Surviban Planning Document (Capcom Town Excerpts) (2023)

Title: Surviban Planning Document (Capcom Town Excerpts) / サバイバン企画書

Source: Capcom Town Museums

Summary: On June 12, 2023, Capcom opened Capcom Town, a website to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the game company. In the museum part of the site, in the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) section, they also posted 10 pages from the planning document for Surviban, the prototype game which would eventually become the first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) game released in 2001. The document was originally written by series creator Takumi Shū in 2000 and is about forty pages long in complete form. The whole document has been put on display in real-life at a few events, but they have never reproduced the whole document in publications, physical or digital. Most of the 10 pages shown off in the Capcom Town Museum have been published before in guide books. Though you can recognize the final product in the pages shown off, same courtroom mystery adventure game at heart, Surviban also has a few distinctive differences from the final product, from the game title to the exact flow of the game in the trials and also in terms of presentation. For example, one of the pages emphasizes the real-time element of the trials, which is not existent in the final product.

Images are taken from the source. Copyright belongs to the respective owners.

[Page 1]

Bengoshi Tantei Naruhodō Ryūichi (Surviban – Attorney Detective Naruhodō Ryūichi)

[Page 2]

● Selling Points ●

The country’s very first “courtroom battle adventure” game

 

This is a new type of adventure game, where the story develops through actions unique to an attorney: pointing out the lies in the witnesses’ testimonies to uncover the truth. This is the key to this thrilling, strategic game.

A mechanic involving presenting evidence

 

Once you notice something fishy about a witness’ testimony, you can immediately point out the contradiction. The panicked witness will slip up, and start digging their own grave. Corner the stubborn witnesses further until they break. Cheers will roar in the courtroom praising the attorney. This is a game where you basically have to pick up on contradictions in order to uncover the truth and save your client.

A merit system that does not reward brute force

 

You have to find a contradiction in the witness’ testimony and point it out. There are many courtroom scenes, and each time it’s a serious confrontation. The player needs to figure out

1)    Where the contradiction is

2)    How to point it out

You can’t solve the case by simply trying all the commands in order.

 

This is an adventure game where you advance in the story by identifying the lies in a witness’ testimony and pointing them out.

[Page 3]

 

〇The courtroom is modeled with polygons. Users are given the feeling they are really there at the confrontation through camera work.

 

*The camera moves in confrontation scenes.

 

*Zooming in during important scenes.

 

“Da—damn!” ->  “I… I admit it.”

[Page 4]

●The series’ characters●

 

Naruhodō Ryūichi

Age: 20

Naruhodō used to be a detective working at a detective agency, but he became a private attorney because of a certain case. A complete rookie when it comes to law. His weapon in the courtroom battlefield is his ability to instinctively sniff out lies and what’s on other people’s minds. He likes his time off and can remain all focused on doing absolutely nothing. Has a pet hamster.

[Page 5]

Mitsurugi Reiji

Age: 36

The number one prosecutor of the district court, boasting the greatest number of handled cases. Believes that the end justifies the means when it comes to getting the defendants pronounced guilty. An extremely heartless person who more-or-less makes his witnesses provide false evidence for him. He believes all defendants are guilty and therefore hates the attorneys who try to defend them. It is believed that he became such an extreme person because he lost a case six years ago against Kasuma Ryōzan.

 

 

[Page 6]

Witnesses

People connected to the case

The persons who are connected to the case. A quirky lot. Every one of them is hiding their true colors. People who suddenly become less friendly with you or who try sweet-talk you to gain a favorable image. Very ordinary people who at times show their ugly sides.

 

 

[Page 7]

Setting

The world is basically based on contemporary Japan. (Or slightly in the future.) But there are fictional elements in this society, like the legal system.

 

Initial Trial

The start of the 21st century. Due to a continuing increase in criminal cases, it has become impossible to handle them all within the original, time-consuming justice system. Therefore, a new trial system, the Initial Trial System, was introduced.

 

In this system, a defendant will be tried within days after their arrest in a maximum of three trial sessions to mainly determine whether they are guilty. In some cases, this can be resolved as swiftly as one single day. A defendant found guilty in the Initial Trial, will likely get a sentence without suspension.

 

In these trials, there’s no room for legal strategies like extenuating circumstances or probation. The only thing to be determined here is, guilty or not guilty.

 

The Private Defense Attorney System

With more trials taking place, there’s of course a shortage of defense attorneys. In this world there are therefore not only official defense attorneys who have passed the bar, but there are also authorized private defense attorneys, who do not need any qualifications whatsoever.

 

Unlike official defense attorneys, who are assigned clients by the government, the world of private defense attorneys is ruled by the law of the jungle: there are many evil defense attorneys who will do anything to win a case. This has become a social problem. But at the same time, they are free to do in this world, and private defense attorneys who have proven their talent can choose their own clients and decide their own fees.

 

The protagonist of this game is a private defense attorney specializing in Initial Trials fighting in this world.

[Page 8]

● Game Structure ●

* Flow of the Game

In the game, each day is split up in two days. The parts are called respectively the Trial Part and Investigation Part, and the goal of each part is different.

Trial Part (Morning)

The main part of the game. You stand in court to conduct a trial and battle the prosecution. You use your trial techniques to examine the witnesses and present testimonies and evidence to prove them wrong. If you have not disproven the prosecution’s case by the end of the trial, it’s game over.

Investigation Part (Afternoon)

In this part, you gather the evidence to use in the trial by meeting with related persons and visiting the crime scene. Here too it’s necessary to point out contradictions in the testimonies of people to gather correct data. It’s mainly a part to set-up the story for the following trial part. Here the game is not strict, and it’s not possible to get a game over here.

In this game, the parts have the following functions:

Gameplay (Trial Part)

Story Development (Investigation Part)

[Page 9]

Mental Damage – Break down the witness!

When a witness says something suspicious, you can immediately point that out, which will make them nervous. This is indicated in the form of mental damage.

The witness will recover from their mental damage slowly in real-time.  You need to continue with the examination before their damage has become 0 again. By repeatedly proving them wrong, you can inflict major damage on the witness.

A panicked witness will make even bigger mistakes in their attempts to cover up the faults in their earlier statements. By pushing further, their mental damage will reach breaking point and they will confess everything. 

 

Creating a combo by repeatedly inflicting damage on the witness is a necessary action to deal with the witness.

 

The defense attorney has to quickly identify the faults in the testimony and point it out in real-time.

[Page 10]

Camera Work During Testimonies

The trial starts with this screen. The judge starts the trial and asks prosecution to begin the procedure. The game returns to this screen whenever the gallery is surprised or the judge speaks.

Judge: “The defendant has a right to not answer the question.”

 

The screen is full-size. Text appears in a semi-transparent textbox in the lower half of the screen.

In 1 on 1 scenes like Attorney vs. Witness or Attorney vs. Prosecutor, the camera is moved around to convey motion.

 

“How about it!”

Defense

 

“You don’t have to snap at me.”

Witness Stand