ENDER LILIES is a shipped game directed by Keisuke Okabe, made by a small team on a budget of roughly 500 million yen over three to four years. Okabe is now also credited on ENDER MAGNOLIA, and both titles are discussed as the ENDER series, whose scope he says is constrained by the commercial weight of the first game's success.
ENDER LILIES began as a Slack proposal by Keisuke Okabe, reached a three-month mockup, and shipped after three to four years with a budget of roughly 500 million yen. Okabe, who came to games from doujin manga and was hired by Neverland Company, said at The Tenth Mosaic that he drew and wrote for a mobile project before growing into directing.
Okabe described his method as stress-driven development. When envy of a strong game sets in, he plays a Steam title with Mixed user reviews to rebuild his confidence, then studies its missteps for his own work. He picks such games when the store page pitch reads well but the ratings do not, and he reads Steam rankings while keeping costs down.
The series now includes ENDER MAGNOLIA, which Okabe also directed. The two titles were discussed together at The Tenth Mosaic, a game culture event at the Institut francais de Tokyo on September 22 and 23, 2026, where Yoko Taro, director of NieR:Automata, led a one-hour talk with Okabe and treated the first game's commercial weight as a constraint that now binds what the ENDER series can attempt.
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At The Tenth Mosaic, held September 22 and 23 at the Tokyo French Institute, Yoko Taro opened the festival in conversation with Keisuke Okabe, director of ENDER LILIES. Okabe said he came to games from doujin manga, was hired by Neverland Company, drew and wrote for a mobile project, and grew into directing. ENDER LILIES began as a Slack proposal, reached a three-month mockup, and shipped after three to four years with roughly 500 million yen.
Yoko Taro, director of NieR:Automata, and Keisuke Okabe, director of ENDER LILIES and ENDER MAGNOLIA, held a one-hour talk session at The Tenth Mosaic, a game culture event at the Institut francais de Tokyo in Tokyo on September 22 and 23, 2026. Taro served as MC and drew out Okabe on the making of the ENDER series. Okabe described a method he calls "stress-driven development": when envy of a strong game sets in, he plays a Steam title with Mixed user reviews to rebuild his confidence, then studies its missteps for his own work. He said he picks such games when the store page pitch reads well but the ratings do not. Taro said he never feels envy and described his own role as filling gaps no one else has covered.