Iwata Asks: Mario Kart 7 volume 2 details
Posted on November 29, 2011 by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News
The second Mario Kart 7 Iwata Asks volume has been translated into English. The discussion focuses on all of the games features, including Communities, gyro sensor controls, and much more. Kenta Nagata, Yusuke Shiraiwa, Kosuke Yabuki, Hideki Konno, and Satoru Iwata participated in the discussion.
– Team made the game so that even if you lose, you gain something to make you think, “That was fun!”
– Retro Studios backed up EAD when the programming or data was off so EAD wouldn’t have to stop
– EAD talked with Nintendo staff who worked a lot with Retro about how to exchange data
– Nagata feels that the video conferences were helpful since it allowed him to gain a shared understanding of why they had made certain things
– Nagata wanted to recreate the original music for the classic courses
– Staff paid attention to the old atmosphere while also making something new
– Iwata and Konno doubt that anyone will notice that Mario Kart 7 was a collaborative effort between American and Japanese developers
– Konno basically left the game to Yabuki as the director since the two had the same targets in mind
– Konno played the prototype constantly so the two could discuss the details as development progressed
– A few things from the past were left out because carrying over everything from earlier in the series would have created too much data
– Konno gave advice about, like “Put this in” when it came to the jump action or the strength of the computer
– Miyamoto said that even though Konno is the producer, he has to keep a close eye on the game just as if he was the director
– Konno wanted to provide concrete support and didn’t just want to leave it to others
– Glider idea came about early on, even before the team formed
– Yabuki modified Mario Kart Wii, prepared floaty karts, flying karts, and presented it
– Miyamoto had always been focused on the coins in Mario Kart, but they disappeared somewhere along the way
– The team designed the coins back in even though the processing was tight
– Yabuki thought if coins were added from the beginning, it would be OK for Shiraiwa and the other programmers
– Shiraiwa also wanted coins back, even with past games in the series, but the idea had come toward the end of development previously
– Yabuki was concerned that players might find themselves with their hands free because there aren’t many obstacles in the air/underwater
– Custom parts combo influences your advantage in the race
– Show your customizations to people you pass
– Race and beat your opponents to obtain their parts
– Communities were thought of early on, but the Mario Kart Channel for Street/SpotPass wasn’t
– Nintendo wanted to include a feature where friends could gather like this directly on the 3DS, but couldn’t fit it in schedule-wise
– Yabuki wanted to make sure he put this into Mario Kart 7
– The Journal in nintendogs + cats (check StreetPass content) was the inspiration for the Mario Kart Channel
– The staff thought it’d be a pain if you could only race one ghost every time you passed someone, so they thought about racing several at once
– Pulled off grasping each person’s habits by using subtle titles along the lines of “uses lots of bananas” and “throws lots of shells”
– Shiraiwa faced the challenge of maintaining 60 FPS, and there’s three images (two images for the top, touch screen)
– The hardware was also new, planners wanted to put in more characters, the designers wanted to make the visuals look better, and eight-player races were planned
– Someone who used to work on Mario Kart told Shiraiwa that once you make something at 60 FPS, improve your programming so as not to surpass that
– During the middle of development, the team made many adjustments to Retro Studios’ courses, like Wuhu Island
– Wuhu Island is just one lap, so that requires a lot of landform data; wouldn’t be able to maintain 60 FPS if it wasn’t processed right
– Konno was the one who suggested putting in Wuhu Island
– Nagata paid attention to the sound of the engines
– He also wanted to make sure the background music didn’t simply sound like racing-game music
– You can hear the wind up in the air and birds chirping in some places
– You can hear sounds like you’re moving underwater while racing underwater
– Background music livens up when you’re racing in first place
– When the driver in second starts to catch up, the music gradually fades
– This allows you to determine the distance without looking at the touch screen
– When a shell hits you the first place music (“Go-go Track”) ends
– Konno asked if the gyro sensor could be used for something
– The programmer who worked on the wheel controls for Mario Kart Wii joined the team about that time, so the team decided to try to do gyro sensor controls
– Driver’s perspective camera put in while adjustments were being made
– Yabuki: At first, it was the usual view in which you can see everything, but we made it so if you tilt the console, you turn the wheel. But it didn’t feel right, so we were like, “Well, how about changing the camera?” Of course, the design team asked if it was really all right to do that.
– The design team said that it wasn’t Mario Kart and said “We didn’t make the image of handle with that in mind!” (image of the wheel is close up)
– The team had made the wheel without any idea it would be enlarged
– Design team had to make a high-detail wheel
– Can switch between the cameras in replay mode
– Camera is pulled back when you get hit, then it switches back to the driver’s viewpoint
– Also happens when you spin after hitting a banana
– Originally the screen spinned, but after one race, they got dizzy
– You can tell when your opponent is playing from the driver’s perspective when racing online
– Yabuki thinks the 3D works so well because your line of sight is fixed
– Download play is available for all the courses
