Dear Reader:
Ace Attorney producer discusses his approach to game development, heated exchanges with employees
Coming from Ace Attorney producer Eshiro Motohide...
I tell them to be aware of their final destination when making a game. Also, even if the development team thinks it’s funny, if they don’t manage to convey that in some manner to me, it’s unlikely the users will understand it. We sometimes fight about that, but we need to make games that satisfies the users that pay money for them. So with that in mind, I hardly make any detailed instructions on what they decide on on the development floor unless it isn’t conveyed well. We all think together about how to convey something that isn’t working right now, or I have the team think it all over once more.
We talk things over all the way through. When you have an argument, you really get to see what someone is trying to do, what kind of game they want to make as you talk things through. As long they have a good sight on the core fundamentals, you always get a good answer. But when the core isn’t set yet, or still out-of-focus, the answer becomes vague. So we talk things over, and if the other person isn’t wrong, I myself will think things over. If the other person is wrong, I will point that out and have them try it again.
I have raised my voice. Some developers can’t take that, so there are people who don’t get along with my style. Yamazaki is a nice guy, but he doesn’t bend when it comes to game development, so we often crash into each other (laugh).