Lost Planet

My second developer interview is with Mr. Kenji Oguro, Director and main designer for Lost Planet. He had some great thoughts to share.

Enjoy!

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[Brian] What is your name and what is your role in the development of Lost Planet?

[Kenji Oguro] My name is Kenji Oguro and I’m the Director of Lost Planet.

[Brian] What other games have you worked on besides Lost Planet?

[Kenji Oguro] Before Lost Planet I worked on the Onimusha series, numbers 1, 2 and 3. I designed the playable characters and the enemies, stuff like that. For example, I would come up with the moves you could use, what kinds of enemies and boss characters there would be, what the enemy AI would act like. I also tweaked and balanced all of that.

So Lost Planet is really my directorial debut.

[Brian] Wow, congratulations! This is a pretty big title to have as your first directing job. I’ve played through a lot of the game, and spent a lot of time with multiplayer internally and online, and the game is amazing! So what does directing a game actually entail?

[Oguro] Basically my job is to decide the vision and direction for the game, including the multiplayer mode. For example, I decided to make it a 3rd-person shooter rather than an FPS, how big to make the maps, and to make it a more action-oriented shooter.

Keeping the team on the same page and leading them in the same direction is a big part of being director. And of course its the talented individuals on the dev team that actually create the game and put it on-screen, so I would direct them to make sure what they were creating was in step with the vision I had for the game.

The Lost Planet team would see these expansive stages and want to climb up on top of every high place, go anywhere and everywhere they could see, so another part of my job was deciding where the limits would be to where you could go in the game.

And of course I always had the development schedule in the back of my mind, making sure everything we were trying to pull off was doable while still making our milestones and launch date.

[Brian] What other games do you like to play besides Lost Planet?

[Oguro] Outside of Capcoms games, I like Gran Turismo and Winning Eleven (soccer).

Im a big simulator fan. I grew up playing the NES and classic arcade-style games, but as I got older, I started to like more realistic games. I like stuff thats as photo-realistic as possible, and soccer games that feel like real soccer.

[Brian] What was your inspiration for Lost Planet?

[Oguro] Lost Planet is something that Ive actually had in my mind for a long time that I was finally able to bring to life. When I was little Id play a kind of war game with my friends in warehouses and ruins and stuff. And so with LP, I wanted to recreate that kind of experience. The game sort of simulates all the kinds of things Ive wanted to make possible in a game, all the stuff that I think would be fun to play.

[Brian] What kind of experience will the single-player portion of the game offer players? What was your vision for the single-player mode of the game?

[Oguro] Actually, the gameplay I originally came up with was completely different than it is now. It wasnt mission-based, either. One thing from the original design is still there, though. That thing is that you are in these vast, wide open spaces, and although your goal is sort of set, you can choose your own path to achieve that goal. Thats the kind of game I wanted to make. So I guess thats one thing that hasnt changed from my original design.

From the beginning I really wanted to make this feel like an actual planet, just as the name implies. Everywhere in the game is connected; you can tell its all part of one big ecosystem. Everywhere you go you are in this extreme environment. And as you battle against the weather and the environment, you also are faced with these giant monsters.

That was my main goal for the single-player mode, to present this cohesive world that players can feel like they are actually in. Since this is the first Lost Planet game, I had a lot of freedom to take it to the extreme in creating this world.

And of course the single-player mode is driven by the story, with plot twists and surprises along the way to keep the experience fresh and exciting. And I was able to keep the pacing varied by pitting the player against not only monsters, but other humans and robots as well.

[Brian] How would you compare Lost Planet to other shooters on the Xbox 360?

[Oguro] Aside from the 1st-person/3rd-person distinctions, there are a lot of shooters out there based on war. Your enemies are the same size as you, and you shoot at them from a distance, climbing through rubble and ruins, popping through fences and houses, wherever, just shooting at your enemy. You clear an area and move on to the next area. A lot of games have a similar pacing like that.

For Lost Planet, I wanted to mix things up a bit. Thats why there are giant monsters. And thats why there are Vital Suit robots to pilot. Changing up the scale of the enemies helps change the sense of size and distance in the game. It also gives variety to the games pacing.

