This information comes from Devil’s Third creator Tomonobu Itagaki, speaking with Joystiq…

“We developed the game up to an early playable version at THQ but then there was the unfortunate end of that company. Then, when we went looking for partners and found Nintendo who really supported my vision. I’m not really sure if it would have been possible ten years ago to be honest, but I’ve had a long relationship with Nintendo going back to the Nintendo and Super Nintendo. Once I went independent, I definitely went over to Nintendo to say hello.”

“I like to think of myself as a warrior. There will always be accidents on the battlefield. You have to find ways through those and adapt. The world has been through financial crises in the past few years yet we’ve all found ways to continue on. One thing that’s different from my previous company is my relationship to the people I’m working with. Previously I wasn’t necessarily responsible for hiring and taking care of everyone, but my position is different now and I feel a lot of responsibility for my team.”

“I’m not one to go looking for fights in back alleys. I prefer to find them in a big avenue. That’s why I tried to pick the most major genre I could think of, the modern shooter. That’s what led me to make Devil’s Third.”

“When people play this game I want them to think, ‘What does it mean to live?’ I want them to think about life itself. What does it mean to be alive? What does someone believe in a world like this? We’re all citizens in a very fragile world order, as if it’s made of a glass, that can shatter at any moment.”

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More: Devil's Third, interview, Tomonobu Itagaki, top

– Orochi is summoned by Dogen
– Described as the physical manifestation of shinobi malice
– Was summoned in an incomplete form
– Because of this, parts of its body are initially lacking, compelling it to rebuild itself using the wreckage of destroyed castles to compensate
– Juura is a new enemy spirit
– It takes shape as 2 spheres
– The story behind it entails the spirit falling out of a gigantic shadowy bosom
– Juura is the physical form of the collective regrets of deceased young girls who idolized adults
– Goza’s body resembles an octopus
– Goza has something of a proclivity for water
– Goza is driven mad by the faces that are drawn all over its body
– As a result, Goza subsumes a ship whole and clings to it for dear life
– Mikami is another antagonist
– Mikami is a pair of sisters whose bodies are half-human on top and half-centipede on the bottom
– Mikami likes to cause loud thunder and gusts of wind for fun that are so strong they actually break through shinobi spiritual barriers and affect the outside world
– Challenge mode
– In these, players need to clear successive rooms of enemies without being able to heal up
– A band of ten especially powerful spirits are said to be present in the mode
– Their strength are derived from the power of shinobi blood
– Get weapons by clearing rooms
– When clearing a room for the first time, players can start later runs in Spirit Den from that point as they attempt to reach the end
– The game will also feature an alternative set of Special Missions that require players to accomplish obtuse objectives in ways that aren’t viable during normal play
– Ex: destroy every crate in an area, defeat enemies only be repelling them
– Beat these missions to gain powerful equippable Shinobi Gems
– Three of these can be assigned to a character at any given time, with sharing between characters possible
– Game also has a new Desperation mode that can be triggered during Shinobi Tenshin when the player has accumulated the maximum number of scrolls that can be carried on hand
– Doing so increases attack speed and power for a limited time, as well as enables the free use of Secret Ninja Arts without expending scrolls
– You’ll take damage when an attack doesn’t land on an enemy when using Desperation mode

Source

More: details roundup, Japan, marvelous

During the Q&A portion for the Code Name: S.T.E.A.M’s roundtable, one attendee asked if the 3DS game has slowed work on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem – a Wii U game announced in January 2013 and hasn’t been talked about since. Fortunately, the answer is no. Intelligent Systems said, “We’re right on schedule, but if I answer in any more detail I will lose my job so please have mercy on me.”

Another attendee asked prior if Code Name: S.T.E.A.M’s existence is why there isn’t a new Advance Wars. To this, Intelligent Systems said, “We are always thinking about our next iteration of Advanced Wars and Fire Emblem.”

