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

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I have not been following any Zelda leaks and was wanting to see for myself if dungeons were in the game and how they were handled. Meanwhile, Nintendo just goes “Okay, themed dungeons are back” completely out of the blue, 2 days before launch. Lol.
 
Nintendo continuing the trend in these of using the blurriest screenshots and video they could find of the game to showcase it, lol. Was super surprised during the Aonuma gameplay to see that the game seemed to look worse than BotW, than as soon as outlets got direct feed footage I could see how pretty the game actually was.
DittoM said:
I have not been following any Zelda leaks and was wanting to see for myself if dungeons were in the game and how they were handled. Meanwhile, Nintendo just goes “Okay, themed dungeons are back” completely out of the blue, 2 days before launch. Lol.
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For me the dungeons and the nature of them were one of the few things actually spoiled for me so we're close to the green again.
 
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I can't stress enough how glad I am that these are coming back, and looks like a lock at least for EPD releases and partners like HAL and Monolith from now on. (when there is EPD staff involved). The fact that they also featured Switch OLED in 2021 is pointing to the fact that they will also focus on the hardware in the future.

It was not like they completely abandoned the idea after Iwata passed away, there were still some interviews from time to time on their blog posts (like Star Fox Zero, whole feature on Nintendo LABO, Classic mini SNES..) and more including 3 part Nintendo LABO Insights YouTube series with it's Director and even some exclusive japanese ones, about Ring Fit or Brain Traning Switch with Kawashima himself etc. but these were not consistent and more like a rarity.

Instead we got a very detailed presentation at GDC's about BOTW, Splatoon 2 and ARMS. The former one also had a great high-quality making of videos (as I suspect TotK will have these too, as this AskTheDev is light on content because of spoilers and marketing before launch). It also had much more detailed multiple CEDEC development presentations and other EPD releases like Ring Fit and Animal Crossing too.

But with Ask The Dev finally being consistent format and release, it's awesome that a lot of enthusiasts will see them after years of absense. It looks like that some of these are not as informative as Iwata Asks, but that's fine. Iwata was someone else.
 
LukasManak22 said:
I can't stress enough how glad I am that these are coming back, and looks like a lock at least for EPD releases and partners like HAL and Monolith from now on. (when there is EPD staff involved). The fact that they also featured Switch OLED in 2021 is pointing to the fact that they will also focus on the hardware in the future.

It was not like they completely abandoned the idea after Iwata passed away, there were still some interviews from time to time on their blog posts (like Star Fox Zero, whole feature on Nintendo LABO, Classic mini SNES..) and more including 3 part Nintendo LABO Insights YouTube series with it's Director and even some exclusive japanese ones, about Ring Fit or Brain Traning Switch with Kawashima himself etc. but these were not consistent and more like a rarity.

Instead we got a very detailed presentation at GDC's about BOTW, Splatoon 2 and ARMS. The former one also had a great high-quality making of videos (as I suspect TotK will have these too, as this AskTheDev is light on content because of spoilers and marketing before launch). It also had much more detailed multiple CEDEC development presentations and other EPD releases like Ring Fit and Animal Crossing too.

But with Ask The Dev finally being consistent format and release, it's awesome that a lot of enthusiasts will see them after years of absense. It looks like that some of these are not as informative as Iwata Asks, but that's fine. Iwata was someone else.
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Agreed, I fear that there will never be anything like Iwata Asks again but these are a good replacement given the circumstances. I only wanna know who the person asking the questions is!
 
DittoM said:
I have not been following any Zelda leaks and was wanting to see for myself if dungeons were in the game and how they were handled. Meanwhile, Nintendo just goes “Okay, themed dungeons are back” completely out of the blue, 2 days before launch. Lol.
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While it surprised me they flat out confirmed it here that casually, it's not really a surprise for me and I have not seen any single spoiler about the game. I couldn't imagine they would not be there, especially after watching final trailer.

MondoMega said:
Just mentioning for the sake of completion; the NES Mini got a similar interview set too! Don't think they have as many totally new insights as the SNES interviews so they aren't as talked about.

www.nintendo.co.uk

Nintendo Classic Mini: NES special interview – Volume 3: Super Mario Bros.

Shigeru Miyamoto, Koji Kondo and Takashi Tezuka reflect on the development of the legendary Super Mario Bros. in this special interview.
www.nintendo.co.uk www.nintendo.co.uk
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Oh yes, this one too.

Last but not least, if someone really wants to see all kind of development footage from various games and some insights from fairly unknown staff, the NCL recruitment website is full of everything Nintendo.
 
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DittoM said:
I have not been following any Zelda leaks and was wanting to see for myself if dungeons were in the game and how they were handled. Meanwhile, Nintendo just goes “Okay, themed dungeons are back” completely out of the blue, 2 days before launch. Lol.
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Yeah, 100%. I unignored this thread just so I could complain about this.
 
