{"id":62510,"date":"2026-03-10T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=62510"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T05:40:33","slug":"nier-automata-inspired-indie-studio-behind-homura-hime-gets-candid-feedback-from-yoko-taro-and-takahisa-taura-leading-to-last-minute-improvements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/nier-automata-inspired-indie-studio-behind-homura-hime-gets-candid-feedback-from-yoko-taro-and-takahisa-taura-leading-to-last-minute-improvements\/","title":{"rendered":"NieR: Automata-inspired indie studio behind Homura Hime gets candid feedback from Yoko Taro and Takahisa Taura, leading to last-minute improvements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>PLAYISM released&nbsp;<strong>Homura Hime<\/strong>&nbsp;on March 4&nbsp;for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/1820000\/Homura_Hime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>). Boasting anime-style visuals,&nbsp;Homura Hime is a 3D action game developed by&nbsp;Crimson Dusk,&nbsp;a small&nbsp;indie&nbsp;team&nbsp;based&nbsp;in Taiwan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Disclosure: The publisher of this game, PLAYISM, is part of Active Gaming Media, the owner of this website.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game is set in a world where humans and&nbsp;demons&nbsp;coexist.&nbsp;Souls&nbsp;that die harboring strong emotions or&nbsp;deep&nbsp;unresolved&nbsp;regrets transform into&nbsp;archdemons \u2013 beings that can corrupt the world with their power&nbsp;and turn others&nbsp;into lowly, instinct-driven monsters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protagonist,&nbsp;the&nbsp;titular&nbsp;Flame Princess&nbsp;(voiced by Tomori Kusunoki), and her aide Ann&nbsp;(voiced by Manaka Iwami) are&nbsp;sent on a divine mission&nbsp;by the&nbsp;nation\u2019s&nbsp;High Priestess&nbsp;to purify&nbsp;the world and eliminate the threat of five extremely powerful demons.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Homura Hime\u2019s&nbsp;gameplay&nbsp;revolves around&nbsp;performing&nbsp;stylish combos&nbsp;while&nbsp;dodging and&nbsp;parrying enemy attacks. You can execute&nbsp;light and heavy slashing attacks&nbsp;as well as chained and upward slashes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Homura Hime - Release Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6WgnpBy3oV8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As the trailer above shows,&nbsp;Homura Hime&nbsp;also features&nbsp;3D&nbsp;bullet-hell&nbsp;gameplay,&nbsp;which is just one of several aspects of the game that draw inspiration&nbsp;from the&nbsp;NieR&nbsp;series.&nbsp;Starting out as a student project,&nbsp;the&nbsp;game&nbsp;was developed over a six-year period&nbsp;by&nbsp;the small team at Crimson Dusk.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given&nbsp;the game\u2019s&nbsp;strong&nbsp;NieR&nbsp;influences, we&nbsp;wondered if it might be possible to hear the thoughts of the&nbsp;NieR&nbsp;development team themselves.&nbsp;Luckily, Square Enix and&nbsp;NieR: Automata developers Yoko Taro and&nbsp;Takahisa&nbsp;Taura readily agreed to a three-way&nbsp;interview&nbsp;with the Homura Hime development team. What resulted&nbsp;is&nbsp;a pretty unique&nbsp;dev-to-dev&nbsp;discussion&nbsp;in which the Crimson Dusk&nbsp;team received&nbsp;no-nonsense&nbsp;feedback&nbsp;and creative insights&nbsp;from the&nbsp;NieR: Automata&nbsp;duo.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"yoko-and-taura-s-honest-first-impressions\">Yoko and Taura\u2019s&nbsp;honest&nbsp;first impressions&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.&nbsp;I&nbsp;understand that both of you have already played Homura Hime. What were your initial impressions?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura&nbsp;Takahisa&nbsp;(hereafter Taura):<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>At first glance, the&nbsp;cute characters immediately caught my eye. I personally really love this kind of&nbsp;anime-style character&nbsp;design,&nbsp;so I was&nbsp;very&nbsp;excited&nbsp;about&nbsp;the idea of controlling them in action. Then, actually playing the game, I was a bit surprised by the gap I felt \u2013 it demanded surprisingly precise controls, and bosses required solid&nbsp;effort&nbsp;to&nbsp;beat. It felt like a&nbsp;through-and-through&nbsp;action&nbsp;title, and it&nbsp;left&nbsp;the impression of a&nbsp;challenging&nbsp;game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I died multiple times during boss fights,&nbsp;but once I carefully learned the enemy\u2019s movements and&nbsp;how to counter them, I was able to defeat them.&nbsp;I sensed a strong focus on balance&nbsp;from the development&nbsp;team, and I honestly enjoyed playing the game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1194\" height=\"733\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-001.jpg\" alt=\"Taura Takahisa and Yoko Taro mask\" class=\"wp-image-62513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-001.jpg 1194w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-001-380x233.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-001-768x471.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Thank you very much for the praise! The difficulty is indeed set a little&nbsp;higher; that\u2019s something we were particular about.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PLAYISM producer:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>It\u2019s not exactly&nbsp;what you\u2019d call a&nbsp;die-and-retry&nbsp;or soulslike&nbsp;game,&nbsp;but we do often hear that the action feels fairly&nbsp;challenging&nbsp;for an anime-style action game. That\u2019s helpful feedback.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014And what were your first impressions, Yoko-san?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>First of all, I\u2019m extremely grateful that you say&nbsp;your work was inspired by&nbsp;NieR: Automata.&nbsp;At the same time, a large part of Automata\u2019s success was due to luck, so\u2026 I do wonder what exactly there is to learn from it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1198\" height=\"740\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-002.jpg\" alt=\"Yoko Taro mask\" class=\"wp-image-62515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-002.jpg 1198w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-002-380x235.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-002-768x474.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014What do you mean by that?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I assume Homura Hime was made by a small team. Automata, on the other hand, was created at a large company with a&nbsp;significant number&nbsp;of staff&nbsp;members.