Hi, I’m Shuhei Rokumoto. I was primarily in charge of programming the environmental kills and Bloodbath Challenges for MADWORLD.

By the time this blog post gets translated and posted, MADWORLD should be in everyone’s hands. Have you gotten a chance to put the game through its paces yet?

If you have, you already know, but there is an incredibly number of items you can use to kill enemies in MADWORLD. While the sign post and the rose bush may get the most attention, there are also things like the human garbage dumpsters among other implements of mayhem. (I don’t want to spoil too many of them!) Many of you may be wondering how we made these different items. Let me give you an inside glimpse.

One day, the environmental kills team were stressed out trying to think up a new Bloodbath Challenge. Well, actually, we were stressed because the challenge that we wanted to go with had been rejected by Nishikawa-san. It would have been a Bloodbath Challenge where you would have fired at enemies with a giant slingshot. It had great Wii Remote controls, and we were almost done programming it; however, unfortunately it was deemed to be too run-of-the mill, and didn’t get the kind of reaction we were shooting for with the challenges. Thus, we didn’t use it. The team’s conversation went like this:

“Nishikawa-san, what should we do about the new Bloodbath Challenge?”
“Hmmm…”
“I’ve actually got an idea…”
“Hey… What if we shoved soda into an enemy and shot them off into the distance?”
“HUH!?”
“And the enemies that you shoot off will hit huge billboards of women.”
“I see.”
“And then the girl will go ‘Ahhhh…'”
“Ahhhhh….”
“(Excitedly) Yeah. Ahhhhhh….”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”
“(Happily) C’mon, that’s funny, right!?”
“Uh… (Is this guy OK in the head?)”
“(Proudly) Hey, Rokumoto. You ever seen a game like that before?”
“No. Not that I’m aware of!? (Of course I haven’t seen something like that! There is nothing like that!)”

While our beloved director Nishikawa may normally be an incredibly intelligent guy, now and then he thinks of something so weird that we find ourselves in trouble. You want to do what with soda!? Send people flying!? How are we supposed to make that a game!? It is easy to think things up, but actually being that staff who has to make it is no easy thing to do.

“OK. So what is the gameplay going to be like?”
“(Disinterested) Just do it however you want to…”

This requires a bit of commentary:

A) “Just do it however you want to…”
This statement is not just used by Nishikawa-san, but tends to be how all directions in the company tend to end – “Just do it however you want to…” There are never really any directions for the little details or the rules of how things work. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fully fleshed out design document for anything here! But taking that to mean “Just do it however YOU want to…” usually gets met with disapproving looks. It actually means that you have to just figure out what the person is looking for but can’t put into words. If you don’t understand that, everything you put out will get rejected, people will say “that guy has no idea what he is doing,” and there is a good shot that people may even impugn your character. (OK. I might be exaggerating a bit…) That is what it is like working in our wonderful little design studio.

But back to the topic at hand, Nishikawa-san’s direction ended right there, with a “Just do it however you want to…” Before long, the game designer and I were in the corner of the empty studio putting our heads together.

“So what about that cider thing…”
“Yeah…”
“What should we do about that?”
“Hmm…”
“Hmm…”

So how did it all end up? You’re just going to have to play the game to find out! (Sorry I teased you!!) I’ll be really happy if you enjoy it.

Oh yeah. I am sure some of you are thinking, “Hey! I want to work at PlatinumGames!” Of course, we would be happy to have you if you are up to the task!

A funny aside: When we made the Bloodbath Challenge, Nishikawa-san didn’t like the “Ahhhhhhh…” voice that we put in the game. His bitter tears of disappointment… Oh man… Anyway, we adjusted the voice, and ended up with something that got an OK.

The picture above is of the Bloodbath Challenge that didn’t make it into the game. This is the one where you would have used the Wii Remote to control the enormous slingshot.