I do love reading how even to the dev team, making the same Hyrule interesting again was such a priority. Makes me very confident we'll have more in-game variety.
 
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DittoM said:
I have not been following any Zelda leaks and was wanting to see for myself if dungeons were in the game and how they were handled. Meanwhile, Nintendo just goes “Okay, themed dungeons are back” completely out of the blue, 2 days before launch. Lol.
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Honestly all told, I would have been shocked if they did not bring back classic dungeons. It was by far the biggest complaint about BOTW and the 3D Zelda team has always been receptive to criticism of the games. While I don't expect them to be 1:1 the classic puzzle box 3D Zelda dungeons, it's clear they understood having distinct and atmospheric locations was a big thing for fans. The fact that they said this:

Takizawa: Making a "wide variety" was pretty challenging. The four Divine Beasts were the dungeons in the last game, and they shared similar designs. This time, the dungeons are huge and each carry their own regional look and feel, just like traditional The Legend of Zelda games. We think they will provide a satisfying challenge for players. They were certainly a challenge to develop! (Laughs)

Means they know exactly what people wanted. Very excited.

That said... why they chose to "reveal" this in an interview instead of market this aspect mystifies me lol.
 
mazi said:



edit: casually confirming dungeons like that, lol
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This is really interesting because most of us had assumed the one thing we knew for sure is that they wouldn't explicitly confirm themed dungeons before the game released. Nintendo is full of surprises!
 
Some final words from the heads of staff before we go into Hyrule.

Takizawa: Even though it's been six years since the last title was released, many fans still post drawings, comments and videos on social media. Especially when the team is facing difficulties during development, these things light up the eyes of our staff and make them think, “Alright, let's show 'em what we've got!” I really want to thank all our fans.

Fujibayashi: I totally agree. Our fans have motivated us so much in the development of this game. Thank you so much!

Everyone: (Gives a big nod)

Wakai: For me it's the expression of realism in the game. For example, the sense of distance created as a player moves away from a nearby sound and it becomes increasingly hazy and echoey, disappearing into other ambient sounds. Ever since the previous title, we've been developing our games to provide a surround-sound experience, and you can enjoy it with headphones or stereo speakers. We hope you'll notice these details. I heard some of our development staff saying, “Just chilling by the sea makes me feel relaxed... I wish I could listen to that sound forever...” (Laughs) We hope you'll have fun playing around and finding your own way to enjoy the game's sound, like in this example.

Fujibayashi: In the early stages of development on this title, we received comments from fans saying that they wished they could forget everything about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and play it for the first time again. The feeling you get when the game starts and the world opens up, the moment you're about to embark on an epic adventure, the encounters with powerful enemies, and the excitement when you reach the ending. In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we've tried our best to ensure players can experience those feelings as much as or more than in previous titles.

I'm confident fans will recapture that same feeling, and hope you'll look forward to that.

Aonuma: I wonder how many times I’ve played the game to debug it... I've played this game from start to finish about 20 times, and I can say that it's more fun with detours, even more so than in the previous game. When testing the game, I sometimes needed to rush ahead to clear the story, but later on, as I started to go off on side paths, I realized... it's a whole different game! (Laughs) Some discoveries made me think, “Wow, you can even do this at this point in the game?” Even when sticking things together, there are so many different combinations that even I don't know all of them. I even discovered something new the other day while shooting the gameplay demonstration video. So, it may take some time, but as you take detours and try out whatever you can at the time, I think you'll be able to enjoy the game in your very own way. So don't head straight for the ending! (Laughs) I've cleared the game many times myself and never felt bored once. You have my word!
 
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LukasManak22 said:
Some final words for the heads of staff before we go into Hyrule.

Takizawa: Even though it's been six years since the last title was released, many fans still post drawings, comments and videos on social media. Especially when the team is facing difficulties during development, these things light up the eyes of our staff and make them think, “Alright, let's show 'em what we've got!” I really want to thank all our fans.

Fujibayashi: I totally agree. Our fans have motivated us so much in the development of this game. Thank you so much!

Everyone: (Gives a big nod)

Wakai: For me it's the expression of realism in the game. For example, the sense of distance created as a player moves away from a nearby sound and it becomes increasingly hazy and echoey, disappearing into other ambient sounds. Ever since the previous title, we've been developing our games to provide a surround-sound experience, and you can enjoy it with headphones or stereo speakers. We hope you'll notice these details. I heard some of our development staff saying, “Just chilling by the sea makes me feel relaxed... I wish I could listen to that sound forever...” (Laughs) We hope you'll have fun playing around and finding your own way to enjoy the game's sound, like in this example.