&nbsp;So, I think&nbsp;the&nbsp;amount&nbsp;of resources available to the two projects&nbsp;was&nbsp;completely different.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With&nbsp;that in mind, one thing I&nbsp;really&nbsp;liked about Homura Hime is&nbsp;how&nbsp;packed&nbsp;it&nbsp;is&nbsp;with&nbsp;all kinds of&nbsp;ideas. There are cute anime characters, bullet-hell elements,&nbsp;and when it comes to&nbsp;action mechanics,&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;even terrain-based&nbsp;platforming. When we make games professionally, we think very strictly about what we can create&nbsp;relative&nbsp;to&nbsp;cost&nbsp;constraints.&nbsp;If you have a small team and a limited budget, you&nbsp;would&nbsp;normally shrink the scope as much as possible and aim for a compact game like Vampire Survivors, for example.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014&nbsp;So,&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;saying&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;a lot of love poured into the game.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Right now, indie games in particular are increasingly moving toward this compact development approach.&nbsp;Against that backdrop, I could really feel the determination to create something on the scale of a big console title like Automata even with a small team. I thought that was wonderful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I personally hope indie developers and younger creators keep doing things that are a bit reckless like that. I don\u2019t want everything to become small, clever, and&nbsp;polished, so I was genuinely happy to see a game like this appear.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since&nbsp;you\u2019re attempting something that ambitious, there are of course various small details&nbsp;in the game&nbsp;where I thought, \u201cIt might be better if this were done differently\u201d (laughs). But my most honest impression is that this kind of 3D action game will inevitably be compared&nbsp;to&nbsp;titles from&nbsp;big-name&nbsp;companies.&nbsp;The team is&nbsp;working incredibly hard and&nbsp;has&nbsp;so many great aspects, but it feels like a shame they&#8217;re already standing on a field where they&#8217;ll be measured against the giants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>\u2026It\u2019s exactly as you say, Yoko-san. After we&nbsp;announced&nbsp;Homura Hime, people online&nbsp;did actually&nbsp;describe it as a \u201clow-budget NieR: Automata.\u201d During development,&nbsp;we&nbsp;strove to introduce elements that would differentiate it from other action games, so we added things like parry mechanics and bullet-hell sections, and eventually concluded that this was the best way to distinguish it within the genre.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1197\" height=\"672\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1197px) 100vw, 1197px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-003.jpg\" alt=\"Homura Hime bullet hell\" class=\"wp-image-62516\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-003.jpg 1197w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-003-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-003-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"expert-feedback-from-yoko-and-taura\"><strong>Expert&nbsp;feedback from Yoko and Taura<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>The basic feel of the controls,&nbsp;or&nbsp;what&nbsp;you\u2019d&nbsp;call&nbsp;the core structure of the game,&nbsp;is very solid. Parrying feels good, and the action overall has a satisfying tactile feel. That said, there were various small surrounding elements where I found myself thinking, \u201cIf it were us, we\u2019d probably do it like this&nbsp;instead.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One area I think could&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;use adjustment is the&nbsp;platforming&nbsp;section where you&nbsp;need to capture a head.&nbsp;The difficulty there feels a bit too high, so it might be better&nbsp;to&nbsp;either make it easier to understand or make it an optional route instead of mandatory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014That\u2019s a very convincing point.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Thank you very much for the suggestion. We\u2019ll try to adjust that before release if possible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Everyone:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(As&nbsp;will be&nbsp;mentioned&nbsp;later, the developers&nbsp;went on to&nbsp;quickly incorporate Yoko&nbsp;Taro&#8217;s feedback into the final&nbsp;game.)<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>The timing and controls&nbsp;do feel really punishing there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>My impression was that actions like&nbsp;the&nbsp;hook jump and&nbsp;the&nbsp;aerial dash hook jump are&nbsp;used interchangeably,&nbsp;but&nbsp;it&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;immediately&nbsp;clear&nbsp;at a glance&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;required. That means players&nbsp;have to&nbsp;memorize&nbsp;steps, which can be tough.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s also a section early in the tutorial where you cross a&nbsp;ravine, and&nbsp;right&nbsp;from the&nbsp;start,&nbsp;you need to perform an aerial dash jump. Normally, you\u2019d first let the player try a regular jump, then later introduce dash jumping.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Developers are&nbsp;very used to their own game\u2019s controls, so they can handle it. But from&nbsp;the&nbsp;perspective&nbsp;of a player who isn&#8217;t already familiar with the game,&nbsp;it\u2019s probably too difficult.&nbsp;I think the issue isn\u2019t so much the difficulty of the actions themselves, but the order in which challenges are presented.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014That\u2019s some very&nbsp;insightful&nbsp;advice.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Taura-san, what do you think?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>If I were adjusting&nbsp;things&nbsp;to my taste, the hook\u2019s range in the hook jump felt a little too short, so I often misjudged the distance and fell. I\u2019d probably lengthen it slightly or tweak it.&nbsp;Alternatively, you could allow a double jump, or extend the hang time of the jump a bit. By adjusting the feel of the controls without fundamentally changing the mechanics, you could probably improve the overall&nbsp;player&nbsp;experience.