Grasshopper Manufacture
After leaving Human Entertainment, Suda founded Grasshopper Manufacture to fulfill his wish to create original video game projects. Its debut title was "The Silver Case" for the PlayStation. He was initially approached by ASCII Entertainment, who acted as the game's publishers and provided funding. Suda acted as director, co-writer and designer for the game. Alongside this, Suda had the responsibility of acting as the studio's CEO, so he felt responsible for ensuring everyone got paid. The initial staff of Grasshopper Manufacture was fairly small, which meant that the game's assets and style needed to be adjusted to fit limited resources and a tight budget. The title was a success in Japan and helped establish Grasshopper Manufacture, although had limited critical success due to the proliferation of its visual novel style at the time. While Suda wanted an overseas release, the large amount of text and difficulties localizing puzzle elements kept "The Silver Case" exclusive to Japan for a long time. Suda attempted to port the game to the Nintendo DS, but he was unsatisfied with the result and cancelled the project despite it being close to completion. Suda later acted as producer for a high-definition remaster of "The Silver Case" for Microsoft Windows, which was the title's Western debut. He also co-wrote new content that connected to its mobile sequel "Ward 25".