#i liked when sasaki almost implied kodaka doesn't let him make the games too comfortable to play

[kaibutsushidousha]

Artbook Data - Development Team Interview

For context, here’s the tutorial for Salmon Fishing.

Interviewees: 

Shun Sasaki: V3′s director. His main roles included mediating all the development teams and managing the schedules. Additionally, he will also talk in this interview about his own personal project: the bonus modes.

Taichi Kouno: One of the developers. A DanganRonpa fan who joined the team for Ultra Despair Girls. In V3, he was in charge of the Class Trial scenes and its minigames. 

Takahiro Suzuki: Joined the V3 production as a developer and handled the non-Trial parts and the e-Handbook. Like Kouno, he was a DanganRonpa fan who joined the team for Ultra Despair Girls.

Fans become members: the style of the DanganRonpa team

Interviewer: Please tell us what parts you did as a developer.

Taichi Kouno: I built the entire game system for the Class Trial and also did the minigames for the daily life part. Other than that, I got to do some work on the Academy map, blueprinted the base and produced the data the graphics guys need to draw.

I: I see how about Suzuki?

Takahiro Suzuki: I was almost completely focused on setting up the dialy life/investigation parts. And the system for the e-Handbook.

Shun Sasaki: I supervised Kouno and Suzuki’s work (although the final decisions were by Kodaka) and managed the schedules. Then I focused myself on the bonus modes. Thanks to Kouno and Suzuki’s good work, I was able to make the bonus modes as I wanted.

I: You couldn’t have implemented the bonus modes without their support, all right. You said that one handled the Trial parts and the other handled the non-Trial parts, but can you be more specific about what you did?

TK: The Class Trial has not only the usual dialogue, but also various minigames, like the Nonstop Debate, the Panic Debate, etc. My job was to think how would this be presented on the screen, where it would be implemented and how the player would interact with it. To actually make the interfaces I had to go over with the designer team, but I can draw, so it was easier because I could send a drawing of the screenshot I wanted. It’s much easier to explain myself when I can just go there, show a drawing and say “This interface represents this, it’s going to move like this and I want it to have this functionality”. I even started making extra drawings for whenever I wasn’t being illustrative enough.

I: Oh wow, I didn’t think you would also give ideas for the visuals, not just the system. And how about the non-Trial parts?

TS: The basics are the same. I look at the general conversation and the ideas Kodaka sent me and build the visuals from it. In most cases, I received the bases necessary from the programmer and designers. Since DanganRonpa is a series, I try not to wreck these bases, so the fans of the previous games won’t get confused. That said, keeping everything exactly the same is boring, so I’m very conscious about what I have to emphasize or improve. Being more specific, “Keep this set identical to the previous game but improve this aspect here” or “Change this interface to this”.

I: I see. So you’re the one who made multiple characters appear on the screen at the same time.

TK: That was decided from the start, but it was hard to leave it the way it is now.

TS: VERY hard (pained laughter). We used to display the character as 2D sprites, artificially placed in a 3D map. This time we placed 3D character on the 3D map but displayed in 2D.

TK: We started displaying multiple characters in dialogue scenes because we made this system of using multiple cameras to show many characters at the same time for the Panic Debate. If we could do it for the Panic Debate, we could do it for normal dialogue.

I: So basically, there are all the character in a 3D map and each of them has a personal camera to display them?

TS: Yes. Each character is their own camera in pre-established positions and we keep switching cameras to match the flow of the conversation.

I: This sounds like a lot to adjust.

TS: It was difficult to choose where to place each character in the 3D map, since we were giving each of them pre-established positions. Depending on where they were, the could be covered by the scenery or cause a slow loading.

SS: We switched hardwares, so it feel like we gained as many new hardships as we gained new possibilities. Increasing the number of characters on the screen was hard, but this time we could place characters side by side or in front or behind each other, making the group shots look a lot better than before.

TS: That said, we almost couldn’t make it for the Vita...

I: Yeah, that’s a lot less potent than the PS4.

SS: Yes, but we want to perfect V3 as a game that could be enjoyed equally in both the PS4 and the Vita with dropping any functionality idea, since the DanganRonpa series started as portable series, on the PSP.