&nbsp;I thought that could be a good direction to aim for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026That said,&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;not speaking&nbsp;on behalf of all of&nbsp;humanity here,&nbsp;just as individual players,&nbsp;so ultimately, I&nbsp;think&nbsp;the development team should&nbsp;argue about&nbsp;it thoroughly themselves (laughs).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>We\u2019ll take your feedback seriously and decide within the team how best to adjust things.&nbsp;Still, we\u2019re very grateful&nbsp;to hear&nbsp;your advice. Thank you&nbsp;so much.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Also, from a&nbsp;marketing&nbsp;standpoint, since it\u2019s a 3D action game, players will inevitably compare it&nbsp;to&nbsp;games from large companies.&nbsp;I think avoiding those kinds of&nbsp;comparisons is especially important nowadays.&nbsp;For example, you could&nbsp;start by emphasizing that the game was&nbsp;\u201cmade by a small team,&nbsp;driven purely by passion\u201d&nbsp;and the like.&nbsp;It might be worth thinking about the promotional approach as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PLAYISM producer:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s&#8230;&nbsp;very educational.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Everyone:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"thoughts-on-the-inspired-by-nier-automata-label\"><strong>Thoughts on the&nbsp;\u201cinspired by NieR: Automata\u201d&nbsp;label<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014As the creators of NieR: Automata, how do you feel when other game creators say they were influenced by it?\u00a0I realize\u00a0it\u00a0may be a bit late to ask now that you\u2019re\u00a0already\u00a0here.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1195\" height=\"669\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1195px) 100vw, 1195px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-004.jpg\" alt=\"Nier: Automata\" class=\"wp-image-62517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-004.jpg 1195w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-004-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-004-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Personally, I\u2019m happy when people say they were influenced by NieR: Automata. Quite a lot of people seem reluctant to say it, maybe because they\u2019re&nbsp;concerned about&nbsp;rights issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes I see games that look very similar, or&nbsp;hear others&nbsp;say, \u201cThis is basically Automata\u2019s action system!\u201d But the creators themselves don\u2019t say anything.&nbsp;Perhaps&nbsp;they\u2019re afraid people will accuse them of copying,&nbsp;I\u2019m not sure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But&nbsp;I personally&nbsp;see it as&nbsp;a form of&nbsp;respect or homage.&nbsp;That\u2019s why&nbsp;I\u2019d actually prefer people&nbsp;to&nbsp;say they were influenced by&nbsp;it,&nbsp;or&nbsp;even say outright that they copied it. Though I&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;know how Square Enix would feel about that (laughs).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014I&#8217;m relieved to hear that.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs) I think Yoko-san&nbsp;feels the same way,&nbsp;but I myself create things influenced by&nbsp;other&nbsp;games I played and thought were good back in the day. So when someone says they were influenced by something I worked on, it feels like&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;being included in that \u201cwave of influence.\u201d&nbsp;Personally, it makes me feel glad that I made it. It makes me think \u201cI was able to create something that truly connects to the next generation,\u201d&nbsp;which&nbsp;makes me incredibly happy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing I really liked&nbsp;[about Homura Hime]&nbsp;was the parry element&nbsp;you&nbsp;mentioned earlier. Rather than simply&nbsp;replicating your influences, you\u2019ve properly transformed it into something that reflects what you yourselves want to&nbsp;create.&nbsp;Like that scene where you flick the stick to deliver the finishing blow to a boss.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was actually one element where you did something I wasn\u2019t able to do in Automata, and I was honestly a little jealous of it. It\u2019s&nbsp;the system where shooting consumes a gauge and you can\u2019t fire&nbsp;anymore&nbsp;once it hits zero. That\u2019s something I wanted to include myself.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A&nbsp;system where shooting consumes a gauge and you can\u2019t fire once it hits zero&#8230;&nbsp;I\u2019m the one who stopped that, right? (laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Yes, you&nbsp;said no to it (laughs), so when I saw it in the game I was like, \u201cYes!! This is exactly it!\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said,&nbsp;while playing,&nbsp;I sometimes couldn\u2019t tell when the shooting gauge had run out, and the gauge itself was displayed&nbsp;a bit far&nbsp;from the character. So I thought it would be better if it were clearer when you can\u2019t shoot. Also,&nbsp;maybe the cooldown could be a bit shorter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>We\u2019re truly grateful for the feedback. One of the reasons we introduced the parry mechanic was because we wanted to avoid players simply holding down the shoot button the entire time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, as you pointed out, the cooldown is quite long, so we designed it so that if you successfully parry during that time, the gauge recovers.&nbsp;We recognize that if a player fails to parry at that moment, it could feel frustrating, so we plan to fine-tune that aspect further.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1199\" height=\"674\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-005.jpg\" alt=\"Homura Hime bullet hell\" class=\"wp-image-62518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-005.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-005-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-005-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014This has turned into a full-on advice session! Personally, I&nbsp;find&nbsp;Yoko and Taura san\u2019s&nbsp;feedback&nbsp;very convincing.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-do-you-deal-with-the-difficulty-of-making-games\"><strong>How do you deal with the difficulty of making games?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Both of you&nbsp;possess a&nbsp;strong grasp of the key points of game development.