Hello, I was raised in Okinawa and very proud of my home in the history of it. Currently, I am attending Waseda university as a computer science student however I am a huge history nerd aswell. It makes me sad to see that Okinawa history is so unknown to most people in finding resources on It are really difficult. A dream of mine has always been to make knowledge about Okinawa history and Okinawa in general more accessible and enjoyable for people. Currently, I am on break and recently I played ghost of Tsushima and the whole time I was thinking about how awesome it would be if there was a video game like this related with Okinawan history so I started working on developing a game with that idea in mind. I haven’t fully decided whether or not I want the game to take place during the early Gusuka era of okinawa history or the later Satsuma Vs Ryukyu invasion but any comments on the idea would be awesome to hear. I’m still in the very early research phase of everything but one thing I know for sure I want to incorporate is realistic and era appropriate use of local languages. I sadly do not speak as much as I wish I would and even what I do speak I know my accent is terrible. So I thought I would ask here for any recommendations for books or even contact information so I can talk with people that know more about this in learn so I can do better to create this project. This is purely a passion project will most likely take years to complete to my vision, especially since I’m doing it all in my free time. But this is always been something I’ve wanted to do and I’ve decided recently that I feel it is important for me to do it. Any help would be amazing thank you very much!
by Etterererererer
2 comments
You mentioned that you were raised in Okinawa and I assume since you’re at Waseda, you can also speak-read Japanese? My suggestion is to reach out to researchers and educators.
Here are some researcher names listed – [https://shimakutuba.jp/researcher/](https://shimakutuba.jp/researcher/) and 半嶺 まどか held a Shimakutuba event last year that’s worth looking into.
Do you know Fija Byron? He might be able to help finding resources, specially concerning uchinaaguchi.
https://www.instagram.com/fijabyron?igsh=dGx5amduZjg5MHpp
There are quite some people that research and seek for Okinawan history, with the difficulty that there is scarce documentation about it.
Maybe just try to be careful with western and japanese bias towards Ryukyuans.
Something with a similar combat style to Ghost of Tsushima and Sifu with a lot of karate elements and skill trees would be interesting to play in an Okinawan themed game. Also, references in clothing, culinary and a lot of shiisaa might be essential as well.