Title: Creator Interview - Yamazaki Takeshi / 「クリエイター・インタビュー 山崎剛」
Source: Hayakawa's Mystery Magazine, March 2012
Source: Hayakawa's Mystery Magazine, March 2012
The Ambitions of the Young Director Who Inherited The Turnabout
Interviewer: Could you tell us about your mystery fiction reading history?
Yamazaki: In middle school, I was utterly impressed by Ayatsuji Yukito’s Jukkakukan no Satsujin (The Decagon House Murders), so I really got into mystery fiction through the shin honkaku (new orthodox) school of writers. The writers I loved best were probably Ayatsuji Yukito and Kyōgoku Natsuhiko. I only read Japanese mystery fiction in high school, but I got to learn some really devoted fans in my university circle, so I started reading translated fiction too… So I got through the must-reads like Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr, but I also tried other kinds of mystery fiction.
Interviewer: Are there any works that left a particularly strong impression on you?
Yamazaki: How should I put it? I like works that really delve deep into a concept or idea. Like “This time, the theme is this or that!” I remember I really liked Anthony Berkeley’s The Poisoned Chocolates Case and Ellery Queen’s Calamity Town. I’m basically an omnivore when it comes to mystery fiction. I like Philip K. Dick’s science fiction works for example, but those works too work in a way to deceive the reader, just like in mystery fiction. Basically, I like stories that work to deceive and surprise you.
Interviewer: I believe you were a member of Waseda University’s Mystery Club. So you must’ve learned about Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) while studying there.
Yamazaki: It became popular just when I was in my second year, and a friend who’s a mystery fan told me to play it. I was really surprised by the game, by the way it had managed to catch the essence of the fun of mystery fiction.
Interviewer: So when you applied to Capcom, you must’ve been aware that it was the company behind Gyakuten Saiban.
Yamazaki: I knew very, very well. I really wanted to find a job where I could create stories and I had a feeling I’d get a change to do so at Capcom. In my final job interview, I even asked them when Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials and Tribulations) would be released (laugh). Soon after the game’s release, I got the confirmation I’d be hired once I graduated, and was given the assignment to play the game and write a review of it. Once I got in the company, I was immediately assigned to Mr. Takumi’s team.
Interviewer: What did you work on then?
Yamazaki: I first helped out with Ghost Trick. But that project was paused for a while, so then I got involved with Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney DS). The scenario was written by Mr. Takumi, so I worked on things like game mechanics. With Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice), I helped with entering the original scenario Mr. Takumi wrote into the actual game, and also wrote some of the minor text boxes. Gyakuten Saiban 4 was the first time the series saw some new blood because Mr. Endō Mitsuru and myself were added to the planning section.
Inheriting A Popular Character and Striking Out In A New Direction
Interviewer: And then you became the director of Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations).
Yamazaki: The project started with the premise that Mr. Takumi would not be involved, so there was an order to make something with Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth). But the basics of the game would of course transform because the protagonist was a prosecutor and we were also asked to not use the courtroom as the setting, so it was necessary to create new game mechanics. As part of the series, it was necessary for the game to be about “seeing through lies” so we ended up with the style where you investigate the crime scene and interrogate people there. And the storytelling also changed to fit that new style. We didn’t have the courtroom stage anymore, so I aimed for a story structure where investigation segments and segments where you point out contradictions would alternate seamlessly, like a rollercoaster.
Interviewer: Gyakuten Saiban feels like an omnibus of short stories, while Gyakuten Kenji is like a full-length novel.
Yamazaki: Gyakuten Kenji does follow an omnibus-structure, but you can indeed call it a full-length novel because of how the individual episodes link up. This was part of the effort to set Gyakuten Kenji apart from the main series. I like focusing on the rewarding feeling when foreshadowing and clues finally pay off, so I wanted to connect the various parts and in the end reveal a larger, connected picture. Coincidence also plays a role of course, so it’s not a story that is set in a true, realistic world.
Interviewer: I was really impressed by the way countless of small pieces of foreshadowing linked up the various cases. It must’ve been a maddening job to get all the details.
Yamazaki: People in the team would sometimes tell me “I can’t even recall this piece of foreshadowing!” (laugh). Mr. Takumi often said about Gyakuten Saiban that he wanted to make a game his mom could play. And while Gyakuten Kenji does build on those foundations, the way it handles foreshadowing and clewing is definitely my own taste showing. That too sets the two series apart, perhaps.
Multiple Ideas For Mystery Games Are Brewing
Interviewer: If you could adapt any mystery novel as a game, what would you pick?
Yamazaki: Peter Lovesey’s The False Inspector Dew should be interesting. The Gyakuten series is about detecting lies, so wouldn’t it be fun to have a game where the player has to lie themselves? The player would have to succeed in both keeping the fact you’re actually an imposter of Inspector Dew a secret, and in solving the crime. You’d have the exciting feeling of telling a lie, but also the great feeling of uncovering lies. Actually working on the game would probably be fun too (laugh).
Interviewer: Do you have any ideas about creating an original game?
Yamazaki: I really like deceiving the player, so I’d like to make a game with narrative trickery. There are of course already games that do that, but I’d like to work on one myself. It’d also be fun to create a whole town like Wrightsville myself (TN: a recurring location from the novels by Ellery Queen), like the city in L.A. Noire. I’m also a fan of science-fiction mystery, so I’d also love working on a game with mysteries and cases that could only happen in a different world.
Interviewer: Any messages for the readers of Mystery Magazine?
Yamazaki: The driving idea behind the Gyakuten series is to create a genuine mystery story within the game industry. The games are made with the core essence of mystery fiction, so even gamers who don’t read mystery fiction can enjoy what makes mystery fiction so fun. And mystery fans can also enjoy the games, so I’d be so happy if you’d try them out!
I remember reading that Takumi was exploring some concepts for his next game during the development of Trials and Tribulations, but I didn't know that a full team actually already started development for Ghost Trick so early, before Rise from the Ashes even.
ReplyDeleteTakumi talked a bit more in detail about the pre-Rise from the Ashes work they had done on Ghost Trick in an interview on the podcast Game no Shokutaku, but I lost the files :( I remember he mentioned how the art style had mostly been settled on already before he was swapped over to Rise from the Ashes, but I honestly don't remember what was mentioned further.
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