Fujibayashi: In the early stages of development on this title, we received comments from fans saying that they wished they could forget everything about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and play it for the first time again. The feeling you get when the game starts and the world opens up, the moment you're about to embark on an epic adventure, the encounters with powerful enemies, and the excitement when you reach the ending. In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we've tried our best to ensure players can experience those feelings as much as or more than in previous titles.

I'm confident fans will recapture that same feeling, and hope you'll look forward to that.

Aonuma: I wonder how many times I’ve played the game to debug it... I've played this game from start to finish about 20 times, and I can say that it's more fun with detours, even more so than in the previous game. When testing the game, I sometimes needed to rush ahead to clear the story, but later on, as I started to go off on side paths, I realized... it's a whole different game! (Laughs) Some discoveries made me think, “Wow, you can even do this at this point in the game?” Even when sticking things together, there are so many different combinations that even I don't know all of them. I even discovered something new the other day while shooting the gameplay demonstration video. So, it may take some time, but as you take detours and try out whatever you can at the time, I think you'll be able to enjoy the game in your very own way. So don't head straight for the ending! (Laughs) I've cleared the game many times myself and never felt bored once. You have my word!
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Aonuma flexing the fact that he's already gotten to play the game 20 times
 
I love these developer columns and only wish they were longer. The bit about the importance of the sound design for Ultrahand's glue effect is so obvious in retrospect, but if I didn't see it spelled out I wouldn't have considered it. Even in watching Aonuma's gameplay demonstration I felt that satisfaction they're describing on a subconscious level, but I hadn't thought too hard about why.
 
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If they are not doing AskTheDev about Stinky Horse than I will be so damn disappointed, this game needs it more than anything. I want to know how can you even come up with Horse host.
 
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Normally i'd say they wouldn't even dare touching it due to how troubled the production supposedly was; but then again the Switch Sports Ask the Developer was a peek into the shocking struggles of that game, so it could very well happen.
 
MondoMega said:
Normally i'd say they wouldn't even dare touching it due to how troubled the production supposedly was; but then again the Switch Sports Ask the Developer was a peek into the shocking struggles of that game, so it could very well happen.
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Wait Pikmin 4, altough I suspect they will never mention anything about it's "previous version" since it was never publicly announced or mention in any Nintendo documents, just Miyamoto in a interview + NOA separate statement to Eurogamer.

If anything I can see them not touching it only because they don't want any eyes on the game at all, the troubled production is not that huge deal at all. It's the game itself as finished product being supposedly bad.
 
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Kids had their fun with Direct already, now it's time for Everybody 1-2 Switch AskTheDev. This needs to happen, it's the only way how to know why they used the Horse. June 27-28th. Maybe even 29th to make it as late as possible.

Ask The Developer Vol. 10, Everybody 1-2 Switch!

Kouichi Kawamoto, Producer, Entertainment Planning & Development Department, General Manager Production Group No. 4
Hiromasa Shikata, Director, Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Production Group No. 4
Yusuke Akifusa, Director, Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Production Group No. 4
Masato Mizuta, Sound Director, Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Production Group No. 4


Kinda rooting that if Shikata is there if he will already be listed as member of another group (like Minegishi in Splatoon 3 interview) to give us any idea if he works on 2D Zelda in different group as Everybody 1-2 Switch! was supposedly done way in advance. Hoping this AskTheDev will really come out.
 
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Welcome to Ask the Developer for Everybody 1-2 Switch! Unfortunately, no one wanted to be publicly associated with this game so we're interviewing MC Horace instead
 
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Even as a fan of Pikmin 2, I love that the developers are like "Pikmin 2 kinda sucked, so we're confused by the fans who say it's the best one."
 
I sometimes feel like there's an undercurrent of "the devs don't understand what hardcore players want" in a lot of Nintendo game discussion and the nice thing about these Ask the Devs is that they pretty handily dismiss those ideas. These guys know their audience
 
www.nintendo.co.uk

Ask the Developer Vol. 10, Pikmin 4 – Chapter 2

Training up players in the art of Dandori
www.nintendo.co.uk www.nintendo.co.uk

2x1_NSwitch_Pikmin4_AskTheDeveloper_Chapter_2_3_GB_en.jpg
 
Miyamoto: Why isn't Pikmin more popular? I don't get it.
Interviewer: Pikmin are cute, and die if you make the wrong decision, so there may be some fear of losing them.
Miyamoto: Sounds like a skill Dandori issue.
 
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www.nintendo.com

Ask the Developer Vol. 10, Pikmin 4—Part 3 - News - Nintendo Official Site

This article has been translated from the original Japanese content. The images shown in this interview were created during development. In this tenth volume of Ask the Developer, an interview series in which Nintendo developers convey in their own …
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

We get a bit of development footage, a lot of talk about sound design, and Miyamoto's dream of Pikmin becoming one of Nintendo's biggest franchises. Like, I knew he loved the hell out of this series, but I don't think I've ever fully comprehended just how much. Miyamoto loves Pikmin.
 
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