- nearly half of the dev team were women
- sold more than 7.3 million copies
- around 18% of 3DS owners bought the game
- the dev group encouraged all of its members to submit their ideas for what to include

- 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
- AC:NL was a big success in Japan and saw shortages at retail
- 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