Eurogamer interview with Tsubasa Sakaguchi, one of Splatoon’s directors
Eurogamer recently had the chance to sit down with Tsubasa Sakaguchi, one Splatoon’s directors. I’ve summarized some key statements from Sakaguchi below, but if you wanna read the whole interview, check it out here.
– “Splatoon, of course, has many elements of a shooter, but it didn’t start off with us wanting to make a shooter game. It was more that we found fun in colouring in vast areas and spaces around us, and as part of that visualisation of the movement of the characters we found really exciting, and this is how the project started.”
– “Humans can move our hands less when we’re moving them downwards, and more when we move it upwards. When we were doing the mapping for the gyro sensor, we incorporated these subtle human movements into the game. It might not be apparent at first glance, but maybe you might notice it in the future.”
– “We were slightly concerned about whether users might feel the gyro controls were a little bit difficult. But I like to use the analogy of riding a bicycle. You need a lot of practice, but once you’ve learnt that the bicycle becomes one with your body and it opens the whole world to you. In that sense, we’re really happy that many users have learnt to ride the bicycle!”
– “About 70-80 per cent of players are using the gyro controls. That’s not to say we’re forcing it on to them. From our point of view, we think that the gyro controls are the best way to play Splatoon, the reason being there are two main movements you need for a shooter. One is moving the body, the other is aiming where you’re shooting. In that sense, we think for Splatoon the gyro gives that subtle movement and more precise actions to be able to really experience the game in a much better way.”
– “When we were designing Splatoon, reaching level 20 was going to take quite a lot of time. Learning the game mechanics with the gyro sensor – we thought that would take a lot of time. In that sense we’re surprised that people have reached the level cap in such a short time. We’re actually really worried about those people – worried that they’re still sleeping and eating! We recognise that a lot of people have reached level 20, and that there’s not much left to do in the game. There’s not much I can announce today, but I hope you can look forward to some future announcements.”
– “At the moment, we’re not planning any paid download content. Beyond August, there’ll be new stages and new weapons slowly being released.”