TK: We could stop hearing that “It’s not impossible, you can find a way” (pained laughter)

I: Like a sports coach (laughs). When did you start working as developers?

SS: As I answered in the Direction Team interview, we started working on V3 while we were making DanganRonpa: Another Episode. Kouno and Suzuki started working in a different project immediately after they finished their roles in DRAE. I added the two to the V3 team as soon as Kodaka finished structuring the plot for V3 and we started making the game’s system and other elements.

I: Is this the first time you two work on a DanganRonpa numbered title?

TS: Yes. I was just a player before.

TK: I was just a fan too. My first time on a numbered title.

I: Which means you already thought about what you want to change or fix from a fan perspective, right?

TK: Of course I did. The one thing I really wanted to implement for this one was the Voting Time. I never got over the fact that it ended without me voting when I played 1 and 2... In V3 the story’s ending was about synchronizing the player with the character’s feelings, so I thought could make this happen by finally implementing the voting system. 

I: I agree, by participating in the voting yourself and sending a student to die, V3 made me feel more responsible for it than the previous games.

TK: That’s exactly what I aimed for. I want the players to feel responsible for what was happening. I thought making the Voting Time playable was necessary to make reinforce the experience of “This character died because you chose it”.

I: I see. And how about you, Suzuki?

TS: Since our specs were increasing, I took care of ironing out the visual style as far as I could. Also, those are just minor QoL updates, but I added more shortcuts to the maps and adjusted the icons to be more easy to identify. That said, I didn’t go too far to maintain the game’s DanganRonpa identity. 

I: And you had Sasaki making these decisions?

SS: No, Kodaka was making all the final decisions. If we made things too functional, Kodaka would come over and say “no”. Not because it would be too convenient, but cause it would generate too much loading and the menus would look weird. Many people in our team don’t like this. I personally the loading screens and like the menus, so in many occasions I thoughts “Are we really not having a function this convenient?”

TK: Some took issue with it being too convenient too. For example, if the map has too many shortcuts taking you absolutely anywhere, what would be the point of walking?

TS: That’s why I instead increase the movement speed to make it more comfortable to go around in that huge school.

I: That’s something you wouldn’t consider back when you were just a player. How did you decide who would handle each part when the development started?

SS: Oh, this? The role where just split with nothing special to say about it. As I said in the beginning, I just asked Kouno to do the Trial parts and Suzuki to do the non-Trial. And that I would do the bonus modes, counting on their help later (laughs).

I: What’s the first thing to do after deciding the roles?

TS: Pitching ideas for the game, of course.

TK: We get a lot of time to pitch ideas. We all read Kodaka’s entire script before discussing anything, and it has some vague annotations, like “I want this game to have more minigames than before” or “it would be nice to have a minigame where you can answer with images”. First we have to do what Kodaka is asking there before we can start thinking about what we want. Then in the business meeting, we polish and adjust our ideas. 

SS: And then discuss it with Kodaka and Sugawara, and they tell if we can or can’t insert each of our ideas.

I: And what is more important for their decision? If it’s fun or it fits the lore/worldbuilding?

SS: Good question. There are sometimes when ideas are fun but we don’t find any good place to fit them in the story, so we have to cut them, with tears in our faces...

I: Did you have to give more ideas for this game, since it’s much larger than the previous ones?

SS: Until now, Sugawara and I were the only developers, but this time this became too much work for just the two of us, meaning we had to hire Kouno and Suzuki to help. 

TS: I was so happy when I got called. I was goint to be on a numbered title.

TK: So was I. Unbelievably happy. Another Episode was also an amazing experience, but I only joined the production halfway through. This time I was there right from the start and most of my ideas where implemented. Being a developer is no fun if I’m not getting things my way.

I: The DanganRonpa team all looks very motivated, from the sounds of this interviews I’m making. 

SS: Making a game is still hard, though (pained laughter). But when we were implementing any component, I don’t remember anyone saying it would be impossible. Every member did what they could to include everything they wanted.

TK: Saying it’s impossible is easy, but then what next? Saying it’s impossible makes me feel defeated, so this get more motivated to find a way.

