In this episode of PGTV, we travel to Hollywood, CA and sit down with voice actor Steve Blum, better known to PlatinumGames fans as Jack Cayman from MADWORLD. Find out why Jack wasn’t what he expected, and how anime fans have threatened his life.

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Hello, my name is Hiroshi Yamaguchi, and I am in charge of composing the music on Bayonetta. I’d like to share some of my experiences crafting these sounds with you all.

The first thing that really needs to be covered is:

“Who is Bayonetta!?”

1. Bayonetta is an unmatched beauty (witch).
2. Bayonetta is fast, agile, and has powerful attacks that spell instant death to monsters (and heaven to guys).
3. Bayonetta is cool and collected, sassy, and a real princess (who just happens to like implements of torture).
4. Bayonetta is concerned with looking good (glasses, heels, piercings), loves candy, and can show hints of being cute.

With this in mind, I set off to make music that was both indicative of Bayonetta, and also music that could only appear in Bayonetta, and am still working hard at it today. Some of these tracks have been used in the trailers we have released so far, so for those who haven’t seen them please watch and especially listen!

TGS  2008 Trailer

First Climax Trailer

What do you think?

These have a few special things going for them:

1. A nice up-tempo beat.
2. To express the idea of femininity, I used “beautiful” instruments like pianos, electric pianos, organs, vibraphones, flutes, double bass, and a female chorus.

Since we decided on witches, one would tend to imagine a dark, fantasy air about things; however, Bayonetta, as a witch living in the present day, is more of an uninhibited, modern conception of a woman. As music is one way to express these characteristics, I’m focusing on making music that makes you feel this modern femininity.

When we started production, we established a style based on these traits, but it still took a long time to get used to producing. It is difficult to establish both the feeling of femininity and get the intensity required of an action game soundtrack right. For me, once I made the track used in the background of the TGS trailer last year, I finally felt like I had found my footing in making these “Bayonetta-esque” tracks.

Those types of tracks aren’t all we have though, as there are also pure orchestra tracks in the game. If you look at the Japanese Bayonetta homepage (www.bayonetta.jp), the track playing in the background is one of these. We even have a few tracks which make use of ethnic instruments. It all comes down to matching our various tracks to situations, will still keeping them situated on the “Bayonetta-esque” axis.

I’ve said plenty here, but with Bayonetta, seeing is truly believing. I can’t wait until you all get the chance to enjoy the world we’ve created for you.

Until then, I’m going to give it my absolutely all to make the tracks in Bayonetta pieces of music that will stay with you for a long time. I hope you all look forward to hearing them!!

Hello to everyone reading the Bayonetta Blog! Nice to meet you! I’m Ikumi Nakamura. I am in charge of the concept design for the world of Bayonetta. Creating world concepts is often a behind-the-scenes job; however, I hope appearing on this blog will give everyone a greater understanding of the world of Bayonetta!

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I’d love to tell you all about the world of Bayonetta, but there are so many secrets that we can’t talk about… So instead, let’s talk about my exchanges with Director Hideki Kamiya and how we created the world of Bayonetta.

(You’ll have to play the game to find out what stage this is from.)

I have been working with Director Hideki Kamiya since Okami. Okami was about nature and healing, but this game… It couldn’t be any more opposite! (LOL) However, I had a great time bringing to life the world of Bayonetta that exists inside Kamiya-san’s head. That’s because whatever is going on up there is completely outrageous!

Not to be outdone, I tend to come up with some pretty outrageous designs myself, so I play off that outrageousness when coming up with ideas. Although, if I go too far, I may end up with something awful, so it is important to keep things in check… But basically, I know if I show Kamiya-san something I don’t think is good enough, he usually ends up loving it. So we excitedly went through the game towards the last stage, creating a world that was outrageous in the best sense of the word.

When making a game with Kamiya-san, the world view isn’t particularly locked down, so it is a fun experience. We can change how things are with each and every stage. However, there were a few things thematically within the Bayonetta world that were constants – Angels, Witches, the Sun, the Moon, etc. These motifs were unshakable. However, as we proceeded through the stages, we got excited creating the changes in architecture and culture that accompany them. As our lead character is a thin, sexy woman, the world behind her is the opposite. We went with large, heavy environments so we wouldn’t fall into the trap of letting her dynamic silhouette be lost in the shuffle. The modeling staff did a great job of turning the concepts into reality, and I think that in the playable version you get a good feel for that. I really hope everyone takes an interest in the backgrounds in the game. This is especially true in the case of the stages modeled by Mune-san and Shirai. There are things that will stand out and make you say, “WTF!?” I really can’t wait until I can tell you all about it!

(This bar seems awfully suspicious. But it is in our latest trailer! You can check it out by clicking the picture!)

Kamiya-san is incredibly detailed when it comes to the designs. I could tell you stories about what it took just to arrive at the items and accessories on a character… But that’s something I will get into in a future blog. Actually, the Bayonetta logo was another place where this came up. I started out placing visibility above all else and could only think up simple, solid designs:

“This isn’t cool!” were Kamiya-san’s first words to me.

