Lost Planet

This week I am honored to bring to you my exclusive interview with two of the designers on the Lost Planet team, Tomoyuki Hosokawa and Kazuhiro Hikida. Director Kenji Oguro was also present, and he added a few thoughts as well.

[Brian] What are your names and what are your roles in the development of Lost Planet?

[Tomoyuki Hosokawa] My name is Tomoyuki Hosokawa. Within the team Im the lead Planner or designer on the team. My main duties have been the stage structure for the story mode and keeping the storyline together and cohesive. Of course I also have had a lot of other duties besides this.

Hosokawa-san

Click to read the rest of Part 1 of the interview.

[More:]

[Kazuhiro Hikida] My name is Kazuhiro Hikida. My main responsibility is tweaking the balance of the game, adjusting all of the parameters. I mainly have focused on the weapons and Vital Suit parameters.

Hikida-san

[Brian] Hosokawa-san, I know that Oguro-san has also played a big part in the design of the game, kind of as the Lead Lead Designer. How does your role differ from his, exactly?

[Hosokawa] The difference between my position and Oguro-sans is that he gives directions, and I take those directions and divvy up the work to the design team. For example, if Oguro-san were to say, Liven this part up a bit, make it more like so, I would analyze what needs to be done to complete the task, divide up the work and assign it to the proper staff members.

[Brian] Besides your main responsibilities, what other kinds of things have you two been doing on the title?

[Hosokawa] The game is being localized into quite a few languages. Seven to be exact. Part of my duties are to oversee the localization process. And since I dont speak any of the other languages, it was pretty challenging.

Also, when elements from the story or whatever would get cut, it was my job to make adjustments to compensate for the change in content.

[Hikida] My main job through the whole project was working on balancing the game, but I also helped out some with the localization process. Mainly I would play through the game in different languages so the text and dialog could be checked. Ive played through the game so many times Ive lost count.

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

[Oguro] Both Hosokawa-san and Hikida-san joined Capcom after the Lost Planet project had already started, so its the first Capcom title for both of them.

[Hosokawa] At other companies I performed pretty much the same function as now. And before I was hired, I was thinking about how I wanted a change of pace. So I contacted Oguro-san, who I had met previously.

[Oguro] When he contacted me, we were short on people for Lost Planet, so it was perfect timing to have him come on board and lend a hand.

[Hikida] I started off at the same company as Hosokawa-san. After that, I spent some time at some different companies. Then I heard about Capcom from Hosokawa-san, and it took off from there.

[Oguro] Both these guys are extremely talented, so I knew right away I wanted them on the team. If I didnt have them, I dont think we would have been able to keep our production schedule. Literally, we couldnt have done it without them.

[Brian] What are some other games that you enjoy playing?

[Hosokawa] This goes back in time a little, but I really liked F1 Triple Battle on the TurboGrafx-16. I can still play that game today. Another one I like is Winning Eleven, the soccer series.

But overall, when I play a game I try to find the good things about it. When I play a game, I dont really dwell on its shortcomings. So I can pretty much play and enjoy any game. My personality, I guess, just lets me find the fun or interesting aspect to anything.

[Hikida] For me, I grew up playing arcade games. Even now I still love arcade games. I love them so much I couldnt even tell you how much money I spend on them a month. Growing up I even had a part-time job at an arcade.

One game I liked was a fighting game called Fight Fever. Lately Im also into Sangokushi Taisen 2 (Battles of the Three Kingdoms 2). Im totally hooked on card-collecting games. I love the strategy of the battle tactics involved with this game.

…

That’s it for Part 1.

In Part 2, we discuss the anchor, melee attack, and Vital Suits.

And in Part 3 we talk about their favorite weapons and parts of the game.

—Brian