Hello everyone!
This is Yuki from the P2GA development team.
“Pain Pain Go Away!”—or P2GA for short—has been in active development toward its full release after the demo version launched at the end of July.
🎮 You can still play the demo here!
We’re currently revising the scenario, updating design documents, and pushing forward with development for the full release.
As the game takes shape, we keep finding more things we want to improve and add—our list of “must-do” ideas just keeps growing!
It took us about two and a half years to reach the demo release. It feels both long and short at the same time. Even though the full release is still ahead of us, looking back on how far we’ve come already fills me with emotion.
I’m currently the development lead for P2GA, but when I first started, I had absolutely no experience in game development.
“I love games, but I’m not really knowledgeable about them, and I’ve never developed one before.”
Trying to shape a scenario and write design documents from scratch was full of challenges. I’ve managed to come this far only thanks to the incredible support from our director, designer, engineer, and the rest of our team.
So—how did someone with zero experience end up leading development?
And how did I manage to keep things moving forward?
I’ll be sharing those stories and more behind-the-scenes insights in this P2GA Development Diary.
Through these posts, I hope to share the thoughts and passion behind this project—and maybe provide a little inspiration for anyone who’s thinking about making their own game someday.
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—A Little About Me—
This time, I’d like to take a moment to talk a bit about myself—please bear with me and don’t roll your eyes at the self-introduction! 😅
I joined Story Note in 2023 as a mid-career hire.
Before that, I worked as a pet groomer—basically a hairstylist for dogs and cats! So yes, my previous job had absolutely nothing to do with the game industry.
After graduating from high school, I went on to an animal care vocational school and became a groomer.
I worked at a grooming salon for three years before joining Story Note.
Since I came from a completely different field, I had zero experience in game development when I started.
This is Koro-chan, who’s been with me since my days as a pet groomer.
She’s just too cute not to show off a little! 🐶💛
—Why I Changed Careers—
To put it simply — because I’ve always loved entertainment.
Even after becoming a groomer, I’d spend my days off going to the movies early in the morning. Sitting alone in an almost empty theater, watching a film in peace, really soothed my overworked groomer’s heart.
I’ve always loved entertainment — movies, music, and games. I’d learned piano since I was little and once dreamed of working in music, but I used to think that kind of job was only possible for people who could afford to study it at university or who came from families that understood and supported that path.
So, somewhere along the way, I convinced myself that working in the entertainment industry just wasn’t for someone like me.
Since I loved animals just as much, I became a groomer instead. But one day, I came across a job posting for a game scenario writing company.
It said: “No degree required. No experience necessary.”
Those words sparkled before my eyes.
It meant that even someone like me — a vocational school graduate — could apply. In a world where most jobs required a university degree, that listing honestly felt a bit like fate.
Still, I wasn’t too confident. I thought maybe they really meant “no experience,” but expected people who had written fan fiction, or joined a literary club, or done something creative on the side. So I applied with low expectations, fully prepared to get rejected at the document screening stage.
But… my application passed.
That was the moment I realized — this company truly values more than just education or experience.
After that, I went into the interviews and tests with full-on “Please let me work here!” energy — just like Chihiro from Spirited Away. 😄
Maybe that passion got through, because here I am today, working at Story Note.
—How I Met P2GA—
And that’s how I went from being a pet groomer to joining Story Note.
Even though I had absolutely no experience, I was immediately invited to join a project to write the scenario for a game right after joining the company.
I honestly had no idea what I was doing at first, but my senior colleagues patiently guided me through every step. I started writing what we call a “book” at Story Note — the full scenario text including all dialogue lines.
I still clearly remember how grateful I felt to be trusted with writing a book so soon after joining the team.
Not long after I joined, the P2GA project was launched.
At the time, though, I wasn’t part of the core team yet — two of my peers who joined the company around the same time were leading the project in its early stages.
Here’s part of the initial project proposal — back then, the name P2GA didn’t even exist yet.
I still remember writing in my monthly report to our CEO that I “really wanted to be part of that project.”
It wasn’t so much that I wanted to make a typing game, but honestly, I was a little jealous that my two peers had been chosen to lead a new project.
For about half a year after that, I worked on a different project.
Then, out of the blue, the director asked me, “Would you like to try writing the scenario for the typing project?”
At that point, I was invited purely as a scenario writer.
I immediately said, “Yes, absolutely!” — and that’s how I officially joined the P2GA project.
—From Scenario Writer to Development Lead—
Earlier I mentioned that the journey was full of challenges — and the first major one was writing the scenario.
I’ll talk more about that process in future entries.
After joining as a scenario writer, I gradually started doing all sorts of things — tinkering with Unity and Naninovel, creating BGM, writing design documents, coming up with promotion ideas, and basically helping with anything the team needed.
One day, I even joined our director for an interview with Famitsu.
In the article, I was introduced as the Development Lead — and that’s when it hit me: “Oh, I guess I am the development lead.”
Up until then, I hadn’t really thought much about titles or roles — I was just completely focused on making P2GA the best it could be.
Seeing the words “Development Lead” in print made me realize how much I truly loved the project.
It had been about two years since I first joined as a scenario writer.
P2GA is a relatively small-scale project within our company, so our team has always had this “we’ll do everything ourselves” spirit.
Even though I didn’t have a technical background, I’ve been constantly learning and taking on new challenges.
Of course, things didn’t always go smoothly.
Becoming a development lead with no prior experience might sound impressive, but in reality, it’s simply the result of persistence, trial and error, and a lot of hard work.
If I were to write about all the messy, behind-the-scenes parts of development, this post would get way too long — so I’ll save those stories for the next entries in this P2GA Development Diary.
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Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end!
Next time, I’ll be writing about our very first big challenge — scenario writing.
In the upcoming posts, you might even pick up some insights into game development or a few fun little P2GA trivia along the way.
Since this is my first time doing just about everything — including writing a dev diary like this — I’d be happy if you could keep cheering me on with kind eyes.
See you in the next entry~ 🦀