Deep down, all I was thinking was “damn!” Yet, I did my best to keep a poker face.

Our other design concepts were decided in much the same way, going through that process of back and forth. Even though, you know, I’m a rather quiet person…

This leads me to recall some of the motifs we had created. The moon, the written spells used by the witch clan, Bayonetta’s theme colors of black with hints of red… And I think you’ve all seen the game’s logo. When it gets printed in large format advertisements, take a really close look. You should notice that there are spells written into the logo itself.

The circle behind the logo is a magical portal which Bayonetta will somehow make use of in the game. The logo itself was designed to focus on witch and demon elements, instead of focusing on femininity. Finally, the letters emerging from the other letters are a demon alphabet used by Bayonetta’s clan of witches.

I’ve got many other concept images that I would love to share, but for now I bid you farewell. Next time I hope to show you a few more designs and get closer to the heart and soul of the world of Bayonetta.

(NOTE: See high resolution versions of these pictures on PlatinumGames’s Flickr account.)

Hi, I’m Eijiro, an animator here at PlatinumGames.

On Bayonetta, I was primarily in charge of enemies, meaning that I worked hard every day on their animations, in hopes of luring our users into exciting battles.

I’ve been an enemy animator on several projects before this one, and I have to admit that the enemies that I’ve animated are almost like children to me. Whenever I see someone playing against one of them, I unconsciously begin to root for the enemy instead of the player.

Just the other day, I had one of my co-workers play against an enemy that was pretty much done. He thought he was a bit too easy, and would end up getting torn apart, so he dropped a bomb on me – “Don’t you think this is a bit too weak sauce?” Let’s just say his words cut me deep.

As an enemy animator, I want everyone to be able to enjoy anxiety-packed, exhilarating battles; however, that doesn’t mean I can just go around making enemy attacks super-hard as a prank. If you have an enemy that has nothing going for it other than powerful attacks, all that enemy will do is cause stress.

From my point of view, it’s about a player making a call and seeing a response.

If you don’t create a wide breadth of actions – a player’s attack may hit, or it may be dodged and countered – that cause a player to speculate on what action they should take next, I feel you can never establish that coexistence between anxiety and exhilaration.

It comes off a bit stiff when put into words; however, what we actually do is take an enemy behavior and insert a bit of a break into it.

Let’s take this enemy’s attack as an example:

This is a precursor animation that screams, “I’m going to attack you!” Once you add special effects on top of this, it is even easier to pick up on. This allows the player to make a call and execute their own action, whether it is to risk it and attack, or go the safe route and dodge, putting some distance between themselves and the enemy. With this motion, you have about a second to make your decision.

Once the precursor we just saw has been completed, the enemy will actually launch the attack. This is where your choice as a player will be put up against the enemy’s choice and one will be determined to have been the correct course of action.

These attack precursors are incredibly sensitive issues when balancing a game. If you make them too obvious, they eliminate any anxiety you would feel. However, if you make them so difficult only the hardcore can pick them up, you lose your sense of exhilaration.

When I am on the receiving end of killer words from my co-workers, they usually push me towards going down the higher difficult route. (LOL) However, if I go too far down that path, I usually end up getting a tongue-lashing from the programmer who is helping me balance the game. That is how we end up with just the right seasoning on our gameplay steak. Right now, we are going through lots of trial and error on Bayonetta, but we are really getting somewhere with our work, so get ready for some fun.

There is still some time before the game is released, but I think there will be opportunities for you to get the chance to play Bayonetta at a show or in-store before then. If you happen to see the Game Over screen, you might want to take a look over your shoulder. If you see someone smirking… It’s probably me! (LOL)

Hello, I am the producer of Bayonetta, Yusuke Hashimoto. I wanted to take this chance to give you a glimpse of some of the enemy designs in Bayonetta. While I may be filling the role of producer these days, I was previously a designer, and also in charge of special effects.

When we first started development, I got caught up in the idea that “the enemies are angels,” drawing some sketches of enemies that I showed to the game’s director. He seemed to take a liking to them, and I ended up designing around 70% of all the enemies in Bayonetta. I’d love to say, “And here are those sketches!” but the truth is they are gone. (I threw away all the sketches other than the ones that made the final cut…) So instead, I want to show you the final design for an enemy named “Affinity.”

Our initial concept was that of a “divine enemy,” so along with the main thematic color of white, I melded a bird with a human to facilitate a decent from the heavens. I paid extra attention to the fact that these characters had to be enemies in a game, so while they may be divine, they still must be monsters.

Which leads us to this:

This is a look at the guts of Affinity.

