Look at what else i found
below is the entire interview with Miyamoto translated from Japanese to English:
(there are some cool bits of info in here)
- The director Koizumi did SM64 and Sunshine so he's the director who knows everything about Mario.
- Project started right after finishing Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
- The idea of gravity has been around for a while but never been realized completely until this title.
- 60% of the ideas developed for SM128 are utilized for SMG.
- We managed to get it work well by the time of E3 last year. By that time, we made it so that people don't have to pay much attention to camera and can play without getting motion-sickness.
- Miyamoto has even edited and modified maps and objects in detail. Swapping things around and testing new things out.
- Platformer is about jumping and you can't do it all that well on a spherical platform. That's why we introduced a new move called Spin which fits well with a round platform. Based on that, we developed Staring with which you can travel from star to star, which gives you an exhilarating feeling.
- You can travel fast or sometimes it has no gravity and float you slowly. It's a mix of very different actions.
- There are some places where multiple gravitational forces simultaneously exist and because of that, Mario sometimes moves unexpectedly, which produces tons of new actions and makes it very complex. This unpredictability increases its depth and fun.
- Once you get used to the concept of gravity, you'll learn how to utilize gravitational forces.
- In general, Miyamoto thinks that there really is no rigorous barrier between core gamer and casual gamers. After all, core gamers sometimes play casual games as well. In addition, casual gamers without much experience often get better at games very quickly and can sometimes beat core gamers.
- Of course, there are easy games and hard games certainly. It's hard to adjust difficulty settings. But developers need to try to make games that aren't hard but sill very fun. In other words, you can't rely solely on difficulty to make it fun. If you don't underestimate game newbies, respect them, and work very hard to entertain them, you can make a game that can also satisfy core gamers. But this is a very hard thing to do in reality. But with new young and talented staff we recruited, we are confident that we can do it. There is a way in game design that lets both newbies and veterans entertain together. There must be a way, Miyamoto believes.
- Most core gamers are playing alone these days, but they used to play with their friends having fun in front of TV saying "give me the controller" and such. We'd rather like to change the conventional style of playing alone. That's why we incorporated the assist play into SMG. You can either help your friend doing co-op or actually can annoy him/her as well. Your friend may say "hey stop that!". You can have fun with your friend in various ways. While you do that with your friends, naturally you start to converse with them while playing like "that way that way!, help!" (just like old days). We love how this co-play encourages conversations between players. With a pointer, you can direct your friend more easily. You can say "go this way" and can just point the where he needs to go.
- We are trying to make it so that some people can say it's fun because it's difficult while newbies can also say it's fun because it's doable. We are examining every piece in the game to make it satisfying for both parties.
- You can clear the game by finishing 60% of the contents. But if you are a core gamer and want to challenge and explore the whole content including difficult ones, you can do that as well, and the assist play helps you get through difficult contents.
- With this dual structure, both core and casual players can clear the game with their own difficulty.
- A lot of stars. It's really a galaxy. A lot of adventure packed in. Bigger than the solar system for sure (laugh)
- Traveling from star to star makes you feel like you're really traveling the universe.
- Soon, we'll be releasing games for gamers such as Metroid and Mario. We need to make these titles very satisfying to them. In this sense, we are working hard to make it even better than NSMB.
- Miyamoto: I've always said this but I've always wanted to make a Mario game that you can even have fun just by casually touching it (ie. trying it out casually and/or just hanging around in the game). Conventionally, game's been all about how to overcome in-game challenges (to conquer a game), and the business of game magazine has been built around that. But it's very important to make 1-1 (the very first section of the game) quite entertaining. If there are people who are afraid of going any further than that, that's fine as well. We're trying to make a game that is open to various audience groups.
- In Sunshine, you had to control camera, but this title, you don't have to worry about it that much. You can play from start to finish just without manipulating camera. Miyamoto calls it "a game with spherical geography and easy camera."
- When we created SM64, we focused on the new fact that you needed a camera in 3D settings, but now we know all about it, so everybody says to make an intelligent automatic camera. It's easier said than done because every player has different camera taste. Our conclusion was this was impossible (laughter). Thus, in Sunshine, we let users handle it by themselves. But it was a bit overkill. and we thought that we needed to devise a system where users don't have to worry much about camera. In SMG, with spherical geography, you don't necessarily have to manipulate camera to see the opposite side (due to its geographical property). It's getting closer to our ideal.
- SM64 was a turning point because it divided the user base, those who can play 3D and those who can't play 3D. But with the new degree of freedom in SMG that goes beyond simple platform, even those who can't really play 3D can enjoy SMG. This has been one of our tasks. This is also a reason why we made a 2D game, NSMB.
- Shimizu believes game is a tool for people to get together just like mahjang or card. I hope SMG (and game in general) will be the center of communication tools that connect everyone to have fun.
- Since it's called galaxy, we are trying to make it deep enough. It is for those who want big adventure, and at the same time it's for those who like to lie around (on a couch) and just play casually and relax. It's got various approaches to have fun.
- Miyamoto: I hope this title will make it to the Famitsu's Top 10 Most Wanted Games List. You can play it thoroughly and deeply, and once you're done, you'll still want to go back. Please look forward to this game.
Linear Mode
