12th February 2003, 7:00 PM
From computerandvideogames.com:
Quote:Wednesday 12th February 2003
EXCLUSIVE: RETRO STUDIOS AND NCL TALK METROID
The US developer and Nintendo top brass - including Shigeru Miyamoto - discuss Samus's breathtaking 3D adventure
18:51 Metroid Prime was today dissected and explained in a conference call boasting attendees from developer Retro Studios, Nintendo of Japan and journalists from across Europe. With the incredible first-person action title gearing up for release in Europe next month, staff members from East and West took the time to discuss the massive title in great depth.
The conference was preceded by a brief address from gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto, who said of the project: "Like any other game by Nintendo, Metroid took a long time to create. But I can tell you the development process was very smooth." Both Retro and NCL then fielded questions from journalists, the full, must-read transcript of which we've provided below. Enjoy.
Answering the questions were:
(NCL)
Mr. Miyamoto
Mr. Tanabe
Ms. Tabata
Mr. Otani (co-producer) from EAD
Mr Minagawa (translator)
(Retro Studios)
Steve Barcia, Executive Producer
Mark Pacini, Lead Designer
Michael Mann, Producer
Karl Deckard, Senior Designer
Metroid has traditionally been more popular in the West than in Japan, why do you think this is, and do you think Metroid Prime will change this?
Barcia: When we were creating Metroid Prime, we were thinking about the worldwide market, and what would appeal to both the Western and Japanese markets. We took some of the best parts from the old game that we thought were important and upon that built a quality product.
What has NCL learned from its development partnership with Retro Studios, and has it made NCL more aware of what excites Western gamers?
NCL:How to make games that are cool and appeal to the West is something we've learned through working with Retro. But we know that there must be a difference in expression, as different things are cool in the US and Japan.
Those who developed the original Metroid game were very enthusiastic. But having worked with Retro people, their enthusiasm exceeds the original team - that's something else we've learned.
Did you ever envisage a multiplayer option for Metroid Prime?
Barcia: When we first came up with the game, we considered all possibilities, but we decided to focus on creating the best single-player game possible.
How difficult was it to turn a classic 2D title into a 3D adventure while retaining the feel of the original?
Pacini: When we first discuseed things with the core design team and were trying to decide what made Metroid Metroid, everyone came with something different that they felt was "Metroid." For example: exploration, a cool character and the mood of the game - things that Metroid were.
There are some things that are fun no matter if it's 2D or 3D. Those are the things we tried to bring from the original.
Then we tried to bring this to life in the first-person environment - and a lot of that had to do with the visors. Much of how the visor works came from the exploration part of the original.
Is a sequel to Metroid Prime your sole focus or do you have other projects in development at present? Can you tell us anything about the sequel?
Barcia:We are still working on the Japanese conversion of Metroid Prime and don't have the time to talk about the next game now.
Metroid Prime is an FPS that has received incredible praise across the board. How do you feel you've evolved the genre?
Deckard: We were trying to break away from the mould of FPSs actually. We felt that a lot of FPSs on console were similar and difficult to control and that the genre didn't translate from PC too well. Therefore we had a different set of goals for what we wanted to do. We were concentrating more on exploration and making it feel like previous games in the series.
If it was just a typical first-person shooter I don't think it would have felt the same as the rest of the Metroid franchise. So we had different goals in creating a first-person adventure
We have heard stories about the troubled development of Metroid Prime. How did you manage to turn the tides and finish the game this way?
Barcia: We focused the entire studio's efforts on Metroid Prime. Originally we'd had other projects in development, but didn't have the focus we needed to complete any of them, so making the studio's focus just on Metroid Prime is how we turned it around.
Did the GameCube controller have any influence on the innovative first person game controls in Metroid Prime? Or did you design the new control scheme first and try to fit it to the controller later?
Pacini: We had the unique privilege to design Metroid Prime for one console, therefore we started to develop for the new controller before GameCube was out. Our attitude was that Metroid Prime might be the first GC game people play, so we wanted to realise the uniqueness of the GC controller.
Did we design the game around the controller? To a large degree yes, but at the same time we wanted to breakaway a little from some of the other problems faced by FPSs on other formats. Dual analogue is a good control scheme, but we felt we'd try something a little more approachable for people who play this as their first first-person shooter. This steered many of our ideas.
NCL: When we designed the controller we were thinking in terms of games like Metroid Prime. When we started working with Retro on Metroid, we discussed which features could make use of the controller's unique features. And now you are going to see other games like Wind Waker, which were in our minds when making the controller. Nintendo titles always make best use of the controller.
