On April 18-21, 2022, the "2022N. GAME NetEase Game Developer Summit will be held online.
With the theme of "The Future Is NOW", this summit brings together industry leaders and well-known scholars at home and abroad to focus on industry experience sharing with a global and diversified vision, and explore the cultural value output of games going global, the boundaries of games under artificial intelligence and meta-universe technology.
On the first day (April 18), the president of Nagoshi Studio and the chief producer of the "Like a Dragon" and "Eye of Judgment" series, Minoru Yue, shared a wonderful sharing. He told how the "Like Dragon" series iterated and innovated through his own game development practice, and pointed out that the progress of technology will bring new development directions to the game, but it is always the original intention and perseverance of their game development to make players move.
The following is a transcript of the speech:
Production concept and innovation process
Minoru Nagoshi: Western games have been selling well in Japan since 2000, and while we're happy that the market is more prosperous, they've made Japan feel like a big enemy in terms of content and quality, and we've had a great sense of crisis.
At that time, regarding how to compete in cost and other aspects, my personal idea was to take uniqueness as the direction of our battle. Because if the other side spends 5 billion yen, we will also spend 5 billion, and the other party will spend 10 billion yen, and we will also follow 10 billion, although this way of competition can also be, but we prefer to decide the victory or defeat with content, and win with content that the West will not do or cannot do. As a result, you can see it now.
At first, we had a challenger mentality, wanted to try it out with such a subject, we didn't think about doing research, whether the subject could be accepted for such a detailed consideration, just wanted to discover what we really wanted to do.
To be honest, when We first made "Like a Dragon" for adult men in Japan, we made it with the mentality that only a few people would be interested. But after the real release, I unexpectedly found that many young people will also come to play, and even some female players are also very interested.
Image from "Like a Dragon"
But I think this unique charm is precisely because of the screening of users, and it is precisely because of its charm is very unique, this uniqueness even in the eyes of overseas players will feel that only this game has such a unique and interesting experience.
If you had to ask me if I had foreseen this, although I often said in interviews that I had calculated it, to be honest, I did not foresee it at the time. So honestly, it's more of a coincidence. What I learned, however, is that if you're conscious of making something interesting, you're bound to end up making something that's acceptable to the public, and that's a lot of benefiting me.
And as the game's sales grew and began to benefit the company, we were no longer a challenger, and it just happened to be the 4th and 5th installments of the series. In order to make sales more stable, we are also under a lot of pressure.
But due to the increase in the number of fans, I don't think I need to pay too much attention to the matter of changing the direction of the content. The original fans will not run away, in order to make more people feel the charm from the work, we ourselves should not waver, not only can not simply be satisfied with the growth of sales, but also those who like "Like Dragon", what places they like, we must not forget, this is the problem I have been thinking about.
Image from "Like a Dragon"
Regarding the series, I think that as the number of works in the series increases, how to go further in the next work is the most important. For example, the evolution of a piece of hardware can shorten our loading time, and it can also make our processes more coherent and increase the quality of our story.
Now, I don't think there's really a big gap in the development cycle of every type of game in the world, but if we talk about Dragons alone, we're really constantly adjusting its workflow. So when the first part is completed, the assets will accumulate a lot. In this regard, development does become more efficient.
But every time the project is made, we will reflect on it, such as "I would have done it earlier", "It would have been better to have made that decision earlier", even if it is a small accumulation, it is not ignored. Summarize what was not done well last time, share it with you carefully, and improve our workflow. If you want to make a movie, you have to set up a stage, then write a script, then adjust the lighting, and finally finish it, which is a good step, but it is also important to let it do this work at the same time.
Image from "Like a Dragon"
In short, after such a small effort has accumulated, it has indeed been surprisingly possible to greatly shorten the development time. In the latest game 7, we changed the genre to RPG, and whether it's the era dramas that are interspersed with them, the zombies that appear, we're all constantly trying new content so that fans don't get bored. In addition, along with the advancement of technology to make the gameplay smoother, and finally take all these parts into account, so that they are balanced in front of the audience is where we pay the most attention.
Honestly, every time I am very worried about whether this work will be accepted, but as long as we have always adhered to our most essential original intentions and emotions, I believe that it will bring good results, and in fact, sales have indeed increased. Now I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but to be honest, I'm still worried about whether I'll be accepted next time, or whether I'll be accepted next time. Because there are no absolutes in the entertainment world, I think it takes an effort to think hard every time to come up with an answer.
Plot and gameplay design
Regarding story production, to be honest, I have played a big role in the study of film, in general, the film's touch is generated through audiovisual, but the "play" link in the game is inevitable, play and then moved, the two are still very different.
Even if you have an interesting story, it doesn't matter if it's still interesting when you put it in the game. Even if you can write an interesting story, if the story is not suitable for playing in the game, it means that it is not a good story for the game, no matter how interesting the story is, so this must not be mistaken. That's what I say to young people to this day.