TS: The programmers all feel the same way when working, so it’s very easy to be a developer like this. Thanks, guys. Every time I say the idea I gave them is too difficult, they mock me and show me that they can do it (laughs).

The secret origins of the Death Road of Despair, the minigame that brought many players to despair

I: Kouno, did get involved in the Death Road of Despair? It’s not in the Class Trial part, but you said you were in charge of the minigames.

TK: I did. It was my part.

I: I heard from Kodaka he asked you to “make a crappy game”.

TK: Kodaka told me to make a game like Dragon’s Lair. When he actually played it, he couldn’t make any progress. “What the heck is this game!?” (laughs)

Everyone: (laughs)

TK: So, I tried to analyse Dragon’s Lair and come up with my own game where you die in places it doesn’t look like you’re supposed to die. And the  Death Road of Despair what the result of me throwing in every idea and trick I could, as far as the time and budget allowed. 

I: The characters are all slippery and hard to control. And the students behind you just keep dying.

TK: Yeah, in the request they told me to think about how Luigi slips more than Mario. I absolutely loved that unrealistic inertia. (laughs)

I: You probably have a lot of experience in being told to make things easier, but not as many opportunities to make a game utterly unplayable. 

TK: That’s Kodaka’s style for you. I was really motivated to reach his style when I was building this, so I want to see the platformer experts out there doing their best to reach the goal. It is possible.

I: Did you beat it, Kouno?

TK: I can’t. I just used the debug mode to assure all obstacles are clearable. One guy on the debug did manage, though. He said took him 1 or 2 days and he only beat it by a miracle. 

I: I saw some videos of people doing it.

SS: Everyone in the office was talking about them.

TK: I cried tears of joy (laughs). There’s even one guy who posted a No Damage Run.

I: A No Damage Run!? In that long of a stage? I’m impressed that they didn’t make any mistakes.

TK: So long that the background changes 3 times. By the way, at the end of the sewers area there is a set of bombs spelling “CLEAR”. I always wanted to do that. Sidescrollers always have those parts saying “CLEAR” not even close to the end. I absolutely wanted to recreate it (laughs).

I: (laughs) Speaking of minigames, there are a lot of them in the Class Trial. Were there any beta ideas for them?

SS: Not many, as far as I remember.

TK: As we said before, there’s the Mind Mine deal. “We should have a game where the player answers with images”. From that basis, someone suggested the minigame they wanted to make.

I: What minigame did you want to make, Kouno?

TK: I want to make a minigame like DR2′s Logical Dive. First I suggested a minigame where you controled a jet, but Kodaka said “A car is better” and so was born the Psyche Taxi minigame.

I: The Psyche Taxi’s world is quite unique.

TK: Kodaka said the world should look like Hotline Miami, so we settled with that.

I: Last but not least, the Hangman’s Gambit 3.0. As usual, it’s completely different from its predecessors.

TK: DR2′s Improved Hangman’s Gambit was harder as a puzzle game, in my opinion. But for this one we already added Mind Mine as a puzzle game, so we decided to tone down all the puzzle elements on from the Hangman’s Gambit and focus more on the action part.

I: I see. Kouno, did you come up with this game’s newest addition, the Debate Scrum, too?

TK: The Debate Scrum was already an idea before the project officially approved.

SS: We had already decided we wanted to do a group vs group debate, but we didn’t have anything concrete besides that, so we exchanged ideas as usual. 

TK: The Debate Scrum was a challenge. The pre-approval images looked awesome and Kodaka loved the idea, but I couldn’t for the life of me decide what to do with that... New tasks kept piling up in the meanwhile and things were starting to look bad, so I had to pass the bucket to Sugawara, since the Debate Scrum was his idea to begin with (pained laughter).

SS: Hold people responsible for their own ideas, people (laughs).

TK: But leaving it to Sugawara was the right idea. The “negotiating” between the character are one of the the Debate Scrum’s charms. This setup is difficult to make if you’re not a writer as good as Sugawara.

I: Sounds pretty tough to have to come up with all these minigames styles in parallel. Sasaki, you said you made the bonus modes all by yourself. What was the hardest part?