Basically I just didnt want Lost Planet to have the same kind of pacing as so many other games out there. With all the variety, I think Lost Planet is much more of an action-oriented shooter than a straight-up shooter. You take on enemies at close and long range, and the action is non-stop. I think thats what really sets Lost Planet apart.

[Brian] What was the thought process behind the implementation of the Vital Suits?

[Oguro] Lots of games have vehicles. And Vital Suits are definitely not your average vehicle.

Plus, in most games, you press a button to get in a vehicle, and then poof, suddenly youre inside it. But in Lost Planet, you actually see your character climb up and into the VS, or get knocked out of one. So while lots of games have vehicles, I think the attention to detail where you get to see your character actually climbing into and piloting the VS really makes you feel like you are in the game.

[Brian] What can you tell me about the visuals, the effects, in the game?

[Oguro] With Lost Planet, I really wanted the graphics to be more about how pretty they look in screenshots. My goal was to take the graphics to the next level, where players would be playing, reach a spot, and just go wow, look at that and be amazed at the visuals.

One example of that would be the effects for explosions. Even if youre not within the actual blast radius, if something big goes off close-by, I want the player to think whoa, that was a close call. Creating that sensation within the player is crucial, and I think we were able to pull that off with Lost Planet.

When you play the game, youll also notice that a lot of time and effort was put into the detailed environments, getting things to look real, as well as the detailed animations for the main character and the enemies he goes up against. That all plays into creating a cohesive experience for the player.

[Brian] How did you go about making the actual gameplay more action-oriented and different from other shooters?

[Oguro] The biggest thing would have to be the introduction of the anchor or grappling hook. Most games nowadays are 3D, but they are on a single horizontal plane. By adding the anchor, I was able to really utilize the 3D environments to their fullest by letting players move vertically, not just horizontally. I think that is another big difference between Lost Planet and other games.

I think some people out there may be starting to grow tired of all the war-based shooting games. I hope they give Lost Planet a chance, so they can see that so much more can be done within the genre.

[Brian] How do you feel about the game as a Japanese person? I know you directed the game, but Japanese gamers traditionally arent as into shooters as Western gamers.

[Oguro] Yeah, we just dont feel the same attraction to them. And I myself dont play them often. But I think Lost Planet is different enough so that even if people arent into the run-of-the-mill shooter games, as is the case with a lot of Japanese gamers, they can still have a blast and get into the action. And for people who like shooters anyway, I think Lost Planet provides a new and refreshing take on the shooter genre that they also will have a lot of fun with.

[Brian] With the launch of the game just a few months away, what sort of things are you responsible for as the director, in the final days leading up to launch, to make sure the game is complete in time?

[Oguro] At this point, all I can really do is cheer on the team. Sometimes Ill bring in snacks, like big cream puffs or other sweets, to get the online test team pumped up (haha). But really, at this point Ive really done all I can do. I just encourage them and tell them gambare! (hang in there).

Aside from that, Im also directing commercials and stuff for the game so we can market it to the public.

[Brian] Lastly, do you have a message for the fans reading this?

[Oguro] I was extremely happy and proud after the reaction we received from the E3/May single player demo of the game.

At that time I knew I wanted to give the fans one more treat before the release of the game. And I knew that rather than some different single-player areas than the first demo, letting the fans try out the multiplayer mode would really show them how fun this game is. So I started planning the multiplayer demo.

I think Lost Planet can hold its own against the top shooting games in the world. Everyone at Capcom is extremely proud of this game. The single-player demo has been out for about 6 months now, and the multiplayer demo just came out last week. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, small snippets of what the full version holds. So I hope you practice on the demos and then check out the game when it launches in January, because the final game has much, much more to offer and there will be a ton of multiplayer maps to rip up online.

Here’s a few shots of Oguro-san at work, talking with a couple of Animators, or “Motion Designers” as they are known in Japan, from the Lost Planet team. The person on the left in the black parka is Koichi Egawa, and Masatsugu Sato on the right.

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These interviews will be a weekly thing up through the launch of the game. Check back next week for my interview with art director Takahiro Kawano!



—Brian