During Satoru Iwata's time as Nintendo president, he had a special series known as "Iwata Asks" - where he spoke to people like Shigeru Miyamoto and EarthBound's creator Shigesato Itoi about the company's hardware, series and games.
His book 'Ask Iwata' was recently localised and now Nintendo has started a new series 'Ask The Developer'. In the first volume, the focus is on the Switch release Game Builder Garage and features a discussion between the game's director (and programmer) Naoki Masuda and subdirector Kosuke Teshima.
This content was pre-recorded in accordance with Japan's current COVID-19 health and safety guidelines and the article itself was translated from the original Japanese content.
"To kick off this Ask the Developer series, in which Nintendo developers convey in their own words Nintendo’s thoughts about creating products and the specific points they are particular about, we are talking to two people who were involved in developing the Game Builder Garage game."
While we won't go into specifics, the conversation between the two covers the reason behind the development of this standalone piece of software, various insights, and also touches on the joys of programming.
It's definitely worth a read, and being volume one you can expect to see more interviews like this in the future. Are you glad to see Nintendo uploading developer talks on its website again? Have you picked up Ask Iwata yet? Leave a comment down below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 26
Look forward to checking this out! Always interesting to hear an inside view from Nintendo developers.
Oh, I'll read this after work tonight. Been slowly progressing through Game Builder Garage.
Wonder why this didn’t happen for some major games over the last few years… Age of Calamity for example. But great to see it back!
I would like to ask one developer, Nintendo, why do you take so long to release your games?
We all know that BotW2 is finished and ready to go, yet Nintendo are keeping it from us, if not for the Switch Pro then some sort of marketing plan.
They can give Skyward Sword a quick lick of paint charge us £50 as a pacifier. 🙃
I really want one of those shirts/jackets that Nintendo employee have. They look pretty cool.
I'm really looking forward to this 🙌🏻
Just a couple of days ago I was thinking about how much I nowadays miss a format like "Iwata asks" XD
@Zool, at the end of the day, Nintendo is a business, and, unless they have significant financial reason NOT to release BotW2 at a time that suits them, i.e. a potential consumer boycott of the game because of the later release date, or something like that, then they’ll just go right ahead with whatever plan suits them.
On the article, I’m really glad to see that Nintendo are doing this, I just hope that’ll still be around for a game I’m more interested in than GBG, like the new WarioWare or Advance Wars remake.
@the_weakest_link ...but as most of us are Nintendo customers of their business, we are allowed to complain a bit if we are kept waiting.
From the screenshot I thought it was a criminal trial or something until I read the headline. Haha
What a great opportunity to see the face behind the games... Partially, mostly hidden behind a mask.
I like the idea of this. I'm not into game builder garage but if they did a xenoblade one or a botw one I'd check it out for sure.
Collaborative does help improve game development if it goes in the right directions.
@zool BOTW2 is not finished though. There is still a lot of work that have to be done on it.
@Kanbolara tell us what still needs to be done and how long it will take? 🙃
@TheJGG
Yes please. I've been incredibly frustrated over its status within the timeline and no one has ever bothered to ask about it.
@zool I don't know, but there is a lot of stuff that needs to be done.
I love that they're creating a successor to Iwata Asks. Those were some of my favorite features from Nintendo last decade.
Iwata Asks lives!!!! (Laughs)
It's not the same without the man itself but I missed this format so much since his era.
I loved reading these! I’m glad their back.
Iwata Asks was a trove of interesting behind-the-seces fact, and I've missed it so much. So glad they're bringing it back.
@zool Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 is not finished yet, Eji Aonuma is problaby aiming to release the game during the 2022 Holiday season
so glad that Nintendo decided to bring back the Iwata Ask format, i love hearing tibits about the development of our favorite games.
@Giancarlothomaz the only reason it would not be ready is that they are reworking it because it didn't turn out as they expected it to.
@zool i think Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 is taking so long to release on Switch, because the game is far more ambitous then Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, maybe Nintendo is adding sky/underground and underwater exploration? and playable Zelda? that why the game is taking so long to release on Switch.
@Giancarlothomaz I agree it more ambitious and I've read about the Sky and Water. But the original BotW was also over ambitious and had to be modified to run on the Switch.
This suggests to me that BotW2 is being made for a more powerful Switch.
A quick flick through suggests that one thing that they haven't been able to replicate is Iwata's intimate knowledge of the on-the-ground-level aspects of game development. He could offer his own personal insights based on experience and ask complicated questions, as well as discuss the game's development from his perspective as CEO.
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