Sakamoto, Hayashi talk all about Metroid: Other M
Sakamoto, Hayashi discussing their thoughts on Other M’s development process, how it’s been different than what they’re accustomed to…
Sakamoto: “Of course, this is the first time that we’ve been working with Team Ninja to produce this Metroid game. [And] there have been some different approaches and different thinking about game development on each side, but we’ve always found ways to turn that into areas of inspiration and find novel solutions to implement our plans. It seems like everyone had a different kind of proficiency that all fit together to create one beautiful Metroid game. It’s really impressive. Now that we’re almost finished and I look back on the game, I have to say the results are even better than I expected.
Hayashi: Having worked mostly with Team Ninja so far, to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how other people took different approaches to game-making. I haven’t had much experience working with other teams. What I’ve learned is that the approaches people take when trying to make something interesting are more or less the same. This was kind of a shock to me, especially when it got to the point that I’d be working with Mr. Sakamoto and discovered that we had chosen to resolve issues in very similar ways without even discussing it with each other prior. It’s been a great experience. In some ways, it’s hard for people to tell which one of us is which in terms of the creative process.
Sakamoto on examples from the game that changed as a result of Nintendo/Team Ninja’s back-and-forth interaction…
Sakamoto: That’s an interesting point. I hadn’t really thought about that as being particularly influenced by Team Ninja, but you’re right that when you defeat enemies now, they don’t allow you to recover health or missiles. But I wouldn’t think of that as something that just came from one team or the other. Rather, it was something we discussed and decided on together. If I had to give an example of something that felt like it was definitely influenced by our new partners, it would probably be the way in which Samus is combining different abilities together to create new abilities. For example, there’s a technique called “overblast” where you get on top of an enemy and deliver a kill shot from above. Now, this new move seems to have a lot of fighting game elements to it, which I have to say was never really a part of the Metroid gameplay and style before. But it’s a very cool action, and I’m happy that we’re able to include this sort of thing in the repertoire.
Hayashi/Sakamoto on whether or not there are other abilities Samus will acquire with that same customized/combined feel…
Hayashi: Definitely. One of the characteristics people think about when they bring to mind Metroid games is all the abilities that Samus can acquire over the course of the mission. Most of those that you’ve seen to this point, at least in the games Mr. Sakamoto has worked on, have been these 2D game actions. They were conceived and implemented in a way that was most appropriate for a 2D game world. Now we’re working in a 3D game world, so we have to think what’s a natural and comfortable and cool-looking action for this 3D format.
The most important thing for us, perhaps, is thinking about simplicity. What is a simple control method to introduce this kind of action in a 3D game? We also have to think about what would make this feel like a Metroid game. Especially since we’re playing in a 3D space, that’s something that has to take priority. We’ve come up with a lot of cool implementations, but I’m afraid we haven’t shown all the combinations just yet. I don’t want to give away too much yet — we want people to be able to discover these abilities in their own playthrough.
Sakamoto: One additional comment here — I feel that thanks to the collaboration we’ve had, another interesting element in the game is the addition of the “sense” move. This is a quick evasion tactic, for example a roll-away from an enemy or projectile that depends on the reflexes of the player. It’s not really so much an ability Samus acquires by finding new equipment as it is simply one of her actions. And it’s really become essential to the play style of the game.
Those are the kind of results I couldn’t have anticipated at the beginning of this project. We set forth with the idea that we didn’t want to introduce too complex a control scheme with too many buttons, but I didn’t want to view that as a limitation on our design process. I wanted to find natural implementations given these guidelines. So that’s had a huge influence on the game design.
In that sense, when you ask about different combinations of equipment and different abilities, there’s definitely some of that in there. But I have to say, we put a lot of effort into even the most basic elements as a way to push them forward and make them feel as natural and simple as possible. I think we were lucky to have the team and the work process to allow us to accomplish that.
Sakamoto on whether or not the devs have taken the idea of combining abilities further in Other M, possibly beyond Samus’ innate abilities…
Sakamoto: In terms of moves that Samus can use that show how we’re trying to emphasize simplicity, probably the sense move is the easiest to talk about. But there are tons of other fine points that we’ve given consideration. For example, there is a bit of an attribute system to the materials in the game in terms of what door or what obstacle can be broken by a specific weapon. That’s something you’ll be able to understand simply by pointing at the object now. You don’t necessarily have to open up a menu and go pick out a weapon to test — you can just point and see.
