Daemon X Machina producer shares tons of insight into the game's creation

Daemon X Machina is looking to be something quite special not just for the Switch, but for mech games in general. The title has been getting a good bit of buzz coming out of E3, and Famitsu has capitalized on that with an interview with Daemon X Machina producer Tsukuda Kenichiro. You can see a summary of the interview below.

- Kenichiro came up with the idea when thinking of how interesting the Switch’s portable and table modes were
- he wanted to make a project that would be able to make use of these
- Kenichiro wanted Kawamori to do the mecha designs, and when he asked, Kawamori accepted
- the player assumes the role of a mercenary known as an Outer
- the Outer uses a powered suit type mecha called an Arsenal to fight enemy AIs
- the player can take weapons from defeated enemies and equip them immediatel
- choosing the right equipment loadout for where you fight is important
- the game's title is derived from the Greek mechanical gods known as “deus ex machina”
- as the player advances in the game and becomes an ace pilot, they become “something like a god or demon” to the enemy
- Kenichiro purposely went with “daemon” instead of “demon” due to its use in computing, but can't share more details yet
- the game takes place in a world where half of the moon fell to the earth on a day known as “the day of awakening”
- a new particle and energy source known as “femto” was found in the shards of the moon, and humans fight over it
- the place where the shard of the moon fell also becomes a dangerous area
- humans built a wall around it to keep something inside from getting out
- the inside of the wall is filled with crazed AIs
- people in power want femto, and hire mercenaries to fight over it
- the Arsenals also run on femto, and Outers are people who have gotten powers due to the influence of femto
- the design requirements for the mechs was “large humanoids like suits of armor"
- Kenichiro wanted them to be closer to powered suits than giant robots, around 5 meters tall
- making them fully armored would make them too close to giant robots
- some parts like the thighs and waist are designed to look like muscles, to help with the “powered suit” motif
- lighter versions of the Arsenals have more of these muscle-like portions, while heavier versions have less
- weapons in the game range from realistic ones to more sci-fi designs
- you can throw cars as projectiles, or use street lights as temporary weapons
- the soles of the feet are able to leave an impression in the ground
- differentiating mecha designs is difficult, especially with the head and legs
- Kenichiro adds that the test concept design he first saw was comprised entirely of parts from other mecha
- Kawamori says he wanted to make use of the slit-type nozzles on the test design’s rear boosters
- Arsenals in-game are seen from behind, carry weapons on the back, and fly bending forwards
- the team decided to add crests with holes extending backwards to make the head identifiable from behind
- the holes in the crests are how the Arsenals absorb their power source, femtos
- pylons extending and parts on the shoulders and arms opening up were Kawamori’s ideas
- the arms open up when weapons are used while the legs open up while the player is dashing
- this also helps to give the player the impression that they are controlling the Arsenal
- while photorealism is mainstream in games, Kenichiro says there is no need to follow in that vein
- the game has a comic/anime-style because he wanted the game to have its own identity
- Kawamori says that mecha in photorealistic style works better with more mechanical movements
- he also says comic-style designs are better when it feels like the player is in direct control
- when they first began development, many of the staff were not used to the comic-style graphics
- this made things like shadows end up still looking realistic
- once the team was told not to be afraid and to try things differently, they came to reworking shadows
- projectiles were originally realistically small, but this was changed to make them bigger and more colorful
- Kenichiro says that his ideal is Macross-style missiles, but he’s spent years unable to reach that
- while powered suits are controlled directly by the people inside, the games uses more exaggerated motion