&nbsp;Do you consider&nbsp;that&nbsp;to be&nbsp;something you developed through experience working on many projects, or&nbsp;a&nbsp;kind of&nbsp;intuition&nbsp;you already had from the beginning?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>In my case, I learned through failure\u2026 and also through personal preference. Even if something seems obvious to me as the person making the game, once you actually have someone else play it, you often hear things like,&nbsp;\u201cI don\u2019t understand this control\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t know where to go.\u201d&nbsp;At&nbsp;first,&nbsp;I couldn\u2019t really&nbsp;anticipate these situations, but I gradually learned&nbsp;through&nbsp;repeated failures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Were those failures mostly something you\u2019d notice during development, or after the game had already been released?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Sometimes after release, but also through things like bringing in someone from accounting and suddenly asking them to playtest&nbsp;the game. We don\u2019t really do that as much these days, though.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1194\" height=\"737\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-006.jpg\" alt=\"Yoko Taro mask\" class=\"wp-image-62519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-006.jpg 1194w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-006-380x235.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-006-768x474.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s very enlightening.&nbsp;We\u2019re also learning from our own mistakes. We felt that Automata&nbsp;was incredibly well-balanced as an action game enjoyable for both core and casual gamers.&nbsp;But it\u2019s difficult for a&nbsp;debut&nbsp;title like ours to reach that level of balance and quality. We\u2019re still&nbsp;actively&nbsp;adjusting things even now, and we\u2019ve realized how important it is to have real users play the game and test it. Recently we\u2019ve had a lot of players try it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014So&nbsp;making a game yourself really&nbsp;made you realize&nbsp;how impressive Automata was.&nbsp;Taura-san, how did you&nbsp;hone your instincts when it comes to core aspects of making games?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Learning from failure&nbsp;was certainly part of it,&nbsp;but in my&nbsp;case,&nbsp;I was lucky to work in an environment where&nbsp;I was surrounded by veterans. While actually making games there, they taught me in many ways, basically holding my hand every step of the way. (laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also studied existing games. For action games&nbsp;that&nbsp;\u201cfeel good,\u201d like&nbsp;Nintendo&nbsp;titles, I&nbsp;would try all sorts of inputs, like&nbsp;what happens if I tilt the stick slightly, what happens if I immediately&nbsp;bring it back, what if I&nbsp;flick it the other way, and so on.&nbsp;I\u2019d try every input I could think of and see what kind of feedback the game returned. In that sense I was always playing games&nbsp;with the intent to learn \u2013&nbsp;thinking about why something felt good, or what exactly felt bad if it didn\u2019t. That became a big foundation for my own development work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1198\" height=\"717\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-007.jpg\" alt=\"Taura Takahisa\" class=\"wp-image-62520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-007.jpg 1198w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-007-380x227.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-007-768x460.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014So not just&nbsp;hands-on&nbsp;practice, but research is important as well.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Now,&nbsp;I\u2019d like to pass along some&nbsp;questions from the&nbsp;Crimson Dusk&nbsp;development team.&nbsp;The&nbsp;games&nbsp;you two have created tend to be large-scale titles with many mechanics and&nbsp;gameplay&nbsp;systems. However, during development,&nbsp;there\u2019s usually a gap between the ideas you initially&nbsp;envision&nbsp;and what can actually be implemented.&nbsp;How do you scale things down and find compromises as development progresses?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>What I personally do, or what I want and try to do, is actually the opposite of what you&#8217;re describing. My basic approach is to aim for something very compact from the start. We don&#8217;t have unlimited budgets, and there are limits to what we can create, so I narrow&nbsp;things&nbsp;down&nbsp;to&nbsp;what we can realistically pull&nbsp;off&#8230; starting with building the game&#8217;s core mechanics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if we decide that events will consist of three formats:&nbsp;\u201cbutton-press events,\u201d \u201ccutscenes,\u201d and \u201cautomatic in-game voice lines,\u201d&nbsp;then we commit to running the entire scenario within that&nbsp;system and avoid adding anything beyond that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We build the system properly, create what we can within it, and then make adjustments like, \u201cIf we move the camera this way, maybe we can achieve this kind of effect.\u201d I don\u2019t usually try to introduce entirely new things every time.&nbsp;Of course, once&nbsp;we&nbsp;actually start building things, sometimes it turns out to be boring or&nbsp;feels&nbsp;too restrictive. That\u2019s where&nbsp;Taura-san&nbsp;and the team often take the liberty of pushing&nbsp;things further.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s very helpful. By the way, how did the bullet-hell elements that are now so characteristic of the NieR series originally come about?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1195\" height=\"670\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1195px) 100vw, 1195px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-008.jpg\" alt=\"NieR Replicant bullet hell\" class=\"wp-image-62521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-008.jpg 1195w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-008-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-008-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Bullet-hell elements were already present in NieR Replicant, but the simple reason&nbsp;was that I like shoot&nbsp;\u2018em ups, so I wanted to include something like that.&nbsp;It was also something you didn\u2019t really see in other games, so&nbsp;adding it would give the product originality.