Also, you may have noticed that there are no direct manual camera controls this time around. We’re taking that out of the player’s hands to simplify their experience. Likewise, the very idea of moving around in a 2D area that’s actually 3D space is a simplification of navigating a 3D world. We’ve got this auto-camera that auto-adjusts to the best angle. For instance, the camera angle when you need to jump up to a higher platform will automatically adjust to a lower position so you can see the step up. This is one of many things we’ve put into the game that I’m not even sure most people will notice as they’re playing — and perhaps they shouldn’t notice, because it’s designed to be comfortable and accessible without drawing too much attention to itself.
Sakamoto on whether or not you’ll gain power on your own or if it’s just Adam granting Samus permission to use weapons…
Sakamoto: You’re right when you say that you start off with more weapons this time but have to receive permission to unlock them. But I should tell you that you’ll also be defeating enemies and acquiring upgrades on your own as well. Of course, I can’t say too much about it at the moment, but we’re definitely trying to find a balance point between receiving permission and finding weapons yourself.
Hayashi/Sakamoto on whether or not players can find new powers not in other games or if they’ll find familiar abilities that are combined in new ways…
Hayashi: First, just to clear up — there aren’t as many combinations of equipment as there are combinations of moves. Maybe it was slightly misleading when we described it earlier, but mostly what we’re talking about in that sense are things that are combinations of techniques like you’d see in fighting games — getting on top of someone and hitting them in a certain place in the head — not that you’ll necessarily see combinations of weapons, like the missile and ice missile combo you talked about in Metroid Fusion.
Sakamoto: Of course, we’ll have some abilities you gain from enemies that have never before been seen in the series. We’re definitely looking for ways to make things fun for the player. And obviously, even the abilities you’ve seen in previous games are going to feel very different when you use them in a 3D space with these kinds of camera angles. There are ways to use old powers in new ways and make them fun. We certainly don’t want people to gain an ability and think, “Oh, not this old thing!” We want to bring a new experience to the series.
Sakamoto/Hayashi on whether or not they were compelled to touch on familiar elements and include characters like Ridley …
Sakamoto: I think what you’re really talking about is the promise of the Metroid series. People have certain expectations, and they don’t want those expectations frustrated in the wrong way. So if you’re asking if we’re going to have Ridley in the game, well, sure, we’re going to have Ridley in the game. We have to have that essential Metroid feeling to the game — to make sure to keep that mood and that atmosphere intact, because it’s very important to the integrity of the series. And so we’ve put a lot into this game, a lot of thinking about what’s important.
You can change some elements of design, but what’s most essential is to keep in mind what’s stimulating about the experience overall. You have to think, “What has Samus not done yet?” You don’t want to break the mood, but you do want to bring new things to freshen the experience and stimulate the player. In that sense, it’s been great having Team Ninja as partners. They’ve taken on this challenge for themselves and saw a lot of opportunities to create new experiences that I hadn’t even seen myself.
Hayashi: When I first came onto this project, there were already some design elements in place. I took a look at them, and already at that point I could see where they were making some important departures from previous Metroid games. But overall, I was aware that we were shooting for something that felt like it belonged in the series, something that you could say followed the rules established by previous titles. In that sense, overall, this feels very much like a Metroid game. I’m trying very hard to follow those rules, because I do think they’re important to fans, and for the designers as well.
Sakamoto on whether or not he thinks it’s essential to express the isolation/exploration in abandoned ships/space stations or if he thinks it’d be possible to experience Metroid in a more open-world situation…
Sakamoto: When designing a Metroid game, of course we think about settings — someplace where we can incorporate lots of hidden corridors, areas where we can hide different abilities. Also, we really like the kind of mood you can create with different kinds of settings. So for this game, an abandoned ship was a really good place to set the action. Because of that, perhaps it’s the case that we often end up with some really similar settings, but I do believe there’s a good reason for it. We’re trying to evoke a certain kind of feeling, a certain kind of mood.
When Reggie addressed solitude… it’s interesting that in this game Samus will encounter a lot of people that she has known from the past, and some of them will be fighting alongside her in the game. But that doesn’t really affect the way that she feels inside. She is very much a solitary person, very much alone in terms of how she feels. Overall, I know the Metroid series may seem like it’s mostly been limited to confined spaces to give people a sense of claustrophobia; an introspective feel. But there’s certainly room to expand on that theme, and I don’t think we’re locked into doing anything specific in the future. Rather, it was simply the best design choice for this game.
