User:KamekSans/Projects/Developer Interview (Luigi's Mansion)

(This interview with Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development was originally published in Nintendo Power's Luigi's Mansion strategy guide.)

NP: Tell us about the process of selecting Luigi as the star as the first adventure title for Nintendo GameCube.
Mr. Sugiyama: We started with the idea of making a game in which the player explored a huge house, walking back and forth between the rooms. The house started as a Japanese-style Ninja house. When we changed it to an American-style haunted mansion, we tried to think of a character who would work in those surroundings. Because the house is filled with ghosts, we wanted a character with a cowardly personality. That's why we decided that Luigi was a good choice.
Mr. Konno: Mario has too much of a reputation for being a hero to be believable as the frightened explorer of a haunted house.

NP: If the setting was not a haunted house, would Mario have been your choice as the lead character?
Mr. Konno: In the initial design phase of the game, Mario was our choice for the lead character. At the time, we were working on new ideas for an exploration game with many different rooms, in the same vein as the dungeon explorations sections of the Legend of Zelda games. During those tests, we changed the setting from a Ninja house to something that was more like a dollhouse. The dollhouse setting seemed natural, because the player always looks through one of the walls to see the other three walls in the room. As we were developing the lighting scheme, we settled on a design that featured a lot of darkness and shadows. That's when we decided that the house should be haunted. Since it isn't part of Mario's personality to be surprised or frightened, we decided that Luigi would be a better fit.

NP: What features were you able to put in the game based on the fact that you were developing for the Nintendo GameCube?
Mr. Sotoike: The first thing that we wanted to do was create dynamic lighting with really crisp shadows. Since hardware development for the Nintendo GameCube was not complete at the time that we started game development, we were able to make requests for technical capabilities to be added to the new system. Many of the features that we asked for were adopted.

NP: What can you do with the shadows and light in a Nintendo GameCube game?
Mr. Sotoike: We can attach real-time shadows to all objects. The direction and shape of the shadows, and the way that the shadows interact with objects in the environment, is all handled by the hardware. Those capabilities were added to the graphics chip after we asked for them.

NP: The Nintendo GameCube has a reputation for being a development-friendly game machine. Did that make the development time for Luigi's Mansion shorter?
Mr. Sotoike: Nintendo 64 development does pose a lot of technical hurdles that aren't there when you're developing for the Nintendo GameCube. The fewer technical problems gave us more time for genuine creative development.
Mr. Sugiyama: Since Nintendo GameCube graphics are of a very high quality, all of the time that we save from a lack of technical hurdles is spent in creating the best images possible.

NP: Since the Nintendo GameCube system is disc based, were there concerns about loading time?
Mr. Sotoike: We load only a few rooms at a time. For that reason, loading time is very short.

NP: Luigi's Mansion makes very good use of the Nintendo GameCube Controller. How did that work out?
Mr. Konno: When we started developing the game, the Nintendo GameCube controller had not yet been designed. We wanted to use two analog sticks from the beginning. The idea was always to use one stick for movement and another stick for the directional control of what turned out to be Luigi's flashlight and vacuum. Because of the importance of the two sticks in the control scheme, we wanted to use fewer buttons than we would use in game with more standard controls. While we did end up using all of the buttons on the Controller when we developed the functions of the Game Boy Horror, I think that we successfully simplified control by implementing the use of two sticks. The game may be a little difficult to control when you start, but it eventually becomes very easy. That was our goal.

NP: Was there any discussion about how easy the game would be for beginners?
Mr. Konno: We had a lot of discussion about that. In fact, we did work on a simpler control scheme that used only one stick, but I was very particular about this one feature. I told Mr. Miyamoto that we wanted to use two sticks and that we wanted this feature to contribute to the level of difficulty and challenge in the game. The E3 version of the game had only the Sidestep control technique. We added the Standard control technique after E3 for more ease of play.

NP: The A Button doesn't play a very big role in the control of the character. That seems unusual for a Nintendo game.
Mr. Konno: Most of our games do make more use of the A Button, but because one of the main game control functions uses the C Stick and it's hard to control the C Stick and press the A Button at the same time, we assigned the vacuum control to the R Button instead of the A Button.

NP: The angular control of the vacuum nozzle is a little tricky, but it's satisfying when you are successful.
Mr. Konno: That was our intention. Many of the testers felt that it was uncomfortable to use the C Stick for long periods of time. For that reason, we redesigned the C Stick, making it wider and more comfortable for your thumb.

NP: What is your opinion about the general degree of difficulty in the game?
Mr. Konno: Because the control scheme is designed to add a level of challenge to the game, we decided to tone down some of the other game play challenges. It's very important for a launch title to be well-balanced in its degree of difficulty. We wanted to make the game like Yoshi's Story in the way that you can reach the ending after several hours, but you feel motivated to play the game again. Because of that, we decided to have a lot of puzzle elements and not require tons of item collection. We wanted to let the player decide how long it would take to complete the game. For that reason, there are several things that you can do in the game, but you don't have to do them all to reach the ending.

NP: When you collect a key in the game, the Game Boy Horror screen automatically shows which door you can unlock. That is a very helpful feature.
Mr. Konno: We didn't originally design it that way, but we decided that it would be frustrating for the player if we didn't show which door matched the key. In addition to that, we thought it was a good idea to show a map of the entire mansion at the beginning. It's common to show only the areas that the player has explored, but we wanted to give the player a feeling for the size of the mansion from the start.