&nbsp;My initial thought was that it would make screenshots of the game&nbsp;stand out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That makes a lot of sense. We also love bullet-hell games and used to play a lot of Touhou Project, so we were amazed by how Automata fused action gameplay with bullet-hell.&nbsp;We&nbsp;agonized quite a bit when&nbsp;deciding how strongly&nbsp;to balance the&nbsp;bullet-hell elements&nbsp;against&nbsp;the action. Whenever we got stuck, we would revisit the&nbsp;NieR series to search for solutions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014So&nbsp;you confronted bullet-hell mechanics by studying&nbsp;NieR (laughs).<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>In the NieR series, the bullet-hell elements are designed so&nbsp;that you can\u2019t really&nbsp;die or kill with them. Technically&nbsp;you&nbsp;can, but if you rely only on shooting,&nbsp;it takes so long that it becomes tedious.&nbsp;Enemy bullets also aren\u2019t that damaging, so you don\u2019t need to desperately dodge them. In that&nbsp;sense,&nbsp;they\u2019re closer to decoration, although that\u2019s&nbsp;not to say that&nbsp;they\u2019re meaningless. The balance is&nbsp;designed&nbsp;around the core objective of closing the distance and slashing the enemy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>\u00a0<br>During development,\u00a0we also discussed\u00a0a lot about how to balance\u00a0bullet-hell and action gameplay, and our\u00a0solution was to lower the overall importance of the bullet-hell elements while making melee attacks higher in damage\u00a0dealt and received.\u00a0We then elevated the significance of bullet hell only in scenarios where it&#8217;s the sole threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1196\" height=\"673\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1196px) 100vw, 1196px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-009.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Automata bullet hell\" class=\"wp-image-62522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-009.jpg 1196w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-009-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-009-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Bullet-hell&nbsp;has practically become a tradition in&nbsp;Yoko-san&#8217;s&nbsp;games. How do the rest of the staff, including&nbsp;you, Taura-san, respond to that?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>When we started making Automata, the very first thing we decided to do was \u201cadd bullet hell.\u201d Just putting that in gives it that \u201cNier series feel.\u201d Rather than agonizing over game design first, we just tried firing bullets and seeing how they flew, then figured out what to do next from there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As&nbsp;Yoko-san&nbsp;mentioned&nbsp;earlier, I think it\u2019s really important for a game to have a strong visual impression, to the point that you can tell it apart&nbsp;just&nbsp;from a screenshot. I think it&#8217;s perfectly valid to add reasoning or consider how to make it playable after the fact.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014I see. While bullet hell might seem like a standard feature to players, from a development perspective, it plays a crucial role in establishing uniqueness and differentiation. That&#8217;s very insightful.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Next is another&nbsp;question&nbsp;from the development team.&nbsp;Within your team, how do you manage the balance of power between directors, designers, and other team members? If&nbsp;Yoko-san&nbsp;says \u201cwe\u2019re doing this,\u201d does everyone generally follow that direction, or are there debates within the team? How do you find compromises and reconcile different opinions?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Personally, if a game can be completed without me&nbsp;having to voice&nbsp;my opinion, that would be ideal.&nbsp;As long as the product gets finished, that\u2019s what matters.&nbsp;Whether I speak up or not is beside the point.&nbsp;Over many years of experience,&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;come to&nbsp;realize&nbsp;that \u201cyou can only make what&nbsp;you&nbsp;are actually capable of making.\u201d For example, even if I ask a programmer to implement something, if they&nbsp;can\u2019t&nbsp;build it, then it simply&nbsp;can\u2019t&nbsp;be built. (laughs).&nbsp;Once I learned that, my approach&nbsp;became&nbsp;to create a product using what the people involved are capable of making.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014So your approach to leading is more like&nbsp;looking over&nbsp;the project from a bird&#8217;s-eye view.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Also, if something is already working well, there\u2019s no reason to interfere.&nbsp;Instead, I focus on the areas that aren\u2019t&nbsp;running smoothly&nbsp;and say,&nbsp;\u201cI&#8217;d like to see this done this way.\u201d&nbsp;So,&nbsp;when I worked with Taura-san&nbsp;on Automata,&nbsp;rather than me pushing things aggressively, it was often Taura-san adding actions and various scenes himself. I frequently found myself thinking, \u201cOh,&nbsp;so that\u2019s how it&nbsp;turned out.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Have there been instances&nbsp;where something a programmer implements turns out differently than expected&nbsp;\u2013 either for the worse or for the better \u2013&nbsp;and that ends up changing the direction of development?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That happens all the time. For example, when a design comes back&nbsp;looking&nbsp;different from what I imagined, I might adjust the story to match that design.&nbsp;Take&nbsp;Kain\u00e9&nbsp;in Replicant, for instance.&nbsp;Originally,&nbsp;I hadn\u2019t imagined her as a&nbsp;character with&nbsp;particularly revealing&nbsp;clothing. But when I saw the design that came in, I came up with a backstory and narrative to match it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason for this is that in development, some changes are more expensive than others. My approach is to adjust the part that\u2019s cheapest to change. The cheapest thing to change is usually the scenario, so the story is the easiest element to revise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1175\" height=\"652\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1175px) 100vw, 1175px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-010.jpg\" alt=\"Nier Replicant Kaine design\" class=\"wp-image-62523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-010.jpg 1175w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-010-380x211.