Looks like Retro played a greater role in the development of this game tan we all initially thought.
Not me
BTW, part 2 is up in English now as well (the thread title really should be updated...)
Now reading both...
Volume 1
Iwata: To be completely honest, we decided to extend the production for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword4 so people you were expecting to have some time weren't available, right?
Konno: No. To be perfectly honest, that was one of the reasons. (laughs) I discussed it with (Shinya) Takahashi-san5 from the Software Planning & Development Department (SPD) and my contemporary, (Kensuke) Tanabe-san6, asking them, "Can we make it with one of the companies Tanabe-san's in contact with?" Retro had been working on the development of Donkey Kong Country Returns7, and the timing when they were going to be wrapped with that title matched the timing we would start needing help. The timing was right, and we ended up making it happen.
Ooh! So Skyward Sword's year long delay was part of the reason for Retro's involvement with Mario Kart 7!
Ryan: Yes, it was definitely something that was challenging at first, starting with the Mario Kart DS courses and increasing the graphics and the amount of detail for the Nintendo 3DS system. We really wanted to focus and work with EAD to make sure that the impression that the original level gave us was maintained in the new art that we created for the 3DS version of Mario Kart.
I was actually really, really happy to hear that Morimoto-san and the rest of EAD were pleased with Luigi's Mansion. That was actually the first course I worked on for the game, and being a fan of Luigi's Mansion—the Nintendo GameCube game—and Mario Kart, I really wanted to capture the impression that the player had when they went into the mansion in the actual GameCube version within the Mario Kart game. I went back and forth between the GameCube game and Mario Kart, trying to bring the inside of the mansion as close as I could to the GameCube version.
Iwata: So you went back and forth between the original Luigi's Mansion and Mario Kart DS, visualizing how the players wanted Luigi's Mansion to look, and tried to get as close to that as possible as you created the course.
Ryan: Yeah, it was definitely a balance of considering what the Mario Kart DS course and the Luigi's Mansion game for Nintendo GameCube were, and making sure that when we were finished with that course that it still felt like the player would recognize it as reminiscent of the Mario Kart DS level. So it was always on all the artists' minds to be careful not to take it too far away from the feel of the original Nintendo DS version. Iwata It was, in the end, the classic Luigi's Mansion course that appeared in Mario Kart DS, so you couldn't get too far away from the Mario Kart DS image. That said, it was important to preserve the balance between that and making it look as great as current gamers would expect it to be. Ryan Our actual development method was to put one designer on each course, and for me to work together with them, talking as we went, so that we didn't stray far from the original course.
One more very important thing was that we had constant communication with EAD during the production of our levels and would update them on a weekly basis. Morimoto-san's feedback and the feedback from other EAD members were very valuable.
Morimoto: Thank you! I'm very relieved to hear you say that. (laughs)
So Luigi's Mansion was one of the first courses made by Retro and they aimed to make it closer to the GCN Luigi's Mansion game, combining elements from Mario Kart DS and Luigi's Mansion together. Very cool! (a lesser developer would've just aimed to recreate the MKDS track, without going back to the original game for inspiration)
Also, they had one main designer on each course. Sounds a bit like how they do the Zelda series! (one main designer per dungeon)
Tom I don't know how we would have done it without Ichijo-san, to be honest. He was sending us screenshots of tools that were still in Japanese, with notes saying what the buttons did, and helping us not only translate text but also translate feeling and the goals we were trying to get. I left the project towards the end to work on other projects, and Bill Vandervoort who came in during the process was working with Ichijo-san very closely, and he had the same feeling.
Ahh, so Retro is working on other project
s (notice the plural!) right now!!! Good to know that they haven't been NST'd! (that's a pretty big find there, surprised you missed that Shikamaru!)
Konno There's one other reason it went so well. Retro has three design sections—level design, art design and animation design—and I think the balance there was very good. This time, we requested that Retro perform the designs, and in general, my impression is that American level designers are well acquainted with 3D tools, and very skilled at using them when putting together courses.
Miyamoto-san often tells us, "It doesn't matter if it's just a box or a miniature landscape. First see if it'll be interesting if it moves." And there are actually staff members who create such things at Retro as well. They think of all sorts of things and work in lots of ideas as they create the course. It happened that way on this game, too. They'd build things, then tear them down and build them again, and were really positive about working hard.