Source, Source 2

More: Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Intelligent Systems, Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, top

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More: E3 2014, Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, top

Nintendo revealed a new IP for the 3DS during an E3 2014 roundtable event held tonight. The game, titled Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, is being led by the folks at Intelligent Systems. It will launch next year.

You can keep track of the details here.

More: Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, E3 2014, top

Update: Over. Had a rough start due to traffic killing the site again, but you can check out a bunch of details below.

Nintendo is closing out its E3 activity for the day with a mysterious roundtable. We know that the session will be held to announce some kind of new IP, based on the tweet above.

In any case, we’ll be gathering all of the information that pops up online and covering this roundtable as it happens. Keep checking this post for news throughout the event. We’ll also make a dedicated, separate mini-post once the announcement is made.

The roundtable will begin at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. It should last 90 minutes.

Updates below:

Details

– Note: Treehouse showing a big demo of the game tomorrow (confirmed on the stream)
– Code Name: S.T.E.A.M
– Out next year
– Set in London
– Steampunk vibe
– Stars the character Fleming
– In the video, monsters are taking over
– Airships exploding in the air
– Nintendo shows the live opening of the Steam Gate bridge
– Everything in the city is steam-powered
– Cel-shaded people
– It’s the age of Steam we’re told.
– Airships
– Monster attack knocks the character down
– Enemy has a lot of purple eyes
– Nintendo showed the opening cinematic
– Hitoshi Yamagami directing (Fire Emblem, Xenoblade Chronicles)
– Turn-based strategy game
– Borrows elements from action games
– “If Nintendo is making a strategy title, there is a long term partner we have worked with before: Intelligent Systems.”
– Intelligent Systems devs showing off the game
– Creative director: Paul Patraschcu
– Art director: Takako Sakai

“This is an entirely new title from Nintendo. A turn-based strategy game with elements taken from action games. “Players will take command of the unit steam a unique fighting force created by Abraham Lincoln to defend against a mysterious invasion from space.”

– Third-person shooter elements
– 3 save files

“Turn-based strategy, third person shooter, steam-punk … Codename Steam is a quirky little title that came to be from a collusion of all of these elements. We like to start with how we came about getting the idea for this title.”

– Fleming dodges around what appears to be the city’s streets
– Monsters are everywhere

“As you can tell from my history I have been working with IS for a long time and became a big fan of turn-based strategy, but I’ve always wanted to share these games with more people; this has been quite a challenge for me. This is, I think, because people have a timidity about turn-based strategy.”

– Gameplay switches to John, who stealths his way around looking for enemies
– After his turn, the enemy bolts forward and attacks
– Bottom screen shows a steam meter
– It goes down as players use skills
–
Henry scores some coins floating in the streets as he travels around

“I have been sharing Mr. Yamagami’s worries. I wonder why strategy games don’t have more fans. The answer I came up with myself, perhaps in many strategy games, there is too much abstraction between the player and the game world. What happens is often dictated by invisible parameters and numbers you don’t understand. The interfaces are often quite abstract.”

“This creates, in my opinion, a bit of an emotional disconnect between player and world of the game, perhaps this is why so many people find it intimidating or unnatural to play a strategy game. My solution was to take the camera and bring it to the level of the fighting units.”

“I’ve been thinking about solving this problem and at that time Paul came to me with his ideas. My initial thought of bringing down the camera was, ‘Yes, this will bridge that gap.’ But my worry was without some overhead view was how would you know what was going on. We said try a mini map radar.”

“Of course Mr. Yamagami was right so we focused on what we had, this first-person POV. You have several units you can control. You can control a fire team made up of four different characters. You have this view all of the time. This type of exploration is gameplay.”

