How Team Asano’s Design Process Keeps Players Coming Back
Team Asano, founded and led by Tomoya Asano, is a small team of game designers who began as a business subdivision of Square Enix, but have since developed beloved games such as the Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler series. The team is known for their distinctive artistic directions that give long-time rpg fans a sense of nostalgic warmth. In particular, they are credited with popularizing the HD-2D graphical style that takes sprite art to a whole new level. But graphics alone does not a game make. What truly sets this team apart from the rest is how they use their design process to iterate and innovate.
Establishing Goals
In an interview following the release of Octopath Traveler 2, game director Keisuke Miyauchi discusses the main goals he and the team sought to accomplish with designing a follow-up to the original Octopath Traveler. While the original title had a dedicated group of fans, myself included, there were also a few criticisms that the team took to heart, specifically how monotonous the gameplay and storytelling felt to many. So, Miyauchi started by focusing on the world design and story writing.
“It was quite the undertaking, but I was very satisfied with the results, including the consistency with the story and the balance of how each area looked.”
Iteration
During the design process, the team had to decide what should be kept, added or changed. Of course, the features that shaped the identity of Octopath Traveler had to be kept intact; Eight playable characters with separate storylines, the same set of jobs for each character, an overworld that allows players to travel wherever they want, etc.
“The challenge with a sequel like this is appropriately determining what should be changed and what should not.”
The changes and additions was where the feedback came in. To spice up the monotony of overworld travel, a day and night system was added which included music variation and altered overworld mechanics for the player characters. Despite keeping the same eight jobs, the team improved upon their unique combat skills to allow for more creative strategies. For example, the scholar class was given more utility skills to complement its damaging spells. Another complaint from fans of the original was a lack of interactions between the characters, so short story chapters that paired up the cast were introduced known as “Crossed Paths.” While other changes were more subtle, every little adjustment added up to a vastly improved experience.
Innovation
Team Asano’s design philosophy was to give this new title a unique separation from its predecessor while continuing with the initial idea of “a grounded world.” All of this was done while also addressing the aforementioned fan criticisms. This philosophy encouraged the team to be experimental.
The setting of the game was a bit more modern than the Medieval European setting of the original, and the character designs were intentionally created and written to be distinct from the characters of Octopath Traveler. The music was greatly expanded upon to incorporate a range of musical styles befitting each area, from Wild Western to Traditional Japanese.
After it was released worldwide, Octopath Traveler 2 received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both fans and newcomers alike. I believe that this was possible because Team Asano had balanced their design process with improving upon their original work and exploring new avenues. The experimentation helped solve the central criticism of monotony, as it encouraged fresh ideas. Understanding one’s audience and being open to new ideas is the mark of an effective creative team, which is how Team Asano keeps players engaged and coming back for more.