Kamiya-san asked for two things which I incorporated into my design. 1) You should be able to visually see an enemy’s vitality. 2) The internals of the enemy must make them seem to be incredibly strange beasts. When playing the game, as the enemies take damage, their “shells” fall off, no longer covering the exposed, gross internals of the enemy! Most of the enemies in Bayonetta have these sorts of internal views, so if you are into that sort of thing, I hope you look forward to seeing what the other enemies look like on the inside!

Finally, one last shot:

This is the design for “Fortitudo,” which was actually the first enemy that won the game director’s approval. It might be a bit hard to pick up in the illustration or in screenshots; however, Fortitudo is a gigantic boss character! When you see him in the game, he will really blow you away!

Next time, I won’t be talking about my role as a designer, but instead plan on telling you about my job as producer.

As an aside, E3 is coming up soon. Of course, you can expect to get brand new information about Bayonetta! Things are really going to ramp up towards the release of the game, so thanks for all your support!!

(NOTE: Check out high resolution versions of these pictures on PlatinumGames’s Flickr account.)

PGTV returns from hiatus with Hideki Kamiya giving you an in-depth video commentary of the first Bayonetta trailer of 2009, First Climax!

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Umm… Hello.

My name is Kai.

I was primarily in charge of animating Bayonetta on this project. I have been in this industry for a long time, and I have been involved in various projects, like my most recent work on the Viewtiful Joe series.

I’d like to give you some insights into the animation for Bayonetta.

When animating, especially for an action game, the things you absolutely must bear in mind are response and a sense of exhilaration. However, can you truly express gathering and releasing one’s power in such a small number of frames? We gave Bayonetta more masculine, powerful attacks to exploit the gap between her feminine looks and fighting abilities.

This is my first game back with Kamiya-san since Viewtiful Joe, and I don’t think his way of approaching things has changed since then. To me, he has been making fun-to-play games of the kind you don’t see too often lately.

However, when we first started Bayonetta, Kamiya-san asked me to try making some test motions where the punches and kicks were released in a single frame. He was so enamored with that prototype, that even now he says, “That version was really good.”

I wanted to scream, “Well then you don’t need any animation!”

So even though he feels that way, I keep working hard under Kamiya-san (and, of course, for our users as well) so that I can get him to say, “this version is even better!!”

I know that we’ve released trailers, but I think that video doesn’t really get across what we are trying to say, so I really want you all to get your hands on the game as soon as possible

Until then, we have to live with some strict rules about what we can say, but I’m including some video of that prototype I mentioned earlier for you all.

It took about a month to develop once work was started, but all of the elements are “Bayonetta”.

Finally, Kamiya-san asked me to answer a question from GN (A user on our Japanese blog) since it had to do with my work:

@GN > I have a question. How are you approaching animation? Are you referencing any movies or games?

Well, I don’t really look at a single work as something I want to references; however, since my childhood, I have been influenced by action movies starring Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Li Lianjie (Jet Li), and wrestlers like Tiger Mask, Antonio Inoki, and Akira Maeda. I also watched hero shows like Kamen Rider and Ultraman growing up, and I still keep my eyes on the latest action games, fighters, and other sports. I think that I take all of those influences and meld them into my work.

In regards to Bayonetta, I’ve added some elements of dance and ballet to her animation, as well as receiving a number of ideas from the motion capture actors for Bayonetta, who are professional stuntmen and acrobats.

I hope that answers your question. I know you probably wanted Kamiya-san to answer it himself, but forgive me for taking the reins on this one.

MADWORLD Release Day Contest – And The Winners Are…

We were shocked and surprised by the creativity in all of the entries for our MADWORLD Release Day Contest. PlatinumGames always knew we had incredibly passionate fans, but to see you all put that passion to work was absolutely great.

Which is why picking winners for our contest was even more difficult.. Without further ado – The winners are:

JordanWhite – While we don’t encourage you to take powertools to video game retailers, we will laugh out loud when you do! Thanks, Jordan!

Andreas Kroon – The manga-style retelling of his 20^th of March at the local video game score earned Andreas a prize pack. Well done.

Our final prize pack winner is Sam Smith.

Sam not only made his own Caution sign, he took it to the store with him in this awesome short film. Great job, Sam!

You guys have earned yourselves the exclusive MADWORLD hoodie, as well as something special:

An original Jack sketch by lead character designer Masaki Yamanaka, as well as a thank you note from the entire team.

Finally, there was one picture so silly, we had to include it as an honorable mention.

Putting Dad’s head in the mailbox deserves something, so BGBW will be getting some swag as well.

You can check out all the great entries on our photoset on Flickr.

You can also check out the multimedia entries (from short films, to flash and DSi animations) below:

ROTH – http://ugomemo.hatena.ne.jp/0139AE304CD97FB8@DSi/movie/D97FB8_08A6191F7B3AC_002

AUDIO BEAR –

GREG OSBORNE – http://www.goingartistic.com/Madworld/MadWorld_Contest.html

SERPOO –

Thanks so much, and keep an eye out, as we plan to do more contests like these in the future!