And push forward it did, coming out originally for the PlayStation on March 22, Capcom had a new blockbuster IP, and work on a sequel quickly ramped up.
I was able to survive reading all that. But surrounding its success was some major industry chatter revolving around a controversial decision made by Mikami. It was a decision, he explains, that was born out of concern for the gaming industry. He felt so strongly about it that he infamously said publicly that he would commit harakiri — a Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment with a sword — if it were to be released on other platforms. But he did take his licks for making such strong statements.
Mikami would end up leaving Capcom a couple of years later. A couple of years later, though, he was compelled to go and create his own studio.
Mikami launched Tango Gameworks in , and it was acquired by ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, that same year.
His goal was to give emerging talent in Japan a chance, and his plan was to make one big title and two smaller titles at a time, with veteran developers working on the former, and the younger employees working on the latter.
He says they were told not to work on the smaller titles anymore, though, creating a challenge for giving opportunity to younger talent who may not be ready for major titles. But they were able to work on games for the sake of experience — including one with a particularly bizarre concept that never saw the light of day. Programming and system development was essentially down to [Yasuhiro] Anpo. Once the central team had been established, Capcom's Production Studio 4 quickly set about turning Mikami's ideas into tangible, playable realities.
An early build of the game featured an over-the-shoulder camera system similar to that which would eventually be used in Resident Evil 4, but it soon became obvious the PlayStation hardware was not up to the task of managing such ambitious design.
At least, it didn't appear to be capable of such feats back in Initially it was intended to be a full 3D production, but we had to give up on that idea and modify Biohazard to use pre-rendering: if we hadn't done that, it would have been impossible to properly realise my plans for the game.
For that reason [the switch to pre-rendered environments] the graphics became exceptionally good, though operability was sacrificed to achieve that. It was very difficult to manufacture the characters while reducing their polygon counts to a reasonable level. Controlling Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield was the adventure game equivalent of steering a double-decker bus around a karting circuit.
Since his original briefing from his manager had quite specifically requested a horror game, Mikami was determined to create something that would in an in-game sense, literally scare players to death.
The critically important point here was to create a world where you could see some evidence that people had been living there, and then introduce zombies so that players would happen to meet them within that kind of environment.
Yet…" Fortunately, not all of the tension-building devices used in Biohazard were quite so crude. The door-opening scenes that linked rooms together were deliberately restrained — a door, a black abyss of a background, and the cleanly sampled sound of a handle being turned — and were extremely effective in boosting both the player's fear and anticipation levels.
We used features such as the zombies' moans and their footsteps as omens throughout the flow of the game. Even if you knew before looking round a corner that a zombie was going to be there, we set up blind spots so that players wouldn't be able to see the zombies [immediately] and that in turn produced an uneasy feeling that caused players to feel afraid.
I remember thinking if the enemies were only scary because of the possibility of 'game over', it wouldn't be sufficient for me to reach my goal with Biohazard. There had to be more to it than that.
Intriguingly, Mikami says that Biohazard could even have adopted a humorous angle as in genuine, planned humour — not the occasionally funny scripting that cropped up in English-language translations of the game were it not for a lack of development time. I ended up discarding the idea when it became apparent that it would take an unreasonable amount of time to implement.
I personally felt that the horror and comedy genres had many things in common and were very closely linked. I think if I'd had a chance to experiment more, the results could have been really entertaining. Regardless of Mikami's decision to not turn Biohazard into the video game equal of Scary Movie probably a wise decision , his vision of how he wanted the game to be was largely realised.
I was also really pleased with the graphics: in its day, at least, Biohazard looked real. Another of my favourite aspects was how the sound effects and music would make the player feel intimidated. And, of course, I was very pleased with how we presented the zombies in the game. As far as I know, he felt bad for those people who bought a Gamecube for Resident Evil 4 then learning soon after that it will be ported on the PS2.
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Side Quest 5 Answers. Ask A Question. Browse More Questions. Keep me logged in on this device. In retrospect, Mikami agrees with the sentiment. It was this line of thinking that made news in In an interview with Famitsu shortly after joining Bethesda, Mikami said that his first game for Tango would be the last he would direct himself, in part to create opportunities for others. I'm pretty lucky that [Bethesda] was willing to accept that, too.
Too many publishers are only interested in the very near future, after all. Those comments led to reports online of Mikami planning to retire as a director, which he says didn't go over well with higher-ups at Bethesda and may not end up being true. That was something I decided before I started Tango, that the next project would be my last. I was thinking back then that I would have to spend more time managing the studio and training people rather than directing.
But now because Tango is part of Bethesda, I have less management overhead. So I have more time to get involved with a game than I originally thought I would. At this point, Mikami says he doesn't know who will direct Tango's next game. It might be him.
It might be someone else at Tango. In his interview answers, he bounces back and forth between his desires to lead projects and to give team members chances to lead their own.
Just prior to the Tokyo Game Show in September , Mikami began telling the team at Tango that he had identified three team members who he thinks are capable of directing games at the company in the future. He can't say when it might happen or what those games might be, just that these three are next in line.
Katakai is great at visualizing the world he imagines. And Nakamura, I can't ever predict what she'll think of. It's so unique. Nishikawa, who previously directed black and white action game MadWorld at Platinum Games, takes the praise modestly. I mean, why is he always nominating me? When I look back at my past accomplishments, I don't see it. When Nishikawa describes his approach to development, however, it fits right in line with Mikami's comments.
He talks of giving a game structure to prevent the team from constantly tearing things down and losing motivation, and customizing a game's design to team members' preferences. While responsible for Evil Within 's look, Katakai says his job is mostly keeping things on track, trying to find the balance so things don't end up "too 'cool,' too 'pretty,' or too 'dirty.
Katakai says he also often tends to start in on an idea before getting permission, since he finds it challenging to describe his ideas before he has something to show. In terms of the production environment, it is a good environment for each of the members of the team. Especially for people in art, communication is very clear. Because if you have talent, all you have to do is get something presented on screen.
Nakamura, the first woman whom Mikami has chosen as a potential director, takes her own modest approach. Mikami seems to think I am a strange animal," she says. The other two above me, Mr. Katakai and Mr. Nishikawa, have their own distinct personalities. I wouldn't say I'm in the same league. She previously worked on concept art for stylish action game Bayonetta , and says she tries to approach her work with a high-level concept behind it to avoid being labeled "just an artist.
She also draws a comic strip called "The Real Tango" on the company's website, which refers to her as a "rookie director.
While Nishikawa, Katakai and Nakamura are on Mikami's short list, what that means in practical terms remains up in the air.
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