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StarTopic Ask the Developer |ST| Latest interview: Pikmin 4

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I'm really glad they made the change they did. The Square works perfectly, and keeping things casual is the whole point of the series.
 
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I like how they compare turning off pro leagues to playing badminton on a rooftop. What’s with Nintendo and playing things on rooftops!?
 
I really like the designs of the college students! If we are lucky, they will show up in a future game.
 
It's a shame they didn't go all has no brake and released instead what seems to be a very incremental and conservative sequel with very little content.
 
Y'all are reading a lot into a game that never got past the prototype phase. Though I'll admit I'm also interested in piloting a robot to play sports, I can't imagine it would've been popular if it was as complicated as they made it sound lol

meatbag said:
And they tried to use deep learning for the OG Wii Sports!
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Not quite - they specify that it was for this title, and that it wasn't a technology available to them at the time of Wii Sports. They actually used it though, they didn't just try.
 
In the interview they said that the Robots were a terrible idea for a motion gaming game. You have to control a human. They went with sportsmate because their animations were much more involved than Miis, which incidentally required a lot lot more work. I'm going to put it there because I know concept art always look cool and make imagination go wild.
 
Great interview. I haven't played much offline since online is so smooth, but I'm curious if you can feel the differences.
 
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Jersh said:
Y'all are reading a lot into a game that never got past the prototype phase. Though I'll admit I'm also interested in piloting a robot to play sports, I can't imagine it would've been popular if it was as complicated as they made it sound lol
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Same as people seem to often do with concept art. It existing doesn't mean it was actually considered or past a point where it was a game. Saying the game was rebooted also seems like an overexaggeration, since if scrapping prototypes falls into reboot then that'd apply to a lot if not most games.
I'd understand the player being a robot or being in a suit, Kamen Rider-style, but you piloting what could be considered a mech to play sports seems way too convoluted.
 
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Morii: [...] The player is inside the robot, but it is the robot that moves when you swing the Joy-Con controller. The robot is the one doing the bowling.

What? You operate the robot?

Yamashita: Yes, you operate this robot, and the robot throws the ball. I know it doesn't make sense. You might also wonder how big this bowling alley is. (Laughs)

Morii: At first, everyone was so excited about this robot idea that we all thought, "This could be fun!” We even made a prototype. But when we actually saw the robot on the screen and moved it around, a blanket of silence fell over everyone.
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lmao

Yeah, I can see why some of this didn't make it into the full game, as fun as it looks. Seems like they approached this from the completely wrong direction. I guess it's nice that they were allowed to do this for so long?
 
Funnily enough, a dataminer has found some remaining traces of those early ideas like robot and hamburger body types
 
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RenHojo23 said:
The interview makes me question if half of the dev time was spent on contents that got removed. Hopefully they'll add more other than Golf going forward.
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The interview pretty much give away that the game was in development for years as something completely different before the game was given a fresh start to be something more like an actual Wii Sports sequel.

We started off with Wii Sports but got so caught up in making it look new, the swinging motion controls became a secondary consideration, and other aspects of the game, like the game’s atmosphere, became a higher priority for us to put our efforts into. But we were working so hard at the time that we didn't really question it. We were very conscious of creating something new no matter what...

However, it didn't go well in the end. We had lost our way and were on the verge of losing the charm of Wii Sports. And by the time we acknowledged we'd pursued the wrong direction, years had already passed.
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This, alongside many other factors (such as the complexity of making the game playable online), would've also explained the game's light on contents.
 
The part about using Deep Learning is definitely the most interesting thing in the article for me. Really cool that they use modern technology like that to solve problems that are “traditionally” hard.
 
RenHojo23 said:
The interview makes me question if half of the dev time was spent on contents that got removed. Hopefully they'll add more other than Golf going forward.
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two more sports were already datamined. and I doubt so much dev time was spent on removed stuff. prototyping phase and proper dev phases can be split onto their own schedules (unless they're like Bioware where they spend too much time prototyping)
 
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I can't wait for Pikmin 4 interview.

So you started development on this in 2013, when there was no Nintendo Switch?

Miyamoto: That's right.

But you are releasing in 2023. I thought that the game was already almosted finished back in 2015 as you said Miyamoto-san.

Miyamoto: It has been rebooted.

And after the reboot, did the development flow smoothly?

Miyamoto: No. (laughts).
 
I always find it really inspiring to read about the difficult journeys that talented people and projects go through. Great they're so open and honest in these interviews.
 
These are always awesome to read.

As someone who sometimes works with Deep Learning, it's wild to read about it being used in a game-development context. I loved the whole bit about the trade-off between accuracy and response time.
 
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I would love a Nintendo Sports game set in college but it's actually a visual novel where you try to get women to come hang out in your dorm by inviting them over to play Wii Sports. Not saying this is what I actually did in college...
 
