ZombiU and Fire Emblem devs talk about working with perma-death in story-writing
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, General Gaming, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 1 Comment
In the latest issue of EDGE magazine there lays a feature about the inclusion of permanent death in a game– that is, when a character dies, they’re gone for good and you can’t do anything about it. Two notable examples of games that utilize permanent death (perma-death) have come within the last year or deux: ZombiU from Ubisoft on the Wii U and Fire Emblem: Awakening on 3DS from Nintendo. A designer from both games sat down with EDGE to discuss their experience with perma-death:
I think that all of the Fire Emblem games are fun, but a lot of beginner players stay clear of them because they think they are difficult. I think this is a real shame. A big reason for wanting to include this mode was so that those kinds of people could play Fire Emblem too…Since your characters come back when they die, one advantage is that you can play more aggressively or take more risks.
– Fire Emblem: Awakening director Kohei Maeda
[Writing ZombiU] was the toughest challenge I’ve faced in over ten years of writing for games. It took… the whole production team to find solutions for all the ‘But what happens if you die here?’ issues, which were sometimes mind-bendingly complicated.
I created the Prepper character and the survivors’ notes to establish a link and reinforce between the survivors who all fall under this mysterious character’s influence. Without a main player character, you need to embrace your main NPCs. Our character assemblage system produced avatars that were less gorgeous than a single player character would’ve been.
– ZombiU design director Gabrielle Shrager
More: Fire Emblem, Gabrielle Shrager, interview, Kohei Maeda, ZombiU
Detune working on new 3DS title, details are “top secret”
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 0 comments
Detune recently put up KORG M01D on the 3DS eShop. That’s not the only piece of software the company intends to bring to Nintendo’s portable.
Speaking with Nintendo Life, Detune’s Nobuyoshi Sano confirmed the existence of a brand new title, of which details are “top secret”. While Sano wouldn’t share any specifics, he did say that it has something to do with sound.
Sano commented:
Yes! We have yet to really get started, but yes we do have something planned! The details of the software are top secret, but I can say one thing — Detune will be making it, which means it will be something that has to do with sound. And we plan to make full use of the 3DS display! Stay tuned!
More: Detune, interview, Nobuyoshi Sano, top
Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D World summary – including Galaxy talk
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 1 Comment
I’ve thrown together a summary of the Super Mario 3D World Iwata Asks, as the original discussion is quite long. There are definitely a number of interesting points, plus some talk about the future of the Super Mario Galaxy series. Without further ado, here’s the summary in full:
– No upending the tea table from Miyamoto this time
– Miyamoto “only needed to be involved with occasional spot-checks in areas where I wanted to take a closer look”
– Hayashida: “To be upfront about it, ever since we started developing Super Mario 3D Land, we thought about making Super Mario 3D World in continuation afterward.”
– The team originally wanted to include a multiplayer mode in Super Mario 3D Land
– Team initially started out at 40-50, was at about 100 at the end
– The team has tons of ideas for Mario’s transformations
– Cat transformation forms a pair with Statue Mario
– When you turn into Cat Mario under a certain condition, he can make bonus coins appear with Ground Pounds
– Moving multiple Marios was considered before, but wasn’t tried since the team thought it’d be too taxing from a control perspective
– Double Mario came about when a staffer made a mistake with the placement tool and put in two Mario players
– NOA staffers said Mario 3D World has a high replay value
– Free Camera Mode is in single-player mode only
– Captain Toad’s Adventure was put in so that players ” would try it out as a way to experience a game in which you control the camera yourself as you would in a 3D Super Mario game.”
– Motokura insisted on putting in the secret character
– This character loses its ability when in cat form
– This character also becomes a black cat when transformed
– The Luigi Bros. game and the secret character appear after reaching the end once
– Luigi Bros. appears on the title screen
– If you have New Super Luigi U data, you can play from the start
– Hidden Luigi pixels are included in the game
– Random button randomly assigns characters before each course
– Can do a Ground Pound to steal someone’s double power
– Random selection is also available in single-player
– Hayashida on the stamps: “We had always wanted to do something with Miiverse, and I tried posting, but the world is full of people who can draw well. I can’t draw, so I couldn’t get into it.”
– Over 80 stamps are in the game
– Some stamps you get deep in the second half
– Mii characters of other people online show up as Sprixies
– When you clear a course, the ghost of the person who cleared it will replay through that gameplay
– Time Attack Ghost will appear, which is the ghost of another player who’s clear time is just a little faster than yours
– The team had a strong desire to call it “3D World” from the beginning
– Miyamoto realized “Land” was for handhelds and “World” was for home consoles
– Miyamoto: “Some opinions against it arose along the way, and there was a time when it looked like it wouldn’t fly, but it’s a name with a lot of thought behind it that suggests anyone can feel easy playing the game and that it’s a culmination of all the fun of a 3D Super Mario game, so the name had to be Super Mario 3D World, and in the end that’s what it is.”
– Koizumi says he had some regrets about some things when making Super Mario Galaxy, which he feels he was able to address with 3D World
– Koizumi has long wanted Luigi to appear alongside Mario in a 3D game, and also felt Galaxy was more geared toward boys
– With Peach’s inclusion, he feels this has been addressed
– Miyamoto: “Just so there is no misunderstanding, I should point out that this doesn’t mean we’ll never make another Super Mario Galaxy game.”
