The Story behind GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE Studio’s Success
The Studio’s LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW has sold more a million copies since launch
by IGNITION Staff
Japanese game developer GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE Inc.(referred to as GhM hereafter) has a huge following outside of its home country. Domestically, the company is better known for its acquisition inFebruary 2013 by Gungho Online Entertainment, the company behind ‘Ragnarok Online’ and ‘Puzzle & Dragons’.
As one of Japan’s most prominent game developers,we spoke with GhM CEO Goichi Suda to find out the thought process behind his and his company’s creations.
Interview with Goichi Suda
- The majority of GhM games seem to be targeting overseas markets rather than Japan. When did you start taking an interest in these markets?
The first game I ever developed for the overseas markets was ‘killer7’. Up until then I had only been involved with making games for release here in Japan.
I spent the first 5 years of my career with game publisher HUMAN Inc. through whom I also released my first game, ‘Super Fire Pro Wrestling 3 Final Bout’ for the Super Nintendo (Super Famicon in Japan). At the time, the company had little interest in the exploring global markets and if you would have asked me about it back then, I probably wouldn’t have had a clue.
My first venture into global markets wasn’t until around 4 years after founding GhM Inc. when we collaborated with Capcom to produce ‘killer7’ (released 2005). For the project, the first thing I did was team up with Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) and currently CEO of Tango Gameworks. We decided that he would be producer and I would be director. It was also then that Mikami said to me ‘let’s make a game not just for Japan, but for the global market.’ Which was a real eye opener for me.
‘killer7’ was the starting point for us in producing games for the global market. Since then I’ve come to think of my job and in turn that gaming world as one that’s arguably more connected with the world than any other form of entertainment. It’s the reason why I make games for the global market.
- Once you decided on producing games for people all over world, did anything change specifically in terms of the development process?
I don’t think that it matters too much as to what kind of games are currently selling the most on the global market. We already know to some degree what kind of games people want to see and why some games are a huge hit. But I don’t want to use those as a starting point. We’re not interested in replicating what already exists. We want to create something different.
I believe that the relationship between gamer and developer is an honest and straightforward one. If we make new and challenging games they praise us. If we make boring games, they criticize us.
Therefore, as a developer, we always start by thinking about what we want the users to feel and experience to create innovative and challenging games.
In the case of ‘No More Heroes’ we wanted to portray the main character as someone that the gamer can relate to. Despite the story revolving around an Otaku turned assasin, we didn’t want to create a detached fantasy world. Instead we focused on designing the environment and story to be like something you’d hear about happening in the next town.
For ‘ LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW’ our goal was to make a comedy zombie game. There were and still are a lot of scary zombie games to choose from but none of them have that laugh-out-loud comical theme. Comedy doesn’t always need translation; something’s are just funny. In ‘LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW’ there’s one scene in particular where the severed zombie heads are seen flying through the air and landing in a basketball hoop. That scene had everyone laughing. We even used the scene in a promotional video to pitch the idea to Warner Brothers. Needless to say we got the same reaction from their executives. I think that was probably the decisive moment in sealing the deal and it really made me think about the immense business value that comedy has in this industry.
- Working alongside American publishers, what would you say are the differences in the way that America and Japan develop games?
They’re definitely ahead of Japan in the way they research what gameplay gives the player the most amount of enjoyment. The same goes for their marketing and monitoring skills.
I remember there used to be a time when Japanese games occupied more than half of the booths at E3, the world’s largest video game event. These days, American games have a much bigger presence. You can definitely see that America and even Europe take their research very seriously and have applied what they’ve learnt from Japanese games to really up the competition. They don’t just stop when they’ve found something they like. They use that as a benchmark to find or create something even better. This kind of dedication and professionalism is a true testament to their passion as game developers. Working with overseas publishers, particularly those in America, I’m always reminded of how much this differs from Japan.
Developing games is always a long process. But American publishers manage to meticulously plan everything from meetings to discussions. They detail not just the end goal but also the individual steps and processes needed to achieve this.
In particular, I think American publishers are much better with meetings than Japan. Fundamentally, a good meeting is simply one where a certain decision or outcome is reached. For developers, this means discussing key points to determine whether something is right for the project or not. Meetings that are a more akin to a status report are of little to no benefit to us.
Some will argue that there is no right or wrong when it comes to creativity but personally, I feel that right answer can always be found. I think finding that ‘right’ answer is part of our job as game developers. Naturally every studio is different, but I think overseas developers have become particularly good at finding what’s ‘right’. Applying the best and fastest way in finding this is an important part of the process and in that respect, Japan has a lot to learn.
For example, overseas studios often use a large wall chart to visualize the project schedule. It not only details each team member’s role and their duties, it also gives everyone an overview of the whole development process at a glance. When I saw one of these for the first time, it took me by surprise as you just don’t see this kind of thing in Japan. It was incredible to see that the schedule on PC was not entirely trusted.
Of course, there are differences in culture which inevitably means that simply replicating this process won’t necessary yield the same outcome.