It's nice they were allowed to go wild for years. Every other company would have commissioned a traditional, conservative sequel to their uber-successful game, but this approach would severely hurt Nintendo's creativity. Going wild sometimes you strike gold, sometimes you need to understand the experiments are failing and you have to try something more traditional.
 
LukasManak22 said:
I can't wait for Pikmin 4 interview.

So you started development on this in 2013, when there was no Nintendo Switch?

Miyamoto: That's right.

But you are releasing in 2023. I thought that the game was already almosted finished back in 2015 as you said Miyamoto-san.

Miyamoto: It has been rebooted.

And after the reboot, did the development flow smoothly?

Miyamoto: No. (laughts).
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It was the reboot after the first reboot
 
Gingerbread Man said:
It's nice they were allowed to go wild for years. Every other company would have commissioned a traditional, conservative sequel to their uber-successful game, but this approach would severely hurt Nintendo's creativity. Going wild sometimes you strike gold, sometimes you need to understand the experiments are failing and you have to try something more traditional.
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Yeah, this is the reason why I never mind when Nintendo using the same IP again and again for years, they always try to do new things with the IP first, sometime it work, sometime it don't. But at least I find it more interesting than "new IP" but it actually mostly the same.
 
Very nice interview. I’m not surprised nailing the motion controls is that much effort, beside Wii Sports most similar games failed to provide a similar engaging experience. So far I only played online but can’t wait for the next family reunion.
 
Terrific interview, lots of insight into the craft of this game.

Surprised that it 10% of the staff had worked on a prior "*Sports" title.

One of the passages that caught my eye:

For example, in Tennis where players play next to each other in a local multiplayer, the program recognizes if the player twists their racket – the Joy-Con controller – after swinging it, while the ball is flying, and changes the direction of the ball. Players can enjoy a smooth response by seeing the direction of the ball change as they twist their racket and experience the game immediately responding to their movement when hitting the ball. However, since there would be some time lag in online play, the ball may have already reached the opponent by the time the game recognized that you have "twisted the racket" and tried to change the ball's behavior. That is why we cannot use the same program.
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Fascinating as I read some comments that eg Tennis felt different from the Wii Sports version. With this interview, I now understand that to be due to compromises carefully tuned to facilitate satisfying online play!
 
The college one looks and sounds really good. They should revisit that as a new IP or future sequel
 
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Vol. 6 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3 part 1
  • Index



    • www.nintendo.co.uk

    Ask the Developer Vol. 6, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – Chapter 1

    The relationship between "Xeno" (foreign) things
    www.nintendo.co.uk www.nintendo.co.uk
    In this volume of Ask the Developer, an interview series in which Nintendo developers convey in their own words Nintendo's thoughts about creating products and the specific points they are particular about, we're talking to developers behind Xenoblade Chronicles 3, launching on Friday, July 29th.

    Chapter 1: The relationship between "Xeno" (foreign) things
    Chapter 2 – coming July 27th!
    Chapter 3 – coming July 28th!
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    Ask the Developer is a new series of Iwata Asks-style interviews started by Nintendo. so far there's been 6 interviews, with the first five being for Game Builder Garage, Nintendo Switch OLED Model, Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and Nintendo Switch Sports.
     
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  • Index
    • So happy they decided to do this for Xenoblade 3. These insights are so enjoyable to read.

    Takahashi: Yes, that’s right. I guess you can say that this is like a summary for moving on to the next step in the future.
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    I also can't wait to see where the series goes from here!
     
    I love Takahashi, I’m glad this is acting as closure and as a culmination to other two games while also being the beginning of something new, pretty excited to see where he wants to take the series next.
     
    Joseki said:
    Meanwhile behind the window

    iu
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    That's it's own thing, the same way Mega Man X is a different entity from classic Mega Man. I secretly hope that they are going to do a sequel (and hopefully a remake to get it off Wii U) at some point.

    Tentacle-tropes said:
    Gotta finish the other half of the dream. He was able to create his trilogy. Now he needs to finish the sextology.
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    I expect he is going to be so relieved when they finally get to slap a 4 on the title of the next game :)
     
    Ahmed said:
    I hope Nintendo gives Takahashi an endless pit of money and let him make whatever he wants next. And X2 sequel.
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    He has already said he has asked for ‘BOTW budget’ and Nintendo has responded back with where is your track record to get it?
    He will get bigger budget with his next game but I dont think he and his team will make a non-Xenoblade game next, if Monolith Soft makes a non Xenoblade game will be another team
     
    MSnap said:
    People still keep expecting that to happen on PlayStation for some reason
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    That could very much happen to be fair.

    Square can do what they want with the IP. It’s just a matter if they want to without it’s original creator. I think the most possible choice will be a remaster in the future.

    A remake might be too much anyone, unless Nintendo actually wants to do it. Which would Surprise me if they do it.
     
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