– Koizumi: “When we first started making Super Mario 3D World, Miyamoto-san asked me if this was going to be more like Super Mario Galaxy or more like Super Mario 3D Land. When we made Super Mario 3D Land, we had our eyes on the form of this game, so we made it this way without any hesitation.”
– Miyamoto: “The same team can’t make both at the same time. And we can’t bring in a second party and slap the name Super Mario Galaxy on it. I suppose we could idealistically make both in Tokyo, but we want to do something new too, so there was that dilemma.”
– Miyamoto “Personally, I would like to take on a variety of new challenges with Super Mario Galaxy and design 2D Super Mario games in an easy-to-understand way within certain restraints.
– Iwata: “Either way, to fans of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D World is in no way a different beast that they won’t be able to enjoy.”
Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D World now live
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo has gone live with a new Iwata Asks for Super Mario 3D World. You can find the full discussion here. Prepare yourself for seven page of talk between Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and the game’s developers!
More: interview, Iwata Asks, Satoru Iwata, Super Mario 3D World, top
Aonuma talks about his views on Miyamoto, wants him to continue sharing opinions
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Eiji Aonuma has a special relationship with Shigeru Miyamoto. After all, the two have been working together for a couple of decades.
Aonuma shared some of his thoughts concerning Miyamoto in GamesTM’s previous issue. Surprisingly, Aonuma revealed, “The time I have spent working with him is even longer than my relationship with my father”. Aonuma also mentioned that he feels he’s “far away from reaching Mr. Miyamoto’s level of perspective” and hopes Miyamoto will “forever” continue providing opinions on Nintendo’s titles.
More: Eiji Aonuma, interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Eiji Aonuma says tech difficulties don’t prevent elements from being added to Zelda games
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii | 0 comments
Technical difficulties do not prevent Nintendo from adding certain elements to Zelda games. That’s according to series producer Eiji Aonuma, who was speaking with GamesTM last month.
Aonuma gave an example by discussing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Aonuma said “it was a technical challenge to make Link’s sword swings match the motion controls completely,” and he also had some concerns as to how the feature would be received by players. However, the team ended up pursuing motion controls because Aonuma felt “in the end many users would enjoy the unique gameplay”.
Aonuma told GamesTM:
More: Eiji Aonuma, interview, The Legend of Zelda, top
Aonuma always thinks he’s making his last Zelda game, but ends up wanting to make another one in pursuit of perfection
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Eiji Aonuma has been heavily involved with The Legend of Zelda since Ocarina of Time. Given how he’s played a major role in the series for over 15 years, it’s only natural that thoughts crop up about moving on. There’s one major element that keeps Aonuma going, however: the pursuit of perfection.
Aonuma admitted to GamesTM in its previous issue, “I always make these games with the thought that this is going to be my last.” But he ends up having regrets and wishing certain things could have been implemented, which motivates him to work on another Zelda title.
“I guess that could come to a close if I finally make a perfect game,” Aonuma said, “but perhaps I would not be able to create such a thing even if I spent my whole life on it.” Aonuma understands that he’ll one day have to stop making Zelda games, so before that happens, he “really would like to create something as close to perfection as possible not too far into the future” and “retire with no regrets.”
More: Eiji Aonuma, interview, The Legend of Zelda, top
Ubisoft was hesitant to go forward with Child of Light due to Beyond Good & Evil’s lack of commercial success
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii U eShop | 7 Comments
It’s no secret that Beyond Good & Evil did not perform up to Ubisoft’s expectations. While the game was met with a great reception from critics, it wasn’t a financial hit.
The fact that Beyond Good & Evil was essentially a commercial failure still causes Ubisoft to be cautious today. According to Child of Light creative director Patrick Plourde, the publisher was hesitant to move forward the project.
Plourde told GamesIndustry:
“If the game is a missed opportunity, then it’s going to be a missed opportunity for years. Even when I pitched Child of Light, they mentioned Beyond Good & Evil. They said ‘Beyond Good & Evil was not a success, and we made that mistake once.’ And it’s like, yeah, but it’s 10 years ago… If somebody tries something and fails, there are going to be repercussions for other people. For me it would be a shame if that happens. I don’t think people are malevolent or evil about that. It’s just if it fails, they’re going to be careful greenlighting other projects like that.”
Miyamoto, Koizumi, Motokura on Mario 3D World’s clear pipes, appealing to advanced players/newcomers, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Eurogamer has posted up some Super Mario 3D World interview session bits from Shigeru Miyamoto, producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, and director Kenta Motokura. The three commented on the game’s clear pipes, appealing to advanced players as well as beginners, and more. Head past the break for the full Q&A roundup.
Mario 3D World devs on game’s engine, difficulty, no DLC; plus art style, working with an external studio, more open Mario, Miyamoto working on small projects
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 7 Comments
Gamekult recently conducted an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, Yoshiaki Koizumi, and Kenta Motokura. As you can tell by the title of this post, it’s filled with tons of interesting bits about Super Mario 3D World and Mario in general.
As far as 3D World is concerned, the three commented on the game’s engine, difficult, DLC (and a bunch of other things). General topics include the possibility of introducing a radical art style for Mario, working with an external studio, a more open Mario, and Miyamoto’s plan to work on smaller projects.
You can find the full interview roundup below (note: Google Translate used). You can also find Gamekult’s piece here.