By actually holding it it's not strange, very natural. The controller has been developed by Nintendo, therefore, for those who have had access to original Zelda and Metroid titles. We have made sure that by using the controller, the new games will still feel the same.
Did you work together with the creators of previous Metroid-games, or have you created Metroid Prime all on your own?
Barcia: We worked with both EAD and the original team. It was originally their game - we knew what we liked about it but it was a very collaborative effort in designing the direction of Metroid Prime.
Why was it not possible to release Metroid Prime simultaneously worldwide?
Barcia: This was simply not achievable at the same time. We've had to make the best effort to tailor certain aspects of the game for each territory and do the best job with each one.
What was the most frustrating aspect of developing Metroid Prime?
Pacini: I don't know about frustrating - we enjoyed the whole experience and were proud of how it turned out.
The level design is excellent. How much time did you spend conceiving the Tallon IV world?
Pacini: As far as the world is concerned, it pretty much took the entire project to make it as high quality as it is. The original idea was more of an overview of what we wanted the game to be, how large.
But as far as each individual level is concerned, it took quite a while to work out what to do in each room and so on. As far as coming up with the ideas for the worlds, that was the part of the initial development stage.
The 3D map is really useful. When did you decide to make it in full 3D?
Deckard: From the very beginning, we knew that was something we wanted to do. It fits the future-tech nature of Metroid Prime and makes sense as something Samsus's suit would feature.
During the Metroid development it is true that Retro cancelled all its other projects to focus on Metroid Prime? If so, what happened to all your other projects?
Deckard:We still have all of the material involved with the other projects, but our focus went on to completing this game to the highest quality.
How did you feel when Nintendo asked you to develop such an important game as Metroid Prime?
Barcia:Very enthusiastic - everyone had a tremendous sense of excitement.
Deckard: Most of us are huge fans of the original anyway. As soon as we found out we could get involved we started coming up with ideas.
Pacini: When it was announced we had the opportunity to have the project at Retro, it was around the same time as Star Wars: Episode I, so I was equating it with that. It seemed to me that it had that much anticipation. The excitement and possibilities it compassed were enormous.
Do you think it would be possible to introduce some type of multiplayer mechanics, or is that just impossible for the type of game Metroid is?
Barcia: It's possible, but it's something we have to investigate thoroughly.
Did you have any movies or games that inspired you?
Pacini: People see things in movies and games that are fun to do. Super Metroid itself is great fun - we're big fans so what better game to draw ideas from than this? As far as movies go, we're really big into looking at scenes in different movies and seeing how they can translate into a game. In particular, we were looking at any sci-fi with a powerful female lead - the Alien movies were obviously important here.
What feature of Metroid Prime makes you particularly proud?
Pacini: I think I'm most proud of the morph ball. It was by far the most challenging aspect of development. It's a staple of the original series and to have a fluid transition and fluid gameplay experience between first- and morph ball mode was extremely challenging, but which worked really well and defined many of the elements of the game. I'm extremely proud of that part in particular.
NCL: Of the initial experiments we carried out, a large portion of them were to do with the morph ball. It's not overstating the matter to say that if we could not have had success with the morph ball, the whole project might have been cancelled.
The morph ball experiments were that important, specifically the move between first- and third-person. What Retro showed us at the beginning was very smooth, much smoother than we expected. That was the time we realized this was a project which was going to work well.
There are nearly no loading times in the game - how did you do that?
Barcia:The engineers did a really good job, and we always wanted practically no load times. It's something we recognised early on and we worked towards that end.
NCL: Metroid moves very fast, whereas software from other developers on other platforms often suffers from long loading times.
There have been rumours about a Metroid film - do you know anything about it and which actress would you like to see in the role of Samus?
Barcia: Jennifer Garner! If you're listening... [laughs]
NCL:Mr. Miyamoto is going to be the hero! [long pause] It's a joke! [laughs] The fact of the matter is that with almost each title we developer someone offers a film opportunity or other. There are a lot of possibilities and rumours.
Metroid Prime received overwhelming positive feedback, achieving an average review score of around 97%. At which point during the development did you truly believe that Metroid Prime could be a hit?
Pacini: We could tell very early on in the level that is a pirate ship that this was gonna be a solid game.
NCL:We agree. Even before we started making the game we knew about the technology and the team at Retro, so knew the game would be successful.
What were the biggest difficulties during development of the game?
NCL:I wouldn't say we had difficulties, but what I should say is that at a very early stage we had to emphasise exactly what the game would be - a first-person exploration title. When we started working on it, didn't people say it would become just another FPS? We say it is a combination of various things like FPS, morph ball and exploration.
That kind vision has to be shared by all of the people in the team. There were many discussions to identify these specific goals.
Johnny Minkley