Ghost Line: Tokyo is a first-person action-adventure game produced by Tango Studios, which produced Haunted by Evil Spirits. Players will battle a variety of ghosts and evil spirits in Tokyo, where the population has evaporated in an instant, and embark on a mysterious adventure.
Recently, Homeless Starry Sky interviewed Masato Kimura, the producer of "Ghost Line: Tokyo", director Kenji Kimura, and the development team behind it, asking about the image design of the monsters in the game and the source of the "technology × strange talk" style. Here are the details of the interview:
Q: In the trailer, you can see that many of the monsters are designed from urban legends and anecdotes, such as tengu, sunny dolls, snow maidens, etc. Are the reasons for their appearance closely related to the background plot?
A: Yes, of course there is. This work creates a worldview in which the "visible world" and the "invisible world" are reversed. One of the charms of Tokyo City is that it is a place where various cultures and ideas, old and new, coexist harmoniously. In Shibuya and other places, modern buildings coexist with former houses, shrines, and jizos.
At the same time, this characteristic can also be said to be the same in terms of spirit. Although living in a city surrounded by advanced technology, I feel that the city has always maintained its ancient traditions. When I was a child, my parents and grandparents often taught me the importance and characteristics of nature to monsters. The river and the pond next to can not go, "there are kappa haunted" Oh. Wear long sleeves on windy days to avoid being cut by the wind, "because there are skunks flying"... And so on.
In addition to this, other urban legends and ghost stories that arise from people's insecurity are endless. Although most of them are scientifically implausible, it seems that somewhere in our minds, we believe or expect them in our daily lives. So it would be nice to see it, so the world was formed.
Q: What is the ratio of the battle elements and exploration parts of the game? When facing enemies, do players have other ways to cope than to fight?
A: We consciously maintain a one-to-one ratio of combat to exploration because we want to make the game as much as possible enjoy the landscape of this game. With the exception of some missions, there is no such thing as having to destroy an enemy in order to continue with the story. Of course, with insufficient levels and skills, or in a bad mood, you can also push the plot by avoiding battles with enemies.
Q: The game's map will feel big, is it completely open world or semi-open world? Will the player be limited to the areas that the player can explore based on the plot?
A: We call it the "box type (sandbox type)".
In this game, with Tokyo full of buildings and buildings as the stage, players can explore not only horizontally, but also vertically. At this point, you can walk into places that most people have not been. For example, the end of the alley, the roof of the building, the end of the subway track, the depth of the manhole, etc. Ahead of you, there are different landscapes waiting for you than you imagined. I hope that everyone can enjoy the non-daily scenery and experience hidden in daily life.
Q: Can you elaborate on the character upgrade and skill system?
A: Players can earn Spirit Skill Points by upgrading, and the number of Spirit Skill Points that are consumed can release Spirit Skills from the Spirit Skill Tree at will. This is the basic process.
The opening of the magic skill can not only strengthen the etheric shooting of wind, water, fire, etc., but also improve the stealth sneaking and archery speed in the assassination mission, increase the gliding time, and increase the number of yuzha to carry.
It can also capture monsters such as kappa, kapok, and painted walls, thus opening up new psychic trees. In this way, you can summon tengu wherever you want and fly to the building as you please. By the way, although the level will also increase as the storyline progresses, collecting ghosts trapped in the street (the souls of deceased people) and taking them to special phone booths can get more experience points. Rescue ghosts during exploration is the key to the strategy.
Q: Can you see in the demo that in addition to the seal, the protagonist also has weapons such as bows and arrows, but other types of weapons? For example, a katana?
A: There are no physical attacks such as katana. Because the object of the confrontation is an evil spirit called a "rare person", it must be defeated by the method of exorcising the evil spirit that has been handed down from ancient times in Japan. That is, the aether shooting, bows and arrows, royal seals, and rosary beads that use the forces of nature.
Miza can block enemy movements, creating effects such as grass that can be hidden. The Rosary is an item of equipment that can be worn on your body to increase your attack power and make it easier for you to notice the ghosts around you.
Q: Is the map of Tokyo in the game an overhead design, or is there a map of Tokyo that refers to the actual situation?
A: The stage of this work is a unique stage that brings together the charming scenery of Tokyo in a compact way. In the midst of this, entrances to the invisible world are everywhere. In order to find that entrance, I hope that players can explore the game not only horizontally, but also vertically.
Q: The combination of tech city and ghost legends is cool! How did you come up with this idea at the beginning of the design?
A: The mix of old and new cultures and traditions is a mix of old and new, and the impression of Tokyo's street itself is its root. In the process of considering the planning and game design, I thought that if I actually walked in Tokyo, it would be good to fly a kapok around this building, there seemed to be kappa in this river, and there seemed to be something bad in this alley, as long as there was a shrine, you could rest assured, and it was very suitable for the feeling of a stronghold.
Q: Some of the visual effects of the glitch style are shown in the demo, including the partial electronic style of the barrier and the enemy core, is this visual style related to the technical background of the game?
A: This is also because the streets of Tokyo itself give the impression of a mixture of old and new cultures and traditions. In addition, how modern young people living on such streets will deal with ghosts, evil spirits, monsters, and paranormal phenomena when they encounter these things are the basic effects of the plot performance.
Very few people have asked questions about the visual effects of the faulty wind, and I am very happy to have such a question this time! Thank you!
Q: Although the game is positioned as a first-person action game, the image of various ghosts is still a bit scary. Is there any difference between the "horror" design of this game and the studio's previous works?
A: When I was making this work, I realized not to do too much horror. This is based on urban legends, strange talk, and yokai tans circulating in Japan. The weirdness that appears in such a story doesn't necessarily only cause harm. In everyday life, there are also things that exist there only as a sense of violation. I want to express this "sense of incongruity that exists in everyday life." Therefore, characters like Rare People, although common in daily life at first glance, always feel a little different and creepy.
Q: Is there any possibility of serializing the title of the game, Ghost Line? Will there be a chance to see Ghost Line expand to other cities outside of Tokyo in the future?
A: Nothing has been decided right now, and it's not something we can decide, but I do want to do it. Although this work is a separate story, we have had a lot of ideas to expand the world from this story, so I think if we have the opportunity, we must create it for everyone to see.