PS4/PS5 Slitterhead | Nuovo horror dal creatore di Silent Hill | Disponibile

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Sembra avere le idee piuttosto chiare... Mi fa piacere vedere che torna a fare ciò che gli piace, la separazione sarà un bene come prevedibile.
Per il resto: ci rivediamo nel 2024.
 
Boh uscirà anche fuori dai canoni dell'horror classico, ma il team è di tutto rispetto.
Mi andrebbe bene anche se fosse un mix tra dmc e Shadow of damned ma con tinte molto più horror/gore. :ahsisi:
 
 

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What were your inspirations for the creation of Slitterhead?

Keiichiro Toyama, Creative Director: “A first aspect is the energy I felt from Hong Kong as a city. Another one comes from what we’ve created in the past with Forbidden Siren. I started to wonder what could happen if we reinterpreted that concept. These were my two big inspirations.”

How do you balance between horror and action gameplay? What is the main point of the game? What is the scale of the game’s world?

Toyama: “My first thought would be that the game doesn’t fully enter the horror genre. It spans over multiple genres where horror is expressed. From there, I wanted to widen the player base who could access the game, including players who don’t usually play horror games. I wanted a game that could be enjoyed for its action, yet whose concept doesn’t solely revolve around killing enemies. It conflicts the mind, making the players reluctant to enter certain fights. I want to achieve both action and drama with this game.”

Will the game be third-person?

Junya Okura, Game Director: “The game will indeed be third-person. Do you have something to add to this?”

Toyama: “We had multiple choices to begin with. Ultimately, the team includes members who have worked with us on Gravity Rush, so we wanted to leverage their skills, which is why we decided to pursue third-person action.”

Will Slitterhead adopt multiple points of view like your previous games?

Toyama: “The question is somewhat abstract. Forbidden Siren had the sight-jack mechanic, a literal way to go through another point of view. There were also multiple playable characters who brought their perspective to the story, so I feel there are multiple layers to this question. Nevertheless, I believe this is an aspect that I am comfortable with. I believe that I naturally tend to go towards that direction. It’s also present in the game, so please look forward to it.”

How did Slitterhead become Bokeh Game Studio’s first project? Will you try making experimental downloadable content like you did with Gravity Rush 2‘s ‘The Ark of Time’?

Toyama: “We wanted to build our own studio and had some sort of a plan. There were other ideas. I had written down a few concepts. I had about four or five at first that I’ve shown to these two and asked for their opinion. We narrowed it down to two or three and ultimately ended up with the base for Slitterhead.”

Kazunobu Sato, Producer: “This leads us to the answer to the next question as well. Scale-wise, Slitterhead felt like the closest to what we had previously made so far, so the decision also took into account the fact that we were just building our studio. It’s close to what we’ve done before, but it’s not the same. We’re controlling our budget and narrowing it to a more compact scale.”

How about downloadable content?

Toyama: “The question refers to Gravity Rush and one of its downloadable contents that had a standalone story. I believe that’s what the question means by experimental. In the end, everything we make is experimental. I’m sure there’s a way to make things more easily, that’s the case now as well. Why do we end up always trying to make things we’ve never done before. That’s a hassle.”

Okura: “Don’t say that.”

Sato: “Hassle is not the word for it.”

Okura: “It’s just that there’s no point in imitating something that’s been already made. In the end we end up trying new things.”

Toyama: “That’s right.”

Okura: “It starts up with us getting excited because it’s new. We want to make strange things, in a good way.”

Sato: “That’s why we can’t really say anything about a downloadable content right now. We need to finish the main game first.”

Toyama: “We’re focusing on the main game and think sequel or downloadable content, but we first need to achieve a strong main game.”

Sato: “Adding on to this, back in the day these decisions needed to get approval from Sony. In our current state, if it’s fun we can just go ahead and make it, so if the demand is big enough, it’s easier for us to answer.”

What’s the difference you feel in your work from working with big publishers and going indie?

Okura: “We can make anything by ourselves. Alternately, nothing moves if we don’t make things. We’re indeed free, but it involves self-responsibility. It’s enjoyable though.”

Sato: “In a sense, the difference is so big that I wouldn’t know where to start. However, the process of creating a game doesn’t change that much. Everything that revolves around that is different though. For this, it doesn’t mean that working for a publisher is better. There’s a difference in the decision process. Okura pointed out the responsibility aspect as well. Overall we have a different sense of speed which is fulfilling.”

