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【CEDEC+KYUSHU2022】「SCARLET NEXUS」The road to cr...

【CEDEC+KYUSHU2022】「SCARLET NEXUS」The road to creating an original title

This is an archive of 『「SCARLET NEXUS」The road to creating an original title』from the session at CEDEC+KYUSHU2022. This session was held on November 12th, 2022.
※The content includes information as of November 12th, 2022.

Session Videos (YouTube)
https://youtu.be/FrrDaiOJOok

SCARLET NEXUS™ & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.

■ Speakers
Kenji Anabuki (Bandai Namco Studios Inc.)
Katsuya Emi (TOSE CO., LTD)

■ About this session
http://cedec-kyushu.jp/2022/session/06.html

#bandainamcostudios #scarletnexus

More Decks by Bandai Namco Studios Inc.

Other Decks in Technology

Transcript

  1. The road to creating an original title Kenji Anabuki Bandai

    Namco Studios Inc. Katsuya Emi TOSE CO., LTD
  2. Today’s Speakers Kenji Anabuki Director and Development Producer Bandai Namco

    Studios Inc. Worked on the Tales series for about 11 years. Previously lead game designer in Tales of Vesperia (Xbox360) and director in Tales of Xillia 2. Katsuya Emi Senior artist and Game director TOSE CO., LTD Originally worked in art, including creating VFX, storyboarding, and offering artistic supervision in the studio. Later shifted to direction and now mainly works as a game director. Has experience creating proposals for projects and offering direction during development.
  3. Will your power break you? Or will it become your

    bond? “New Himuka” –where neuroscience evolved to the extreme. Human beings are threated by the “Others” descended from the skies. Only power users that wield paranormal abilities can counter this threat. Genre: Brain Punk Action RPG Platforms: Xbox Series X|S /Xbox One (with SMART DELIVERY ) PlayStation®5 / PlayStation®4 / STEAM® SCARLET NEXUS™ & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.
  4. Bandai Namco Studios Inc. ・Concept planning ・Story writing ・Responsible for

    directing each section ・Total of 20 members at largest Development (Team Structure) TOSE CO., LTD ・Main development team ・Utilized agile development ・Some 30 members at the beginning ・A total of around 100 members in the latter phase
  5. Development (Chronology) May 2015 Sep 2016 Feb 2017 Sep 2017

    Mar 2018 Apr 2019 Oct 2019 Aug 2020 Apr 2021 Jun 2021 Secretly started in BNS as a quasi-extracurricular research project Launched as a formal project Partnered with TOSE & entered pre-production “Uncool” incident Entered production Screenshot comparison incident Completed α version Completed β version Submitted master version Release *Updated the game afterward.
  6. No matter how you look at it, the way you

    approach the concept is important when developing a new original title. What I Want to Emphasize Today
  7. Today’s Agenda How to Approach the Concept Step 1: Giving

    it an “edge” Step 2: Differentiating Step 3: Sharing Development Team Team split between Bandai Namco Studios and TOSE How we approached working remotely, relationship between developers
  8. The concept of SCARLET NEXUS Having cool fights using psychic

    abilities and experiencing firsthand the special bonds with your companions.
  9. Full Text of the Concept A dramatic tale that unfolds

    in a world that is an extension of the present. In it, fighters who are artificially granted psychic powers face off against a threat that emerged spontaneously. Its visuals utilize new cel shaded rendering techniques to create an anime-style look that is familiar to the target audience but also feels chic. Players control power users: individuals who possess special psychic abilities that are created solely to counter the Others. The protagonist shares a roof with the members of a party of ability users, each of whom are placed under the same circumstances. As they spend time together, they get to know a companion that fetches their liking. We will depict the companion’s relationship with the protagonist in a scenario written exclusively for them. These groups are able to boost their abilities and share thoughts through brain links. Engage in battles with enemy power users and pull off team combos by combining your powers and abilities with other team members using intuitive controls. These fights allow you to outsmart the enemy with effective strategizing and pull off comebacks by disrupting enemies’ plans. Engage in highly strategic, over-the-top, and action-packed combat. Conversations and cutscenes are dynamically inserted during battles, making the plot and battles unfold in parallel. The game is a “psychic bond action RPG,” so... Players will receive otherworldly thrills in a universe that’s close enough to our own to understand intuitively. Immersing themselves in the story and world will provide a moving experience. Its anime-style visuals make the game approachable while providing a new (and different) twist on the genre. Players control a brilliant character in a unique role while interacting with other unique and attractive characters. Exhilarating battles offer a sense of achievement and when they successfully execute a strategy in an anime or manga-like turn of events. At the same time, they can experience the solidarity of being connected by special bonds and themes of friendship and love peculiar to juvenile drama.
  10. Full Text of the Concept (Summary) Visuals incorporating cel shading

    that feel unique and sophisticated. Characters that share thoughts and powers with their Companions via brain links whose special bond creates a feeling of solidarity. Over-the-top battles chock-full of psychic abilities that offer a sense of achievement and exhilaration when players strategize effectively.
  11. Giving it an “edge” See how our title changes from

