To learn a little more about how it was created Ghost of tsushima and what was behind it, we offer you a translation of the interview Eurogamer… Co-founder and producer of the project Brian Flemingas well as art director and creative director Jason Connell will answer the questions of the journalist and tell about the sources of inspiration.
Ghost of tsushima It may not be the best open world game, but it definitely looks luxurious and offers a stylish combat system. The project is inspired by cinematography, and I wondered if the developers were trying to create something more than just a copy of the samurai cinema of the middle of the last century. How does an American studio recreate the history and culture of Japan? The feudal era is one of those that is mired in delusions and fictions, and if you take culture as a whole, it’s quite easy. “come“to the stereotype. It was interesting how the studio got over it.
How many elements from your previous games (Sly Cooper, inFamous) have you brought into Ghost of Tsushima?
Brian F: Of course, the history of the company is important in building the path of our corporate adventure. Those games and people who worked on them are constantly moving forward, therefore “Ghost” has changed the approach to development due to its scale and the fact that it is based on sword fighting. All of this has changed us. This was one of the reasons why we took on a new IP: to take on a new challenge, rethink what we do, rebuild the company, make it better and stronger. Just understand that we can handle it. Obviously, if not for our previous experience, we would not have been able to create a game…
Do you think there is any distinctive feature or trait inherent in the games of your particular studio?
Brian F: I think yes. We create games so that you forget about the gamepad in your hands, so that, fighting in battle, you don’t think about buttons. To make everything feel as if you are really taking action. This is one of our principles that we pursue. Finding a way to make the game feel right. I guess it started with “Slay” and continues into “To the ghost”…
Jason K: Yes, I think this is what was in Sucker punch initially. I can add that all of our games have their own unique style. Now the result of a combination of cool styling and graphic power allows us to say no “Oh, that’s good graphics“rather stop and admire.”Fuck, you can do that with particles?“Using them in new ways, we are improving the lighting and beauty of the island, which is incredible. Now people are wondering how we did it.
I was going to ask about these particles. It seems to be one of the elements that were in inFamous.
Brian FA: I want to say that the visual effects system is one of those iconic things that we transferred to the new project. But the answer is a little more complicated than it sounds. This is a perfect example of how “Ghost” stands on the shoulders of a system created for a superhero game. The particle system is powerful and served well Ghost of tsushima…
Was it difficult to move away from cartoon graphics towards photorealism? Has it changed the way you work with mechanics and how they feel?
Brian F: It’s all part of the playstyle, right? IN Sly cooper the graphics were specially drawn in cartoon style, even the font. The plot was also like in cartoons. And everything was part of a whole work. Then the superhero game is a completely different genre, less and less like a cartoon. Now we have made a more realistic game.
It’s like learning to play a musical instrument. At the very beginning, everything looks dramatic and exaggerated, but as you grow up and grow in abilities, you understand how to get more complex emotions from a musical instrument. We can communicate more complex feelings, emotions and thoughts. This is part of our development as a studio.
You started this generation by launching your game, and now you are closing it with another project. Can you compare them?
Jason K: They are very different. Complementing Brian’s words, at the beginning the difficulty lies in the new hardware – we are trying to figure out how to interact with it, how to make the game unique. inFamous: Second Son became such a project. Coming close to creating Ghost of tsushima, we decided how to fit our engine to more open locations and procedurally generated vegetation. Now we don’t even know how many trees are in the game … There are more than a million, I don’t know, tons!
Brian F: And I know the number! Three millions!
Jason K: Three million trees! You know, this is crazy. We did not place them manually, but created a special technology that planted them beautifully. As creators, we put ourselves into production entirely, especially if it’s a new IP.
Brian F: Earlier, I talked about the difference between jumping between platforms and a long development on one. We won a lot, because we already had experience. We didn’t have to adapt to the new hardware.
How did the development go?
Jason K: Making games is hard work. Overall, not bad. The biggest challenge for us was the transition to remote work via the network. These weeks have been the toughest.
Obviously, the PS5 is on the horizon. Is there something you admire while working with the new platform and elements that you can implement?
Jason K: Honestly, due to the fact that I am still so deeply immersed in “Tsushima”, I didn’t think much about it. I’m sure we’ll dig here and there, maybe we’ll start talking again about particles or something. It will be cool anyway, because I am one of the first artists to work with PS4 devkits, and I know it. In the meantime, I’m moving away from creating Ghost of Tsushima and see what they say about the game.
Brian F: We closed the generation with a major release, so we are just starting to look towards the new hardware. Personally, I was impressed with the new gamepad. We really love how the controllers immerse you in the gameplay. In general, anything that gives the player more opportunities to provide the player with a better tactile connection, which helps to understand what is happening in the virtual world, will be of great importance. For Sucker punch it is interesting.
