On a typical Friday night, McLane Hall at Fresno State is empty. Quiet fills the campus. But on Feb. 20, a line started to form and spanned the entire length of the building for an autograph signing by Hirokazu Yasuhara, the designer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game.
Fans stood in line holding pieces of Sonic merchandise such as plushies, video game cases, fan art and posters. Sonic could be seen in every direction. Some attendees drove hours just for a chance to see Yasuhara, a microcosmic datapoint to the global reach of the iconic videogame mascot.
Fresno State welcomed Yasuhara to campus for a workshop with the Computer Science Department, organized by computer science lecturer Dhanyu Amarasinghe, where local creators presented their original video games. Yasuhara later gave a keynote presentation on game design. The event was organized by the Fresno State Asian Faculty and Staff Association, led by professor t Hanayo Oya and professor Danny Kim.
The workshop was a showcase of student and community-made video games that got warm feedback and advice from attendees and Yasuhara alike.Yasuhara was gentle and encouraging with thoughtful and considerate answers to questions.
The video games presented ranged from text-based adventures to first-person shooters, skating games and platformers. The workshop closed with an outpouring of appreciation for Yasuhara’s time before a change of venue for the keynote presentation.
Gonzalo Avalos, a computer science major, presented his video game, a first-person shooter featuring aliens. He enjoyed feedback from Yasuhara and had the pleasure of evoking laughter from the audience and Yasuhara at the silly premise and tone of his video game.
“It means quite a lot to me,” Avalos said. “That man created my childhood.” The main part of the program, “Critical Hits: Asian Creativity in the Global Game Industry,” kicked off with guest speakers, including Fresno State history professor Dr. Lori Clune and Fresno State alumnus and UC Santa Cruz lecturer Zac Emerzian, offering a brief history of games leading into the modern era of video games. It covered the earliest known board game tracing back to 5,870 B.C., Mancala, to Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros” (1985) and Rockstar’s “Red Redemption II” (2018) with a particular emphasis on design.
Yasuhara gave his keynote covering topics on the history of his career, how he got hired at SEGA, the design of the iconic SEGA mascot and his own insights about game design philosophy.
His keynote speech was full of humor and moments that were both touching and inspiring, such as his early aspirations to be an architect. In a particular life is strange moment, he shares just how he ended up on the creative team for Sonic the Hedgehog with many implausible turns.
The event ended with a lengthy Q&A and autograph signing.
Fans who love the Sonic universe can catch Ryan Bartley, the voice actor of Sage, at Ani-me Con today at the Fresno Fairgrounds.