Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames

(Originally posted on the Japanaese Bayo-Blog January 25, 2010)

Hello, everyone. Happy New Year. Bayonetta concept designer Ikumi Nakamura here, humping my beloved Lancer Assault Rifle along with me.

Bayonetta has been released in Europe and North America now. Everyone on staff here is enjoying seeing all your comments about the game everyday.

I wanted to talk about the Premium Theme we made for the Xbox 360.

The main point of departure for the Premium Theme was to place it in the same ballpark as the Bayonetta in-game Chapter Screen (the map screen). I started work on the theme right in the middle of the carnage that is the end of development; naturally, I was sweating bullets as I worked out the design. Originally, we created 10 “stages” that followed the story of Bayonetta for the Friends screen.

However, those of you who purchased the theme got to see 7 of the stages I designed for characters to stand on, if my memory serves me correctly.

Months prior, the world famous Hashimoto Producer had directed me to “Keep the data size down to a third of what you’re using.”

No matter how much Kamiya-san complained, we weren’t able to increase the file size. It caused problems not just for me, but also our programmer, Kenji-san. The only way we could make the limit was to cut some of the stages we created. I’d like to show you the 3 character stages that didn’t make the cut.

Cereza’s stuffed cat stage

Paradiso stage

Ithavoll Building stage

I’ve included Kamiya-san’s avatar in the pictures. I think you should be able to use them as wallpapers if you’d like.

I still have no idea why the Ithavoll Building, a crucial locale, didn’t make the cut…

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The event below is now over.)
By the way, on January 30, 2010, we will be having an official PlatinumGames party with our fans. All of the staff here are looking forward to meeting you all.
We hope to see you there!

Bye for now!

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Tagged: Bayonetta, Concept Design, Hideki Kamiya, Ikumi Nakamura, Premium Theme, Xbox 360, Yusuke Hashimoto

Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames

Hello all! I’m Ikumi Nakamura, concept designer on Bayonetta. It has been three weeks since Bayonetta was released in Japan… I bet there are many of you who have completed the game, and one of the things I’ve seen quite a bit of are comments referring to Bayonetta as “middle aged.” (LOL) Considering she is a witch who has been living for hundreds and hundreds of years, I think she has transcended middle age; however, these days I’m just happy that it seems people are into an attractive older woman like Bayonetta.

For this entry, I thought I’d bring you up to speed on some of the prop design in the game. First of all, in Bayonetta, there are certain treasure boxes that can show up at certain points in the game. However, one of Kamiya-san’s hallmarks is to make these treasure boxes engaging by giving them a sense of a bit more backstory and relevance… I think.

This treasure box was designed to actually have been a witch’s grave, but as they were persecuted by the Sages, the Sages placed a blessed counterweight on top of the grave to seal them. Over time, the remains of the witch inside actually became an item. By destroying the counterweight, Bayonetta is able to release the soul of witch within, and gain her strength in the form of the item. Pretty engaging, huh?

These small items get destroyed immediately, or are only on screen for a split-second, but they are still satisfying to design, and I get excited designing them.

This troop transport shows up in one of the cutscenes where Luka gets the scare of his life. It’s kind of a bold design, and I really like it, but I think it is only on screen for like less than 10 seconds. I also remember another part of the world that I was really particular about – the chapter start screen.

The idea here is that it is a certain child’s room, and the kid is playing with a board-game-piece-like Bayonetta doll on top of a map. As you clear each chapter, objects appear on the map. These are based on the same models that actually appear in the stages, but one of our cute, bespectacled background designers, Sata, turned the models into toys for me, so when they show up on the map, they have a really good feel to them. So the question then remains, whose hand is it playing with these toys!?

This is a “tumbler doll” designed to look like Bayonetta.

I really hope they make it into a real toy…

I think that, starting with the design of the map and extending to things like the background on the menus, designing with “old cartooon” style gives the World of Bayonetta an extra bit of depth. When I made these designs, it was towards the end of development and I didn’t really have much time, so I combined the various parts that I would busily draw by hand together in Photoshop. I also drew Rodin’s Trinity of Realities in the same manner.

I think that I removed the nipples in the one that actually appears in the game. One of the big wigs here told me to lose the nipples.

“It’s art!” I replied incoherently.

The whole sad affair came to be known as the “Nipple Rebellion.”

This about wraps it up, but there is still more Bayonetta news to report soon. There is some Bayonetta content for Xbox Live, wallpapers, and a comprehensive art book, etc. on their way to Japan that we are working hard on, so look forward to more news soon.

Now to answer a few questions that came in for me:

Storm! asks:

Is there a sexy, cute angel like the one in the ‘Team Little Angels’ logo within the game itself?

That would be Joy’s role in the game, wouldn’t it? Hehe.

When I saw the designs for the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa, it was so cool I just couldn’t get enough.

When I see a gas mask, a balaclava, or an RPG-7, they are so cool I can’t get enough.

Osakajin asks:

There is a SWAT team in Bayonetta? LOL

They aren’t a SWAT team, but there are Ithavoll military forces in the game.

Mikami Fan asks:

Is there any way I can get that Little Angels T-Shirt?

If you can use a time machine back to San Diego Comic Con 2009 you should be able to get your hands on one.

Well, that it for now! Until next time!

(NOTE: Higher resolution versions of the concept art in this post can be found on the PlatinumGames Inc. Flickr Page)

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Tagged: Bayonetta, Bayonetta Doll, Concept Design, Ikumi Nakamura, Ithavoll, Nipple Rebellion, PlatinumGames, PS3, Xbox 360

Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames

Hello everyone. I’m Bayonetta concept designer Ikumi Nakamura.

