Dear Reader:
Professor Layton interview
A portion of an interview with Prof. Akira Tago. (puzzle creator) and the president of Level 5, Akihiro Hino.
Famitsu: First I’d like to ask about how exactly you two first came to meet.
Tago: I heard from someone that a big fan of my puzzle books wanted dearly to meet with me, so I accepted. Two people came to meet me, one in a formal suit, and the other man didn’t even have a jacket on. I thought then that the underdressed man was certainly Mr. Hino’s assistant but right then he introduced himself as the president of Level 5, Mr. Hino.
Hino: I remember that day well. I had planned to dress formally for the meeting but somehow I didn’t expect him to see me like that.
Tago: Mr. Hino said he had been a big fan of my book since he was a small child. He told me how he wanted to make a game based on my books. I couldn’t imagine what kind of game he would make based on my books so I told him, for the time being, we should set up another meeting.
Hino: When I met with Prof. Tago he showed me a magic trick and I thought that he seemed to have a playful heart. I felt that if we could work together we could really make something fun.
Tago: That was why I went to Level 5 meet with them, but when I actually got to their office I was terribly surprised. I was guided into a conference room that was wide open and even had a traditional heated table with sunken floor in the center. There were various game props lying all around the room. It was a very informal atmosphere. Just looking at the conference room I thought how interesting a company Level 5 must be. The staff were meeting and talking all around the room. At any rate, everyone in the company seemed to be full of youthful vigor. I thought to myself that working with these people would be a very interesting experience.
Famitsu: I’d like to ask you about when you made definite plans to work on “Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village.”
Hino: Firstly we came up with the puzzles and then worked on the story line. While we were in the middle of our work we had talked about making a new type of game that would be based on Prof. Tago’s books, but recently in the game industry “brain training” games have become a huge thing and we decided to change directions
Famitsu: They certainly have.
Hino: We were talking about making that kind of game before it came into fashion, but when we actually started working on fitting his books into a game the “brain training” trend had already started. Even though the Prof. Tago is one of the originators of the genre, we didn’t want to be buried amongst many other similar games, so we decided to add a story to the game along with the puzzles. That’s how this game has taken its current form.
Famitsu: Until now there hasn’t been a game quite like it.