SS: Nothing really, the bonus mode were just me doing whatever I wanted. I could choose the genres by preference.

I: The bonus modes are all linked together, adding a lot of replayability. Was this all planed from the start?

SS: It was. I planned it to be played in a cycle. I said the dungeon would have 50 floors, but I ended up making 100 floors for it.

TS: I also liked how the bonus modes used the characters from the previous games. I knew people would love to see the V3 characters interacting with the ones from 1 and 2.

SS: I absolutely had to but the past game cast in this, since I made it a story where we could have characters from anywhere.

I: The bonus modes are really well polished.

SS: But there are some pieces I regret not being able to implement. For example, the Dangan Salmon version where Akamatsu is the protagonist... Chapter 1 has Free Time, so we prepare 2 events per character to use with Akamatsu. For the Akamatsu Salmon Mode, we want to fill up her pieces all the way to end. But as you would expect, the project was too big, so we left it aside.

TK: There was also the idea of choosing to play with Saihara or Akamatsu.

I: I see, if you make events for Akamatsu, the workload would double... So, after the work in the bonus modes was done, Sasaki moved back to the main game. Was that it?

SS: Yes. I finished the bonus modes pretty fast, so I could focus all my attention to the main game afterwards. For the main game, we were expecting a delay down to the last minute (pained laughter), so I did what I could to finish the bonus side fast.

I: In the director team interview, you said many new elements were added for chapter 6.

TK: That was 3 months before the remastering, wasn’t it? We decided to add a lot of new stuff to chapter 6 and everyone started going “We’re doing it like this now?!”.

TS: I recall something to that effect.

I: You said you had to come up with how the chapter 6 scenes would work from the scratch, based only on Kodaka’s script.

TS: Yup, from scratch (pained laughter). The script wasn’t too detailed about it and I had no indications as to how to makes everything flow together. But that part of the story was filled with scenes and twist everywhere, so we 3 were at our wit’s ends, weren’t we?

TK: Kodaka came up in the middle of our work and said some very unfortunate words. “I’m writing chapter 6 right now, but the sequences are turning out too similar to DR2, so I’m considering making Ki-bo destroy the school”. At the time I thought “Destroy how exactly? Do we really have the time to make new models? I don’t think so.”, then when I read the finished script, so much of it was different...

TS: Yeah, the Ki-bo video cutscenes were added.

I: I remember Kodaka saying he was amazed at his own creation (laughs).

SS: Sometimes things work (laughs).

TK: Kodaka often suggests the first random thing that comes to mind. That’s actually where he’s at his best. He makes people motivated to pull it off.

A game system that only managed to be this unbiased because the love Danganronpa

I: Now I’ll ask each of you about your favorite parts of the system.

TK: Mine is the Perjury system for telling lies. Lies are one of the themes of this game, so it’s not bad to be able to lie in-game. And since we’re making the players lie, I want them to feel corrupt about it. I also made the Perjury visual very much my style. The thing with all the eyes appearing was my idea.

I: Because you like everyone eyeing you when you’re lying?

TK: Yes. You never know what can happen if you’re caught in your lie, so you get anxious and alert. You feel like everyone is looking at you, and that’s what I want to represent with those visuals. Also, I didn’t want people being easily able to lie, so I made the lying command into a long and tedious button hold, that slowly drains your HP. You recover HP when the lie is succesful, so that’s both the bad feeling you have when you lie and the good feeling you have when you get away with it, both well put down into gameplay. 

TS: You’re praising yourself a lot (laughs).

I: What elements do you like, Suzuki?

TS: The e-Handbook. Since we wouldn’t have the pet-raising minigame from DR2, we added the dress-up element so you can change improve its appearance.

TK: People loved the e-Handbook backgrounds.

SS: Really? I actually found the dress-up function unnecessary and was against it. But Suzuki and the designers were very intent in doing it, so I gave the ok just because.

TK: I was also against it at first, but once I started to actually play with the backgrounds and see their individual animations, I really enjoyed them. It also increased the prize count for the casino, so it’s good that we did it. 

