.
IGNDC: And the team, how many people are
on the team, and how old are they?
MIZUGUCHI: There were 10 at the start of the project, but right
now, there are 24. The average team member age is about 27. A lot of
the people here come from the consumer section of Sega, so there are
team members who worked on Panzer Dragoon from Team
Andromeda, people who did Sonic. But with a lot of the team,
it’s their first time creating a game – they’re very fresh.
IGNDC: Yeah, that definitely shows in the
game's style. Where exactly did you come up with the idea for Ulala,
the game’s main character? It looks like there’s a lot of influence
from movies, TV shows, Charlie’s Angels – almost the American
60’s-70’s look. Reminds me a lot of Austin Powers. Did you
get any ideas from there?
MIZUGUCHI: Some people say so but I didn’t. Ulala was designed by
our team’s designer. There are currently six artists on the team,
who designed the aliens, who we call the Moroliens, and all of the
characters. You’ve got to save a lot of people. And Ulala’s got a
rival future-reporter, too.
IGNDC: Speaking of which, what’s the
story behind Space Channel 5?
MIZUGUCHI: Well, at first, the player doesn’t know about why the
Moroliens come to Earth, or why they make people dance. There are
four stages in the game, and after playing the third, we finally
find out – it’s a big mystery. In the first stage, we realize that
the Moroliens are pretty bad guys… but your impression of them may
change. Let's just say that part of the challenge of the game is in
finding out who the real villain is.
IGNDC: Very cool. The soundtrack
should be another element that keeps players interested. At TGS, we
got to hear a sample of the music. Will the rest of the soundtrack
follow suit?
MIZUGUCHI: Actually, the style of music changes as the game
progresses. At the climax of the game, we move into techno and
trance music.
IGNDC: Sweet! Seems like you're pretty in
to the music scene. Whose idea was it to create Space Channel
5, anyways? Did Sega come to you and ask you to make something
in the musical vein, or has the idea been floating around in your
head for a while?
MIZUGUCHI: The main theme was composed back in 1965 by a Mexican
composer named Ken Bookman. It wasn’t really popular at that time,
but I felt like I would love to use the music. Since then, the music
director, Hataya-san, composed the rest of the game’s score.
IGNDC: Interesting. Has the original
composer seen the game? What does he think?
MIZUGUCHI: No he hasn’t. But when we approached him about the
soundtrack, he was really surprised that somebody wanted to use his
music, more than thirty years later. He’s around 70 right now.
IGNDC: I can imagine. Who’s the
inspiration for the actual dancing in the game? Are you using motion
capture, or animating by hand?
MIZUGUCHI: We’re using a mix, actually. We’ve been investigating
the animation world in regards to that question. We look at a lot of
pantomimes, and study how to create animation that will make people
laugh and get a big reaction. There’s a little bit of everybody on
the team in the game – a few people on the team did some dancing for
the game, which we edit and re-mix. Straight motion-captured data
isn’t that interesting; we need to edit it to move it away from
reality. Some people on the team study about pheromones and what
makes the main character so attractive. How can we make the gamers
think she’s really sexy? IGNDC: Just take
notes on a Brittany Spears video. Does Ulala’s style of
dancing change as the game progresses? Crazier moves,
perhaps?
MIZUGUCHI: We’re not thinking about doing really difficult
things. We just want to create something that everyone can enjoy.
We’re currently at thirty percent completion, but it’s not enough to
be entertaining yet. The current dancing and game design is
basically a prototype. We need to create several dramatic climaxes
through the game, and want to make everyone cry at the end.
IGNDC: A lot of people feel that that’s
the next big stage for games – if they can evoke a truly powerful
emotional response.
MIZUGUCHI: Exactly. We want to give you a giant feeling of
accomplishment on the spiritual side when you’ve finished. The
simplicity of the game helps us get our message across – and if a
million people play it, we want to really think about what we’re
trying to say. You know, I don’t really like the scenes when you’re
actually shooting the aliens – but there is no killing in this game.
IGNDC: I see. So what are your big
influences for the game’s story and art design?
MIZUGUCHI: The characters really come out of the people in this
office – some people like Star Wars, some people like
Doraemon, some people like Monty Python or other
things.
IGNDC: Getting off the subject a bit, for
you, what’s the most fun type of game to create? It’s a big jump
from Sega Rally to a dancing game.
MIZUGUCHI: For me, Sega Rally and Space Channel 5
use the same model. There’s no difference to me. Genre doesn’t
matter – but I don’t want to wind up doing the same thing twice.
IGNDC: Yeah, I can see that. But, back to
the game, you've hinted at the desire to bring Space Channel
5 Stateside. Do you think the American release will have any
major localization changes, as far as the soundtrack is
concerned?
MIZUGUCHI: I can’t say until it’s complete. We don’t really think
about the market as we design the game. I do what I want to do
first. Since we’re located in Tokyo, we can really get in touch with
a certain kind of people. If they decide to change the music – they
say it’ll sell well if there are some changes – that’s fine by me,
as long as the game design doesn’t change. We want to be aggressive
for the US market.
----------
We'd like to thank once again thank Mizuguchi-san and the crew at
SoA and SoJ for all their help with this piece.
Interview conducted by Brandon "Mad Morolien" Justice
and Colin "Phat Beats"
Williamson, IGNDC. Special thanks goes out to Miho Masuda, the
translation sensation!
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