In quite the interesting interview with Gamasutra, Tsukasa Takenaka revealed some interesting things about the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations, out February 7th. For one, Revelations came about before the 3DS
Someone’s always thinking about a new Resident Evil game, or something interesting that we could do. So I would say that there was the idea for a Resident Evil game that ended up being the core of Revelations before we had the new hardware; then, as soon as we get it in our hands and see what it’s capable of, all of those ideas really take shape.
It makes sense, I’m sure Capcom has a folder full of ideas for future Resident Evil titles that they can just pull out of the hat if they need to. What is much more interesting in this interview is when he starts talking about the 3D. Those of you that have been following the 3DS and the public perception know about the issues that 3D has been having. So what does the assistant producer of one of the biggest 3rd party publishers think?
The thing about the 3DS is that it’s really, really easy to get sucked into the screen. You end up concentrating very hard on what you’re doing, and that actually helps to bring out the feeling of presence and the horror.
Is that because it’s 3D?
Yes, the 3D certainly does bring that out. A lot of it is visual, but with that added dimension — you kind of going into the game, the feeling of presence in the game — really does enhance the horror in a way that you can’t really do with just a 2D screen.
Which is great to hear, it sounds like they’re actually using it properly, as an enhancement. The best examples of 3D that I’ve seen in gaming and theatre have been not when things have jumped out of the screen at me, but when they’ve drawn me into the world to a greater degree, which is exactly what you want in a horror or suspense title. Hearing him talk like this makes me want to play some Dead Space in 3D. But with that enhancement, did they make significant changes to their work?
To be perfectly honest, because it’s 3D, we didn’t actually need to change too much in terms of the design. The 3D didn’t really influence the design all that much. Obviously, there are options like — since it’s 3D — being able to actually go into a first-person perspective does present a little bit more information to the player about where enemies are and things like that.
But the basis for this game was creating a full-fledged Resident Evil experience with all the trappings on the 3D console. I think it’s not so much that, because of 3D, we did too many things differently; the 3D enhanced our ability to tell an interesting story — an interesting Resident Evil story that will, hopefully, resonate with fans.
I think that playing through the game on the 3DS will show players that 3D doesn’t really make too many fundamental changes to the gameplay and how we make games, but it definitely does enhance that and make it better.
Now this is exactly how I want to hear more developers talking about 3D, not just on the 3DS but across all platforms. Don’t get focussed on using the 3D for tricks and gimmicks because you have to, that sort of thinking lead to the Wii having ‘shake the controller’ be a replacement for a button press, which actually drew you out of the experience. This is great to hear from Capcom.
And because I really liked this comment and it’s something I’ve been saying since I got my hands on my 3DS:
Also, the sound of the 3DS is really, really great. Certainly, if you’re really wanting to immerse yourself in an environment, maybe the speakers of the 3DS aren’t 100 percent up to the task, but if you get some headphones, and experience the environment that way, it’s really quite immersive.
There you have it. Capcom seems to have a handle on the 3DS. Now how about everybody else?
