Planning for Phantasy Star III
When it was finally the turn of the Sonic development team, the scene was quite quiet.
The deputy team leader stood up, looking distressed. "Executive Director, you've reassigned Yuji Naka to work on hardware architecture, and Hirokazu Yasuhara has been pulled away to help develop tools. We're leaderless now. The planned Mega Drive version of <Sonic 2> has only just begun—"
"This needs some adjustments," Takuya replied crisply.
The deputy team leader's face turned green. "Huh?"
"Sonic is Sega's face." Takuya stood up, placed his hands on the table, and stared intently.
He pointed towards the Hardware Development Department next door. "The company's top R&D personnel are all working hard to push forward the development of the new console. Although it will take a long time, we can still begin to understand the new console's capabilities and features. You can use this foundation to design a rough draft of the settings, plans, and levels. Yuji Naka returns, I want to see a detailed Sonic project that can serve as a launch support for the new console."
"But we have no experience with high-speed movement in a 3D environment."
"Who says it has to be all 3D?" Takuya's lips curled into a playful smile. "Use 3D backgrounds, retain the classic 2D gameplay, and add dynamic camera angle switching. Let players experience what next-generation speed is all about. You guys do some preliminary research on this first. If you can't handle any of the technical problems, just go knock on Yuji Naka's door next door. If he dares not open it, just say I sent you to break down the door."
A burst of laughter erupted in the conference room.
Several other development teams also reported on their progress, which was more than one-third complete. Nakayama Takuya estimated that several development teams had already freed up or were preparing to participate in the development of the first batch of escort games, so he decided to retain the projects of these remaining development teams.
Over the next two weeks, Nakayama Takuya's office received a steady stream of visits from various development teams.
The first group to visit were the core members of the RPG development team, led by Rieko Kodama.
Today, the "big sister" of the RPG department was dressed in a smart business suit, with a few thin sheets of paper between her fingers. She walked with a confident stride, showing none of the restraint that ordinary employees have when meeting their superiors.
"How's the cartridge port of Chrono Trigger coming along?" Takuya asked casually, gesturing for her to sit down.
"I dumped all the dirty and tiring work on the new batch of graduates we hired last year." Rieko Kodama slammed a few pages on the table, her tone matter-of-fact. "If they can't even handle this kind of downgraded job, not only will the Art Team have their bonuses docked, but I'll also have to consider sending them to the Human Resources Department for retraining."
Takuya picked up the proposal on the table; the cover had the words "<PhantasyStarlI>" written on it in large letters.
"Phantasy Star III?" Takuya raised an eyebrow. "I remember saying at the meeting earlier that frontline units were going to be moved to the new console. You're going against the grain."
"RPGs aren't like action games; they rely on the script and the system, and their dependence on hardware isn't as extreme." Rieko Kodama leaned forward, her knuckles tapping lightly on the table. "Besides, I feel like our team has been working on this project for a long time, and we'll be restless if we don't continue."
Takuya didn't rush to express his opinion, but instead casually turned to the second page of the proposal.
The densely packed, plain-text plot outline that I had expected did not appear. Instead, I saw several meticulously drawn concept design sketches, along with a bold caption. "Development plan based on next-generation hardware architecture."
"You keep saying you don't rely on technology, but it's still pretty good, isn't it?" Takuya pointed to a mark on the blueprint, giving Kodama a half-smile, "A pseudo-3D scene with a 45-degree overhead view, multiple layers of semi-transparent occlusion, and real-time rendered transitions."
Rieko Kodama shrugged, pulled out a chair, and sat down casually as if she were in her own living room. "Since the executive director has said that we're preparing for the next generation, I can't just give you a 16-bit pixelated image. That would be an insult to the Phantasy Star brand."
Takuya agreed nor disagreed, continuing to flip through the pages, his eyes gradually showing increasing approval.
This plan is extremely clever.
It didn't aggressively pursue full 3D, as that would be too risky for current RPG teams.
Current technology is not yet mature enough to construct a detailed and grand fantasy world using rudimentary polygons. Rather than creating a bunch of angular, blocky characters that break the player's immersion, it's better to push 2D to its limits.
In the proposal, non-combat scenarios adopted a fixed 45-degree downward angle perspective.
This pseudo-3D design cleverly utilizes parallax, and combined with the new host's powerful sprite processing capabilities, it can stack amazing details on the screen.
The terrain design with varying elevations is no longer a flat texture deception, but a spatial structure with real physical logic.
When a character walks into the shadow of a building, the semi-transparent obscuring material will naturally fade, and the lighting and shadow effects will change accordingly.
What's even more amazing is the transitional performance.
"Building the skeleton with 3D space, using 2D high-precision sprite textures for skinning, plus the large capacity advantage of the CD-ROM medium—" Takuya read this passage, tapping the words "full voice acting for the entire story," "Are you planning to turn the game into an interactive anime?"
"Players these days are getting more and more discerning; the beeping sounds in the text boxes won't impress them anymore." Rieko Kodama pulled a pack of women's cigarettes from her bag, twirling it in her hand without lighting it. "Now that we have high-capacity discs, it would be a waste not to fill them with voice acting and high-quality music. What we need to do is make players feel like this isn't just a game, but more like watching a space opera starring them."
In terms of the battle system, the design retains the series' traditional turn-based system, which may seem conservative, but is actually the safest choice.
However, in terms of expressiveness, the development team clearly intends to squeeze the full potential of the new hardware's 2D performance.
The game features multi-level transparency magic effects, a massive BOSS that occupies half the screen yet remains a smooth dynamic portrait, and a battlefield background that displays a three-dimensional feel as the viewing angle is slightly adjusted.
This "new wine in old bottles" strategy not only avoids the risks to visual presentation caused by the immaturity of early 3D technology, but also genuinely enhances the visual impact.
"A very cunning plan," Takuya commented, closing the proposal. "But I like it."
7
This transitional form between 2D and 3D is precisely the direction in which the early stages of the next generation are most likely to shine.
Compared to those experimental products that are 3D for the sake of 3D but end up with awkward controls and rough graphics, this polished and refined work is the real reason why players are willing to spend money.