Sonic Forces Interview with Iizuka-san by Famitsu

News from 2017.04.18
Archived on 2017.04.23 on Tumblr

I finally finished it!!
Translation of the Famitsu.com article on Interview with producer Takashi Iizuka about Sonic Forces is here! (Original issue: 2017.04.18)

https://www.famitsu.com/news/201704/18130922.html 

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“Sonic Forces” takes off! Producer Iizuka on background of project launch to the content of the 3D Sonic’s long-awaited latest work

Face-to-face interview with series executive producer Iizuka 

In the entertainment event ‘South by Southwest’, held in the US in March 2017, “Sonic Forces” was announced together with its gameplay footage as a new official title. What content will the latest work of SEGA’s representative series have as an orthodox 3D Sonic after a long time? We asked the series executive producer Takashi Iizuka, working currently in Los Angeles, about the content in detail. 

*This article is the complete version of the interview published in Weekly Famitsu issued 27th April 2017 (published on 13th April).

Sonic Forces – Overview 

The world was about to be 99% dominated by Eggman who obtained a new power… Now Sonic and his allies confront the crisis as resistance! Stop the intrusion of Eggman with supersonic high-speed action!

And a powerful helper from another dimension – ‘another Sonic’! How and why did he come to this world?

In addition to two Sonic and two styles, there will be another new style! Master the 3 styles to frustrate Eggman’s ambition and take back the world!

Long-awaited newest 3D high-speed action by Sonic Team of Japan! 

Q (Interviewer): When and how did the planning of Sonic Forces start?

A (Iizuka): While the American team was developing games originated from the animation ‘Sonic Toon (Sonic Boom)’, we as Japanese Sonic Team wanted to provide an evolved version of standard Modern Sonic game, hence the planning started. It was right after the development of ‘Sonic Lost World’ finished, so about 3 years ago.

Q: What is the origin of the title name?

A: The word ‘force’ has strong meanings such as ‘power’ and ‘army’. Just like this word, two massive powers, Sonic and his allies against the Eggman army, will collide with each other. In order to represent this worldview, we decided on ‘Forces’.

Q: The world in which Sonic and his friends will stand up against Eggman who almost conquered the world?

A: Yes. Stories of past Sonic games had this format: Eggman plans something evil in a peaceful world, and Sonic’s side fights him off. This time the concept is different; Eggman has already taken over most of the world, so Sonic’s side is a minority and has to fight against much stronger power as the resistance.

Q: So they will be releasing the world piece by piece from Eggman’s hand?

A: I cannot tell much about the story yet, but since we did not expand titles where Sonic involves in a serious story similar to ‘Sonic Adventure’ recently, this time we made the story also enjoyable while playing the action game.

Q: What was the intention of surprise appearance of Classic Sonic?

A: Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic co-starred for the first time in ‘Sonic Generations’, but this impossible coexistence occurred due to the festive concept of 20th anniversary. This year is not an anniversary year, but we added Classic Sonic as playable character because we wanted to let him join the resistance team of Sonic and his friends who are going to fight against a powerful enemy. How and why he came to this world… I cannot tell you yet.

Q: Will there be any difference between Modern and Classic gameplays?

A: Yes. As a Sonic Team product after a long time, we wanted to provide users at least these two gameplay styles: 3D Sonic’s high-speed boost action, and 2D Sonic’s classic gameplay. We are co-starring these two to respond to long-time fan’s feelings, so I think we can meet their expectations with these gameplays.

Q: There is also the third style; what will it be?

A: Sonic Forces has 3 gameplay styles, and Modern Sonic has 3D high-speed action with boost, while Classic Sonic has the 2D type. Each style has its optimal stages that makes their action fully enjoyable. Some fans were speculating that ‘since there are Classic and Modern, the third character will be Boom Sonic’, but that is wrong *laugh*. It’s most likely a character no one can imagine. I would just say that this third character will become the key of the story, and is also the one who represents general characteristics of the game.

New game engine provides beautiful and unique footage 

Q: The revealed gameplay footage showed a rather severe worldview with such as a city on fire; will the whole game have a serious tone?

A: As a mainstream Sonic game, our policy is to make the story thick in order to differentiate it from Sonic Boom’s comedic touch. This time we showed the burning city to introduce the game image directly, but there will also be brighter stages.

Q: The footage had huge Death Egg robots, making it look like Eggman’s massive army.

A: Eggman had thousands of minion robots until now too, but with this time’s concept of fighting against Eggman’s huge army, we made the robots’ design more military-like while keeping the animal motives as always. Not only the huge Death Egg robot in the footage, but enemies in the stages also have military based design added to the traditional Eggman taste.

Q: What is the design concept of the stages?

A: There is no particular country set as concept, but the stages must match Sonic series’ worldview. As a concept, we adopted the flow from ‘Sonic Lost World’ and told the team to create worldview that is not too realistic. It may look fairly realistic due to the high resolution, but if you look at details you’ll notice that the worldview is rather cartoonish. The silhouette of trees are simplified as needed, too.

Q: What is the change from using the new game engine, the ‘Hedgehog Engine 2’?

A: We created the first gen Hedgehog Engine powered by ‘Global Illumination’ when we developed ‘Sonic World Adventure (Sonic Unleashed)’. From then, we continued using it through the series with minor updates. What we announced as ‘Hedgehog Engine 2’ this time is not something what we built up from scratch, but it is a step-up version powered with a new rendering engine to optimize it for next gen hardwares such as PS4, XBOX One, and Nintendo Switch.

Q: The impression of the footage is very different; it’s much more photo-realistic.

A: The greatest difference is that in addition to Global Illumination, it has physically-based rendering which physically calculates actual light, enabling optimal lighting for each objects just by preparing values for light source, weather and so on, without the need of artists painting objects one by one. Sure, the stages in twilight time have overexpressed color, but this engine reproduces the real existing lighting. Also, the fast paced movement is necessary in Sonic series, so we don’t use a general purpose game engine but the one specially designed with our longtime know-how for high-speed processing.

Q: Is it time-taking to create expressions unique to game characteristics with the general purpose engine?

A: Yes. There is no other game that moves so fast like ‘Sonic’, you know. It is better to make the engine by ourselves than asking for it outside. There is a team formed exclusively for game engine development inside Japanese Sonic Team.

Q: How is the development going?

A: Right now, the Japanese Sonic Team is working very hard every day. The development is going smoothly that we can deliver it to you as scheduled. Please be assured.

Q: Finally, please send a message to Sonic fans anticipating Sonic Forces.

A: ‘Sonic Forces’ is being developed by Japanese Sonic Team, and it is becoming something that is for sure enjoyable for everyone who enjoyed former 3D Sonic games. The development is proceeding smoothly that the game is already playable from start to end. Through the whole game, each of the three playstyles enables refreshing ‘Sonic-like’ gameplay and evolvement, with which I am sure to meet your expectation. Please look forward to it.


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Alright, that’s it! It wasn’t easy translating this article. Even though the Mania’s article was longer, I feel like I had more difficulties with this one.

So, do you know the answer to my question at the beginning?

 If you still don’t, go visit the original interview article. NOW. It’s just one tap. Or a click, depending on the device you’ve got in your hand.

https://www.famitsu.com/news/201704/18130922.html 

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