Interesting to see that Retro separate their production departments like EAD and that they deal in heavy prototyping as well (such a change from the days of RavenBlade, where they'd make games with Beta quality art before greenlighting projects!)
Ishikawa I thought development at Retro's studio looked very different from the way it does here, with the EAD team. At Retro, I thought every staff member's room was really large. Each member had lots of things related to their hobbies in their own room; it looked like a really fun development studio.
I can imagine it's a real culture shock, seeing as how they work in tiny little cubicals!
Konno The air was dry, and it made for a comfortable working environment. But… Tanabe-san said "They have armadillos there!" so I looked for them, but, sadly, I never saw one. (laughs)
Lol! Maybe he needs to work on Dillon's Rolling Western?
Ishikawa: Here's a story from when the game was still in development: late one night, we had the opportunity to hold a video conference with Retro to discuss the animation, but the connection was bad, and their audio wasn't coming through on our end. Iwata That happens every once in a while. Ishikawa So I asked, "Is it okay if we use gestures?" and the Retro staff faced the camera and made the "Sure, go ahead!" sign. It made me think they could handle just about anything. Here we were, these grown men conversing furiously in gestures late at night. It was so funny. I'll never forget it. (laughs)
Lol!
Morimoto: Well, we haven't said much about the new courses, so I'll add a bit about them. These are concepts that Retro proposed to us, which were actually used as new courses
With regard to the new courses… This is my fourth game in the series, and Retro sent some ideas that were so good that I was kicking myself, thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?!"We spurred each other on that way.
So Retro came up with the concept ideas for many of the new courses too (not just the DKCR track), so really I guess it can be said that Retro actually worked on more of the courses than EAD!
Volume 2
Konno: In Mario Kart 7, we've brought back coins. In the original game, Super Mario Kart, when you got coins on the course, your kart would speed up. When you crashed, you're coins would scatter around. Coins are something that Miyamoto-san had always been focused on, but they disappeared somewhere along the way.
Iwata: Why?
Konno: They just lost priority to other things and wouldn't fit in. But this time, even though the processing was tight, we designed the coins back in.
Yabuki: I thought that if we put them in from the beginning, it would be all right for Shiraiwa-san and the other programmers.
Shiraiwa: I wanted to bring back the coins, too, but with past games in the series, putting them in came up toward the end of development, overlapping with other tasks, so we couldn't do it. This time, from the very start, I told the programmers, "Include the coins in the early experiments!"
Ahh, so they've been trying to include the coins for the last 10 years then (the last game to have them was Super Circuit), so glad to see them back! They were always so awesome!
Yabuki: At first, we wanted to include a feature where friends could gather like this directly on Nintendo 3DS, but schedule-wise it was tight and wouldn't fit. So I said, "I'll do it with Mario Kart 7." Having said that, I knew I had to think of something and drew a rough plan on a big sheet of paper.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! The communities function was originally scheduled to be built into the 3DS OS. Put it back in with a future update!!!
Shiraiwa: If someone had told me to put in 100 subtle variations, that would have been difficult, but we were able to pull it off by using subtle titles along the lines of "uses lots of bananas" and "throws lots of shells." I think that was a good way to adjust to players' habits. I'm good at placing bananas, and Konno-san says, "Shiraiwa-san, you're always Banana Master."
Iwata: Banana Master?! (laughs)
Konno: Yeah, his title is always Banana Master. (laughs)
Shiraiwa: Hearing that makes me want to start placing bananas like one! (laughs)
Lol!
Konno: Another simple thing is how when you're racing in first place, the background music livens up. Like zoon-chaka zoon-chaka! We call it the "Go-go Track." (laughs)
Iwata: You can hear it when you're in first?
Konno: Yeah. The groove gradually picks up, so you naturally realize you're in first.
Oooh, I've always wondered why they didn't do something like this before! Especially seen as how they always take advantage of interactive music in other places.
And with the Nintendo 3DS system, download play is available for all the courses, so please invite lots of people who don't have the software to play with you.
YEESSSS!!!!!