    launching the project to releasing. Stages of SCARLET NEXUS
  12. ・There’s always the temptation to try to polish everything, as

    much as we want to. ・But the budget is finite, so we need to particular about how we polish the concept. >>Give the concept an “edge” so it cuts like a knife through butter! Giving it an “edge” Giving it an “edge”
  13. Concept Stages We’re going to introduce the stages we went

    through when polishing the concept. Giving it an “edge”
  14. Full Text of the Concept (Summary) Visuals incorporating cel shading

    that feel unique and sophisticated. Characters that share thoughts and powers with their Companions via brain links whose special bond creates a feeling of solidarity. Over-the-top battles chock-full of psychic abilities that offer a sense of achievement and exhilaration when players strategize effectively.
  15. SAS (Struggle Arms System) Connect with Companions and fight by

    borrowing their powers. Concept Stages Sharpen the concept
  16. What is the "Uncool” incident? It’s when Anabuki’s heart was

    put through the shredder during preproduction when a staff member said the deliverables were “not cool.” Giving it an “edge”
  17. “Uncool” incident Having cool fights using psychic abilities and experiencing

    firsthand the special bonds with your companions. The concept of SCARLET NEXUS “Uncool” is the complete opposite of the concept, which is NOT acceptable! Giving it an “edge”
  18. Feature revision Feature development was done, but we were still

    in the conceptualizing phase, so we decided to take them back to the drawing board. What did we do? Giving it an “edge”
  19. Giving it an “edge” 以前の映像 今の映像 The tempo was bad

    and the visuals looked uncool. The change let us easily implement cool combat.
  20. What was the “screenshot comparison incident”? About halfway through development

    we compared Scarlet Nexus’ in-game look with a screenshot of another game. The development team was shocked when they were told “the differences are not noticeable at a glance”. Differentiating
  21. Importance of differentiation As a myriad of games are in

    the market, we must differentiate our titles from the competitors to attract gamers. This is especially true when making an original title. People will hardly recognize it if it does not differentiate itself. Differentiating
  22. Upgrade and rebuild the concept Having cool fights using psychic

    abilities and experiencing firsthand the special bonds with your companions. Using this as a base, we upgraded and rebuilt the concept to differentiate it. Differentiating
  23. Full Text of the Concept Players can freely manipulate psychokinetic

    abilities as “power users” and use their enhanced brain power to dodge and defeat enemies in their own way. They can fall in love with themselves as they play as a tough berserker who mows down enemies with their dangerous powers, They grow their bonds with their Companions, enhance their brain link, borrow abilities, and cooperate in attacking and defending. Players feel trusted by their companions, who rely on them, and get swept away when their companions forget pain and danger and act to save them. This is a RPG drama in which youngsters, whose lives were at the mercy of the adults around them, fight by their own will to save the world. Players can feel uplifted by becoming a member of a strong and independent-minded group that confronts the dark side of society.
  24. Full Text of the Concept (Summary) Utilizing psycho-kinetic action as

    power users with enhanced brains, players can fall in love with themselves by playing as a tough berserker who manipulates dangerous powers. Players enhance their brain link, cooperate with their companions during combat, and get swept away their companions forget pain and danger and act to save them.
  25. Key point of differentiation Fall in love with yourself during

    combat. A tough berserker who wields dangerous powers Differentiating
  26. Key point of differentiation Feeling trusted by your Companions. Getting

    swept away when others forget pain and danger and act to save you. Differentiating
  27. Players can freely manipulate psychokinetic abilities as “power users” and

    use their enhanced brain power to dodge and defeat enemies in their own way. They can fall in love with themselves as they play as a tough berserker who mows down enemies with their dangerous powers, They grow their bonds with their Companions, enhance their brain link, borrow abilities, and cooperate in attacking and defending. Players feel trusted by their companions, who rely on them, and get swept away when their companions forget pain and danger and act to save them. This is a RPG drama in which youngsters, whose lives were at the mercy of the adults around them, fight by their own will to save the world. Players can feel uplifted by becoming a member of a strong and independent-minded group that confronts the dark side of society. Coined term expressing the world view of SCARLET NEXUS Brain Punk
  28. Having cool fights using psychic abilities and experiencing firsthand the

    special bonds with your companions. The concept wasn’t communicated well Sharing Although we poured time and efforts to create the concept, it was not communicated to other members well and got the point across even less than expected.
  29. Legacy titles have a precedent to work from, but original