Since I have studied filmmaking before, personally, the impact of the plot on the game design is very large, but in the end play is our goal, so whether the plot can be suitable for play, after first judging whether the plot itself is interesting, we must think again from the gameplay, and we must repeat the problem. On the contrary, no matter how interesting you find the plot, if I conclude that it is not suitable for the game, I will simply abandon the plot. At this time, we must have courage and cannot drag mud and water.
Image from "Like a Dragon"
Anyway, in the end you will return to a choice of trade-offs, the focus is on what you want to take, all of them are definitely not OK, there must be a trade-off. If you just keep taking, it will end up being a mess and can't convey what you can convey, so if you want to convey as well as possible, it's best to make it with the bare minimum of material.
In conclusion, gameplay is the priority, we are producers, but if you ask us what kind of producer, as long as you answer that you are a game producer, then your priority must be the gameplay.
Interesting things, whether past, present or future, I don't think it will change much, but I think the current era is very demanding. Unlike in the past, there are many performances like comics or other media that suddenly enter the climax, and perhaps today's young people are growing up watching YouTube and TikTok more than watching TV. For example, in recent songs, many songs are very strangely structured, why is this? That's because a lot of it doesn't need a prelude anymore, it's like suddenly starting with the chorus of the song, the best place to listen.
Image from "Like a Dragon"
So shouldn't the plot of the game be designed in this way? Finding ways to apply to games from the production methods of different types of works like this, I sometimes think in this way. Rather than starting with the prologue and then slowly beginning to lay the groundwork through the present, it may be easier to give a big impact at the beginning and then slowly return to the process of understanding the content of the story.
I think that the more acceptable styles will continue to change in the future, not only how to build the story of the fun and acceptable styles, but I think the game will always face the same questions in the future.
Globalization and the future
I think the progress of the times is always marked by the progress of science and technology, just like PlayStation launched PS2, 3, 4 and now PS5 is also born. Technological advances in various ways mean advances in numbers, but also advances in speed.
For example, in the past action-adventure games, when looking at the cutscenes of adventure games that required combat, that era was necessarily loaded, and this loading time is now getting shorter and shorter, even so short that it does not need to be loaded to become seamless. Playing like this is getting smoother and smoother, the immersion is also increasing, and the emotion can be conveyed to the user more smoothly.
In general, technological advances are not only about making games smoother, we also have to make games move.
In addition, VR and AR are the same, the device itself will not move you, how do we use these devices in what way or means to make users feel moved, I think here is a very test of your creativity.
I'm very, very interested in all kinds of technologies, and I'm all paying attention to them, but the advances in hardware, the increase in device choices, the increase in infrastructure like metaverses, while they do make me happy, I don't think that these alone will satisfy users or make them happy. What else can we do on top of these devices, after figuring out what you have to do, and then start there, I've been thinking about it this way.
Because we're Japanese, we're making games in a studio built in this part of Japan, and although it doesn't change that we want to make games for the world, the sensibility we have is the most important thing to me, and I still think so even now.
As for what is interesting about entertainment in essence, I think that the common feelings of the world must exist, and to be honest, I do not have this awareness that is unique to Japan, but on the other hand, whether it is European and American manga or movies, I am still not interested in imitating them.
I think one of the advantages of Japanese games is that they are well-made, I'm not saying that overseas games are rough, and there are well-made games abroad, but there is a feeling of craftsmanship on the japanese side, like the feeling of concentrating on every detail to make games, so I think Japanese games are very good.
But that is not because as long as you do carefully, so the sales volume can grow such a simple thing, but this care should be effectively conveyed to the user's heart, so that the user feels that it is doing a good job and is moved. We, especially as producers, have to make sure that this care is rewarded from a sales perspective, and that's what I'm thinking about now.
The current gaming crowd, which covers everyone from children to adults, including those in their 50s and 60s, has also increased quite a bit, and I think the gaming population itself is growing, and while it's a business practice to want to expand its audience for granted, almost anyone can think of that, but I think it's still too greedy.
If the concept of a work is interesting, I think the number of people who can accept this fun is still limited, and if you can satisfy these people to the maximum, then there will be the next version, and the next version will increase the number of people. In short, it is to take it step by step, and then slowly expand, and eventually gain a very wide range of users. Developing fans like this and then slowly catching fire is the best "shortcut" for me.
Image from "Like a Dragon"
"Only this can work", "To sweep the world can only use this method", I think there is no such thing. But if you want to keep up with the trend, you have to do the proper research and invite people who know this culture well to join the team, and then everyone works together and I think it's important.
On the other hand, if you want to compete with originality and uniqueness, then you need to have people who are confident that they can make such content, confidently and in the best form to complete this content, I think there are roughly two types of content.
If it were me, I would choose content with high originality and uniqueness to decide the winner or loser, and eventually this may also become the style of our studio.
In general, now my studio, myself, wants to produce the next work on the premise of challenging globalization. In the past, although I said that it is difficult, in other words, I am also determined to challenge globalization again before joining NetEase Games, so I will definitely fulfill my promise.