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Masuda on creating the first Pokemon game, franchise appeal, storylines and coming up with new ideas
Coming from a Guardian interview with Junichi Masud...
On creating the first Pokemon game
"It was a difficult time but I never thought about giving up, or throwing it all away. You know, when we started work on the game our motivation was never to make money. We just wanted to make the games we were interested in. We were at the office the entire time. I remember thinking how dumb it was for me to be renting an apartment because I spent so little time there. I was always at the office. We lived in that place."
On the series' appeal
"I think the appeal of the characters and the joy of raising creatures, as well as the competitive aspect in the battling, are all key factors in the game's success, but ultimately the core focus on gameplay is what the franchise is built upon."
On storyline consideration
"Morality in the story is one of the core things I think about when making these games. I think anyone who has the capacity to play the game will inherently be in a privileged position; they are above a certain level of poverty to even own video games. This means they might be in a more favourable position to change the world when they grow up. In Pokémon, we present an idealistic world. That is there deliberately, in the hope that it inspires our players to be positive influence on their own world."
On constantly returning to the series
"Usually whenever we near the end of a project I feel like I've done all I can. I'm out of ideas and I think: 'this could be my last game'. But when the game is released and I start to see how people play, I find new ideas for game features and challenges. It's a cycle: running out of energy towards the end of a project, resting and recuperating and then feeling energised to get back into a new game."
Link
On creating the first Pokemon game
"It was a difficult time but I never thought about giving up, or throwing it all away. You know, when we started work on the game our motivation was never to make money. We just wanted to make the games we were interested in. We were at the office the entire time. I remember thinking how dumb it was for me to be renting an apartment because I spent so little time there. I was always at the office. We lived in that place."
On the series' appeal
"I think the appeal of the characters and the joy of raising creatures, as well as the competitive aspect in the battling, are all key factors in the game's success, but ultimately the core focus on gameplay is what the franchise is built upon."
On storyline consideration
"Morality in the story is one of the core things I think about when making these games. I think anyone who has the capacity to play the game will inherently be in a privileged position; they are above a certain level of poverty to even own video games. This means they might be in a more favourable position to change the world when they grow up. In Pokémon, we present an idealistic world. That is there deliberately, in the hope that it inspires our players to be positive influence on their own world."
On constantly returning to the series
"Usually whenever we near the end of a project I feel like I've done all I can. I'm out of ideas and I think: 'this could be my last game'. But when the game is released and I start to see how people play, I find new ideas for game features and challenges. It's a cycle: running out of energy towards the end of a project, resting and recuperating and then feeling energised to get back into a new game."
Link