Animal Crossing devs on New Leaf’s diverse team and more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Wired has published a new wave of quotes from Animal Crossing: New Leaf producer Katsuya Eguchi and director Aya Kyogoku. Most of the comments pertain to the team working on the 3DS game, though there are also a few more general topics, such as the possibility of letting players change their skin tone in the future.
Check out Wired’s article in full (it’s quite interesting!) here. For comments rounded up from Eguchi and Kyogoku, read on below.
More tidbits from Animal Crossing’s devs, including series’ future
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Joystiq has published a few Animal Crossing-related tidbits coming from series creator Katsuya Eguchi and New Leaf director Aya Kyogoku. You can find them rounded up below.
– With the original N64 game, Eguchi’s team was focused on making a second place to live rather than a game
– With so many different perspectives of life existing in the world, it’s difficult to build a universally welcoming foundation for everyone to find their second home
– The team kept this challenge in mind when starting on New Leaf
– This resulted in the game’s development team encompassing members from different age groups and walks of life
– Staff could submit clothing and furniture ideas to asset designers no matter their role on the team
– Animal Crossing is built on the foundations of knowing that most of life’s highlights stem from interacting with other people
– Items offered through StreetPass are meant to encourage that sense of sharing from other players
– If many people head to a store in search of an item, Kyogoku hopes that they’ll StreetPass with one another during their visit
– Eguchi views StreetPass as an incentive for players to take Animal Crossing with them in their daily lives in case they cross paths with other StreetPass-savvy players outside of their primary homes
– Eguchi said that maintaining the calendar’s influence is part of why the series has stayed away from implementing microtransactions
– Special items are more about rewarding event attendance and less about filling out a checklist
– In the future, Eguchi hopes to reach regions he feels are untapped like Australia
– He also wants to use the quirks supplied in Nintendo’s hardware to show off new elements of life in Animal Crossing’s world
Eguchi open to the possibility of Animal Crossing mobile apps
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Animal Crossing series creator Katsuya Eguchi seems open to working with mobile devices, so long as fans are ultimately lead back to core experience on Nintendo platforms.
Eguchi, speaking with Joystiq, noted that some Animal Crossing players may play the title in short spurts, but many enjoy putting a lot of effort into their towns. Eguchi also believes that the 3DS’ inputs are better suited to Animal Crossing’s gameplay than what’s currently offered on smartphones.
Still, mobile devices could prove to be useful. Just as an example, Eguchi mentioned that there could be an app created so that clothing designs could be made on the go. Another hypothetical mobile app could provide reminders of appointments players make to hang out with the villagers in their town.
More: Animal Crossing, Katsuya Eguchi, mobile, top
Eguchi on pressure to produce new experiences, new Animal Crossing on console would take advantage of system’s features, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 7 Comments
Earlier today, USGamer put up a few new quotes from Animal Crossing designer Katsuya Eguchi. Eguchi spoke about the pressure to constantly create new experiences with Nintendo titles, Animal Crossing games on consoles, and more.
You can find Eguchi’s comments below. Also be sure to check out USGamer’s full piece here.
More: Animal Crossing, Katsuya Eguchi, top
GDC 2014 – “How to Turn a New Leaf at the Animal Crossing” photos and details
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 1 Comment
Animal Crossing: New Leaf director Aya Kyogoku and producer Katsuya Eguchi just wrapped up a postmortem for the game at GDC 2014 a short while ago. You can find photos from the event above, and some information shared during the session below.
– Ms Ayogoku was the first female game designer at Nintendo EAD when she started just a few years ago
– She emphasizes that we need more female developers in the industry
– Nearly 50% of the Animal Crossing: New Leaf team was female – co-director Aya Kyogoku
– Big success on New Leaf – it saw shortages in Japan
– Suggests development was “smooth sailing” but it wasn’t without challenges
– After the Wii version, New Leaf had to address series fatigue
– Therefore the team remembered its core: “Animal Crossing is a communication tool”
– Like the Zelda team, Animal Crossing: New Leaf rethought the series’ conventions
– Communication was the common thread. It’s its core
– New Leaf didn’t have 11th hour stress at the end of development due to subdued pace
– In-game events helped team mood
– Aya Kyogoku recommends New Leaf to other developers if working on their games becomes too stressful
– The team communicated and celebrated with each other during development using themes from the game
– No matter your role, #ACNL team members were free to contribute new ideas for characters, furniture, etc
– 7.38 million units sold worldwide to date
Aya Kyogoku, Katsuya Eguchi hosting Animal Crossing: New Leaf postmortem at GDC 2014
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Aya Kyogoku and Katsuya Eguchi will host a postmortem for Animal Crossing: New Leaf at GDC 2014, conference organizers announced today.
The session will highlight “the challenges of trying to provide both old and new players with an Animal Crossing game that was fresh and interesting, while at the same time striving to keep the franchise true to its unique legacy.” Kyogoku and Eguchi will speak for about an hour.
More details about the event will be shared leading up to GDC in March.
Katsuya Eguchi Mii available at Nintendo Zone locations
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
3DS owners who bring their system to a Nintendo Zone location can receive Katsuya Eguchi’s Mii. He’ll be available until January 9. After receiving Eguchi’s Mii, you should be able to find him wearing gold pants in the StreetPass Mii Plaza.
Thanks to Carlos D for the tip.
Nintendo has “already started thinking about what to do next” with Animal Crossing
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Animal Crossing: New Leaf was arguably the series’ most successful entry since the original GameCube title. Eventually, Nintendo will be taking what made the 3DS title so enjoyable and applying it to a brand new entry.
According to Katsuya Eguchi, Nintendo has “already started thinking about what to do next” with Animal Crossing. However, Eguchi told EDGE that no set direction has been determined yet.
It’s also worth mentioning that Eguchi wouldn’t confirm which platform the next Animal Crossing will be on. While most anticipate a Wii U release happening eventually, Eguchi stated Nintendo must first settle on which platform to make the next game for.
“We have already started thinking about what to do next, but there is no concrete direction yet. First, we need to decide which hardware to develop a new Animal Crossing for, and then we want to use that hardware and find out what it’s capable of and what kind of features it provides. Then we can start thinking of elements of Animal Crossing and how we can realise them using the hardware. So until we discover these new inventions, we will not decide the direction.”
