Topic: IGA gives advice to Metroidvania devs (interview)

[AxeLord]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/238553/Castlevanias_Koji_Igarashi_offers_advice_to_todays_Metroidvania_devs.php

[Nagumo]

Thanks for the link! It's weird how he says stage-based games were getting more harder. Weren't they actually getting easier in the SNES/PS era?

[Flame]

that was a pretty nice interview.

interesting that he considers SotN to have been inspired more by Zelda than Metroid.

[uzo]

Incredibly humble of him. But so much we didn't get that much advice, much less genre specific advice.

[Belmontoya]

What a weak interview.

Stage by stage platformers were certainly not getting harder. And why would that be a bad thing if they were?

He says that they wanted to create a game in the style of Zelda, yet they practically carbon copied the Super Metroid format. It's almost like he wants to deflect or distract away from that fact by trying to cite Zelda. The only thing in common with Zelda that SOTN has is gathering items. In Zelda you explore a vast open world making stops in multiple castles. Simon's Quest has more in common with Zelda than SOTN.

He acts as if difficulty in games is a bad thing... That's something Castlevania was known for before SOTN. Paying money for a game should not give you an automatic ticket to beating the game.. I hate that mentality in gamers and devs these days! I like the love/hate relationship with a fun but difficult game.

Example: I'll admit that I've never beaten Castlevania X68000 (blushing). But guess what? I've bought it twice! It doesn't make me feel like I haven't gotten my money's worth. The game just kicks my ass. I'll probably finally beat it when I'm 75 years old and in a nursing home, and that's cool with me! I've also never beaten Haunted Castle and I would gladly fork out money for it if it got a US release.

I'm not trying to start another IGA debate or anything, but come on... This guy frustrates the hell out of me sometimes.

[Maedhros]

Difficult is a bad thing for anyone who wants to sell games these days. You either remain niche or get the difficult right.

The NES difficult was getting harder to market. Most people weren't enjoying that. New generations are all about reward. Instant reward as opposed to careful playing.

[pimp dracula]

Difficult is a bad thing for anyone who wants to sell games these days. You either remain niche or get the difficult right.

The NES difficult was getting harder to market. Most people weren't enjoying that. New generations are all about reward. Instant reward as opposed to careful playing.

FromSoft games would beg to differ. Guess what? Their new game will be platform seller and getting alot of hype. Difficulty is not the problem, the overall content is and the fun factor. Souls games are punishing at times, but very rewarding and not hard for the sake of being hard.

[Flame]

there's a difference between being tough, and being unfair. lots of older NES/SNES games were "unfairl" really only because of limitations such as poor controls. I'd say King's Field are one of the games that are tough mostly because of the tank controls. (I wouldnt call them unfair though)

that said, i dont really recall games having gotten "harder" on the PS1 at all... I wonder what games he had in mind

[Belmontoya]

Certainly not Castlevania. Which is the ony game he should of had in mind.

Scv4, bloodlines (the toughest of the 3) and rondo were the easiest and most recent console CV's before SOTN.

Makes no sense to anyone who remembers how games were at that time coming into the PS era.

[Claimh Solais]

Certainly not Castlevania. Which is the ony game he should of had in mind.

Scv4, bloodlines (the toughest of the 3) and rondo were the easiest and most recent console CV's before SOTN.

Makes no sense to anyone who remembers how games were at that time coming into the PS era.

Why is that the only game he should've had in mind? He was talking about all games like that at the time, not just the franchise he was working on.

[Belmontoya]

Because the fact that the very series he was working on had progressively gotten easier makes that statement seem obviously bogus. Aside from the fact that it's untrue with other games.

Pretty much everything had progressively gotten easier from the 8 bit days on.

[Claimh Solais]

Because the fact that the very series he was working on had progressively gotten easier makes that statement seem obviously bogus. Aside from the fact that it's untrue with other games.

Pretty much everything had progressively gotten easier from the 8 bit days on.

All that proves, though, is that his statement is untrue. It doesn't mean he should only be talking about his own franchise.

[Belmontoya]

We'll sir...

That part was my opinion. ;-)

[Dremn]

A lot of bias against Classicvanias in that interview, but I can see where IGA is coming from.