TS: Though I think we made the designer team suffer with each new background we had them make. It was only going to be the e-Handbook changing colors when the protagonist spot switches from Akamatsu to Saihara. But we thought that if we’re changing once, why not change a few more times? It would be fun. Another thing, the reactions on the novel parts. 

I: By reactions you mean the interjection cursor that appears in the novel when you move the right analog stick?

TS: Yeah. Nothing happens when you do it though (pained laughter). I just thought it would be a good support system to make V3 more immersive. 

TK: But it really does nothing. It would really be better if the character lines changed if you did an specific reaction at an specific moment.

SS: Oh, we really should have done that.

TS: We can do that next time... Aside from the reactions, another really minor element I like is slapping away the chair and tables and whatnot.

I: The game really makes you want to slap the things. Whenever I got to a new place the first thing I did was always checking for what I could slap.

TS: It changes how the scenery looks like and it gives you Monocoins, so yeah, do it. 

TK: It’s a plain way to earn Monocoins, but it’s still money. The Monocoins can be exchanged into Casino Coins so there’s no downside for getting many.

I: Finally, Sasaki, what elements do you like?

SS: Number one are the bonus modes, but after that, I liked Panic Debates. It easy to experience how much the Class Trial evolved and there’s a pretty well done job in to making it look chaotic.

TK: Really? That was my idea.

SS: Good job.

I: Kouno is getting a raise today (laughs). What idea gave birth to the Panic Debate?

TK: I always wanted to add a new debate to the Class Trial. In the project meeting, we had to think of situations we never did before, but I couldn’t say with anything. After the meeting was ending, our small community started talking, everyone at the same time. That’s where I the idea came to me. 

I: And this epiphany became the Panic Debate.

TK: We never had this situation where multiple students spoke in the Class Trial at the same time, so I thought this could work. 3 characters filling the same screen, multiple Weak Points appearing, none of this was never done before, so I’m glad we managed to implement it.

Even the Game Over lines!? The playfullness the devs incorporated

I: Can you tell me what did you do to make the game more accessible to people not good with action games?

TK: By setting Skills according the action parts you’re bad at, it gets significantly easier. You can get Skill by exchanging Bond Fragments or in the Casino shop. Many of the Skills available with Bond Fragments make minigames easier, so I recommend using those. The casino Skills, on the other hand, are better for increasing your score. Try using those when you’re already used to the game and wants to get the best score you can.

I: That makes it important to talk with other students.

TK: Not to mention all Skills obtained from maxing a character’s affection are very strong. The more you talk to get Skills, the easier the game gets.

I: Tell us some useful gameplay secrets that only you know.

TK: Ok, me first. You can get a rocket start on Psyche Taxi. It works if you hit the gas the exact moment the GO appears. Give it a try.

TS: A lot of minigames have little secrets. Like how the tutorial for Salmon Fishing is a poem....

TK: Not a poem, but a reference to a famous song from a popular band. That’s why Saihara says “That was quite the poetic explanation...” after reading through the whole thing (laughs).

I: I completely missed it (laughs).

TK: One more thing about the Casino. For the slot machines, their reel patterns change depending on the machine you use. The one with the green nameplate is the more balanced one and the one with the red nameplate is the high risk high return one. The one with the blue nameplate is a more tricky machine. If you hit Scatter, you’re more likely the get WILDs and land a huge profit in one go.

I: The blue machine sounds the best to roll. Suzuki, do you have something for the non-investigation part?

TS: Let me see. You can talk to the Monokubs in the Salmon Mode and each of them has multiple different lines. Even for the silent Monodam, we gave him a line with 3% appearance rate. You can get Casino coins from talking to them, and getting the special Monodam line gives a lot of them. I don’t think people will get to see this a lot, since you can only talk to him once per day. But I’ll be glad the interested people would try it out.

I: 3%? Yeah, that’s very special alright.

TS: Also, character birthdays. All of them have special meanings, so speculate to your heart’s contents.

TK: Lastly, I have a few secrets about the Class Trial. First, we have multiple different Game Over dialogues. For example, if you time without picking anyone on Voting Time, you get a unique game over.

I: You mean Saihara’s thoughts change?