Toyama: “As we’re now working with a minimal organizational structure, things move tremendously fast in how we take decisions. A difference is definitely that we can immediately act the way we want to, however, I don’t want to make it sound that it’s all positive. There are difficult aspects or decisions to make, some for which you used to have someone else in the organization cover for you but that you now have to do yourself. It’s a heavy responsibility that comes to counterbalance that freedom. Still, it’s something that we enjoy at the moment. There are some similarities to some of the decisions we used to take when we were young. However, the scope of responsibilities is now much larger. Still, it feels both new and nostalgic in a way.”

There are plenty of books in the studio’s library. Did these books influence the team’s previous works? Is there a specific concept to it?

Toyama: “I want to gather documents that inspire our work. I don’t know how yet, but ultimately I want players to be able to visit this spot someday, so I also take this into account. However, there are also some books from my house’s bookshelves. These days, I often bring books back to the studio, mostly comics, that influenced Slitterhead. In that sense, I want people to be interested and look into them.”

In your “A New Chapter” video, the three of you discussed the good time sof making SIREN and how you wanted to replicate them. How are you concretely working on that one year later?

Sato: “We usually begin our games by going on a field research trip. However, we unfortunately couldn’t this time due to the pandemic. What do you think?”

Okura: “It’s been more than a decade since Forbidden Siren. Still, it’s not like we’re in a ‘New Game Plus’ where we start with all the experience we’ve acquired until now. There were some challenges that we’ve faced back then. There definitely were as we tried new things on Siren. Right now, we’re facing challenges all the same, as we try again to come up with something new. As a result, we’re recreating that same feeling. Still, we’re making efforts and we’re having fun in multiple aspects.”

Toyama: “If we were to look for the same things that in the old days… Compared to before, we feel more pressure in doing a good job. We anticipate more in order not to waste resources. The budgets are very different than what they used to be. Many of us are not ready to jump the gun just for fun. We have families and responsibilities that come with that, meaning that we can’t fail. There’s a sense of responsibility that we have, still we start by exposing the fun things that we want to make. This is not formal, but now that we’re here it’s just saying what we want to do. There’s that openness where everyone goes all in. It feels like before, although it doesn’t make things easy. Still, that type of thing is similar to the past and I enjoy it.”

Sato: “We still fight over things too.”

Toyama: “Right, but we fight like adults now. We don’t go screaming around how ‘we hate that guy!’, like we used to in our twenties. Right now it’s more: ‘Are you sure about that?’ We tend to be more delicate.”

Sato: “It depends on people I guess… from the sidelines it looks the same though.”

Toyama: “It used to be wild… We would burst in meetings saying: ‘I can’t work with you anymore!’ then going ‘let’s go get drunk’ right after. We’re not in these extremes anymore. Still, we say what we have to say in order to end up understanding each other. I like that we’re still being straight on things.”

What led you to take the “Iegozu” creatures as a model for the game?

Toyama: “Right, this clearly comes as a base to build the game’s foundation. How to put it… Simply put, I wanted a game where monsters could eat up humans. Still, I felt things you would often see like zombies or flesh-eating creatures wouldn’t be fun, so I proceeded to research for other types of creatures. This is where I stumbled upon the ‘Iegozu,’ a creature that eats up brains. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it first. Still, I found the idea of a brain-eating creature to be interesting. I took this as base inspiration to start working on the game.”

What type of combat will we see in the game? The trailer seemed to show some interesting components such as melee or firearms.

Okura: “For combat, there are elements that many players are already experienced with. However, as Toyama pointed out, there are multiple new aspects that we want to pursue. I agree in how we want to make something that wasn’t made before. We want to make the players surprised upon discovering them. I want to include aspects that will feel completely new to the player.”

Will you still make games with psychological deepness and odd plots like works by David Lynch? How do you plan to approach psychological horror in the future?

Toyama: I want someday to do something with some classic psychological horror themes like I did with Silent Hill. However, I’d rather do that when working with really limited resources, such as budget or having to focus on one individual. Right now, we have staff with the ability to work on action. I want to leverage their skills to go in another direction. Still, I also want to make something more personal someday.”

I like horror games where not moving forward makes the situation even worse, with a somewhat unreasonable level of difficulty. Do you plan on creating that experience in Slitterhead?

Okura: “How to answer this one… As it’s been mentioned, we also want to focus on entertainment rather than plain horror, so I don’t think there will be parts so scary that the player can’t go forward. Still, there is a terror aspect that I want to include even if the game lays more towards action. There are some slow and fast moments as well. I’d like to include some horror elements in the slower parts, balancing with the frenzy action moments. What do you think?”

Toyama: “I personally don’t want to create horror by having an unreasonable level of difficulty. It’s more about the conflict of the mind, whether one should or shouldn’t do a certain action. This is more the theme that I want to be challenging this time.”

