Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN Version 5.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

Daemon X Machina devs explain the Arsenal's designs in great detail

by rawmeatcowboy
21 July 2018
GN Version 5.0

Daemon X Machina developers Kenichiro Tsukuda and Shoji Kawamori sat down with 4Gamer to talk about all the intricate details that are going into the creation of the game's mechs, known as Arsenals. You can get a full breakdown of the interview below.

- Kawamori wanted to work on a Switch game
- his team came up with the idea of a mech title
- the goal became to create a mech action game which would make full use of the hardware's specs
- they also wanted to have graphics that have never been seen before
- Arsenals are close to an exoskeleton or powered suit
- this is why the team moved away from using the word "robot" and instead went with "mech"
- Arsenals are 5 meters tall, and the size was chosen to make battles look and feel spectacular
- the original idea was creating medieval armor with a modern feel to it
- musculature is the key characteristic of the Arsenals' design
- Arsenals are designed around concepts such as "wearing them to fight" by using multiple weapons
- they wanted to create a mech that would move like a human being, despite all the heavy weapons it was equipped with
- the team made the armor lighter to compensate for the heaviness of the weapons
- this lead to multiple drawings and designs to find the right mix of ideas
- the most difficult part in mech and robot design is the feet
- the head is also hard in the sense that you need to convey the character's personality
- the foot design was inspired by ski boots, which was then expanded upon with boosters, thrusters, and more
- when you use weapons, the hatches open on the feet.
- you can pick up weapons laying on the ground, and the mech suit opens/closes based on your interaction with these weapons
- the back design of the mech is very important because you spend most of the game looking at the mech's back
- the Arsenal's "spine" plays a role in the world design and settings, which is why it has a "gleaming back"
- Arsenals fly in a forward-leaning posture rather than an upright posture
- the team put a lot of thought into making sure the designs could exist/work in the real world, but didn't take things too far
- shadowed areas on the Arsenals are completely black
- the open parts of the Aresenals light up, so when you're in a shadowed area, you only have a skeleton-esque view
- the team is working on associating a musical instrument with each weapon,
- the team also wants the Arsenal head to show which manufacturer or period each is from

Thanks to Ishaan for the heads up!

[Link]