Tons of Resident Evil: Revelations development details from Iwata Asks

A new third-party interview has gone live on the Iwata Asks website. Much of the discussion focuses on Resident Evil: Revelations, but there are a few tidbits about The Mercenaries 3D as well.

Sound coordinator Kota Suzuki, art director Yoshizumi Hori, director Koshi Nakanishi, Tsukasa Takenaka, producer Masachika Kawata, and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata participated in the interview.

Head past the break for a roundup of details!

Return to Survival Horror

– Kawata became involved with this project a bit before E3 2010
– Kawata wanted to make a full-on Resident Evil game rather than just port the series into a handheld system
– He was motivated when he heard that there was going to be hardware that could show 3D without special glasses
– Kawata also wanted to get back to the origins of the series
– Kawata wanted a team that could make a truly frightening Resident Evil
– There was talk about giving the project a lot of volume and wanting the fans to enjoy the fear element
– Takenaka believes that the first demo for E3 was like a concept trailer for showing how much Capcom could do with the 3DS
– 3D implementation wasn’t going well at the start because no one had used the 3DS that much
– Capcom brought a demo along when there was an opportunity for an exhibition so they could have many people try it and remove anything unsatisfactory
– Kawata: “We thought we could make something even better than we had set out to, and said, “Why don’t we make Mercenaries?”

The Second Lap of Development

– The Mercenaries 3D came about as Capcom needed to actually run a game on the 3DS
– Capcom took Resident Evil 5 and ran it on the 3DS
– The impact of this was more than Capcom had imagined
– Capcom thought, “We can make this into a product” and knew making it would give them experience
– Control changes were made to Mercenaries and finished Revelations looking at players’ feedback
– Kawata feels that Mercenaries 3D is pushing the 3DS hardware-wise in terms of it being a developmental challenge
– The Revelations team was on their second lap of development and could make it smoothly after gaining experience making Mercenaries 3D
– Capcom could have set the deadline earlier than planned because of the experience they had earned; everyone worked twice as much
– Capcom was able to address different issues about one year ahead of time that might be expected about half a year before completion
– Mercenaries 3D/Revelations development periods overlapped
– Hori thinks the visuals went smoothly because the key concept of horror was decided early on and it was clear the script was based on the sea/ship
– Kawata asked Hori to turn the visuals that had barely been pulled off in time for E3 and turn them into something that would run as a game
– Hori: “So I talked with the programmers and checked into the memory and thought about what to do. Part of my job was also consulting with others on level design—stage design and layout—and making decisions as we went along.”
– Iwata says that Capcom’s way of designing from function is a lot like Nintendo’s approach
– Hori proposed a lot for the makeup of gameplay along with making the graphics

Like a TV Series

– Kawata says that “the story is extremely voluminous and packed full of ideas”
– Capcom decided on a serial drama format early on
– 12 scenarios were made that Capcom wanted to end a certain way in a specific situation and had the scriptwriters link them together
– Some scenarios got cut out because they wouldn’t fit no matter what
– Story writing/game development ran almost in parallel
– Like past games in the series, Revelations subtly builds upon something that seems possible and as you’re playing, you get drawn into the world; the games tend to end with something absolutely unbelievable
– Suzuki nominated himself and joined the team after seeing the first trailer at E3
– Suzuki consciously made rich sound effects and music so as not to lose to the graphics
– Music has a mysterious feeling, and sometimes the music is left out/only uses sound effects
– The direction of the music was another element that was determined early on
– Suzuki made some catchy theme music when he heard that Revelations would be like a foreign TV series
– The “Revelations” song sticks in your head, so Capcom has been using it in all of the trailer like you would for a movie
– Suzuki thought of piano music when it comes to the sea and suspense
– Voices are recorded in Japanese for the first time in the series
– French, Italian, German, and Spanish voices are in the game as well
– Some people inside Capcom played the game without the sound, and said that it wasn’t scary
– Because of this, Capcom made it a point to have headphones when showing Revelations at events
– Suzuki believes that the 3DS’ system surround mode is perfect for Revelations
– Capcom paid a great deal of attention to the sound of footsteps in the game, much like they have with past titles in the series

“Bioreal”

– Nakanishi says that the essence of Resident Evil is that it’s a “Survival Horror Game” and that it’s “bioreal”
– Bioreal means real in the world of Resident Evil
– An example of bioreal is viruses; when something happens, you can explain it by the mutation of a virus; if a ghost showed up, that’s no good
– Capcom has scrapped some ideas that aren’t bioreal
– Kawata says that Capcom is scared of worrying too much about biorealism and that they end up doing the same thing over and over
– Kawata: “I feel like Resident Evil leaves our hands and goes into the players’. Even if we want to do something drastically different, we must overcome the image that the players have of Resident Evil. That kind of dialogue with the players is interesting.”
– Revelations came together as a result of all that has built up so far
– Rachel’s presence is different this time; she’s sort of like a spirit
– The 3D immersion and the fact that the 3DS is a handheld were a couple of the reasons why Capcom decided to focus on horror after E3
– Capcom decided on the story taking place in a ship so they could make use of its sense of limited space
– Variation like snowy mountains and coasts were added because nothing but the inside of a ship would lack change
– Revelations is structured like a drama, so the events aren’t always in chronological order
– This appears to be a first for Resident Evil
– Because it’s a horror game, the team hesitated in allowing the player to pause the game at any time
– They decided to allow it because it would be necessary as a portable game
– Kawata thinks it’s easier to get into Revelations compared to previous Resident Evil games

Fear and Immersion

– Feedback from fans at events “was extremely helpful” and “huge”
– Nakanishi believes that when you make horror games, you get anaesthetized and lose sight of what’s scary
– In-house testing is done to see if a part is really that scary
– Sometimes bright music is used in a dark scene, and then incongruity causes fear
– Starting into a handheld’s small screen is great for horror since horror is one-on-one
– The 3D offers a stronger feeling of exploring and is perfect for the limited setting of the inside of a ship

Energetic Fellows and Twice the Work

– Raid Mode is a completely different concept than the main mode
– Capcom was thinking about different bonus games
– They were thinking about various possibilities and saw a nearby team having fun with Monster Hunter
– Kawata: “We were gazing on in envy and the staff pulled it together nicely.”
– The staff felt that the games you can play with others are fun, so they should make one
– Capcom removed unnecessary elements and focused on a pure battle mode
– Kawata felt like they were making two games
– Mercenaries 3D team worked on Raid Mode
– They were able to produce content quickly since they had experience from Mercenaries 3D
– Focused sessions in Raid Mode can last as little as three seconds, or 5-10 minutes for longer sessions
– Can play Raid Mode if you haven’t completed the main game
– The team didn’t focus on the fact that it was for a handheld; they just made a full-on Resident Evil
– Capcom tried making graphics like for a home console rather than a handheld
– Raid Mode was fine-tuned
– Kawata wonders why they didn’t give Revelations a number on the title as it’s a true-as-can-be Resident Evil game from head to toe

Thanks to Zee G for the tip!

You can find the newest Iwata Asks here.