22.05.2014
Die Softwareschmiede Muteki Corporation ist nur ein kleines Studio. Doch was aus ihren Federn (oder Tastaturen) stammt, ist etwas ganz Großes. Losgelegt mit Dragon Fantasy Book I und kurz darauf Book II konnte das 2006 gegründete Unternehmen mit ihrer Rollenspiel-Reihe viele Fans um sich scharen. Auch für unsere Gefilde versprochen warten wir dennoch seit Monaten auf den Release beider Spiele. Nachdem wir Muteki via Twitter schon fast zu einem Interview genötigt hatten („Keep your hands up“ „Oh sorry, *heads of course“ „Then can we put our hands down?“ „Only for an interview ;)“), haben wir uns Anna Marie vorgeknüpft und sie und ihre Kollegen zahlreiche Fragen beantworten lassen. Welche Infos wir aus ihnen rauskitzeln konnten, lest ihr hier.
Hinweins: Beachtet, dass der deutsche Text frei übersetzt wurde und nicht zu 100% dem Original entspricht. Aus diesem Grund stellen wir euch das englische Interview vor. Die deutsche Übersetzung findet ihr im Anschluss im Spoiler!
Today I am pleased to welcome Anne Marie from Muteki Corp. Hello Anna!
Hello! Glad to be here.
Thank you again for the half forced interview 😉 I hope your hands didn’t get a cramp?
Thankfully, unlike the guys when they’re squashing bugs, I don’t get chained to a desk!
How are you and the others?
Recovering from a crazy 2013, looking forward to a really great 2014 so far.
Can you tell us something about Muteki Corp?
Muteki was founded way back in 2006. We’re actually 8 years old! We just want to make great games, and while it’s challenging with how busy life can be, we’re looking forward to catching up with our world-wide releases this year and moving on to some great new games.
With your Dragon Fantasy trilogy you had you debut on the PS Vita. How do you feel about this handheld?
The Vita is great – powerful, easy to program for. We’re big fans of the Cross Buy / Cross Save feature with the PS3, which from fan feedback we hear over and over was really integral to many buying decisions!
What is your current favorite video game on the handheld?
Do I have to pick just one?! The Vita has an amazing and rapidly growing library. Time-wise, the two games I’ve sunk the most time into (besides Dragon Fantasy) are Persona 4 Golden and Hot Shots Golf.
How do you value the potential of this device?
The Vita’s potential is really starting to shine this year. We’re not only still seeing companies releasing PSP games when the “experts” said the PSP was dead, but we’re seeing new indie titles, new AAA titles, and everything in between launching on the Vita in the next 12 months.
Book 1 and 2 of Dragon Fantasy are available in North America for a quite long time. Are you happy with the numbers?
This is actually a hard question to answer. Book I did much better than expected, Book II didn’t do quite as well as we had hoped…over-all I think it’s less about the numbers and more about if people are loving the games.
The Release in Europa is slow in arriving for ages. On your blog you commented the processes behind SCEE – in part very critically. Of course, you don’t seem to be happy about the current situation.
We certainly hope our blog posts haven’t been critical of SCEE! We actually have a lot of good things to say about SCEE – they’ve been very patient with us through this whole process and have had some great advice for us. Dealing with the multiple rating agencies in Europe, and the time it takes to get things done (with multiple-day-delays due to time differences), has been our biggest struggle. Part of that is how complicated the process is, but certainly a large part of that was our inexperience with the differences between getting a game rated in North American versus Europe. They’re *very* different.
Is it just bad luck or do you see the fault in the different process landscape of Sony?
To call it bad luck would be to avoid acknowledging our own responsibilities in these delays. As mentioned, there is a big delay when submitting things just due to the time differences; there was the lack of experience dealing with Europe before (both SCEE and the rating agencies). And then there’s the unfortunate habit we have of trying to take on too much at a time.
Just to compare: How long took the Release in SCEA?
It’s probably not a fair comparison, because SCEA really took us under their wing as part of their indie initiative, and we received a ton of amazing support from Sony, especially from our reps there: Shane, Kamel, Julio, really just too many awesome people to mention.
Would it be easier to switch from SCEE to SCEA?
This probably would have just delayed SCEA’s Release, as it’s not really a systemic problem, but just a lack of experience and time on our part.
Do you have any Update on the EU Release?
Another part of these delays is the unfortunately buggy Release we had in America. So we’re checking and double-checking the entire game after each little change trying to avoid a repeat of that in Europe. At this point we have a few pieces we’re waiting to be tied up.
Specifically: For PS3 we’re waiting on results of testing to see if we properly support non-HD PAL televisions. Not having access to a European non-HD TV…or a device capable of plugging into it (or even the cable itself) has been a delay here. Why people plug a PS3 into a standard def TV is beyond me…but it happens, and it’s something we weren’t properly handling just due to the inability to properly Test this. For Vita we just have a few changes we need to make to the game manual and it should be good to go.
Unity is for many Indies a very interesting topic. Many of them are porting their games to this engine. What do you think about Unity?
We’ve played around with Unity and done some tests here and there, and it’s great for a lot of people. At this point our own technology and engine is built up enough that for the games we’ve built thus-far it isn’t a great fit but it’s definitely something we’ve look at for future projects.
Did you already work with Unity?
Nothing yet!
The third and last part of the trilogy is in development, isn’t? Probably with Unity?
It’s not in full development quite yet! We’ve nailed down a few ideas, so we’re officially calling it “pre-production.” Right now our main focus is getting Book I & II out to the EU PSN audience, then we’re splitting our time between a 3DS port of Book I (coming to North America and Europe), along with updating Book I on the platforms it was originally launched on (iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux) and bringing Book II to the same set of platforms. That will honestly keep us busy for months!
After 8bit and 16bit graphics and sound can we expect 32bit?
That’s the plan! The one thing we really want to do is continue the progression of graphics and gameplay. Book I is similar to the NES era, Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest 1/2/3, where Book II moves into the SNES era, taking its cues from Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound among other influences.
Do you have a schedule to share with us (at least for NA)?
Not this year – we’re really committed to getting Book I & II out to the fans we promised it to.
Do you have any plans after Dragon Fantasy? Maybe joining Sony’s Third Party Production?
We’re keeping our options open. Muteki isn’t a full time job for any of us – for example, Adam Rippon also works at Gaijin Games!
Last question: Triangle, Circle, Cross or Rectangle?
D-Pad.
Thank you very much for the interview. I keep my fingers crossed for quick Release here in Europe!