Pokemon X/Y - Masuda on reaching new audiences with each Pokemon game
A portion of a Gamasutra interview with Junichi Masuda...
GS: I don't know if this is an issue in Japan, but how do you communicate this to people, especially to new audiences, who have maybe never played a Pokémon game before?
JM: A lot of elements in the game, you really have to play to know what makes it so great, I think. And with so many games in the market today, it becomes hard to get any kind of coverage or attention. Today's news is gone the next day. What we try to focus on is making sure that the core gameplay is really fun, so when people do get their hands on it, they'll really like it, and maybe spread by word-of-mouth and let other people know about how good it is.
GS: Do you always have new players coming into Pokémon with every installment? Do you find that young kids come in? And do you do anything to encourage it?
JM: Yeah, it's definitely something we pay attention to. I always think back to a certain genre that I used to like quite a bit, which is the 2D shooter genre. That genre really evolved to get way too difficult. I couldn't keep up with it. It got to a point where all of the games being released were just too difficult, and I couldn't play them anymore, and that made me quite sad as a fan of the genre. I wanted to make sure that the games that I make never get into that situation of getting more complicated or more difficult over time.
So one of the things we always focus on with Pokémon is making sure that it's very easy to get into them. The basics are explained. It's very easy to understand what's being said, what's going on, and to follow the adventure -- and to have the excitement gradually build up as you play. When I'm playtesting the games during development, I'm always trying to approach the games from a different perspective, like someone who's never played a game, or never played a Pokémon game before.
GS: I don't know if this is an issue in Japan, but how do you communicate this to people, especially to new audiences, who have maybe never played a Pokémon game before?
JM: A lot of elements in the game, you really have to play to know what makes it so great, I think. And with so many games in the market today, it becomes hard to get any kind of coverage or attention. Today's news is gone the next day. What we try to focus on is making sure that the core gameplay is really fun, so when people do get their hands on it, they'll really like it, and maybe spread by word-of-mouth and let other people know about how good it is.
GS: Do you always have new players coming into Pokémon with every installment? Do you find that young kids come in? And do you do anything to encourage it?
JM: Yeah, it's definitely something we pay attention to. I always think back to a certain genre that I used to like quite a bit, which is the 2D shooter genre. That genre really evolved to get way too difficult. I couldn't keep up with it. It got to a point where all of the games being released were just too difficult, and I couldn't play them anymore, and that made me quite sad as a fan of the genre. I wanted to make sure that the games that I make never get into that situation of getting more complicated or more difficult over time.
So one of the things we always focus on with Pokémon is making sure that it's very easy to get into them. The basics are explained. It's very easy to understand what's being said, what's going on, and to follow the adventure -- and to have the excitement gradually build up as you play. When I'm playtesting the games during development, I'm always trying to approach the games from a different perspective, like someone who's never played a game, or never played a Pokémon game before.
