Archived on 2017.06.24 on Tumblr
Hi everyone! I finally finished the translation of the article. Thanks for the wait!
Before reading this article, I beg you to do just one thing: make sure you visit the original article by Famitsu!!! It is to show respect to the interviewer/journalist and to the both producers Iizuka-san and Nakamura-san who are working very hard to make great Sonic games for us. There are cool photos of E3 SEGA Booth too!
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『 ソニックフォース』と『ソニックマニア』の最新情報を、セガゲームス飯塚・中村両プロデューサーに根掘り葉掘り聞いてみた！【E3 2017】
ファミ通 2017-06-14 10:35:00
https://www.famitsu.com/news/201706/14135044.html
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Translation
‘We interviewed both Producers Iizuka and Nakamura of SEGA Games about latest information on Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania! [E3 2017]’
Ask the two producers!
The classical 2D-styled ‘Sonic Mania’ and the modern 3D high-speed action ‘Sonic Forces’. Both were presented with playable samples in E3 2017, and especially Sonic Forces attracted much attention due to its third playstyle being playable for the first time. Regarding these two Sonic games we interviewed Mr. Takashi Iizuka and Mr. Shun Nakamura of SEGA Games, who were visiting the E3, about newly revealed information and development status.<Photo>
Sonic Forces’ third gameplay style is customizable!
Iizuka: When I started up the project as producer, I came up with this avatar system. While we were making Sonic for decades, we kept receiving many requests saying: “Please add the character I made to the game!”. Although we appreciate them, it is not possible to adopt characters created by users. However, I always wanted to make the fan’s dream come true in some way, and this time we decided to make appearance of the fan-made hero who fights with Sonic as custom character in the game.
Q: And Nakamura-san proceeded the actual work based on this?
Nakamura: Exactly. At first we decided on the concept of the whole game to be “a straightforward high-speed action”. The custom character who we call “Avatar” has been created in order to fit to this direction. Modern Sonic’s series has been having many allies as playable characters, but the keyword is the gameplay feeling compared to that of Sonic. Earlier we often created actions with different direction/tastes for each character, but this time we decided the concept of all three styles to be a high-speed action.
Q: I see.
Iizuka: It was not easy because the avatar’s style should not exceed Sonic’s but should also not be much lesser. The final character setting was that he/she is a general citizen who is in the place now controlled by Eggman and joins Sonic to fight back; from here we expanded ideas for what this character will be doing.
Q: In today’s presentation, the avatar was chosen randomly from presets. How far will the player be able to customize in the final product?
Nakamura: You first create your avatar by choosing elements such as face, mouth, body color, gender and so on to start the game. You can use a unique skill according to the animal species you choose; for example, a wolf can attract rings to him/herself.
Q: It looks like weapons and costumes are customizable too.
Nakamura: Yes. The avatar proceeds through the game using “Wispon”, a weapon that borrows the power of Wisps who appeared in Sonic Colors. Wispon has many other functions than attacking. By obtaining new Wispons or costumes through the game, you will be able to customize further. The range of the gameplay changes by trying out different combination of these elements, so it will be fun to play intensively and to find your own best solution.
Iizuka: Wispon and wearable items such as costumes can be replaced between stages. You will obtain new parts by beating stages to upgrade yourself.
Q: Is it possible to own multiple avatars?
Iizuka: Since the avatar is yourself, you cannot change the character in the middle of the game. There are elements which will be unlocked once you beat the game, though.
Q: Modern, Classic and Avatar – three different styles appear in one game. How do you differentiate between each one of them?
Nakamura: As for the 2D-view Classic and the 3D-view Modern we have our history, and upon that we are concentrating on gimmicks unique to Sonic Forces. For the new style of Avatar, it has speed and rhythmical feeling like Modern gameplay, but its direction is different. For example, the timing for pressing buttons is different, and the movements that depend on the wide variety of Wispons are trickier, so that it has different taste than Sonic’s.
Eggman Army has bosses from successive generations and a mysterious leader!
Q: Let me hear about the story too.Nakamura: This time we wanted to put weight on story too and write about heroes, a typical story to Sonic. With that, we thought that adding a playable ally character would spread the story and the world vision, since its original story concept is “Hero Army vs. Eggman Army”. In the course of considering the character to make playable, Classic Sonic was the one who came to our thought.
Q: There are signaling voices of Sonic’s allies such as Tails and Amy heard while in-stage.
Nakamura: This time, Sonic and his friends formed a resistance to fight against the Eggman Army, and those are incoming information from the headquarters. We added this signal communication performance in order to have you get the feeling of the battle situation and know what your allies are doing in other areas.
