Arakawa: He was drawing fantasy worlds for one game, and Shibuya in another (laugh). His work style is really impressive.
Kando: His range of style is very encompassing.
Arakawa: The dual-screen battle, Shibuya and the backgrounds…I was really amazed. I really felt that the project would take off when I saw Mr. Ohdachi’s artwork for background, and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. That this is the world we’re creating for this game. For Kingdom Hearts the world was based on Disney’s world. So when I saw the artwork for this, I really felt that it is Shibuya that we’re recreating for this game. A lot of ideas flowed into my head then. I felt that since it’s Shibuya, shopping in the game should be like it in real life, and those walking the streets would need to look a certain way. This was a very fun part of planning.
Kando: The designs for “Noise” are unique, too.
Hasegawa: Right, we weren’t using polygons so we had to decide what were going to make in 2D. Even 2D sprites have limits, so I tried to make some rough designs but I’m used to polygons so I had to think a bit differently. I wanted to make something that only 2D could do, make something that I can’t make with polygons. I decided on designs according to my taste, like how I like this tribal design or how I like bones (laugh).
Kando: It’s crazy (laugh). You’re house is like a museum, filled with bones you bought.
Hasegawa: I tried to absorb what I liked, and eventually I came to that design (laugh).
Kando: The tattoos on the Noise, I guess they were influenced by the bones as well?
Hasegawa: Mostly bones. I wanted the monsters to obviously look like creatures we recognize before they became skeletons. We had to come up with why these monsters were in Shibuya, so we decided to make the monsters something that can be seen when someone’s thoughts are read. Since the monsters are a motif of human emotion, I chose wolves, crows and the like. Shibuya has crows, so that’s what set off this idea. Jupiter had troubles with this, however (laugh). Since they needed to be created in 2D.
Kando: It’s a difficult process. Not only do you have to create a flat monster, you have to create a number of different flat designs for one monster, depending on which angle you’re looking at it.
Arakawa: Back to the drawing board.
Hasegawa: They were designed one by one.
Arakawa:The design has to also look proper with every action.
Kando: You have to design only the number of frames that are needed to make an animation. There were a lot of frames in this game.
Arakawa: They really did a great job (laugh).
Hasegawa: Then there were the special effects. We decided to do them in 2D as well.
Kando: We had a lot of graffiti-based designs, so we thought of using graffiti as a base for the psychic powers. But then, we were like, “what the hell does graffiti psychic power look like?” In the end, we were able to put it all together. They don’t all look like graffiti, but they were a nice mix of the graffiti style and regular effects.
Hasegawa: Right. It was like a battle between pop art and tribal design.
Kando: The initial effect designs were done by Mr. Ohdachi. He suggested all kinds of designs for us.
Hasegawa: The imagery was very strong. We didn’t really stray from the initial designs. I think we did more test shots with KINGDOM HEARTS. This was much faster. Maybe it’s because I had never done this before.
Kando: The idea to have the game set in the present with psychic-like characters was new to us, so it definitely allowed us to explore a bit making this game. I think that going this new road made it easier for us to create something completely original.
Hasegawa: Definitely something that we can only do in a new title.
Kando: It’s a big job, though, to create a new experience.
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Fantasy Violence |
Mild Language Mild Suggestive Themes |
Platform: Nintendo DS™
Genre: Action RPG
For more information on the World Ends with You, visit the official site at www.theworldendswithyou.com