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-010-768x426.jpg 768w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br>NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139&#8230;, image via official homepage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I see\u2026 We also often hand things off to the programmers, and when what they bring back turns out to be completely different from what we expected, we end up changing the concept itself or adjusting things like the characters\u2019 ages or the scenario.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taura-san, if you had what you thought was a good idea or specification, but the result that came back was \u201ccompletely different in direction, but still good,\u201d what would you do?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>If what comes back is better, then I\u2019d&nbsp;fully&nbsp;go along with that instead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014So neither of you tends to say things like&nbsp;\u201cI have&nbsp;my own&nbsp;vision&nbsp;for this, so make it match.\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I don\u2019t think I do that very much. That said, there\u2019s a clear difference between&nbsp;Taura-san&nbsp;and me.&nbsp;I complain about everything. But if&nbsp;Taura-san&nbsp;decides not to say something, he really won\u2019t say it. For example, he almost never complains about the scenario. But if I were in his position, I think I\u2019d say something if&nbsp;I thought it&nbsp;wasn\u2019t interesting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that sense,&nbsp;there are people who divide things strictly by role, and people like me who comment on everything. If I notice something in the tutorial and think, \u201cIt would be better if this were like this,\u201d I\u2019ll say it right away even if I\u2019m in&nbsp;charge&nbsp;of writing the scenario. That leads to moments where people go, \u201cYou\u2019re bringing that up now?\u201d and conflict&nbsp;arises.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>In our team, the director also serves as the main programmer. Sometimes our ideas don\u2019t match our actual technical capabilities, so we\u2019re developing while trying to find the right balance of compromise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Taura-san, why do you try not to say&nbsp;anything&nbsp;once&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;decided not to?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s actually not the case at all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1195\" height=\"734\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1195px) 100vw, 1195px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-011.jpg\" alt=\"Taura Takahisa\" class=\"wp-image-62524\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-011.jpg 1195w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-011-380x233.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-011-768x472.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014(laughs)<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>If&nbsp;Yoko-san&nbsp;thinks I never complain about the scenario, it probably just means he\u2019s&nbsp;doing a&nbsp;really&nbsp;good job writing the scenario.&nbsp;If&nbsp;I think&nbsp;something&nbsp;is going to cause&nbsp;problems from a gameplay perspective, I\u2019ll&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;speak up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014We\u2019ll continue with another concern from the development team.\u00a0Directors or central development figures often face a dilemma: they\u2019re disliked from all directions.\u00a0but they also can\u2019t afford to be too disliked\u00a0as they\u2019re the ones assigning work. When trying to get people to agree with a decision, is it better to rely on discussion, or to push things through\u00a0using authority?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Directors from Yoko-san&#8217;s&nbsp;generation probably never even&nbsp;spare as much as a&nbsp;thought to sentiments like&nbsp;\u201cI need to be liked.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs)&nbsp;Our generation of directors is full of&nbsp;selfish&nbsp;people..&nbsp;We were a bunch of oddballs who entered the industry back when games&nbsp;weren&#8217;t&nbsp;mainstream like they are now, so there are a lot of weirdos among us.&nbsp;Myself&nbsp;included. Of course,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;better to be liked than disliked. But&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;a&nbsp;paradox: people who&nbsp;can\u2019t&nbsp;do that are often the ones better suited to being directors.&nbsp;To&nbsp;put it very roughly,&nbsp;if you had to choose between the game and&nbsp;your&nbsp;staff, the kind of person who chooses the game is better suited to being a director.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why relationships sometimes end up not being very friendly. But that doesn\u2019t mean poor communication is acceptable. For younger developers today, I think it\u2019s better if you can work together happily and enjoy making the game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1194\" height=\"737\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-012.jpg\" alt=\"Yoko Taro mask\" class=\"wp-image-62525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-012.jpg 1194w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-012-380x235.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-012-768x474.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I see\u2026 We also often have disagreements&nbsp;and end up&nbsp;arguing. But we don\u2019t really have much&nbsp;of a&nbsp;hierarchy,&nbsp;our shared goal is simply to create a good game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014For someone&nbsp;from your&nbsp;generation,&nbsp;Taura-san, I imagine&nbsp;interpersonal&nbsp;relationships&nbsp;are bit more important.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>The&nbsp;eras&nbsp;we\u2019ve worked in are different, so even if we did the same&nbsp;things,&nbsp;we wouldn\u2019t necessarily be treated the same way. These days, if the team ends up disliking you, you could even end up being sued over it.&nbsp;At the same time, if you lean too far toward&nbsp;being&nbsp;accommodating, the quality of the game gradually drops, so you have to navigate that dilemma carefully.&nbsp;As a company employee, I\u2019m trying to figure out a different path from people like Yoko-san&nbsp;and his peers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the people from&nbsp;his&nbsp;generation,&nbsp;who used to behave&nbsp;like they owned the place,&nbsp;seem to be mellowing out and becoming kinder with age, and they\u2019re starting to gain trust from the people around them.