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:
daisuke deserves to fall from disgrace after ruining bridget
Cry about it
Ruined how?
afaik he said it was more of a censorship thing in the west. which is why in japan people still say he’s a boy
No one cares about your opinion.
Yet here you are, crying and seething about his opinion. Bridget is a boy, no amount HRT that killed this franchise will change that fact
Bridget was the icing on the cake, but the shit was written on the wall since Strive first came out. Hard rock was replaced by generic pop music, iconography and personalized hud thrown out in favor of boxes you’d see in a flash or bootleg game, “fights” that go at a snail’s pace. And, of course, eveyone had their movesets torn in half to not offend the gaijin.
Everyone had been castrated at that point anyways, why not castrate the groomed boy too?
lol
lmao, even
Have fun Ishiwatari. You had a loyal audience that loved your works for what they were, and you decided to shit all over them for minimal gain. Now you’re destined to wallow in your own feces and I think that’s a beautiful thing.
Glad that this slop is going to flop ever since they censored their games and retconned them to pander to mentally ill groomers.
What the hell are most of the comments talkin about, its like the “human authentication” checkbox before filling a comment is irrelevant to em?? Its like they get personally attacked by the AAA developers for ruining their lives or smth… When youre a Chief Creative Officer and not some some lone cowboy who could do anything he wants, you have to think about the future and co-workers well beings, its hard to strike a balance even when i wasnt the intended audience for this new game its still very commendable. Talking about censorship in GG theres still resembelence in their games like how all the characters are overall “bigger and curvier” and despite cultures differences theyre still are willing to tell a different character indentity, its just not on-the-nose anymore like seeing underwear 24/7, its understandable since they are an AAA whos trying to sell their games
So many mentally unstable people in those comments. Ya all need to touch some grass and get a hang of reality.
I agree, you’re a Mentally ill comment
What the fuck are you talking about? My biggest problem with AAA games is they all feel identical. I fucking wish someone would make a AAA game that’s so unique it’s staff can’t find work elsewhere.
Sounds more like these staff members just suck at there jobs so much they get handed stupid tasks that take them forever. Like putting grass into a game taking so long? That’s called incompetence not some issue in the industry.
No the problem with AAA games is they are ran by greedy idiots who don’t want good games at all just good profits. Hence why AAA games are losing to indie games.
This is exactly what is said in the article. He states that he believes that smaller projects where teams are given more agency over the end product are important because they help develop a broader skillset through accumulated experience on different projects. His example with the placing grass was an example of what having these big AAA projects with large teams does. Tasks are broken into such small parts that those working on them aren’t learning anything new and feel like they have little agency over the project they’re working on.
This from arc sys, the devs who have promised over ten years of post release dev for that overpriced touken crap?
What a hypocrite.
I don’t think the guy that turned his unique metal and anime coded style into a generic pandering style should be giving tips to other people.
Ignoring the children in the comments, Ishiwatari’s got a point about handling staff in modern game development. At this point though, a lot of work he was once credited with is handled by new staff. People complaining about Bridget need to realize the pandering decision probably wasn’t entirely his to make. Globalization and Wokist Pandering is an ongoing issue with lots of entertainment media in the West and other regions. Some hands are tied in that regard if they want games to sell.
I’m glad they’re taking this chance to explore a different genre of gaming. If they have the same flair and music style from Guilty Gear then I’m here to support the dev team!
I love how people complain when creatives do something new, but also complain when they do the same thing. Eventually, brilliant studios die and dissappear in stagnation just to make fans happy…
If you want repetition of unchanging worn out elements… go play Madden or Call of Duty. Or even better just keep playing that one game that you loved and shut up about it. We don’t care about you stupid opinions.
“afaik he said it was more of a censorship thing in the west. which is why in japan people still say he’s a boy”
That’s a lie. The Japanese script as clear as the English one, she’s a trans girl now and people need to get over it already.
Bridget is a boy. You and your ilk can look up the beautiful night view on a certain “Bridge”
This is exactly what is said in the article. He states that he believes that smaller projects where teams are given more agency over the end product are important because they help develop a broader skillset through accumulated experience on different projects. His example with the placing grass was an example of what having these big AAA projects with large teams does. Tasks are broken into such small parts that those working on them aren’t learning anything new and feel like they have little agency over the project they’re working on.
Praying for all the dorks in this comment section to find a woman who will care to put up with them and a personality outside of just video games, so they can stop bitching about fictional video game characters and actually experience life outside of their computer for once
Have fun Ishiwatari. I bet the modern audience was worth the adventure