Across the sunflower field — Building your own summer: the passing of time as a gameplay element

Essentially a series of summer vacation simulators, each Boku no Natsuyasumi title presents the player with the premise of experiencing an entire month through the perspective of a little boy who is spending his summer vacation far from his home in the city. Just like in real life, this summer is not eternal (the vacation spanning through the entirety of August, with 29 of the month’s days being fully playable), and each titular Boku can only spend so many hours a day on his quest to fill his picture diary with exciting memories of the place he’s visiting.

In gameplay terms, the Bokunatsu series puts the player in control of Boku, who has the option of exploring different areas to unveil interesting details, either about these places or about the characters — and sometimes the insects and other animals — that inhabit them. By itself, the exploration aspect presents players with a time-consuming endeavor, one the protagonist will include on his diary on the occasion he reaches a particularly remarkable area. Going further into these areas will eventually reward the player with short events that make the core of the series’ loose narrative. In other words, if within a particular area Boku has a conversation with a friend, gets stung by bees, or discovers a weird flower or insect, it is likely this will be reflected in his diary. Conversely, the absence of remarkable events is also documented by the main character, and, in the case of the first and fourth installments, it can even affect the games’ epilogues.

Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 (Millenium Kitchen, 2009). One of the two entries to feature different endings, the fourth game will have an epilogue heavily influenced by whatever gameplay element the player focused in the most, with some possibilities being an adult Boku reminiscing about the characters he shared his summer with, if players focused their playthrough on hanging out with the rest of the cast; or the protagonist becoming the owner of a hobby shop in the future, had the player focused their experience in getting all the collectible figures present throughout the game.

Narrative-wise, this mechanic translates into padding Boku’s diary with unique summer memories, and it often works as the setup for what can be described as many of the quests the series presents its players: if, for instance, the player comes across a river Boku cannot cross, he will probably draw (and comment) not only on finding the river, but also on its surroundings, or what could possibly be found on the other side. The protagonist putting this finding down on his diary works both as a sign of a remarkable event and as a hint for the player to continue exploring said finding.

Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 (Millenium Kitchen, 2002). A definitive reminder of how long his vacation has gone for, Boku’s diary will commemorate his baby sibling being born towards the end of each title.

Despite its thematic reliance on the passing of time, the Boku no Natsuyasumi franchise is not designed around mechanics meant to automatically emulate the way time passes in real life. Instead of implementing features like an internal clock (a resource PS1 games like Digimon World managed to feature in a rudimentary but effective way), time moving forward is a responsibility entirely placed upon the player. How exactly does time advance in the Bokunatsu series? In a pretty similar way to how it does in real life: it moves forward as you move on with your day, with some minutes passing every time the playable character walks into a new screen. These minutes gradually pile up, until the game shows you it’s dusk; if you try to keep exploring, Boku’s uncle will eventually interrupt you, telling you it’s time for dinner. A similar mechanic is used during nighttime, with each installment allowing you to explore a few screens before Boku’s exhaustion automatically transports you to his assigned bedroom, where you will be granted a final chance to write on your diary before moving on to the next day.

Boku no Natsuyasumi (Millenium Kitchen, 2000). The way time passes during each day of Boku’s vacation is reflected both gameplay and visuals-wise, with pretty much every area available to explore offering views that will slightly vary depending on which time of the day the player visits them.

The passing of time is probably one of the most recurring topics to be brought up, both in fiction and in real life, but the way the Natsuyasumi games inserts it, gameplay and thematic-wise, into the series feels far from being a forlorn callback to long-lost youth, but rather a playful reminiscence of times so precious, the titular protagonist still treasures them (and the impact they had on his life) far into adulthood. By having time as a key factor to take into consideration while playing, the series reminds players that time will move forward no matter what we do, so it’s better to do the most with it, especially during summer vacation!