Is Slitterhead getting a physical release? To Keiichiro Toyama: I’m curious to know if you played the Silent Hill games that came out after the first one?

Sato: “Of course we want to release the game on disc, ideally launch it with a collector’s edition. Right, there’s a special feeling that we have for physical formats. How about the games you played?”

Toyama: “Right, Silent Hill. I obviously played the first games. However, many games ended up being released, including on mobile. I can’t say that I have played all of them. I have played the main games though.”

Is there anything from working on Gravity Rushespecially that inspired Slitterhead?

Toyama: “Right, this game is in a way a compilation of all of my past experiences. We’ve been openly talking about action. For this part, we’re taking into account the feedback we’ve received on Gravity Rush. Other aspects, such as the action leveraging the height of buildings, are leveraging our know-how from Gravity Rush.”

Will the game have a sequel if it succeeds or will you pursue another original game?

Sato: “We have to succeed first…”

Toyama: “Right, I’d like to think of that once we’ve succeeded.”

Sato: “Still, I believe that we’ll end up prioritizing and what we will want to do at that moment.”

Toyama: “There are still many things that we want to do that are in the game. For some others we start saying from time to time that we’ll add them in the sequel. Still, I believe the first game’s impact is what’s important, so I want to focus on that.”
 
Ultima modifica:
Inizia veramente a stancarmi questa tendenza.
Concordo.

Che presa a male, sinceramente non ne capisco il senso. Non capisco il voler fare i titoli meno horror per acchiappare più persone, al contrario secondo me si dovrebbe andare molto più sul genere che cercare di accontentare tutti.
Tanto chi non è preso dal titolo in principio, che lo vai a fare meno horror o no, non lo andrà a considerare ugualmente.
 
You’ve made Silent Hill. Now how does your next game differ in terms of story, gameplay and art style? What type of gameplay are you going for?

Keiichiro Toyama, Creative Director: “For me, it doesn’t differ that much. When I made Silent Hill, I had this idea that it would be fun to make something that had never been made before. I believed I had found that in the modern horror genre. A couple of decades later, there are now plenty of good games within that genre. This is why I won’t go in that direction again. Instead, I will make something I currently find fun and that is new. This is type of challenge that I want to take on for Slitterhead. It’s aimed at players who are not necessarily core fans of the horror genre, I want young players to be able to experience that as well. I keep in mind to make a game that is accessible.”

Will the players be able to fight back or is the gameplay going to encourage us to escape from confrontation?

Junya Okura, Game Director: “I believe the question is whether you can fight back. We want to include both approaches. We’re thinking of allowing the player to initiate the attacks as well.”

Are there also scenes where you’re pushed to run away?

Okura: “Yes, that’s right.”

Is there a plan for multiple languages support for Slitterhead?

Kazunobu Sato, Producer: “Of course. We’re currently pursuing development in both Japanese and English. We already have English, however I can’t say for now the extent of languages that we’re going to add. But I want to include as many languages as possible.”

It’s fair to say that you all have made some of the most iconic horror games of all time. How would you rate Slitterhead matching up to your previous creations? Would you say this is your most terrifying game to date?

Toyama: “First, I believe everyone in this room knows it. I always ended up thinking that I made yet another game that isn’t scary. That’s always the case. Aren’t you conscious of it? Rather than thinking of how to scare the players, I have a fascination for scenes that generate fear. I then wonder of how to immerse the player. Sometimes there’s emotion but it’s not scary.”

Sato: “I feel you don’t intentionally try to surprise the player. We’re in a similar style now. This will result in having elements that surprise the player.”

Do you feel it’s just how players perceived your games in the end?

Toyama: “No, we first focus on world-building and matching the feelings of the player with the characters. In that sense, you enter a world that is unknown to you, which naturally scares you. I put attention to that rather than having jump-scares.”

The Shibito nest in SIREN: Blood Curse was already reminiscent of the city of Kowloon in Hong Kong. Is the concept of the hive mind (which we also had with the Shibito) important to you?

Toyama: “This probably won’t be changing. Rather than focusing on that aspect, I try to avoid making enemies that are simple pawns. They are different from humans, but they have their own mind and hierarchy. Their existence leads to fighting with humans. I believe it’s fun to have something like that, which makes that theme important to me.”

What are your mains inspirations in creature design?

Toyama: “Right. This is a part where I’m still deeply involved. I don’t want to make simple enemies, who are here just for the sake of it. Instead, while being different from humans, they have their values, their culture and intellect. It’s important to have that kind of opposition. One inspiration was to have creatures that are close to humans, but that we’re not able to understand. Things like insects or aquatic creatures. They have this strong collective aspect that I’m interested in.”

