Splatoon: Hisashi Nogami interview, dodges question about Animal Crossing on Wii U

Hisashi Nogami is the producer of Splatoon, and was recently interviewed by Engadget. You can find the whole thing on their website!

Making something new

Hisashi Nogami explained that he and his team didn’t actually try to make something that didn’t fit in a pre-defined genre, it was more about not getting caught up in the idea of genre. At the start of the project, they thought about their experiences playing games, their experiences in life, the kind of things they enjoyed doing while growing up, and then how they could create something that would capture all that.

He admits thant when creating a new game in an established series (like Mario), there’s specific challenges and things that need to be done. But Splatoon is a brand new project, so they needed fundations to build on, with fundamental ideas and decisions to come up with and make. For Hisashi Nogami, this was the biggest challenge they faced when making this game.

A child’s game

For Splatoon, the developers focused on what was fun in the activities they did as kids, not so much the activities themselves. So they started talking about those, and the feelings associated with them, before picking up elements they could put in the game. In retrospect, it wasn’t so much about the gameplay itself, but rather the emotional content it brought.

Creating a new Nintendo character

Hisashi Nogami explains that he and his team didn’t start by wanting to make new characters. Their goal was to create a new type of gameplay experience, and the characters then followed (more or less) naturally. For him, if a character doesn’t fit with the gameplay you’ve created, it doesn’t really matter how interesting it is: it won’t have lasting appeal.

The Inklings were bound to have the ability to switch from Squid to Human form, but their look was actually the end result of the developers giving them those abilities, and then cementing them as part of the game they wanted to create.

What’s more, Splatoon is a game meant to be played online, and they knew players liked to customise their characters for online modes (especially with humanoid characters), which is why there is so many custmisation options in the game.

Noisy games

Hisashi Nogami is someone who loves to play game, including some really over-the-top ones. But he’s mostly known for Animal Crossing games, which are actually pretty quiet.

For Splatoon, the goal always was to have two teams trying to capture turf with their own colour of ink, which is why they really gave some strong emphasis to that element and ended up with such flashy colours.

In the end, it all goes back to the very start of development: “What is the core gameplay element that we’re wanting to create?”. For Animal Crossing, the core design was to live peacefully in a quiet village, which is why the games are definitely way more quiet and subtle than Splatoon (which seem rather “noisy” in comparison).

Having fun

For Hisashi Nogami, the most important aspect of a game is definitely the journey itself, not so much the destination. The type of game Nintendo makes depends on who is playing it: for example, a squid kid might have trouble reaching the end of a game, but it doesn’t matter as long as they’re having fun with it.

Then there’s adults, who don’t necessarily have time to really sink a lot of time into a game. Therefore, if they can play one a little bit at time, on a regular basis, it’s definitely something that needs to be created. And finally, there’s players who have lots of time to play, who like to master games and see them through to the very end: they’re looking for a sense of achievement.

Developers need to think about how they can create enjoyable gameplay experiences, that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of people. To do so, the experiences need to provide enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment, no matter what you’re doing in the game.

Animal Crossing Wii U

Finally, here’s what Hisashi Nogami had to say about a potential Animal Crossing game on Wii U:

Well, that’s difficult for me to answer at the moment! Yup. That’s pretty much all we can say.

What I will say is that you may have seen an announcement recently about an Animal Crossing product coming out on the 3DS… I can tack that on to the end of my response.

Source: Engadget