&nbsp;As someone&nbsp;who used to be on the receiving end of that outrageous behavior, it\u2019s\u2026 a little hard to find that amusing, so I go through my days feeling slightly irritated about it (laughs).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Everyone:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>These days you can even make games alone if you want. So if someone&nbsp;wants to be utterly selfish, they can just make a game by themselves.&nbsp;But I think games are&nbsp;fundamentally&nbsp;something you create together with other people. As long as you\u2019re making them with others, I hope you can find a path where everyone ends up happy in the end,&nbsp;whether you argue along the way or get along perfectly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"yoko-and-taura-s-thoughts-on-venturing-into-indie-development\"><strong>Yoko&nbsp;and Taura\u2019s&nbsp;thoughts&nbsp;on&nbsp;venturing into&nbsp;indie&nbsp;development<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Are you interested in smaller-scale development&nbsp;or&nbsp;what&nbsp;we\u2019d&nbsp;call indie game development?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>To be honest, today\u2019s indie game market is full of young, energetic developers like the Homura Hime team, and it\u2019s a fiercely competitive red ocean. It\u2019s honestly too&nbsp;intimidating&nbsp;for me to&nbsp;even think of&nbsp;entering&nbsp;that sea.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s&nbsp;way too scary, and&nbsp;I&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;really see a reason for myself to go there now. I feel like&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;be instantly wiped out&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;not something an old man like me should be&nbsp;attempting.&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;how I see it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>The indie game scene&nbsp;is&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;really&nbsp;tough right now, and we\u2019re also trying our best not to get swept away by the waves. But we still think you\u2019re amazing,&nbsp;Yoko-san, and would love to see you try making something in that space too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014What&nbsp;about you, Taura-san?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>When I worked on Automata, I&nbsp;was part of&nbsp;PlatinumGames. Now I work at a company called Eel Game Studio.&nbsp;While&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;working on several titles, I\u2019d also like to make some smaller games&nbsp;in-house.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t necessarily want to spread myself too thin, but small games tend to be filled with the passion of people&nbsp;who really want to make games, so I&#8217;d like to create at least one such passion project, even if it&#8217;s on a small scale.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014You\u2019re not concerned about&nbsp;the&nbsp;market&nbsp;being a&nbsp;red ocean?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Yes. As long as the creators can make what they want in an environment that allows it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014That\u2019s a&nbsp;wonderful perspective.&nbsp;Yoko-san,&nbsp;you said&nbsp;you find&nbsp;indie development scary, but if you were given a relaxed schedule and budget, would&nbsp;the fear still win out?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko\u00a0Taro:<\/strong>\u00a0<br>I don\u2019t really have strong preferences about scale, so if that kind of job came my way, I\u2019d probably do it.\u00a0My personal preferences and the actual work I end up doing are often different,\u00a0so in principle I don\u2019t turn down jobs that come to me. If someone said, \u201cMake a small game on a small budget like an indie,\u201d I\u2019d just say \u201cOkay\u201d and do my best\u00a0to make it happen.\u00a0However, I do feel it&#8217;s necessary to be conscious of how it will differ from other products\u00a0on the market\u00a0and think about how to compensate for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Indie games with relatively low prices but large&nbsp;volumes&nbsp;of content are becoming more common, and competition seems to be intensifying. How do you view that situation?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>I can\u2019t keep track of every single game that comes out, but even in that situation,&nbsp;some&nbsp;titles&nbsp;still catch&nbsp;my&nbsp;eye.&nbsp;When that happens, it\u2019s often because the game\u2019s first impression feels different from everything else, or because its visuals are&nbsp;polished&nbsp;and&nbsp;reflect well&nbsp;in the game design as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with so many games being released, if you consciously aim for something that makes people think \u201cThis is it!\u201d, I believe there\u2019s still room to reach players. So I don\u2019t see the situation as completely hopeless.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>You&#8217;re absolutely right. With so many games out there,&nbsp;the real challenge is&nbsp;figuring out how to catch players\u2019 attention.&nbsp;Our own solution was to combine bullet-hell and parry elements, and to aim&nbsp;to leave an impression&nbsp;like, \u201cWhen you say bullet-hell plus action,&nbsp;Homura Hime comes to mind.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Counter attacks, navigate bullet patterns, and exorcise demons with elegant combos! #indiegame\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aLArDJVTCL4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Even&nbsp;within what we call&nbsp;\u201cindie games,\u201d&nbsp;we\u2019re seeing more and more titles made with huge budgets, so I imagine developing with a small team must be quite difficult.&nbsp;That said,&nbsp;I believe&nbsp;there are many different ways to compete or stand out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier I mentioned various small&nbsp;adjustments,&nbsp;like making certain difficult or confusing parts clearer. But even if you fix all of those details, that alone won\u2019t create a fundamental breakthrough.&nbsp;I think&nbsp;what really matters is how you present the game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, clearly communicating that it was made&nbsp;as a&nbsp;labor of love by&nbsp;small team&nbsp;is one approach. Or you could&nbsp;go for&nbsp;something more extreme, like&nbsp;raising the difficulty even more&nbsp;and&nbsp;emphasizing the contrast like,&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s so challenging despite the art style!