To celebrate the game being 40% off for a limited time, we're continuing our retrospective!
Last time, the developers of the game talked about its inception, and the considerations that went into making a supernatural game based on real urban legends. Today, we discuss the implementation of these ideas, including their approach to the fourth wall-bending puzzles and distinctive environments.
Answers were provided by Kazuma Oushu (Producer), Takanari Ishiyama (Director), Gen Kobayashi (Character Designer) and project members. We hope you enjoy their insights.
To read Part 1 of the retrospective, click here: sqex.link/8rpj
To read the entirety of part two, click here: sqex.link/587s
PARANORMASIGHT is different to many visual novel-style games in that it has 360-degree areas you can look around. How did you achieve that effect?
The idea to do this came from Character Designer, Gen Kobayashi.
We actually went to Sumida in Tokyo and took some panoramic photos using a camera that could shoot in 360 degrees. Once we had done that, we created the backgrounds on the basis of those photos, tweaking them in places to look closer to the 1980s aesthetic that we wanted.
This means we were able to put together a gameplay experience that utilizes space and depth in a way that doesn’t normally come across in 2D adventure games.
What help did the Sumida Ward provide to help you make the game as accurate as possible?
The first thing relates specifically to the backgrounds in the game. When it came to shooting our panoramic photographs to use in the game, we needed to shoot some areas that would normally be off limits to the general public, but we were given permission ahead of time to shoot there.
Also, when we were adjusting everything to make it feel more like the 80s, they provided us with materials from that era. They also checked the images and in-game screens that we had produced and offered their feedback so that we could tweak everything to make it look more like how Sumida would have actually looked.
Were there any real-life locations you wish you could have used, but they didn’t fit into the final game?
Although the Tokyo Skytree is the most well-known landmark in Sumida, it didn’t fit with the time during which the game is set. So, any time it showed up in a photo, we had to remove it when creating the in-game background!
The game has multiple endings, including a secret additional ending. How did the team implement the different endings into the game?
Takanari Ishiyama (Director): There are different goals for each character’s path through the game, so we came up with endings that fitted with those goals, and then added them in.
I actually thought that this game didn’t have all that many endings when compared to a typical visual novel-style game. Personally, I think that the more branching points a game’s story has, the harder the players find it to keep track of what information came up on what path, so I prefer not to create too many endings and overload them.
To read even more insights, click here: sqex.link/587s
Yet to play? The game is 40% off for a limited time...