- Would you say that that also accounts for the differences in what people seek from Japanese and American games?
I think that American games are definitely more movie-like. Japanese games on the hand have more of a comic book element to them including character design. You could say it’s similar to Anime and what a lot of Japanese gamers are drawn to.
The main reason for this divide goes back to early days of video games. Atari were the first company to make a home entertainment system before Nintendo and their goal was to produce a system that gave the user a movie-like experience that they could control themselves. In other words, back then there wasn’t any notion of what would be most fun, they simply wanted to bring the movie experience to video games. Meanwhile in Japan, Nintendo created the Famicon(Family Computer) and focused their efforts on user experience and enjoyment instead. Eventually, Famicons started being imported into America and a lot of people grew up with one. Once that generation started becoming involved with developing games, the quality really went up. There’s still a lot of focus on bringing the movie experience to video games but I think it’s understandable given the prominence of the film-making industry over there.
Ever since the launch of the PlayStation 2, it’s become common in America for video games to be created alongside the movies their based on. Lord of the Rings or Peter Jackson’s King Kong are good examples of this. In Japan however, you’ll never see an Anime launch together with a video game counter-part.
I think that in America, this kind of thing is inevitable. Over there, there’s a tendency to do everything and anything that’s fun, whether that’s movies or video games. There aren’t really any borderlines as to how you choose to express what you like. If we look at Lord of the Rings example again, the movie’s director Peter Jackson is also an avid gamer.
Although Japan and America are often seen as industry rivals, there’s a certain level of mutual respect. The same kind that can also be found between film makers and game developers. It’s because of this that we can all collaborate with each other. It used to be the norm for well-known writers, like the ones for ‘LOST’, to transition to writing for video games. But these days it’s becoming increasingly common for video game story writers to transition to writing scripts for TV shows.
There’s no notion of superiority within the industry. Those who make good content are able to seamlessly transition to other sectors/departments. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Japan. Here, there are still clear cut lines between each department/sector and that’s one thing I believe that will be improved with people from new generations ahead.
If anything I try to work with people that don’t draw these lines. I think it’s far better to do work with people who not only produce quality results but also share the same values. We work with Yudai Yamaguchi, a film director, for many different projects. He has a great understanding of the hearts of gamers. Those are the kind of filmmakers I would want to collaborate with. Filmmaking isn’t my expertise, but if we had the opportunity to work together, I think I could learn a lot form them and their input would be invaluable.
- What would you say are necessary skills to become a pro game developer? Would you say that one has to be a gamer?
I don’t think it matters too much as to how many games you’ve played. What’s important is being able to distinguish what made one game more fun over another.
Naturally, those who spend a lot of time gaming playing various genres can also develop this skill. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can be pro game developers. I often think about what the difference is between someone who can and someone who can’t and I think it all comes down to the individual’s ability to provide definitive answers. As a pro developer one needs to be able to clearly define the pros and cons of a game as well as how to turn those cons in to pros.
You have to be able to determine and define these as quickly and as clearly as possible. You also need the ability to provide alternatives when technical limitations prevent a particular idea from taking shape. Fixating on a particular idea is never a good thing for a pro. Holding on to too much pride over one idea will inevitably railroad you into a creative block. If one thing doesn’t work, try something else. It may lead to something even better. That’s the kind of mentality you need to have. You need to ability to bounce multiple ideas around the room.
Being able to see that when you hit a block, your whole teams hits a block is crucial. Imagine if your team has 50 members. Now imagine a day’s losses if those 50 stopped working. This is why it’s imperative that you have the ability to produce answers fast.
This is what team members rely on their directors and producers for. It’s what keeps projects running smoothly and leads to a good end result.
- Can you tell us about GhM’s development process? And can you tell us about any new titles you’re currently working on?
We don’t have a set process as such. If a producer has an idea they’d like to explore, they draft a proposal. There’s no deadline for proposals as game developers are creators working from their own initiative. It really just boils down to whether or not they have a good idea. If the idea’s good, we’ll take it further. If not, we won’t. Of course, I’m no exception to this.
Personally, I always have around 3 to 5 ideas floating around in my head and I’m constantly thinking about how to materialize these. When it comes to actually developing these ideas, sometimes I’ll limit my input, so it won’t turn into just noises. Other times, I’ll go all out and put as much detail and information as I can.
At GhM, we currently working on 2 new titles, one is a console title, the other is for smartphones. The former is called ‘ Let It Die’ and is a freemium* survival-action game exclusively for the PlayStation 4.
*A freemium game is one where the core gameplay is free of charge but users can make in game purchases for additional content/items.
I can’t go into too much detail but in a nut shell ‘you have to die in order to live’. The game centers around death and rebirth but what makes it interesting is that its not in the traditional sense we’re accustomed to.
We want the game to invoke all kinds of emotions. Everything from fear to humor. We want to give players an experience that’s quite simply out of this world. It’s due for release soon in 2015 so keep an eye out!
(photo: Ryosuke Iwamoto translation: Atsushi Fujii)
Originally published at ignition.co.
