{"id":48012,"date":"2025-05-15T15:48:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48012"},"modified":"2025-05-15T15:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:57:08","slug":"like-a-dragon-pirate-yakuza-in-hawaii-devs-didnt-make-an-open-world-sea-to-spare-players-from-long-and-uneventful-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/like-a-dragon-pirate-yakuza-in-hawaii-devs-didnt-make-an-open-world-sea-to-spare-players-from-long-and-uneventful-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii devs didn\u2019t make an open-world sea to spare players from long and uneventful travel\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii<\/strong> did a lot of things the Yakuza series has never done before \u2013 including maritime adventures and full-on naval ship battles. When designing the pirate spin-off’s ocean and islands, RGG Studio didn\u2019t opt for one big open-world map. Instead, they divided it into multiple divided ocean maps that players can warp between. We recently talked to Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii\u2019s chief director and producer Ryosuke Horii and asked him about this decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Like<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Horii, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii\u2019s development did, in fact, start out with a big, open-world ocean map in mind. However, RGG Studio encountered \u201cmany issues\u201d when it came to actually implementing it. The biggest problem was that the devs wanted Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii to include a bunch of locations that would, true to the series’ spirit, feel wildly distinct from each other \u2013 ranging from volcanic zones to icy waters. But portraying those kinds of environments in a seamless open world without it looking unnatural was the tricky part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor example, if you want to have a snowy mountain region appear on the map without if feeling out of place, you need to make the landscape slowly transition, moving from regular waters to colder waters, eventually reaching the snow-covered area.\u201d To achieve this kind of gradual, true-to-nature transition, RGG Studio would have had to make an extremely large ocean map, with long distances between each area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Like<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The problem was, the devs didn\u2019t want to make players travel between locations for ages. They also didn\u2019t want to sacrifice the idea of including dramatic environments, as that would strip the game of its Like a Dragon-like flair. \u201cAlthough the idea of an open-world sea is certainly attractive, it didn\u2019t fit with what we were going for. That\u2019s why we decided to go for a system that divides the ocean map into regions.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horii points out that a vast ocean map can easily start feeling monotonous and boring. \u201cWithout landmarks like islands, players can\u2019t even tell if they\u2019re making progress. We tried solving that by adding tons of islands, but then the landscape started looking more like Japan\u2019s Seto Inland Sea or Lake Biwa (laughs).\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ryosuke<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, RGG Studio\u2019s priority in Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii\u2019s gameplay was not sailing itself, but going on an adventure with the Goro Pirates. As such, they abandoned the idea of an open-world map in favor of letting players quickly navigate between smaller, but diverse areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is out now for the PC (Steam<\/a>), PS4\/PS5, and Xbox One\/Xbox Series X|S.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related articles: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii director intentionally blocked out influence of Sea of Thieves and other naval games<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii may blur the lines of reality with its wackiness, but not without a serious, manly tale to keep it grounded, devs say<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although development started out with the idea of one big open-world map, this was abandoned in favor of user experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,10],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-interviews","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii devs didn\u2019t make an open-world sea to spare players from long and uneventful travel\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Although Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii's development started out with the idea of one big open-world map, this was abandoned in favor of user experience.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/like-a-dragon-pirate-yakuza-in-hawaii-devs-didnt-make-an-open-world-sea-to-spare-players-from-long-and-uneventful-travel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii devs didn\u2019t make an open-world sea to spare players from long and uneventful travel\u00a0 - 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