– Enemy’s turn again
– A scorpion-like monster scoots forward
– Developer thinks many strategy games are too abstract,”Invisible parameters”
– While aliens move, it looks like players can freely swap between players for different views
– John gets ready to chuck a bomb; a yellow arch shows its projection
– The scorpion-like alien-monster is called a Hound
– The field is filled with small brick ledges, crates and lamps held by floating Steam balloons
– Green-lit TV screens are propelled through the air
– Switching between the characters give you a different view
– Can switch between characters at almost any time
– Adding steam punk elements to world helped convey important details
– One example is a red pipe that goes to objective

“So I think you have this problem of not receiving this problem with strategy, but we overcame it. But I felt we still needed some sort of help so players could find their way around the battlefield. I had the idea of solving the problem with steampunk. By adding steampunk themed items in the game we could solve the problem.”

“For instance you can see a red pipe that extends all the way through the map. The pipe goes all of the way to the objective. We also have telephonoscopes that float around which give you hints.”

– Different collectibles are scattered around the field
– There’s a book with a heart stamp
– These green TVs offer hints on how to play on the map
– The first hint offers a weak point on the Hound
– Uses touch controls for interface and controlling team
– Enemies can apparently attack more than once
– Henry gets hit, makes a snappy remark, and is pelted again

“At this point we had the navigation problem solved. With the touch screen the interface was very intuitive. We were still missing the strategic element to the game play. We realized with the context, the 3d map and exploration, the classic style of move attack then select the next unit, style of game play really did not work within this format.”

“We turned again to action games, to first-person shooters. The thought process between a strategy game and a shooter are quite similar. You get some information about the environment and then you come up with a plan and then you execute a plan. You do that in a linear fashion in a game like Fire Emblem. In a shooter you have to solve problems in a nonlinear fashion.”

– Movement inspired by action games
– Turn based movement closer to shooter than Fire Emblem
– Henry nabs the heart-labelled pack. It is, in fact, a health boost

“We wanted to come up with a system that was nonlinear. So we came up with action points which quantifies how much a unit can move and the speed they can move.”

– The goal is finally in sight. It’s marked by a very clear icon helpfully reading

“The image I hit upon was a steam locomotive. That’s when I hit upon the idea of using units operating on steam to make it easier to understand. I had an ‘aha moment’ and we knew what to do.”

“I initially pitched the steampunk setting as a setting, but having heard this idea of steam-powered warriors it all made sense to me.”

“The units where steam engines on their back and this gives them steam. A gauge shows how much steam they have.”

– Steam gauge shown at bottom of top screen and shows cost of actions, like firing weapons
– When you’re spotted, exclamation points pop up above the enemy’s head, Metal Gear Solid style
– Until you perform some sort of action your steam isn’t completely used up
– Within the limits of your steam you can move around the battlefield
– This allows the player to explore and that adds to the exploration element
– Patraschcu said originally they wanted to have an undo button, but people were pushing on the undo button all of the time
– Each map has its objective
– In this case, it was reach the goal
– The game is structured as a campaign and divided into missions
– Each mission has several maps
– You’ll add new members throughout games
– Each have unique powers
– Art style conveys each characters powers instantly
– The bottom screen displays your team, abilities, end turn options and more
– All the action stays on the top screen of the 3DS
– No grinding for XP; focused more on expanding team
– Character design is based on American comic books
– The developers were inspired by artists like Jack Kirby and Bruce Timm
– Spoken dialogue happens during gameplay
– Can enable a grid overlay on the battlefield
– Main characters’ weapon design is based on the weapon’s abilities and an animal motif based on the character’s personality
– The terrain has a lot of depth and reflects the variety of strategic choices in the game
– Pixel art used for terrain to ensure it looks good at all distances
– Each map made to look unique
– The developers came up with some original aliens that riff on creatures from the Lovecraft mythos
– Another enemy type called “Prowler”–intelligent and work together in teams
– Can use machines and weapons, like humans
– The aliens resemble insects
– Overwatch attacks can stun & interrupt enemy movement
– Save steam at the end of a turn to attack enemies when in range
– Overwatch can now stun enemy
– Costs 1-attack to stun them, negating enemies next turn
– Ex: high stun ratio character, followed by second character attack for heavy damage
– Overwatch attacks equated to ambushes. “Feels really good”
– Strategic elements based on 3 things: movement, attacks, and planning overwatch attacks
– Spinning pillars on map are checkpoints
– More to them than just saving game
– Can use collected metals from aliens to restore health and steam at checkpoints
– Tradeoff is that spent metals can’t be used to buy weapons down the line
– So if you risk not cashing them in for HP you’ll be rewarded by being able to buy better weapons
– 1 difficulty mode in the game
– Newer strategy players will benefit by using metals at checkpoints