I was wondering if you had heard about the Rodin’s Selection soundtrack you get with Bayonetta? What you didn’t know, and I am here to tell you about, is the strange set of circumstances that occurred as we set off to produce this bonus item.

Years ago… There was a phone. In front of me.

RODIN
Hey. Ikumi. I’ve got a job for you.

IKUMI
Huh? Who is this!? No solicitors!!

RODIN
I’m a bartender… In a wretched hive of
scum and villainy. I heard you got some
skills, and I want you to design my menu.
You gotta make it… Dangerous. And Hot.

*click* *beep beep beep*

And then phone call ended.

A few days later, I found myself in one of America’s grimiest cities. Searching around, I found a witch’s seal on the floor in front of me. I stood on it, then collapsed, as it felt as though my entire body was being dragged away.

That is when I realized where I was…

More…

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Tagged: Bayonetta, Bayonetta Climax Edition, Bayonetta soundtrack, Game Music, Hideki Kamiya, Ikumi Nakamura, PS3, Rodin, Rodin's Selection, Xbox 360

Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames

Hello, everyone. Bayonetta conceptual designer Ikumi Nakamura checking in once again. Since the last time I wrote on the blog, Bayonetta has appeared at E3, Comic Con in San Diego, and lots of other big shows. It makes you feel like the release date is really closing in. Now on August 29, we are going to have an event (in Japan) where people can try out the game called “Feel Bayonetta”. If you get the chance to attend, I hope you have a wonderful time, um, feeling… Bayonetta…

Since in my first blog I wasn’t able to talk about much, I wanted to delve further into the World of Bayonetta in my second post.

When we first started work on Bayonetta, we had this idea that the stage designs would be a shift from “the real to the heavenly.” The picture above is something that I made during that period. It would provide a good variety in the stages, and I thought that having the world change around the player would be a really fascinating idea. In the final version of Bayonetta, the background changes to a heavenly atmosphere when enemies appear, which is a remnant of the ideas from that period.

When designing for Bayonetta, I thought it would be fun to play around with the silhouettes of a scene. I used this idea for the coliseum above. Bayonetta does something here, but who she is with and what she is doing is better left unsaid. I thought the ring motif was dynamic, lending a subtle, but intellectual shape to the whole thing. I thought it would be interesting to add round parts that have celestial globe-like silhouettes to the design, so I began my design. I think I able to express the high level of sophistication the witches and sages who lived in this area possessed. However, when Kamiya-san took a look at it, he shot me down instantly…. Just kidding. He gave it his blessing, and it really put me on track for creating the remainder of the world.

I was also quite particular with my other designs outside of the realm of stages.

When Bayonetta jumps high into the air, these butterfly wings appear. They were designed to look like stained glass, and highlight the witches’ symbol of the moon. To really pop with her black body, I intentionally picked a color and design that would stand out. The silhouette of the wings has the same vibe as the frames on Bayonetta’s glasses. You can also see the wings in Bayonetta’s shadow.

This is the magical barrier that appears along with enemies. It matches the design of the halos that float about their heads, a nod to the idea of “infinite proliferation” that I wanted to express. I would ask our special effects designer, Kudo-san, to do non-sensical things like, “Make it like it was being eaten away at by the angels from Evangelion.” But he did a great job in making it look cool.

Now I’d like to touch on the particulars about the accessories that Bayonetta can purchase during the game. To start off, I had an evil plan to make Bayonetta look a bit goofy, seeing as how she is so fashion conscious. Hehe… I took my first design, “Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa” to Kamiya-san. I told him, “India is awesome. And you gotta love curry, right!” That is when we expanded the idea. We decided, “In Bayonetta’s world, there were witches around the globe since long before Bayonetta was born.” So the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa, which is a blocking accessory of Indian origin, is made from a heavy, shield like brass material. Sergey’s Lover, is Russian, so I designed it to be eccentric, equating the idea of dopplegangers with the Russian folk art of Matryoshka dolls. The accessories actually weren’t named when I designed them, so when Kamiya-san attached the melodic name of Sergey’s Lover, I thought that he was rather high-class.

I started our with my own challenge to take Shimazaki-san’s high-art designs and throw in some interesting low-art ideas (from a game perspective), and I think they brushed me aside, and let me get away with it somewhat; however, I’m always like this, so I don’t really mind. There are tons of accessories and items in the game, so I hope you enjoy them!

The production team for Bayonetta goes by the name “Team Little Angels.” The logo is meant to be a sexy angel stepping on the letters as if they were a stairway to heaven. I designed her as if she were striking a pose. This particular pose was subject to numerous, very strict, “perv-checks” from Kamiya-san.
“The curve on her back sucks!?”
“Her butt! Her butt, I tell you!!”
“It isn’t tempting enough”
“This design doesn’t have any XXXXXXX (Censored) !?”

Etcetera, etcetera…

This logo actually ended up printed on the sleeve of the Bayonetta Tshirt we gave away at San Diego Comic Con.

Anyways, the Bayonetta world remains shrouded in mystery, but I hope to reveal a little bit more to you as we move forward.

Next time, I hope to show you some more stages and prop designs.

(NOTE: Higher resolution versions of the concept art in this post can be found on the PlatinumGames Inc. Flickr Page)

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Filed: Bayonetta, Games, PlatinumGames

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!

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

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.)

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