Interview | Q-Games & Nintendo Talk Art Style: Intersect (Digidrive)

Q-Games: One of the sources was a police officer controlling the wave of people at Gion-Matsuri, one of the most traditional and popular festivals in Kyoto. We invented DIGIDRIVE for the GBA with the aim of designing that type of fun of into the form of a videogame.

Mr. Kensuke Tanabe, Manager of Production Group No.3, Software Planning Development Department, Software Planning Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd., Producer of Art Style: Intersect: As Q-Games previously stated, originally it did not belong to the bit Generations series. What they originally showed us featured what was simple and fun. Then we told Q-Games the concept of the bit Generations project and Q-Games agreed to develop it as an entry into that series.

AR: For readers still unsure of how the game plays, can you describe the basic concept?

Q-Games: When you are playing on Touch Mode, you can instantly attack Dual Cores. On the other hand, it will take longer for your Attack Shapes to actually attack them, so I recommend new players to keep in touch with the game on Touch Mode and figure out how to gather and launch same-coloured Shapes just before the Danger Bar the fills up.

Mr. Yoshihito Ikebata, Software Planning Development Department, Software Planning Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd., Supervisor of Art Style: Intersect: The very first step you should take, which is mutual to both Modes, is to gather and maintain the Stock on each three paths in order to launch Auto-Burn. After you get accustomed, please try to enlarge the shape of Stock so that you can hit the Core in a bigger way. You should notice the effect of the “Double” system, which lets you efficiently enlarge Stock or gather them in order to keep the Core far away from the Danger Bar.

AR: Were you disappointed that it never got released in the West?

Tanabe: Of course we were! But with the opportunity to remake it for DSiWare, we also had opportunities to release it in America, Europe and even in Australia. Now we are pleased to deliver it worldwide.

Q-Games: We received some inquiries from overseas to see if we would release it in the West or not, shortly after we launched GBA version. We are really pleased to finally have the opportunity to release it worldwide on the DSiWare platform.

AR: How big was the team that worked on the original, and did it expand for this DS edition?

Q-Games: We developed the original one with a team of five members. For the DS version we started the development with a smaller group and later added more members. In the end we had a slightly larger number of members for DS version.

AR: Two of Skip's bit Generations games were remade for WiiWare. Would you have liked to see Intersect on that service, and who made the call on what platform was chosen, Q or Nintendo?

Mr. Kazuyuki Gofuku, Software Planning Development Department, Software Planning Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd., Supervisor of Art Style: Intersect: The User Interface (UI) of the GBA version had the difficulty of having the information about the Core and Danger Spikes being packed together at the bottom of the screen. Even if this title was for Wii that difficulty would have remained. So I believe the dual screen of the Nintendo DS was best-suited for this title.

Q-Games: We also believed DS was most-suited for DIGIDRIVE due to its easy-to-start fun. Thus this project as a DSiWare product was very fitting to our initial ideas. Actually, we were interested in working on DSiWare well before its launch.

AR: What has been done to distinguish between the original and this new edition?

Gofuku: As I mentioned above, we have separated the stream of Shapes and the information of the Core and Danger Spike across the two screens. It created a slim-line UI and made gameplay more comfortable as players naturally see screens up and down. Another element is Touch Mode, which Q-Games strongly recommended to apply.

Q-Games: Thanks to the more powerful hardware performance, we could make the graphics more attractive. Touch-screen functionality also help us realise the Touch Mode that can relatively be played in a more casual manner. Of course, there is also the dual screen sophisticated UI with an easier-to-understand information display.

AR: What sort of extras did you want to include, but couldn't for whatever reason? Were ideas like Wi-Fi leader-boards, or four-player modes considered?

Q-Games: We were experimenting with the gameplay on DS being in a horizontal position, but there were difficulties in viewing the display. Other than that, we were considering the co-ordinated effect of sound and background graphics, but we abandoned that in the end.

AR: How do you think Intersect compares to the other Art Style games from Skip?

Tanabe: Please let me comment on that as the co-ordinator of the whole Art Style series. Games from Skip primarily take visual images into consideration, and they start development imagining how that visual would be touched and felt or what kind of sound would ring from then. On the contrary, Q-Games start development from the viewpoint of what kind of fun they will deliver. They refine the game system and slim it up into a simple shape, then add visual and comfortable sound of minimum necessity.

Q-Games: Some of the Skip titles had been already released when we started our development, and we studied a lot from them. We can hardly tell what’s different; at least we did our best to maintain the overall quality of the whole Art Style franchise.

AR: Were there any ideas from the bit Generations days that had to be shelved, and have you got any new ideas for more Art Style titles now?

Tanabe: Could you allow me to keep it “secret?” *smiles*

Q-Games: Of course, we have a bunch of ideas we want to realise, but the time is not ripe for that!