During a GDC panel covering the early formation of Tokyo Jungle, Yohei Kataoka, President of developer Crispy's Inc, shared a poster that caught his eye and - eventually - put a Pomeranian on PlayStation.

Sony's Creator Audition Mashup Project - or C.A.M.P - called on new Japanese talent to submit innovative game ideas in need of funding. In the absence of longterm financial support, and with no desire to work for someone else, Kataoka and his newly formed studio submitted several game ideas for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. "I only created what I wanted to create from the bottom of my heart," he said. (Those ideas are worth their own story, which we'll have for you later.)

Kataoka didn't settle on his "action survival" game of Tokyo Jungle at first. In 2008 his seven-person team released MyStylist, a clothing database and style advice game for PSP. It would presumably frown upon a C.A.M.P. Elvis impersonator.