\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simply pursuing&nbsp;playability&nbsp;isn\u2019t the only way to create individuality. What matters is thinking about what makes the game memorable&nbsp;and&nbsp;what will stay in people\u2019s hearts.&nbsp;If I were part of the Homura Hime team, I\u2019d probably think along those lines,&nbsp;asking, \u201cWhat could we do that would really surprise people?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PLAYISM&nbsp;and&nbsp;Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>That\u2019s&nbsp;incredibly helpful&nbsp;advice. Thank you very much.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>In that sense, I think this initiative itself&nbsp;had great timing.&nbsp;If you present it as a discussion&nbsp;with \u201cEvangelion\u2019s Yoko Taro,\u201d&nbsp;not just \u201cNieR\u2019s Yoko Taro,\u201d&nbsp;that alone might work well as a hook.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Wait,&nbsp;&nbsp;Evangelion is a different matter\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Everyone:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Sorry, but there\u2019s one thing we really want to ask. As players, we strongly felt that Ending E of Automata&nbsp;was an essential piece of the game\u2019s presentation. Was it planned from the beginning, or was it something added later when you realized it would work well?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1198\" height=\"670\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-013.jpg\" alt=\"Nier: Automata\" class=\"wp-image-62526\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-013.jpg 1198w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-013-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260310-62510-013-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>In Replicant, we deleted the save data, so I was thinking something like, \u201cMaybe we should delete it in Automata too\u201d&nbsp;early on.&nbsp;But that was about the extent of the idea at the time. As I continued writing the scenario and thinking about what to do, I came up with the idea of combining the hacking mode&nbsp;(the shooting sections)&nbsp;with the staff roll.&nbsp;Then I thought of making it so that clearing that sequence would erase all save data, and I adjusted the scenario to make it fit.&nbsp;So it wasn\u2019t something I had a clear vision for from the beginning. It was more like I gathered all the pieces&nbsp;for it&nbsp;and then figured out what to do with them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>The direction felt almost divine. It was really moving.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>(laughs) I\u2019m glad you enjoyed it. I do feel a bit envious that we now live in a time when young people can make games with just a small team. Back in our era, that kind of thing was hard to even imagine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>It\u2019s thanks to the&nbsp;veterans of&nbsp;the game industry that we\u2019re able to study and create games like this. We feel like we\u2019re developing while&nbsp;riding&nbsp;on the shoulders of giants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>When I was young, I never thought&nbsp;of it&nbsp;that way. I used to think, \u201cAll the old people should just die!\u201d&nbsp;You\u2019re all such decent,&nbsp;good-natured&nbsp;kids.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014(laughs)&nbsp;Thank you very much for all the advice you\u2019ve given about Homura Hime. Finally, could you share a few closing words for the development team?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Taura:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>We\u2019ve&nbsp;said a lot of things&nbsp;today, but in the&nbsp;end,&nbsp;what matters most is what you think is good. So rather than listening only to other people\u2019s opinions, it\u2019s better to do the&nbsp;things that make you go, \u201cThis is it!\u201d&nbsp;(laughs)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yoko&nbsp;Taro:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>You\u2019re all young, so part of me feels like you might not even need advice. Game development is basically a collection of compromises,&nbsp;and I&#8217;ve never made a game where I stuck to my core vision without any compromise whatsoever.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From my perspective, making games is like swinging a baseball bat about ten times and hoping to get one hit. For you, this is probably your first time at-bat. If you&nbsp;swing about&nbsp;ten times, you\u2019ll probably land at least one hit.&nbsp;So for your very first swing, I think it\u2019s best to just swing the bat exactly how you want, with everything you\u2019ve got.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crimson Dusk:<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>Thank you both very much.&nbsp;It\u2019s true that we\u2019re&nbsp;still a young team, so we\u2019ll treat Homura Hime as that first swing in the process of continuing to make good games, and we\u2019ll give it&nbsp;our all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014Thank you very much.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This interview was actually conducted on February 25, about one week before&nbsp;Homura Hime\u2019s launch day. Inspired by the advice from Yoko and Taura, the development team pushed themselves to make improvements, and the points that were brought up during the interview were implemented in the final&nbsp;game&nbsp;through a massive last-minute update.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PLAYISM and the Homura Hime development team would like to express their deep gratitude to&nbsp;Yoko Taro, Takahisa Taura&nbsp;and Square Enix for agreeing to participate in this interview.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Homura Hime is currently available for PC on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/1820000\/Homura_Hime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NieR: Automata, which strongly influenced Homura Hime&nbsp;is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139\u2026, is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">[Organizer:&nbsp;PLAYISM]&nbsp;<br>[Transcript: Kei Aiuchi]&nbsp;<br>[Interviewer, editor, photographer: Ayuo Kawase]&nbsp;<br>[Interpreter: Shaopo Fu]&nbsp;<br>[Cooperation: Square Enix]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">\u00a9 SQUARE ENIX&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three-way interview with Homura Hime developer Crimson Dusk and NieR series creators Yoko Taro and Taura Takahisa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-interviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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