Can we expect the game to have any social content? Does it have any connections to modern day life?

Toyama: “My base approach is not to include visible themes. However, you naturally end up feeling some of the pressure the creator was under. These events will affect the direction the creator takes into his game in the end. It’s something about balance in the end.”

Can we expect borderline TV or web commercials that will scare us?

Sato: “TV is hard to consider in our age and time. Our game is also a bit more explicit that what we’ve done before. However, we will be promoting the game in a way that is proper to us.”

I have played over Silent Hill and SIREN many times. Thank you. While they were all full with horror, I enjoyed how we’d sometimes see hidden “joke endings” made with actual scenes. Do you plan on implementing that type of bonus content in your next game? I’m really looking forward to it.

Toyama: “Right, we have made plenty of these. In Silent Hill, there was the UFO ending for example. We would have some staff with time on their hands, to whom we’d ask to make these if they were free.”

Sato: “What that’s how you added those?”

Toyama: “Right. Still, for SIREN and beyond we didn’t intend to make jokes from the beginning. It’s instead the fact that we were very serious in what we made that ended up creating funny moments. I believe it’s something that’s in our personalities. We enjoy that, so if we get the chance we’ll definitely be adding moments like that.”

So it’s possible?

Toyama: “Right.”

Okura: “I want to do something.”

Toyama: “We always want to take that extra step.”

Do you see Slitterhead as a standalone game or a piece of a bigger story?

Toyama: “This is something that is common to all my games. I never start by thinking: ‘Let’s make this huge world.’ I think of the main character, who becomes the player’s alter ego. I then think of the situations that he is facing. However, upon doing that I end up thinking about his backbone and main setting. Why does the character end up doing that? As I think of that, the back stories that come supplement the base game end up taking a lot of room. It always ends up like this. It’s the same with our current game. I believe the world keeps broadening as we are making it.”

What are the chances of me getting a job to work with Bokeh Game Studio?

Sato: “That’s great, please go ahead. Still, we haven’t put out any job offers yet.”

Toyama: “It’s about the timing. You want a talented person to join at any time. However, we’re a small studio that doesn’t have multiple development lines so it’s not always the right timing.”

Sato: Still, there are some staff who ended up joining nonetheless. It may be worth a shot contacting us.”

We’ll then see with our timing.

Toyama: “I don’t think people should apply to us if their priority is a stable and high-paying job.”

Sato: “Are you already mentioning perks?”

Toyama: “I think it should start if people are interested in building together games that are proper to us.”

What game engine are you using?

Okura: “We’re using Unreal Engine. We used to work on an in-house engine in our previous company. However, although it allows us to build the things we want, it takes some time to set up that environment. Unreal Engine has almost all the features we need from the get-go. If something comes to mind, we can just go ahead and build up a prototype. Still, when there are specific things that we want or wish we could make, we have to build these by ourselves. In the end, Unreal Engine works great for us if we use it the right way.”

The SIREN series is loved for its minutious storytelling, whose level of completion affected many players. Your current game shows strong elements, but are there any special aspects of the story that you are insisting on?

Toyama: “There are things that I’m insisting on, this hasn’t changed in a way. For this game, we’re updating the world, its characters and their motivations every day. The process doesn’t change much from Silent Hill or SIREN, I believe it is naturally heading towards becoming a dense world.”

The music seemed very action-oriented. WIll there also be more atmospheric pieces?

Toyama: “I have an anecdote for the teaser’s music. We initially received six versions from Akira Yamaoka. One of them was something you would expect to see in a horror game. We were agreeing that it felt like it. Still, Yamaoka suggested that he wanted to provoke other emotions, this is something that we found fun to do as well. I believe that it went well in the end. It’s surprising, in the sense that you don’t know what to expect from the game. It goes out of the expected, this is something I’m aiming for. I aim for an unexpected game, so I adopted an unexpected music. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the final game will follow this rhythm. We can’t simply take the unexpected route all the time. I believe that there are moments where we tone down compared to moments where we create surprises. Music directly follows that as well. So please don’t worry.”

Will there be any collectibles in your next game that allow the player to learn more about the universe’s depth, in a similar way to the archives in SIREN?

Toyama: “Right, I personally enjoy it as well and like digging in the world that way. However, I would like to focus on the main game first, but I’m also putting my efforts into thinking on how to introduce that type of elements.”

The game industry looks doomed to release endless franchises or multiplayer games. Do you believe there’s still room for originality?