TK: It’s not that Saihara’s thoughts changes, you get a new conversation with Monokuma. Every chapter has 2 different Game Over dialogues, except for chapter 1, which has one more for Akamatsu, and chapter 6, which has 7 different unique game overs. You change characters in chapters, so we had to add new Game Over dialogue for all of them and then one shocking final Game Over for when you vote. Game Overs asides, you also have unique dialogue for the mistakes you make, so you can enjoy all different scenes.

I: That’s a lot of hidden details.

TK: I remembered one more thing about the Class Trial! In chapter 1, the first Nonstop Debate with Saihara as the protagonist has the exact same cameraworks and word movement patterns as the first Nonstop Debate from DR1. Since that debate is when Saihara finally becomes the real protagonist, we thought it would be interesting to make it identical to the first one. If there’s a video comparing the two, you can really tell it’s the same. 

I: I want to watch this video now. By the way, was this parallel planned from the start?

TK: Originally, chapter 1 wasn’t going to have any debates as Saihara, until Kodaka suddenly said he wanted to add it...

SS: He wanted to use Saihara’s BREAK cut in there already to make everyone sure that Saihara was the new protagonist. So we added debates.

TK: And this new debates were asked to be made at the very last minutes, so we had no idea what to do. Once we were out of good ideas, we thought repeating the first Nonstop Debate ever would be a valid idea. The fans who notice would find it clever and we could just copy-paste the program scripts, so two birds with one stone. Except the program was written completely different, so we couldn’t just copy the script. 

SS: You had to copy it by manually typing it?

TK: I copied it by eye. 

TS: It wasn’t much more time consuming.

TK: But that was because having ideas is hard. I’m glad we could get away with this.

I: Now that I think about it, having to come up with a new camera work and text movements for each Nonstop Debate sounds hard. 

TK: Don’t even start. Especially now that our platform has been greatly improved. Everyone was thinking “Let’s make this animation”, “Let’s add this text placement”. We went through all the possibilities. And from this game on, we became able to move the text in 3D and gained some new fonts. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. I thought the person typing the program would suffer a lot with it, so I did most of it myself... I’ll only say it took forever.

I: That’s a tremendous workload...

TK: Naturally, we must come up different animations for every debate. We created multiple patterns of font and lettering, and even needed to match the text’s colors to its contents. When someone was being accused, we pay attention to how our color work makes this character stand out.

I: The chapter 6 animations were the biggest highlight. Did you come with those, Kouno?

SS: Sugawara was in charge of the 6th Class Trial. 

TS: And so was the first.

 TK: Sugawara was in charge of the parts where we change characters. At first I was the one coming up with them, but partway through I was forced to admit it was too much for me... I asked around who could help and the answer was “There’s Sugawara!”.

I: The same twist as the Debate Scrum story (laughs). Sugawara is always reliable, like your last line of defense.

SS: He is. We’re glad we have him.

TK: It comes as no surprise. He is one of the creators of the Danganronpa franchise. Since we had him handling the animations for chapters 1 and 6, those turned out a level above the rest.

The developers’ thoughts to make a better game

I: Last question, tell me how you feel about the game now, and what would you want to update in the next game.

SS: How do you two feel about the game now ?

TK: I’m extremely happy with all the reactions we got, both positive and negative. I feels like a lot of people were strongly impacted from playing V3.

SS: It’s great to see opinions about it. There have been a lot of different takes on it, even some people who felt challenged by the ending. As developer, seeing this many different opinions make me feel more blessed than I deserve. Thank you all very much for it.

TS: Seeing reactions from people enjoying the new elements we created as much as we wanted them to makes me glad I could implement everything right. 

TK: One more, a little bit more personal opinion. As its developer, I’m very glad for the surprising amount of people who tried hard on the Death Road of Despair.

I: You thought there would be less of them, Kawano?

TK: I thought the challengers would assume it’s 100% impossible and give up halfway through. I readjusted a lot of things to make it clearable, but I still would be satisfied with 2, 3 people in the entire world beating it. But a lot of people showed up clearing it. As the person of handled every balancement detail of this minigame, along with my thanks to everyone who took so much of their time to beat it, I also want to say “wow, you’re awesome”.