    IPs do not. Therefore, expectations for quality varies from member to member. Finisher moves should be like ◦◦◦. This sword should look cool like ×××. Movement is like △△△. Sharing The concept wasn’t communicated well
  30. A dramatic tale that unfolds in a world that is

    an extension of the present. In it, fighters who are artificially granted psychic powers face off against a threat that emerged spontaneously. Its visuals utilize new cel shaded rendering techniques to create an anime-style look that is familiar to the target audience but also feels chic. Players control power users: individuals who possess special psychic abilities that are created solely to counter the Others. The protagonist shares a roof with the members of a party of ability users, each of whom are placed under the same circumstances. As they spend time together, they get to know a companion that fetches their liking. We will depict the companion’s relationship with the protagonist in a scenario written exclusively for them. These groups are able to boost their abilities and share thoughts through brain links. Engage in battles with enemy power users and pull off team combos by combining your powers and abilities with other team members using intuitive controls. These fights allow you to outsmart the enemy with effective strategizing and pull off comebacks by disrupting enemies’ plans. Engage in highly strategic, over-the-top, and action-packed combat. Conversations and cutscenes are dynamically inserted during battles, making the plot and battles unfold in parallel. The game is a “psychic bond action RPG,” so... Players will receive otherworldly thrills in a universe that’s close enough to our own to understand intuitively. Immersing themselves in the story and world will provide a moving experience. Its anime-style visuals make the game approachable while providing a new (and different) twist on the genre. Players control a brilliant character in a unique role while interacting with other unique and attractive characters. Exhilarating battles offer a sense of achievement and when they successfully execute a strategy in an anime or manga-like turn of events. At the same time, they can experience the solidarity of being connected by special bonds and themes of friendship and love peculiar to juvenile drama. Since the sentences in the Concept statement were long and contained abstract expressions, not many members in TOSE’s properly understood them after reading. Sharing The concept wasn’t communicated well
  31. As a result ・Quality per asset was inconsistent. ・Creative staff

    were unsatisfied with direction. ・We started to see a tendency for members to give the highest priority to finishing tasks. Begin to work on solving those problems Sharing
  32. Effort 1: Breakdown the concept We broke down the concept

    by production stage and rearranged it to fit the process. Having cool fights using psychic abilities and experiencing firsthand the special bonds with your companions. Overall game: Disrupt situations using companions’ powers and perform killer move by comboing weapons and psychokinesis. Battle: Enemies that you want to proactively defeat using your powers (“Power=fun” is the goal) All enemies: They approach with unpredictable speed, but you can defeat it by using companions’ ability, hypervelocity. Single enemies: Sharing
  33. Effort 1: Breakdown the concept We made conscious effort to

    explain our work to a variety of people and not just upload data to the server without explanation. Meetings with all members Provide extra explanation to each member Sharing
  34. Initiative 2: Inter-company joint concept planning TOSE joined the concept

    planning, which was mainly led by Bandai Namco Studio, so that they would be able to have responsibility as well as discretion toward quality. Sharing
  35. Initiative 2: Inter-company joint concept planning As a result, a

    member of TOSE side were able to understand the title’s concept faster. It also had the affect of giving them a feeling of “ownership” of their work. Sharing
  36. Initiative 2: Inter-company joint concept planning Next, we wrote down

    the details of the concept prepared for each production stage. This led to the members in TOSE creating specific quality standard. Sharing
  37. As a result, direction issues within TOSE were resolved and

    the quality level of deliverables were made uniform. Both Bandai Namco Studios and TOSE were able to move on to the same direction just by sharing minimum level of information. Sharing Initiative 2: Inter-company joint concept planning
  38. No matter how you look at it, the way you

    approach the concept is important when developing a new original title. What I want to emphasize once again today
  39. How to approach the concept Giving it an “edge” Polish

    should be given to the concept, not the entire title. Give the concept an “edge” so it cuts like a knife through butter. Differentiating Original titles must be differentiated from other titles to get recognition. Need in-game visuals that are different enough to not be misinterpreted as an existing release from a competitor. Sharing Sharing concepts is difficult when creating an original title with no precedent. This can be resolved by plan concepts for each stage of production and fostering a sense of “ownership”.
  40. Development Structure:Latter part Battle プレイヤー Enemy Level Event UI Visual

    System モデル Animation VFX メモリ処理 Sound Direction Camera Latter part of development Anabuki TOSE Programmer TOSE Artist TOSE Planner TOSE Artist TOSE Programmer TOSE Sound TOSE Artist Anabuki& Emi BNS TOSE BNS TOSE BNS TOSE BNS TOSE BNS TOSE BNS TOSE
  41. Face-to-face and remote communication ・Originally, communication between Bandai Namco Studios

    and TOSE was remote. ・Specific teams in both companies implemented both face- to-face and remote communication. ・As a rule of thumb, communication in the combat and level teams was face-to-face. ・Teams other than the above generally communicated remotely.
  42. The trial version is available for download You can enjoy

    the early story in SCARLET NEXUS. Save data can be transferred to the full version. You can enjoy psychic ability-based combat utilizing psychokinesis and companion powers in a partially unlocked version of the game. DEMO EDITION STORY DEMO
  43. Anabuki’s social media accounts I post screenshots of SCARLET NEXUS

    every day. I passed 700 days! Please check it out. m(__)m https://twitter.com/shibainu_kenji