Sato: “I believe that both are needed. One one hand, I believe you have large-scale titles, with series that span over the years, these are fun and many players are looking forward to them. On the other hand, there are studios such as ours. I believe these are needed as well. I don’t believe the industry is doomed to go one way or the other.”

Okura: “There’s still room I believe. Games used to be something that could only be made by large-scale studios. Tools have evolved, there’s a lot of attention on indie games as well, where one base idea that can lead a game. I believe that was a trigger. As times change, there is always something new, so I believe there’s still room to originality.”

Toyama: “That’s right. The paradigm where there’s only one way to make a game perform well is a bit behind us. When we were young, we used to be told that consoles were everything. Now, you can have games on PC made by a single developer that end up being a hit. Diversity is at a level we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. I believe that a doom of the industry is a non-issue. We have a special positioning in that spectrum. We aren’t a proper indie studio per se. Yet we’re not a large-scale, console focused studio either. I believe that we stand in a unique position where nobody was before, which I find thrilling. Every time we talk about it is an eye-opener on this. We discover more about the potential of what we’re able to do each day. It’s really fun and I hope we’ll convey that to players.”

What level of difficulty do you have in mind for Slitterhead? Is it aimed towards horror game players? Or is it aimed towards players who are not familiar with the genre?

Toyama: “How to put it… It may sound like a nuanced answer, but we’re aiming at the right balance between the two. We want to make a game that players who don’t know our past games can enjoy, while we maintain a tension and conflict the mind at the same time. I believe this is the sweet spot that we have to aim for.”

Okura: “Right, creating that contrast is a challenge in itself. While it’s difficult, we’re confident that the players will be able to have fun while taking on these challenges. It will ideally by accessible to any player. We’ll work on that.”

Toyama: “It’s a weird game but it’s easy to get into. It’s scary but you want to know what’s next. We want to merge elements that usually wouldn’t go together. It’s a strange game…”

Okura: “It’s a strange game…”

Sato: “Still, it won’t be as difficult as SIREN where you can’t finish the game.”

Okura: “No it won’t.”

Toyama: “Right, at the time, we were targeting that type of reactions on the web, getting people to talk together about the game’s difficulty. I believe we’re past that now, there’s no intent to add an unreasonable amount of difficulty. I want people to simply enjoy the game.”

One thing I love about your games is the small details that you can find in the world building. Will you be implementing urban legends or local cultural myths in your next game as well?

Toyama: “Right, how to put it… Rather than depicting that directly, there’s some actual elements I take inspiration from. There are the comics from Daijiro Moroboshi for example. In that sense, I have external inspirations for this game as well. Still, as opposed to SIREN with Japanese folklore, there are plenty of things that we don’t know about. We learn each day to find new interesting elements.”

Will this game be linear, or will it allow the player to have as much freedom exploring the world as possible? Does the main character have a name? What are the name of the locations the game will be based in?

Toyama: The game will not be open world. However, it won’t be following one straight path either. We want to add a complex approach to discover the story under multiple angles. This is the type of game structure that we want to achieve.

“As for the character’s name… The character with the black outfit who wears the helmet in the teaser is named Alex. There are plenty of other characters as well.

“Regarding the situations, we aim at recreating the atmosphere of 1990s Hong Kong. This is our starting point, however we won’t be taking real location names, instead we will capture the essence from each location to build it in a fictional world.”
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Dalle dichiarazioni sembrano un po' paraculi lato horror e difficoltà, chiariamoci: se me lo dice Miyazaki di From che si sa come gestisce le cose potrebbe essere in buona fede, ma quì ho grossi dubbi che lo sia e semplicemente non se la sentono di rischiare (ma per accontentare un pubblico più ampio rischiano di accontentare meno entrambe le parti).
Poi mi sembra che tutto il gaming come investimenti di massa si stia spingendo sempre più verso una difficoltà e un horror sempre più spinto a piccoli passi e Alan Wake, Callisto e DS Remake stanno a dimostrarlo, quindi Toyama a maggior ragione con il suo progetto più piccolo, che quindi si può prendere più libertà, potrebbe benissimo dare il buon esempio.
In ogni caso pare un concept molto originale e in quanto tale ha scelto comunque una strada tutt'altro che safe, questo è bene precisarlo.
 
Peccato non voglia spingersi completamente sull'aspetto survival, pero' la curiosita' rimane:predicatore:
 

Sono ancora a metà video ed è già una miniera d'oro di nostalgia e info interessanti sugli albori del genere e dei rispettivi director :applauso: mi piace proprio come approccio alla comunicazione sul progetto, cerca di creare un rapporto quanto più intimo con chi li sta seguendo o li seguirà.
 
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