The launch of a new console is an exciting time for developers. It's a time of renewal that gives them the chance to play with fresh hardware and, in some cases, to debut new series. But it's also a path riddled with very real obstacles, not least because there's still so much that has yet to be nailed down, as Game Republic founder and Street Fighter creator Yoshiki Okamoto told me recently.
"Launch games are more difficult because we cannot change the release date," Okamoto said. "There's always the difficulty that it's a new hardware and not knowing what the full capacity of the hardware is going to be."
For Genji: Days of the Blade, Okamoto's first game for the PlayStation 3, development began before the final specifics of Sony's new system had even been revealed. The sequel to the swords-'n'-sorcery historical action game picks up after the first game, with Yoshitsune having come of age. It was meant for the PlayStation 2, but the team decided later to bring it instead to the PlayStation 3.
It was, however, a game that needed to be made. "We really wanted to put out this game because we left the good parts and the interesting battles for the second instalment of Genji," Okamoto said.
Just getting Genji out at launch was a success, says Okamoto
When development began, the team tried to reuse work that had been done for the PS2 version, but Okamoto quickly realized that this approach wouldn't show off the horsepower of the system - something Sony was obviously eager to do in its first batch of games.
Genji debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in May 2006. Initial comments weren't kind, and a lot of them centred on the faraway view of the action. Okamoto and his team took the criticism to heart and pushed the camera right in, close enough to emphasise the details afforded by the PlayStation 3.
This introduced another problem. Some people commented that it was now difficult to see the battlefield. Okamoto admitted it was something the team was concerned with, but it was a necessary concession.
"We wanted to give people great graphics that would say, 'Yes, this is PlayStation 3,'" Okamoto said. "We had to give a little bit up from the gameplay. That was really difficult from the [perspective of] balance."
More concessions were demanded when Sony dropped rumble from the Sixaxis.
"Obviously you lose something without the rumble," Okamoto said. The team was already working on the game when the tilt-sensing features of the Sixaxis were revealed, which is why they were given only a nod in Genji.
"The game design was not thought out with the Sixaxis in mind," Okamoto said. "Yes we did lose something but we probably gained a lot more."
Gamers in Europe and other PAL regions have been waiting on Genji for some time now. Few changes have been made to the game as the team was insistent that it did not want to make it a different experience from that already given to Americans and Japanese.
The biggest changes people who play both versions will notice are the increased number of languages (11 in total, now) and the reduced numbers of bugs, ruthlessly stomped out during the extra quality control period.
A necessary peculiarity for games that launch alongside hardware is that success is less explicit, meaning different goals need to be met. For Okamoto, simply getting Genji out in time for launch made the game a success. Another of his goals was to show off the power of the console, which Okamoto is confident his team has managed. But that's not the end of the story.
"If this is what we can do at launch, think about what is possible in the following years," he said.
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