News ► Ichiro Hazama discusses the difficulties of developing KHMOM's visual image

[Oracle Spockanort]

During Day 3 of the Esports and Gaming Summit 2020 Online livestream, Square Enix's very own Shinji Hashimoto (Brand Manager, Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts), Ichiro Hazama (Series Producer, Kingdom Hearts) discussed the development of KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory. We have provided a transcript of a segment of the panel where Hazama speaks on how the development team decided on the visual design of the game.

Shinji Hashimoto: So, onto the second question. It's a bit of a technicaly question actually...

Ichiro Hazama: I may struggle to answer it if it's too technical...

Hashimoto: That's okay, but if you could just answer it to the best of your ability...It's one for the hardcore fans, but what game engine did you use to develop this?

Hazama: Wow, fans are asking this?

Hashimoto: Yes, it appears so!

Hazama: I see, I see. It's "Unity". It's an engine [Director] Suzui-san's team have used in previous titles, too, so they are very familiar with the software, so we pushed forward with using Unity.

Hashimoto: Did you come across any challenges with using this software?

Hazama: Actually, practically everything was a great challege for us.

Hashimoto: Everything?

Hazama: Yes, but I think the biggest challenge we had was to do with the game image. Our original plan was to do something similar to the Theatrhythm games and take it a little further than that. But Tetsu-san (Director Tetsuya Nomura) really wanted to see something more, with the KINGDOM HEARTS in full blown beautiful 3D like in the main series. So in line with that, we refined the details further.

Acutally, Tetsu-san gets a little nauseous when he plays 3D games even from when he used to play the KINGDOM HEARTS main games. So, when we took the game to him during development, he would always get a little nauseous.

For rhythm games, having clear visibility of everything on the screen is very important, but we originally thought it was too busy looking, so we shaved of bits and pieces so that we didn't have too much going on at once. This in turn made everything look simpler and less elaborate. But then, we found we simplified things a bit too much.

The imagery in KINGDOM HEARTS is powerful, bold and vibrant, so we felt that we lost a little of that at some point, so in the end, we had to try and balance that act carefully to yield the best results. We couldn't make the game too vibrant to the extent that players would feel nauseous playing it. But it fundamentally had to be a rhythm game that was visually appealing as well as fun for players. And we couldn't lose any of that bold imagery of the KINGDOM HEARTS brand. So developing the game whilst trying to balance these different acts was, according to the team, probably the most challenging part of the development.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON FACEBOOK (begins 2:29:00, full panel 2:21:00)

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[Oracle Spockanort]

Poor Nomura...motion sickness from video games is very common so I really feel his pain.

And he lets the devs make the games hard? ;A;

 

[Sign]

I really appreciate Nomura who, despite getting motion sickness from any 3D game, isn't able to clear Critical Mode or defeat any of the secret bosses, doesn't let his own struggles with gameplay impact their direction. Not every director is willing to do that. Knowing what we know now, I think we're very fortunate to have gotten these challenges and not a compromised experience.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Yeah, I really love that about Nomura. He knows the developers and the fans want a certain kind of experience, and he's happy to let them have it even though he can't personally play like that.

 

[2 quid is good]

As someone who can get headaches and nausea from some games I genuinely appreciated them mentioning it as a problem they dealt with during development, I feel like some games just don't consider it at all.

I dunno if this is relatively common or not but because of the low ceilings in twilight town and how fast paced Sora moves while wall running/jumping/air combat, that whole tram common area can really make me feel winded if I'm not in the ground for too long, and DDD can make my head spin a little bit too if I constantly use flowmotion, I don't feel that way with the demo at all which is great

 

[AegisXIII]

My next question would have been:
"Are you planning on using Unity again on future installments?"

 

[Clue.Less]

Yes! Love for Nomura ❤ Having his motion sickness as a buffer makes a more comfortable experience for everyone I'm sure. And it's great that he also lets the games go beyond his own comfort zone.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

My next question would have been:
"Are you planning on using Unity again on future installments?"

Unity seems specific for indieszero.

 

[AegisXIII]

Unity seems specific for indieszero.

But then I am wondering: is Indieszero going to work on a next KH title?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

But then I am wondering: is Indieszero going to work on a next KH title?

I imagine they will work on whatever rhythm game comes next for them. That is their specialty after all.

(NieR. It’ll be NieR)

 

[AegisXIII]

I imagine they will work on whatever rhythm game comes next for them. That is their specialty after all.

(NieR. It’ll be NieR)

Are they only doing rythm games? I didn't know that.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Are they only doing rythm games? I didn't know that.

They worked on a lot of smaller games like Sushi Striker and Electroplankton and NES Remix but rhythm games are the ones they thrive at making. Theatrhythm was a huge success for them, and MOM is their first attempt at console games at this scale.

Maybe they could totally work on another KH game that isn’t a rhythm game but I think it is more likely that they will get hired for another rhythm game after this one.

 

[saintfighteraqua]

I get motion sickness pretty easily in video games. I don't think KH has ever been an issue, which is surprising given how vibrant and saturated everything is and always moving.
Some games (like the Witness) make me literally sick, so I had to stop playing it, sadly.