SS: You just can’t stop praising yourself (laughs).

TS: The Death Road was made under the premise that at least one person out there was going to beat it. So we prepared not only a Saihara version to the ending, but also an Akamatsu version, and even made a bonus e-Handbook wallpaper for it. It’s made in a way you can do it if you try hard enough. But we were not crazy enough to tie an Achievement to the Death Road of Despair.

I: Yeah, you wouldn’t be able to get a Platinum without beating the Death Road. Ok, now tell me what do you want to improve or be careful about for the next game.

TS: For the VN part, I want to improve the visuals, adding animations and lightings to the characters. I’m quite used to the gameplay as it currently is, so I don’t fell much need to change it. I feel that what we must do now is to strenghen the visual part, making smoothly moving sprites to make the game even more immersive. Also, the current VN part has a lighting setup that shadows the characters you’re not talking to and I want to improve on that function. 

I: On that note, if the game were a PS4 exclusive, could you have more than 3 characters on the screen?

SS: The hardware allows it.

TS: Adding more than 3 characters to the same screen is not the priority. I’m just thinking about how I can improve the presentation to make the Danganronpa story more enjoyable. 

I: I have high hopes for it! And you, Kouno?

TK: A thing we need to more careful about, yes. We need to pay more attention to what we show in PVs and official material.

I: Did anything go wrong with a PV?

TK: I swear I was paying attention when I was making the PVs, but I had to do some rushjobs when I had no time or resources. I couldn’t check out all the finer details in time. Rantarou Amami was not there in the first revealed Class Trial picture, his “And why would he be in the library” line from the first PV was unvoiced, so people started suspecting that he would be the first victim. 

I: Oh no, their suspicions were precisely on point...

TK: I made an inexcusable blunder, both to the dev team and for the fans. We should have recorded some dummy lines. 

SS: If I had just a little more time available, I could have noticed it beforehand. It’s my job as the dev leader to check every detail... Another struggle was because we didn’t Debate Scrum resources for Amami.

TK: Oh yeah. Amami doesn’t participate in Debate Scrums, so we didn’t make any material in advance. That’s another thing we should have done...

SS: The only Amami material we had for the Scrum Debate was his dead portrait. For obvious reasons, we couldn’t just put that out there for promotional material. A problem so easily solved if we had just made an image of Amami facing sideways beforehand... 

I: And how did you deal with Amami’s face?

SS: Coincidentally, Amami’s expression sheet just happened to contain a lot of sprites where he faces sideways. We were at a point where using that was the only option, but once we looked more closely, all other students had proper centralized looks while only Amami was looking directly to our faces (pained laughter). When we made it, we were worried that the fans would figure it out. 

TS: And surprise, surprise, they did.

TK: If people noticed the unvoiced line, of course they would notice only one person looking directly at them.

SS: Good thing we can laugh at it now.

I: Oh yeah, now that I see the picture, Amami looks very off.

SS: By the way, an Amami’s Debate Scrum Illustration was made exclusively for this artbook. It’s very rare Amami content, so I hope you enjoy it.

I: Thank you for this precious conversation. Give one final message to our readers.

TK: Being a game developer is hard, but fun and rewarding. If reading this interview made you interested in becoming a developer, go ahead! Also, my Twitter @ is taichikono. I’d appreciate your follows, if you’re interested.

TS: You sound like an ad (laughs).

I: Your turn, Suzuki. If you please.

TS: I’m happy and grateful to everyone played our game. We still don’t have anything planned, but I truly want to give you the next title, in whatever shape or form it may be. Keep looking forward to the Danganronpa series.

SS: Are you sure you tell your Twitter @?

TS: I like to live away from the limelight... I couldn’t handle a big follower count (laughs).

I: I get it (laughs). Last but not least, the final comment, from our director.

SS: I’m always doing Danganronpa interviews with Kodaka and Terasawa, but Kouno and Suzuki form quite unique trio here, since those two are from the side of the staff that usually doesn’t talk to the public. Every Danganronpa is very colorful on its own different way, so we from the development team would appreciate if you would play them all again, thinking about what kind of people made it.