Dark Souls: Design Works
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Description
Miyazaki: Not quite, we didn't have a single designer making Maps, Characters or Equipment, but we did have separate people in charge of each of the game's areas. I believe Mr (Masanori) Waragai was responsible for Anor Londo.
I don't have that problem with people like Mr. Nakamura or Mr. Satake. I've worked with Mr Nakamura for a long time on both Armoured Core and Demon's Souls, and have always trusted him with the most important designs. I've also worked with Mr. Satake since Armoured Core, and on this project he worked with the out-of-house artists which basically meant he had to translate my abstract directions into something they might understand. I'm very grateful. Miyazaki: Although Siegmeyer isn't actually fat, it's just his armour. It's the strange little details like this that I really like about it. If there's one thing I regret about the Catarina armour is that I wasn't able to show the helmet opening. It's designed to do that and I have a mental image of Siegmeyer popping it open and hungrily guzzling down some food, I just wasn't able to fit in anywhere in the game. I have to apologise to Mr. Waragai for that. Sieglinde Hatsuyama: Can I ask aboutGwynevere, because compared to the other female charters she's very different, almost glamorous. Miyazaki: You mean the Crystal Ring Shield? I must admit, I wasn't entirely happy with how that turned out.Miyazaki: Ah, I was quite rude about the first design that reached me, I apologise. Originally I asked for something like Hydrafrom Saint Seiya. I like the poignancy of that character, to have gone through such harsh training to earn his holy armour and after all that, his special ability amounts to nothing more than some claws attached to his hands. You would be pretty crestfallen, wouldn't you? We talked like that a lot, but our images for the armour didn't match, so we spent a long time working on it. Waragai: I remember you said that to me when I was working on the undead dragon. Originally, it was covered with maggots, but you told me that instead I needed to try and capture the sadness of this great creature as it marches towards extinction. Waragai: It feels like a place everyone will gather, so I think this location actually worked really well. The concept art featured are nice but with a slightly rough art style. I would have preferred a more finished look especially for the environment art. They are printed quite small because they don't have enough detail to go big, or too unfinished. The designs are great but somehow they don't have the same forbidding feeling you get when playing the game. The Dark Souls world is quite big and I'm surprised they didn't include more environment art.
Miyazaki: I don't think so. There are a huge number of things, that, while present in the game, we make no attempt to explain to the player, and many more that they simply have no way of finding out. The Ceaseless Discharge's story is just one of these. I recall the main difficulty designing the character was trying to get across that sense of sadness. People just couldn't see past the fact that he's a flaming giant.I suppose I'm getting slightly off-topic so I will stop there, but it's something I want to work on in the future. Satake: Ah yes, I say things like that from time to time, then Mr. Nakamura has to fill in the gaps.
Nakamura: When I started working on these four designs I decided that I didn't want to just create a standard set of armour and swap parts around. Instead, I aimed to create something that, while not traditional, looks like it could exist. Designs that feel like they are from another world while being entirely plausible. Miyazaki: That's the truth… I regret that the fight turned out this way… Of course there are other designs that I really like, the Iron Golem for example, is a great, large powerful enemy. Of course, having said that, there was need for some direction, so in Dark Souls there were three main sections or themes, the image of Gods and Knights centred around Anor Londo, Lost Izalith and the theme of Chaos, Fire and Demons, and Gravelord Nito and the image of death and decay. I suppose you could also add to that the image of the ancient dragons. These themes, along with utilising the artists personal styles, formed the basis of the Dark Souls design principle. And as I mentioned previously, in contrast to most art teams, we didn't have our artists concentrating on a specific section, for example, this artist will work on environment, this one on characters and this one on equipment. Instead all the artists contributed to all of these areas. - FromSoftware have developed for a wide range of platforms, including the Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, GameCube, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and various mobile devices. Waragai: Yes. While I was in charge of New Londo, the fact that it was based so heavily on a real world location meant that there wasn't actually a great deal of work to be done. All but the finest details were already in place.
Miyazaki: These two areas were entirely created by the designers, with little to no concept work. I had a clear image of both areas from the beginning and as work progressed, I continued to modify that to keep up with the other areas we were creating. Most of the work was done directly from the rough map, but there is also more than a little Avatar in there I think. Of course, if the area hadn't have come together, I'd have had the artists create some concept art, but in the end it wasn't needed. Miyazaki: I think that really comes across when you see the art blown up into a poster, although, speaking honestly, as a cover, it does have some problems. I think it comes across as more of a product more than a game, although I do like the image and I was the one who suggested it, so I'm responsible for the way it turned out. Miyazaki: Not quite: we didn't have a single designer making maps, characters or equipment, but we did have separate people in charge of each of the game's areas. I believe Mr. Waragai was responsible for Anor Londo. Miyazaki: Yes, a character like that is actually very easy to fit into the game, you can essentially place him anywhere and move him about wherever you want to. Mr. Waragai took care of the design but it wasn't until he added glasses, that the character started to emerge.
Miyazaki: Yes, we struggled at first but I think the final design is great. In fact when I find the armour in-game myself, I can't help but equip it for a while. With the blue surcoat and other additions, I really think it turned into a very cool design. Otsuka: Now that we've covered the maps, I'd like to ask about the NPCs. There certainly are a lot of memorable characters in the game. Otsuka: The Mimic was quite different from those in other games, it's certainly the strongest I've ever encountered…Miyazaki: The triple crossbow, you mean the Avelyn? Unfortunately, I had to move the it to the Duke's Archives. Miyazaki: I was adamant that he should be carrying a lot of things. I think Waragai did an admirable job. Even in this world, where money has lost its value, he holds onto these precious objects and carries them along. Miyazaki: Ah yes, one of the early designs. I thought the Dragonslayer Greatbow looked great and once we added the animation it really came together.
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