Yes, I noticed this in “Tsushima”… You use the controller’s capabilities more than others. As I understand it, this is due to the fact that you are Sony developers?
Brian F: Use the gamepad as a paint can (in inFamous) was cool. You need to shake it, twist it in your hands. This is a very important part of the game. This is why we put in so much effort.
Jason K: This is the philosophy of the studio. Even such a trifle as the sound of the wind from the speaker of the gamepad. The idea was suggested by a sound specialist. He just thought it would be cool. All thanks to philosophy, when everyone thinks a little differently from everyone.
I guess I know the answer, but I’ll ask a question anyway. Are there any plans to transfer “Tsushima” on PS5?
Brian F: While we were dealing with issues related to the transition to remote control and the release of the project, so we will get to PS5 only in a few weeks.
What about inspiration? The 13 Assassins (Jûsan-nin no shikaku, 1963) comes to mind first when thinking about battles, and many Kurosawa, sure. Was your goal to create a samurai game or a samurai movie game?
Brian F: Probably, we did both. We mainly drew inspiration from samurai cinema, not only from works Akira Kurosawa, generally from the genre as a whole. Even from those who themselves were inspired by him. The same westerns, “Star Wars“and so on. It is difficult to separate the two. A huge part of what we do was inspired by possible historical events and things. Some of the armor that existed during that period may not have been shown at all in films.
How did you approach the study of culture? Tell us about the specifics of attracting consultants. How it works?
Brian F: We hired specialists in various aspects. From the very beginning, we turned to our Japanese partners, to the Japanese localization team who worked with us on previous projects. They looked at everything and left feedback, and also set the right direction for work, inviting them on a trip to Japan, where the heads and leading developers of the studio went. After that, we had a huge amount of photos and data. We also visited the very beach where the invasion began.
Subsequently, over the course of several years, we hired consultants to evaluate the script, and analyzed cultural differences. After working together like this, we had tremendous alliances – a sound team from Japan recorded birdsong and deer sounds for us.
You are an American studio creating a game based on Japanese culture and history that is not easy to figure out. How did you find compromises?
Jason K: I think it would have been more difficult without the support of the Japanese localization team who helped us from the very beginning. It is certainly difficult, even when we were creating for inFamous Seattle we live in. It’s easy to imagine what the streets look like, but when it comes to development, we still have to discuss it all again. We didn’t want to exactly translate the city into the game, our goal is to convey the feeling, not create an exact copy. FROM “Tsushima” we did the same.
But everything turned out to be more complicated, because the feudal Japan of the 13th century was not documented in detail. We had to find a balance between entertainment, player interest and authenticity. Ultimately, this is our goal: to create authentic, enjoyable and fun for people entertainment.
From an artistic point of view, were you inspired by any works of art or antiquities?
Jason K: As an artist, I specialize in photography and lighting. I usually look at the world through a lens. I love using cinema as reference, which is why we talk so much about samurai cinema. I collect inspiration piece by piece and transfer it to the game. This is where the wind came from in our game. We decided on this from the very beginning, when we did not yet understand how exactly it would work. They only knew that everything should be in motion. It is at Kurosawa there was dynamics in every frame. Thanks to the film for the colors and composition “Ran“(1985), and the filmBodyguard“(1961) – for the characters.
When I got to Japan, I didn’t even know what it was tsuba… After watching many films, I did not know that this is what the ring on the samurai sword is called – I just did not understand the terms. After visiting one of the antique shops and asking about things of the 13th century, we heard laughter in response, because no one had them for sale. But the XIV century was. We were shown tsubuall in dragons and pampas grass. This is an incredibly rare thing, and I was shocked by it – how painstakingly hard work it is. It was in excellent condition considering it was created so many years ago. After that I wondered how I could repeat and create similar textures to make them feel really old. This was definitely my source of inspiration.
I think it’s the nature of western-inspired cinema: a nice guy walks into town and solves problems, and stuff like that. Have you looked towards other films?
Jason K: I would not say, because even “For a fistful of dollars“(1964) is a remake of the film Akira Kurosawa “Bodyguard“(1961). Many such films are inspired by Japanese or copy their plot. Therefore, we try to look at the original source.
Purely artistic we were inspired by games The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Shadow of the colossus… Both games are created by the Japanese and have amazing aesthetics. We would like something more mundane and photorealistic, but with a feudal Japan. From the games, we took more minimalistic landscapes.
Brian F: The obvious inspiration for us was the first part Red dead… She influenced us.
Read also: Ghost of Tsushima Review…
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