The process of developing the game is primarily collective creativity. However, the whole team always has to be a person who directs the rest and gives a form to the game. Only he knows how to collect the details of the puzzles in what sequence.

For Metal Gear Hideo Kojima became such a person, for Resident Evil – Shinji Mikami, and for the series Souls – Hidetaka Miyazaki. Before the exit Demon’s Souls Nobody heard anything about him, but now, having become one of the icons of the game industry, he is in no hurry to become a public person.

Meanwhile, this is a very, very interesting person. And the approach to the development of games is largely unique.

Cosmos and sky are one

"A correctly made world can tell its story in silence".

Miyazaki nurtured a dream of making a fantasy role -playing game for many years. He began to be interested in Western works in the genre of fantasy and Western mythology as a child and even tried to read books in English. But because of the language barrier, he understood only individual words and was forced to focus on pictures more and think of plots on his own.

Such children's hobbies formed his view of the filing of history in games. Miyazaki is convinced that the world and all its components are already obliged to tell the player a story with one form. The words are either completely unnecessary, or they should only direct the player’s thoughts, give him hints.

► having suffered in childhood, Miyazaki now makes us suffer. He intentionally makes descriptions of objects in his games extremely abstract, so that players puzzle over where this or that thing can come in handy and whether there is at all from it.

Creative freedom

"If you think about it, then the skeleton chews all your food".

No less peculiar view of Miyazaki and to organize the creative process. The team, as a rule, does not receive accurate instructions from it. He simply describes the desired result by a couple of leading words or even sets the task in the spirit of “Draw me a spear that would entrust your life”. And after that – no creative restrictions and pressure. Designers, artists and animators do everything that they like, and when they consider that the result is satisfied, they send him to the statement to Miyazaki.

He evaluates the work personally and, having outlined editing, goes to discuss them with the author. His own views and vision of the author may vary markedly, and therefore in the process of discussion it is important to tune in to one wave.

That is why the conversation is not so much about concrete editors, but about completely abstract things – in the spirit of philosophical reasoning about space and the meaning of life. Thanks to this approach, the design, despite the complete creative freedom of the artist, eventually turns out to be original, but harmonious. This can only be achieved in a small cohesion team, so Miyazaki collects a relatively small team to work on each project.

► above Miyazaki appreciates simplicity and elegance. Design, abounding with excess details, it will chop in the root. This applies to both characters and environment and history.

► Another equally important parameter for him is madness. He especially likes things that look as if a normal person is not able to create it.

Of course, sometimes Miyazaki forms a clear vision of a certain element of the game. In this case, the task is set very specific, but it is still submitted for a general discussion and adjusted in accordance with the creative ideas of the whole team.

Video games should remain themselves

"Video games and Hollywood should be more like themselves and less – each other".

Miyazaki is especially reverent to the characters inhabiting his worlds. When he is asked about a https://sister-site.org/casigood/ particular hero, he literally falls out of reality, putting into stories about the character of the character, about the events associated with him, about the emotions that he experiences, and about the thoughts that he is stained. And all this should also be read in the appearance of the hero. Clothing, color scheme, and even the character's pose should reflect his mood and give the player an idea of ​​whom he is dealing with.

Another very important element of the image of the heroes of Miyazaki calls symbolism. He must be easily read, but not too obvious so as not to impose the gaze of the developers themselves to the player. In this case, the characters will become more alive, and the world will become more believable.

► Many characters Miyazaki invents personally, and one of the examples of this is Guinevere in Dark Souls. According to him, he just wanted to create a "big woman". A kind of image of a caring and protecting mother from childhood.

Making the game world believable for Miyazaki is generally one of the main tasks. That is why all his games are gloomy and balanced on the verge of horror genre. “Our world is rude and cruel, no one will just believe in the“ caramel ”universe,” he says.

According to Miyazaki, the player needs to peremptorly tear out of the comfort zone and make you feel uncomfortable. The environment should crush and scare. Only in this way every step and even the smallest achievement in the game world will be perceived as a victory. And according to Miyazaki, a sense of victory and achievement is generally the main thing in games.

That is why his works are so complex – a simple game will not give that intoxicating sense of overcoming. So the overwhelming complexity and torment of the player is not a goal, but only a means.

Sources of inspiration

"The sense of achievement itself is much more valuable than the discovery of achievement or trophy".

Of course, from nowhere, the ideas from Miyazaki do not take, and he does not keep his sources of inspiration a secret. The classic board games that he adored in childhood affected him most and continues to love him so far. So, for example, in Dark Souls Many echoes of a classic stitch Dragon Pass. Without anime and manga, of course, also in any way: among the most important works for himself, Miyazaki calls Record of Lodoss War, Saint Seiya, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure And Berserk.

► Manga and the hubs of Miyazaki were inspired mainly when he worked on the Souls series, but when developing Bloodborne He was “fed” by the European Gothic architecture, the Victorian era and the work of Howard Lovecraft.

But we are not talking about direct borrowings, but only about the spirit, about the sensations received by Miyazaki when meeting with all these works. It is he who tries to grab them and convey in his games.

And Miyazaki does not tolerate the continuation. He is not against the fact that the universes invented by him expand and develop, but he prefers to create something new every time.