NP: You don't give a hint about the warp mirrors in the game. Why not?
Mr. Konno: We figured that every player would use the Game Boy Horror to examine one of the mirrors sooner or later. The mirror in the foyer is sort of a hint. Because of the distance between that mirror and the place that you warp to is short, some people find that to be a little confusing, but it works for most players.

NP: The mirror in the storage room plays a part in solving a puzzle, since you can see the button that you must push in the reflection of the mirror.
Mr. Konno: That mirror was a late addition. At first we had a line of coins that led to the button, but we decided that it was a little too manipulative.

NP: There is a line of coins that leads to a trapdoor in the first hallway that you explore.
Mr. Konno: We also lead players to the trapdoors by the design of the paths of the escaping Boos. I've watched many testers follow Boos to the trapdoors then get flattened when they try to open the doors. Then I laugh over their shoulders.

NP: The collection of all 50 Boos is very challenging.
Mr. Konno: One thing you have to remember is that the Boos always stay on the same floor. Watch carefully when the Boo leaves the room, and try to chase it to the next room.
Mr. Sugiyama: If enough time passes, the Boo will find a new place to hide.
Mr. Konno: When you save the game, quit and return, all of the Boos that flew away to other rooms will return to their original rooms. Another thing to remember is that the hit points of the Boos are not directly related how quickly they can get away. Some Boos that have high hit points are fairly easy to catch. Some Boos with low hit points are more difficult to catch because of their speed.

NP: Did you ever have the feeling that you weren't going to finish making the game in time for the system's launch?
Mr. Sugiyama: We didn't ever feel that we would be late, but some other people might have thought that was going to happen.
Mr. Sotoike: The schedule was certainly very tight. The designers and programmers sometimes had disagreements over whether certain features were going to be implemented in time, but it worked out.

NP: Did you have to scrap some ideas because you didn't have enough time?
Mr. Sotoike: Actually, we added more ideas toward the end of the development rather than taking any features away.

NP: What features did you add late in the process of development?
Mr. Konno: We added the ability to turn off the flashlight with the B Button considerably late in the process. It was a flash of inspiration from Mr. Miyamoto. He thought that there should be more things that the player can do by pushing the A and B Buttons.
Mr. Sotoike: Of course, there is a functional reason to turn off the flashlight, too. If you light up a ghost from a long distance, it will usually get away before you can capture it. Mr. Miyamoto suggested that the player should be able to turn off the light and wait for the ghost to get close, then turn it on and quickly collect the ghost. I believe that he wanted the feature partially for the added functionality and partially for the fun of pushing buttons and making things happen.
Mr. Konno: Mr. Miyamoto really values the feeling of control responsiveness in our games. For example, when you check the walls, Luigi used to go through an elaborate animation before he rapped on the plaster, but Mr. Miyamoto thought that it was very important for Luigi to tap the wall immediately after the player presses the button.

NP: The use of elements (fire, water and ice) adds a lot of depth to the game. Did you have that idea from the beginning?
Mr. Konno: One of our early challenges was to display fire, water and atmospheric effects realistically. That was something that we wanted to test. We also were very interested in making the dust look realistic. At first, dust clouds used a fixed animation that looked the same every time. It didn't look very interesting, so we created a solution through programming that would change the amount of dust that flies around the room depending on the level activity^[sic] in the room. One of our younger programmers worked on the dust programming for about six months.
Mr. Sotoike: Another effect that took a lot of programming was the stretching and bending of the ghosts when they are consumed by the vacuum. It was hard work, but the results are worth it.

NP: Did you use motion-capture technology in the development of the game?
Mr. Konno: Yes. We used motion capture in the cinematic sequences at the beginning and the end of the game. The part at the beginning where Luigi is walking in a very cowardly way through the parlor uses motion capture.

NP: The way that Luigi hums and whistles along with the music was a nice touch.
Mr. Konno: The sound staff added that feature after E3. They thought that the background music wasn't very fun, so they came up with the idea would interact with the music. The programming schedule was pretty tight, but we resolved to challenge ourselves and we were able to add that feature in time.

NP: Another nice touch is the way that Luigi calls for Mario.
Mr. Konno: That was something that we added over the course of development. There wasn't much to do with the A Button, except for examining objects and opening doors. One of our staff members suggested that Luigi should call out for Mario, since Luigi's main motivation is to find his brother. There are about 30 variations in the way that Luigi calls for Mario. They vary depending on Luigi's health.

NP: Gallery ghosts look different from other ghosts in the Mario series. Why the change?
Mr. Sugiyama: We thought that standard Mario-style ghosts and Boos were good for random mansion encounters, but we decided to go for a more human-looking style for the event-related ghosts. That separates them from the other ghosts and makes them more important.

NP: How did you feel about including characters from the other Mario games in Luigi's Mansion?
Mr. Konno: During the design phase, we considered not having other Mario characters in the game, because we didn't want it to feel like another chapter in the Mario series. Then we added the Boos, Bowser and Toad. But we use those characters sparingly, and Bowser is really kind of a surprise at the end.

NP: Did you intend to make the game scary?
Mr. Sugiyama: No. We wanted Luigi to be frightened, but we didn't have any desire to scare players.

NP: Some people try to compare Nintendo GameCube games to games on other systems. How do you approach that subject?
Mr. Sugiyama: I don't think too much about other games and how we should compete against them. I know that there are other haunted house games, but I don't think that Luigi's Mansion compares directly with them. We spend much more time thinking about how we will make our game in our own style rather than considering how it will compare to other styles.
Mr. Sotoike: In addition to making sure that the game worked well from a technical standpoint, we wanted ot create something that is innovative—something that no one else has experienced before. In that way, it can't really compete with other games, because our game is different, unique.