Interview with G.Rev, Milestone and Triangle Service
News from DC Scene:
The British EDGE magazine interviewed the three developers of the latest Dreamcast games in Japan, G.Revolution (Border Down), Milestone (Chaos Field) and Triange Serivce (Trizeal). The full interview can be found in their July 2005 issue (E151). We give you an overview about the most interesting comments here.
Hiroyuki Maruyama, president of G.Revolution
"It took three years to deliver our first shooter, Border Down, in 2003"
"We saved money by getting jobs from Sega and Treasure (G.rev developed the 3D engine for Ikaruga) and when we had enough, we did Border Down."
"The Naomi? is still the best option, although Sega isn’t pushing it. But, since there’s a large base installed in the country, there’s still a lot of room for third parties like us."
"Many present the DS as the platform of ideas, of concepts, but the use of specific features like the touch panel actually limits your freedom to create. Of course, if a game makes natural and fun use of these features, I see a lot of potential; but if you don’t use the pen and the double screens, your game is meaningless on the DS. Forcing you to use these features confines you in a very narrow environment, so I’m a little afraid about the machine’s future."
"The PSP is just a PlayStation with a beautiful screen. I don’t see any merit in that. (...) currently the PSP is less of a console and more of a business move from Sony – for itself, and against Nintendo. As a game console, I don’t see its merit."
"I don’t see the arcade itself changing very much, except in physical size as cabinets get smaller."
Hiroshi Kimura, president of Milestone
"In Milestone, we have a policy of self-motivation: staff come to me and explain what they want to do and why."
"Because of our size we can make games that go against current trends; they’re not just about the amount of polygons and effects."
"We will stick with the PlayStation2, GameCube and mobile phones for a little longer, even when the next-generation consoles arrive. But if one of my staff were to say tomorrow that he or she is really determined to develop on PlayStation3, we would call for outside help."
Toshiaki Fujino, founder of Triange Service (and only member left!)
"The biggest problem for me is, without any doubt, the money. (...) So I had to borrow money from my friends, people I used to work with in previous companies."
"It is already hard enough to work on PlayStation2 because companies like Sony don’t always trust small firms like mine, especially when it comes to supplying development kits."
"This new Xbox is very much an American approach – that is, it is based on the American idea of entertainment with enormous budgets and huge teams only rivalled by Hollywood."
"Maybe I will have to go for Nintendo. I don’t know yet. But the company has changed its policy recently, allowing small companies to release games on the GameCube, such as Milestone with Chaos Field."
"I have no interest in the PSP. It is exactly the same as the PlayStation2 was in its time: a machine that’s not focused on videogames but more on other forms of entertainment, such as music and video."
"I prefer to develop for the Naomi system rather than these new boards, because it offers the best environment. Also, there are so many Naomi cabinets on the market that it’s easy to sell new games: you just sell a GD-ROM disc. It’s very easy and affordable for operators."
"For the moment, I’m focused on the consumer port of my second arcade shooter, Trizeal – I’m publishing it on Dreamcast myself because no publisher was interested. My two staffers were in contract for a specific task, so I made the Dreamcast version alone, handling all the aspects of making a console game, from the port itself to the package, manual, and so on. But in the future, my objective is still to make the top shooting game for the arcade."
Max
More info here --> http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/index...#edgeinterview