Hayashi on whether or not he’s found it difficult to adapt to this style of game…
Hayashi: The way that I’d always thought about this challenge was like this: In games like Dead or Alive, you’re limited to the reach of a hand to make an attack. In games like Ninja Gaiden, you’re limited to the reach of a sword. But in the previous Metroid titles, you’re only limited by the reach of your beam, which is quite long. The further you are away from an enemy, it makes a big difference in how you feel when you initiate an attack. So, we wanted to make sure that you have the opportunity to use each of these kinds of attacks based on different ranges, and for them to feel comfortable, to feel good, to have an impact. If you only shoot an enemy from far away and see an effect on the far side of the screen, there’s something kind of lonely about that. We wanted to give it more impact.
That’s why you’ll see some closer fighting techniques in this new game — to increase the entertainment value and allow us to do a few things that are frankly just a little bit over-the-top in terms of jumping on top of enemies and shooting them from above. But this is, of course, mixed in with some of the traditional ranged beam shooting that you might find in other Metroid games. We had to do a lot of trial-and-error to come up with new ways to make that feel comfortable and interesting and fun this time around. I never told Mr. Sakamoto all this, but this is how I’d phrased the challenge in my own mind.
Hayashi on whether or not Samus has been given more short-range abilities beyond finishing moves and if melee strikes will be a major part of her arsenal…
Hayashi: I think the best way to say it is that we’ve tried to include the most variation possible in terms of how you defeat enemies. It has to feel different for different enemies in order for you to have that sense of variety and fun. Some of them you’ll be fighting up close, and that’s the only way to defeat those enemies. With others, you’ll be able to use missiles from far away — or you might have to, even. What matters most of all is that each encounter feels different but very good to the player. The design has to deliver a convincing sense of action in each situation.
Hayashi on whether or not the team considered bringing the Short Beam back…
Hayashi: Because it’s sometimes hard to judge the distance between two objects that are depicted in a 3D space — and that’s just one of the challenges we had to deal with — we thought it would be too difficult to include a short-ranged beam, because then people would have to figure out whether they were going to hit something or not.
Sakamoto on the Wiimote-only setup…
Sakamoto: As you know, I started creating games in the NES era. Back then, probably the most natural control scheme was the D-pad plus two buttons. This is really important to me — it’s something that goes back to my understanding of gaming’s roots. It might even be definitive in how it relates to Samus as a main character. For me, controlling Samus has always been most comfortable with a D-pad. I think a lot of people who played the earlier games have drifted away as control schemes have grown more complex, and I think that if they see this control style they’ll be able to come back and enjoy playing Metroid the way that they’ve always loved. So, it was essential to me to think about how to create a 3D Metroid game that maintained this kind of simple and accessible control scheme. As I’ve said before, to me, Samus equals the D-pad and two buttons — in some ways it’s essential to the Metroid experience.
Although this was a foundational concept, I don’t want you to get the idea that I hate the nunchuk! It was more a matter of this being the best choice for our particular project, and also a way to include an important message to send to players. Additionally, whenever we’re designing around a concept like this, in some ways using fewer buttons like this spurs developers to think of novel approaches that they might not otherwise have considered. It’s very easy to think of a lot of different new moves and a lot of different new game mechanics that simply require more and more and more buttons. But at some point, you’re going to reach an impossible area where some people just can’t play the games anymore, so we wanted to take that burden off of players and put it back on the developers — to inspire them to create a simple yet intricate and enjoyable experience.
I think this is something gamers will realize once they get their hands on the game. They start playing for a little while and think to themselves, “Oh, this is all that I need.” After Super Metroid, a lot of games became really hard to play, and I feel that some people have looked at those and thought, “oh, I can’t play that.” But knowing that this is using just one Wii remote, people are going to look at it and — hopefully — they’re going to say to themselves, “oh, I can do that.”
Sakamoto on whether or not it was a deliberate decision to point at the screen when going first-person to avoid moving with the d-pad so that it wouldn’t feel like an FPS…
Sakamoto: Well, simply put: yes. I think the answer that you’re looking for is that moving around in first-perspective in a 3D game represents a certain level of complexity. But, what we’re going for is more of a two-dimensional approach in the movement scheme within a 3D representation of space. You can go into a first-person view in some scenes, depending on what you need to do. In that sense, it might seem like we’re breaking certain rules by combining all these different perspectives, but ultimately what we’re trying to do is to give the player something that is comfortable and enjoyable and accessible.
I don’t think you have to move in the first-person perspective to be comfortable in a 3D world. So, we decided to challenge ourselves to use only the Wii remote, and to try to give this game a control scheme much like what could be found in an NES game. That big change was one of our huge points of emphasis in our design, and I feel like it’s really worked out for us.