Q: The new trailer revealed at the event showed the existence of enemies who will confront Sonic’s side – and it was array of past boss characters, such as Chaos and Metal Sonic.
Nakamura: Yes. In order to show the story composition of huge powers clashing to each other, past boss characters will stand in the way as Eggman Army.
Q: Shadow, and a new mysterious character were sighted too.
Nakamura: About the new character, we cannot say anything yet other than him/her being an existence who brings the Eggman Army together.
Q: There were only minor robot enemies shown until now, so I was like “Is this the Eggman Army…?” to be honest, but I got it after seeing the new trailer.
Iizuka: The key of the story is Eggman challenging the Hero Army by taking along strong enemies from the past. So this time we showed a sneak peek of the powerful enemy who leads those bosses.
Nakamura: I think some of you thought that Eggman showing himself alone and saying he has conquered most of the whole world does not sound persuasive enough, but in reality, there were more characters behind him. If you think about mysteries such as ‘Why is Shadow on the enemy’s side?’, I’m sure you will enjoy the story even more.
Q: By the way, how is the response after the title reveal?
Iizuka: Since trailers were revealed at events held overseas ahead of Japan, we receive reactions from overseas first. From the teaser movie of June last year, the trailer of this March, and to the Nintendo Direct in April, the number of viewers are increasing with each new reveal footage and we notice the positive response of fans worldwide. In Japan, fans seem to be especially positive about the game’s story having a serious tone and the customization function for making own characters.
Q: What were the challenges with the new game engine “Hedgehog Engine 2” ?
Nakamura: There were many challenges in the first stage of developing the new engine, but now we solved the problems one by one, and the development is proceeding at a high speed. Nintendo Switch was revealed during the development, and dealing with the compatibility to this new hardware was another challenge, since what we could predict at the beginning of our project was merely that there was going to be a new Nintendo console coming out at some point. But now, that part is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, too.
Iizuka: Being able to respond to Nintendo Switch is another strength of developing game engine in own company. If it were an engine by other company, the compatibility to new hardware would solely depend on them. Since ‘Sonic’ fans have been playing the series on Nintendo consoles, our project started out with a definite plan to release it on a new Nintendo hardware; and I think this was possible because we are using in-house developed game engine.
Q: The games were presented as playable for the first time on this E3. How is the presentation planned for Japan?
Nakamura: In Japan, we plan to bring it to the Tokyo Game Show in September. Including the playable samples, we would like to present it in a big way. We are also adjusting so that we can reveal new information unique to Japan, so please look forward to it, Sonic fans.
Iizuka: The new information will be announced constantly for everyone in Japan too, so please keep checking the official site or the Famitsu.
Soon releasing Sonic Mania is full of mania-ness!
Q: I would like to ask about Sonic Mania releasing on 16th August (Japan) too. Would you explain about the E3 version?Iizuka: We presented a version with two playable stages, GREEN HILL Act2 and MIRAGE SALOON Act2. The former is for the player to see the changes in familiar stage and the surprising boss fight, and the latter is to show a brand new stage of this game. Also, you can choose from the three playable characters, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles at the beginning.
Q: A new trailer was revealed in the end of May.
Iizuka: Yes. In this clip, we added a new stage from ‘Sonic the Hedgehog CD’. There is no time warp element like in the original, but we arranged the stage to add a taste of it.
Q: How is the development going?
Iizuka: It’s a pandemonium right now. *bitter smile* Looking at the release dates, Sonic Mania’s production should actually be completed before Sonic Forces, but it might be almost at the same timing as the latter. Honestly, we are so busy that we were hesitant about creating the E3 trial version.
Q: Sounds like it’s a problem with every developer *laugh*.
Iizuka: But, as a game, creation of all stages and bosses are finished and we are de-bugging and tuning now. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Q: What is your feeling on the game?
Iizuka: 2D game’s pure positive elements, such as its simplicity that makes it easy to play, are reproduced well and I think it is being finalized in a good way. It is easily enjoyable, and there many surprises put into familiar stages that you would say “Wow, this appears here!”. The updates are non-stop that even I am finding new things every time *laugh*. True to the name “Sonic Mania”, its contents will be very enjoyable for Classic series fans, so please look forward to its release date.
Q: By the way, is there going to be Sonic Birthday Event in June like every year?
Iizuka: We usually hold a real birthday event in Tokyo Joypolis every year, but in that way we cannot deliver information to people living far away. Therefore, this year we are planning to release different information online.
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That was it! Some new information came out. What do you think about it? Make sure you check out the original article before leaving!
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