About This Document

This is the game design book for an XR experience that was never completed. What follows represents the production materials, storyboard specifications, and narrative designs that guided development before the project's non-release. It documents not only what the team intended to build, but also serves as evidence of the methodology behind collaborative work between historians and game designers on contested heritage.

HashimaXR — Game Design Book

Storyboard specifications for an immersive experience exploring Hashima Island's contested heritage.

Episodes: 8 planned
Panels: ~98 total
Status: Unreleased
Updated: 28 January 2026

Episode 01

Return to Hashima

Mystery emergence from mine darkness, Building 30 typhoon, shrine choice, festival revelation. The player awakens with no memory, guided by competing voices toward understanding.

15 panels ✓ Complete

Episode 02

Time-Shift Experience

Boat approach to present-day ruins, temporal shifts through Meiji-era construction to 1960s peak population. The island's history unfolds across compressed time.

18 panels ✓ Complete

Episode 03

Building GUNKANJIMA

Island transformation from rocky reef to concrete battleship across decades. Construction of the seawall, early apartment blocks, industrial infrastructure.

17 panels In GDB

Episode 04

Songs from the Coalfields

Folk music as historical evidence. Tankō-bushi and regional mining songs carry the lived experience of coal communities — their labor, their humor, their resilience.

9 panels ✓ Complete

Episode 05

The Company Town

Life in an artificial community. Population density, company control, daily rhythms, spaces of contact — and the closure that ended it all in April 1974.

6 panels ✓ Complete

Episode 06

In the Depths of the Abyss

Descent into No. 2 Mine, tunnel navigation, veteran miner encounters. The undersea mine extended more than a kilometer underground.

~12 panels Planned

Episode 07

Sanjinsai

Annual festival of the mountain gods. The mikoshi procession through hyper-dense streets, regional dances, community celebration.

~10 panels Planned

Episode 08

Walking Tour of Hashima

Present-day guided tour of key locations with historical overlays. Nakamura-sensei leads visitors through the ruins.

~6 panels Planned

Episode Status Summary

Episode	Title	Panels	Status
01	Return to Hashima	15	✓ Complete
02	Time-Shift Experience	18	✓ Complete
03	Building GUNKANJIMA	17	In GDB
04	Songs from the Coalfields	9	✓ Complete
05	The Company Town	6	✓ Complete
06	In the Depths of the Abyss	~12	Planned
07	Sanjinsai	~10	Planned
08	Walking Tour of Hashima	~6	Planned