\/a> held a lengthy interview with TomozoP, the video game developer behind numerous popular (and wacky titles) such as the butt-controlled Nintendo Switch fighting game Ketsu Battler<\/a> and the \u201cone and only tofu action game\u201d The Strongest TOFU<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active both as an independent developer and as part of the game company KAYAC, TomozouP has worked on over a 100 different projects over the past 10 years. However, keeping fresh ideas consistently flowing isn\u2019t always easy, and in the interview, the developer admits to facing a big creator\u2019s block during the production of The Strongest TOFU. So, in a slightly unusual move, TomozoP decided to become a certified Tofu Meister in order to overcome the standstill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"TOFU<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Strongest TOFU started out as a submission to the First GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest held by Bandai Namco Entertainment and Bandai Namco Studios, where it was selected for an award. As a love letter to Nintendo\u2019s action games like Super Mario Galaxy, it took TomozoP only about a month to flesh out the concept and prepare around 80% of the game elements. However, things didn\u2019t go as smoothly when the time came to expand The Strongest TOFU into a full-priced title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMidway through development, I felt stuck when it came to level design, and I was stuck having created less than 10 stages in half a year,\u201d TomozoP said. He explained that there were three key factors that helped him break out of the rut and keep the creative juices flowing. One was having the publisher Phoenixx get involved with managing development, and the second one was getting a dedicated composer (Nagamatsu Ryo; who worked on numerous Nintendo titles like the Mario Kart and Splatoon series) to work on the BGM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The third came with the realization that \u201cdespite trying to make a game about tofu, I knew almost nothing about tofu.\u201d This led TomozoP to get an actual Tofu Meister Certificate. \u201cIt helped me tie all of the stages to the process of how tofu is made, including the tofu trivia as well. At that point, it felt like all of the pieces had fallen into place. This is something I hadn\u2019t put in the plan for the game, and just as Yanase (Yohei, Senior Advocate at Unity Technologies Japan) said, I\u2019m sure that it\u2019s an idea that could never come from a game company<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u5b9f\u969b\u306b\u3068\u3046\u3075\u77e5\u8b58\u3092\u5f97\u3066\u304b\u3089\u6025\u901f\u306b\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u306e\u8ef8\u304c\u5b9a\u307e\u308a\u3001\u958b\u767a\u304c\u3082\u306e\u3059\u3054\u304f\u9032\u3093\u3060\u3068\u3044\u3046\u2026\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/ONjsWpShBv<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pPTC5ZBFb2<\/a><\/p>— \u30c8\u30e2\u305e\u30f4P (@TomozoP) February 20, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>