午前 Game Design - ロールプレイングゲーム・DQ & FF (Trainer: 村瀬浩太)
Thursday morning, we looked at Role-Playing Games (RPGs) in the context of computer gaming. The elements of an RPG are
- growth (leveling up of character abilities by accumulating experience points)
- resource management (items, experience points, abilities...)
- story (providing dramatic emotional involvement for the player)
- quests (adventures which allow the player to acquire resources and experience in the game world)
In Japan, two key titles define the Japanese RPG - the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series. DQ featured a user-friendly command interface and gameplay which focused on story and scenarios. FF featured a revolution in game system and audio-visual techniques with every sequel release, and has become the yardstick against which the graphics in modern video games are measured.
社会的な影響
The social influence of RPGs has reached shocking proportions. By the time of the release of Dragon Quest III (ドラゴンクエストIII そして伝説へ), long queues outside the stores on the day of release was expected. Many junior high school students skipped school to join the queue, with over 400 ended up being caught. There was also a spate of incidents involving people who failed to purchase the game snatching them from children. As a result, Enix made it a policy to ensure there was enough stock before subsequent game launches, and that launch dates fall on a weekend or public holiday.
One Company to Rule Them All
In 1997, RPGs moved into the 3D generation with FF VII, and in 2003, Square and Enix merged, resulting in the two biggest RPG manufacturers becoming one. The popularity of RPGs in Japan has led to many off-shoot products such as game soundtracks, 3D CG movies, anime, manga, figures and other character related merchandise. Many fans around the world now eagerly awaits the arrival of FF XIII (PS3 and X360), FF Versus XIII (PS3), and FF Agito XIII (PSP), all being developed on Square-Enix's Crystal Tools engine.
午後 東京工科大学見学 （担当：PA社長 山路）
Afternoon, Yamaji-shacho drove us all the way out to Hachioji (八王子) to visit the Tokyo University of Technology. This private university reeks of opulence, and the campus looks more like a resort than a place of learning, at least from the outside.
We met up with Asst Prof Koji Mikami of the School of Media Science and Taichi Watanabe (a superstar programmer turned lecturer) also of SMS. The shacho gave us a tour of the Digital Motion Capture Studio, which PA has a stake in its operations. Next week, Ron and I will be visiting here again for Mocap lessons. While there, we sat in for a 90-minute lecture for 2nd Year students by Hattori-san from PA on Game Design, just to get a feel for the way game creation lessons are conducted at TUT.
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