Zero Time Dilemma: Uchikoshi wants it to be accessible to “as many people as possible”
Last week, Zero Time Dilemma was showcased at a press event in San Francisco, during the Game Developers Conference. In an interview with Polygon, Kotaro Uchikoshi (Director, scenario writer) explained that he wanted to make the game accessible to “as many people as possible”.
Here’s what he said about this:
“I think that, as a fan of something, you want to get as many people as possible on board. So we wanted to make [Zero Time Dilemma] a title to be accessible to as many people as possible.”
One of the way Zero Time Dilemma was made to accomodate for new players is it placement in the timeline: it takes place between 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward. That allowed Uchikoshi to introduce some brand new characters alongside familiar faces, but also come up with a new variant of the nonary game.
The story is also told in a significantly less linear way (see this post for more details). According to Uchikoshi, this will appeal to casual players (or simply those discovering the series for the first time).
Zero Time Dilemma also features fully animated narrative sequences (instead of the usual Visual Novel parts from 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward). This is meant to emulate big-budget American TV show, but also lower the barrier of entry for players who are not necessarily fond of reading a lot in games.
Here’s what Uchikoshi said about this:
“We wanted it to kind of emulate the feel of a big-budget American TV show. We think that giving it a cinematic look will give people who weren’t necessarily interested in visual novels [a lower barrier] of entry.”
Funnily enough, Kotaro Uchikoshi is not quite sure why the series became so popular outside Japan:
“This is a good opportunity to ask you the same question. I can’t for the life of me think of why.”
You can read the rest of the interview on Polygon!
If you want more, Project Rainfall also have their own interview with Kotaro Uchikoshi. It covers various topics, such as the kind of puzzles people can expect in the game, players’ choices, the support of fans, and more. Click here to check it out!
Zero Time Dilemma (3DS) comes out on June 28th in Europe and North America, and June 30th in Japan.
