Kouji Okada – Famed Producer Discusses Development of First PSP Title

Source: IGN

The biggest reason for attending the Akihabara Entertainment Festival in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district over the weekend was to see the Tokyo Game Show PlayStation 3 trailers in a quiet theater-like environment. But those who arrived a bit earlier on Sunday, the second day of the event, got a special treat: live talk sessions with the creators of Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) and Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner (PSP).

First up in the hot seat, MCed by, among others, Famitsu PS2 editor in chief Koji Aizawa, were team ICO bosom buddies, Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido. Ueda is the director of Shadow of the Colossus (Wander and Colossus in Japanese — note that the name is actually “Wander,” rather than “Wanda”), with Kaido serving as producer. The two spoke about the new game, a week prior to its Japanese release.

Ueda gave some background into the development of Shadow, commenting that ICO’s development took four years, and the team wanted to make a big game for their next title. “Our last game, ICO, was an action-puzzle type of game,” Ueda explained,” and while it’s not as a reaction to that, we wanted to make something with a more expansive world, where not just objects, but the camera is also dynamic.”

The next talk session began after a fifteen minute break. Kouji Okada, head of new independent development studio Gaia, took the stage to speak about his upcoming PSP project, Monster Kingdom Jewel Summoner, which is set to be published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

“Just as we were looking to try something new, we heard that Sony was to release a portable game machine,” Okada explained, giving some insight into how the Monster Kingdom project came along. Acknowledging that the Japanese game market is full of game series, he explained that he wanted to try original titles. Planning for Jewel Summoner was centered on the idea of making a game that goes back to the basics of gaming — something filled with deep gameplay while being easily picked up.

As with the Shadow of the Colossus, the audience was treated to a brief demo session of Jewel Summoner. Okada played through a sequence consisting of event and battle scenes. The event scenes in Jewel Summoner are fully voiced, with Gaia having taken a full week’s time to record all the voice roles.

Following the event scenes, the demo took players out to a field, and then a battle, with the screen splitting in two and displaying a variety of effects. UMD access time was pretty much non-existent throughout this — this is something Okada admits that his team worked hard to achieve.

“The PSP was capable of more than I had expected,” Okada explained as he played, “so we worked quite a bit on the graphics. The event scenes give a glimpse into the world through full voice. With portable games, it seems that the trend is to play with the sound off, but I hope that, if possible, people play this game while listening to the sound.” Gaia has collaborated with ten big-name musicians for Jewel Summoner’s music.

Okada went on to discuss some of the finer points of Monster Kingdom. The game’s storyline centers on Jewels, which humans have learned to harness as a source of energy, leading to an industrial society. But the use of the jewels resulted in monsters appearing in the world. Players work to expel these creatures from the world.

Over 100 monsters will appear in the game, and players will be able to collect them and build them into powerful creatures. The monster training system follows the PSP’s internal clock, as a monster that you’ve trained in the morning shows the fruits of your labor at night.

Monster Kingdom will likely become a series, Okada revealed. The name of this first title was created with that in mind. In Jewel Summoner, monsters have become jewels, but prior to that, they were living creatures who existed along side humans. Gaia has fleshed out the game’s background story all the way back to the time of the world’s creation, with Jewel Summoner painting just one generation of that story.

Seeing Okada, Ueda and Kaido in a public talk appearance is a rare opportunity, and given the emptiness of the event hall on Sunday afternoon, it was one that few actually took up. We hope the new titles from these talented developers receive a warmer reception at retail.

Source: IGN

The biggest reason for attending the Akihabara Entertainment Festival in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district over the weekend was to see the Tokyo Game Show PlayStation 3 trailers in a quiet theater-like environment. But those who arrived a bit earlier on Sunday, the second day of the event, got a special treat: live talk sessions with the creators of Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) and Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner (PSP).

First up in the hot seat, MCed by, among others, Famitsu PS2 editor in chief Koji Aizawa, were team ICO bosom buddies, Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido. Ueda is the director of Shadow of the Colossus (Wander and Colossus in Japanese — note that the name is actually “Wander,” rather than “Wanda”), with Kaido serving as producer. The two spoke about the new game, a week prior to its Japanese release.

Ueda gave some background into the development of Shadow, commenting that ICO’s development took four years, and the team wanted to make a big game for their next title. “Our last game, ICO, was an action-puzzle type of game,” Ueda explained,” and while it’s not as a reaction to that, we wanted to make something with a more expansive world, where not just objects, but the camera is also dynamic.”

The next talk session began after a fifteen minute break. Kouji Okada, head of new independent development studio Gaia, took the stage to speak about his upcoming PSP project, Monster Kingdom Jewel Summoner, which is set to be published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

“Just as we were looking to try something new, we heard that Sony was to release a portable game machine,” Okada explained, giving some insight into how the Monster Kingdom project came along. Acknowledging that the Japanese game market is full of game series, he explained that he wanted to try original titles. Planning for Jewel Summoner was centered on the idea of making a game that goes back to the basics of gaming — something filled with deep gameplay while being easily picked up.

As with the Shadow of the Colossus, the audience was treated to a brief demo session of Jewel Summoner. Okada played through a sequence consisting of event and battle scenes. The event scenes in Jewel Summoner are fully voiced, with Gaia having taken a full week’s time to record all the voice roles.

Following the event scenes, the demo took players out to a field, and then a battle, with the screen splitting in two and displaying a variety of effects. UMD access time was pretty much non-existent throughout this — this is something Okada admits that his team worked hard to achieve.

“The PSP was capable of more than I had expected,” Okada explained as he played, “so we worked quite a bit on the graphics. The event scenes give a glimpse into the world through full voice. With portable games, it seems that the trend is to play with the sound off, but I hope that, if possible, people play this game while listening to the sound.” Gaia has collaborated with ten big-name musicians for Jewel Summoner’s music.

Okada went on to discuss some of the finer points of Monster Kingdom. The game’s storyline centers on Jewels, which humans have learned to harness as a source of energy, leading to an industrial society. But the use of the jewels resulted in monsters appearing in the world. Players work to expel these creatures from the world.

Over 100 monsters will appear in the game, and players will be able to collect them and build them into powerful creatures. The monster training system follows the PSP’s internal clock, as a monster that you’ve trained in the morning shows the fruits of your labor at night.

Monster Kingdom will likely become a series, Okada revealed. The name of this first title was created with that in mind. In Jewel Summoner, monsters have become jewels, but prior to that, they were living creatures who existed along side humans. Gaia has fleshed out the game’s background story all the way back to the time of the world’s creation, with Jewel Summoner painting just one generation of that story.

Seeing Okada, Ueda and Kaido in a public talk appearance is a rare opportunity, and given the emptiness of the event hall on Sunday afternoon, it was one that few actually took up. We hope the new titles from these talented developers receive a warmer reception at retail.