Arc System Works recently released their brand-new top-down action RPG Damon and Baby, a title surprisingly “different” to the studio’s flagship fighting game franchises like Guilty Gear. Discussing the development process of the game in a recent 4Gamer interview, Daisuke Ishiwatari, creator of Guilty Gear, raised concerns about the direction of modern game development, specifically addressing the problem of “overspecialization” of developers within AAA productions.
“In current game development, localized staff involvement has become a common thing […] It’s very dangerous to spend decades doing highly specialized work, only to realize later that you’re no longer capable of doing anything else. You’ll find yourself at a loss when the project you’re working on hits a rough patch, and even if you quit your job, your chances of finding another one will be slim,” Ishiwatari explained.
He also pointed to a long-running industry joke about developers spending entire projects “just placing grass on maps,” highlighting that it may be closer to reality than humor in today’s development environment.
Over time, this erosion of versatility, in his opinion, reduces creative opportunities. “People join game companies wanting to create their own signature work someday, but in today’s market, those opportunities are extremely rare.”
Ishiwatari suggests addressing AAA development issues by moving away from high-risk, big-budget projects and instead focusing on smaller, more controllable productions. He stresses that proper development requires “accumulated know-how and a proper development environment,” rather than simply pushing teams to work faster, allowing teams to maintain schedules, build experience, and manage time more effectively.
With Damon and Baby, Ishiwatari intentionally changed the workflow to give the team members more agency and hasten development. For instance, rather than creating detailed character models and making careful revisions, they “only prepared a single rough sketch and left the rest to the modelers,” and instead of splitting the roles of modeling and motion, the modelers were also “entrusted with entire characters.” This approach positively impacted development, and allowed the staff to gain experience outside of their primary field of work. “Compared to dividing tasks, it made giving instructions easier, and since they understood the character well, it was easier for them to come up with ideas and make revisions quickly.”
Being a top-down action RPG, which is a completely new territory for Arc System Works, Damon and Baby was initially intended to be a project that could allow the devs (who specialize in fighting games) to freshly approach the development process, broaden their perspective and accumulate new know-how.
Damon and Baby is out for PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and Windows (Steam).
Related:
