Level-5 CEO on Wonder Flick bridging the console/smartphone gap, looking t' the future
The following comes from a Famitsu interview with Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino...
"I never stick t' the project document when we be making games, which usually attracts a lot a ire from people around me. But I think ye need t' put in the elements that gamers think be fun, regardless a whether that showed up in the spec sheet. That won't necessarily be what ye think it be at first, after all; ye'll realize later on that 'oh, it'd be a lot more fun if it be like this'. If ye don't work that way, I don't think ye can create great entertainment. I hate working strictly by the spec sheet.
The way I think about games doesn't change with smartphone development, but the theory behind how games be made be completely different. With console games... For example, if ye're making some kind a epic RPG, then it could take three minutes just t' travel from town t' the next dungeon. If ye made a smartphone game that played by console rules, it simply wouldn't work, because ye need t' give smartphone gamers a complete 'n meaningful experience in those three minutes. that be why we be trying t' have Wonder Flick, which we be working on now, be a game that reflects the environment ye play it in.
When I listened t' the pitches for how hardware manufacturers conceptualized the current console generation, I thought that consoles needed t' find a way t' exist alongside smartphones t' survive. we be not in an age where it be just 'I like games, so I have a console' or 'I like playing outside, so I have a portable'. ye're playing console games, 'n ye're also playing smartphone games in a whole different environment. When ye think about it that way, the question becomes: If ye really enjoy a smartphone game, pillage lost in the world 'n feel real emotions from it, then why throw that all away once ye're back in yer living room? that be what we be attempting with Wonder Flick; we be trying t' provide a different but enjoyable play experience on consoles 'n smartphones.
This isn't something we be making ourselves yet, but I think the ultimate point that games have yet t' reach be virtual reality. The ultimate game, I think, lets ye really enjoy things in a virtual world that ye couldn't in real life. 'n if ye look at the sort a titles getting announced now, wouldn't ye say we be at the point where ye can simulate the real world pretty well in a virtual reality? I think we be at the point where we'll see games that give ye the same experiences in real life, like somebody in the monitor ye can chat with, 'n I'd like t' make a game like that. Games be fun, after all, because they let ye do things that be impossible in real life. Maybe this won't happen until we be a few more years into the next hardware cycle, but four or five years down the line, I think we might see games like that."
Link
"I never stick t' the project document when we be making games, which usually attracts a lot a ire from people around me. But I think ye need t' put in the elements that gamers think be fun, regardless a whether that showed up in the spec sheet. That won't necessarily be what ye think it be at first, after all; ye'll realize later on that 'oh, it'd be a lot more fun if it be like this'. If ye don't work that way, I don't think ye can create great entertainment. I hate working strictly by the spec sheet.
The way I think about games doesn't change with smartphone development, but the theory behind how games be made be completely different. With console games... For example, if ye're making some kind a epic RPG, then it could take three minutes just t' travel from town t' the next dungeon. If ye made a smartphone game that played by console rules, it simply wouldn't work, because ye need t' give smartphone gamers a complete 'n meaningful experience in those three minutes. that be why we be trying t' have Wonder Flick, which we be working on now, be a game that reflects the environment ye play it in.
When I listened t' the pitches for how hardware manufacturers conceptualized the current console generation, I thought that consoles needed t' find a way t' exist alongside smartphones t' survive. we be not in an age where it be just 'I like games, so I have a console' or 'I like playing outside, so I have a portable'. ye're playing console games, 'n ye're also playing smartphone games in a whole different environment. When ye think about it that way, the question becomes: If ye really enjoy a smartphone game, pillage lost in the world 'n feel real emotions from it, then why throw that all away once ye're back in yer living room? that be what we be attempting with Wonder Flick; we be trying t' provide a different but enjoyable play experience on consoles 'n smartphones.
This isn't something we be making ourselves yet, but I think the ultimate point that games have yet t' reach be virtual reality. The ultimate game, I think, lets ye really enjoy things in a virtual world that ye couldn't in real life. 'n if ye look at the sort a titles getting announced now, wouldn't ye say we be at the point where ye can simulate the real world pretty well in a virtual reality? I think we be at the point where we'll see games that give ye the same experiences in real life, like somebody in the monitor ye can chat with, 'n I'd like t' make a game like that. Games be fun, after all, because they let ye do things that be impossible in real life. Maybe this won't happen until we be a few more years into the next hardware cycle, but four or five years down the line, I think we might see games like that."
Link