Q&A

– Question: Does the game take place in London? But there is Abraham Lincoln?

Answer: London is the starting point of the game. At that time Britain was the greatest Empire and thus the alien’s first target.

Steampunk also fits with London. Sounds like the game will have other locales.

– Question: this and Splatoon are shooters; is this a conscious shift in Nintendo’s strategy / portfolio?

Answer: “Not really”. They prototyped an idea, and it felt good. NOA notes that the shooter style of game is very approachable with constant player feedback

– Question: Japan has a history of making Japanese historical figures larger than life. Why pull from western history?

Answer: There were several settings pitched. One was “steam punk civil war”. Everyone had lots of ideas to riff on within the team. Felt it was a rich context choice.

– Question: Q on the rock music. Can you talk about the composer/style?

Answer: Advance wars composer Hirano is working on this. Similar to days of ruin in style. Music has both 19th century string-type instruments and rock music for the steam punk. Music is dynamic, to reflect enemy awareness of danger, etc.

– Question: How is death treated? Is there permadeath?

Answer: There is not permadeath. It is not a game that relies on individuals–it relies on teams of chars. Would not work if you could lose characters. You can revive them on the map by using medals

– Question: will there be online play?

Answer: yes there will be multiplayer and there will be online supported, but details ate pending

– Question: how large is the cast?

Answer: not talking now. Stay tuned.

– Question: will there be amiibo integration, since this is a 2015 game?

Answer: not a bad idea. We’ll think about it.

– Question: similarities to Valkyrie Chronicles. Was the team influenced by that game?

Answer: yes, the lead developer likes that game. But it wasn’t an inspiration. That game is a traditional strategy game, and players rely on the overhead map/view. Not really a shooter. Nintendo & IS wanted the shooter like gameplay to be integral and not a facade.

– Question: Is code name steam why we haven’t gotten a new advance wars?

Answer: nonononono. We are always thinking about the next iteration of AW and FE. Teasing they will reveal info on those later when they are ready

– Question: Q: Has this impacted development on the FExSMT game.

Answer: nonononono. They are on schedule.

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3

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The folks over at Nintendo’s Treehouse shared a neat little nugget about Fantasy Life during their stream earlier today. Apparently, if you count all the dialogue and text in the game together, it would amount to a 21,000-page novel.

Other known bits about Fantasy Life:

– 12 job classes
– Paladin, Mercenary, Hunter, Wizard, Cook, Angler, Woodcutter, Miner, Blacksmith, Carpenter, Tailor and Alchemist
– Each class comes with its own story elements and skill
– Can change class at any time in the game
– Co-op multiplayer included

Source

More: Fantasy Life, Level-5

Dragon Quest XI is officially in development, Square Enix has confirmed. Series creator Yuji Horii shared the news during the FM West Tokyo Radio program Mangaku N-Channel SP. This is the first time Horii officially acknowledged development of the Dragon Quest XI name itself.

Here’s what we know:

– The program featured a look back at the Dragon Quest series
– Horii recalled his personal experiences and stories
– Horii spoke about Dragon Quest’s future
– Horii mentioned Dragon Quest XI is advancing towards the series’ 30th anniversary, which is in 2016
– He also said he wants to play it on a big screen
– No specific platform confirmed

Source

More: Dragon Quest XI, Square Enix, top

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